“There are special people to recall at this time of year”

Ilove autumn, always have. I love the chill in the air, the trees ditching their green coats in favour of something far more colourful and the fact that Britain’s round of the World Rally Championship isn’t too far away. But this second-to-third week in September is generally, these days, a bit rubbish. These days will forever be about a couple of blokes we all cherished. These days will always be about Colin Mcrae and Michael ‘Beef’ Park. The Scot passed away on September 15 (2007) and ‘Beef’ three days later, but two years earlier.

I’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again – maybe I’ll say it in this column every year, these were the days when those guys would have come into their own. Mcrae would have tucked away a couple of East African Safaris, added an extra something to the World Rallycross Championship and generally entertained at every turn.

‘Beef’ might have faded from the sport’s frontline, but he’d have been there. And, like any good mate, that would always have been enough.

More than enough.

Thoughts, as always, go to their families and many, many friends around the world at this time.

Aside from lost legends, the WRC’S focus will be on Turkey this week. And what’s shaping up to be an absolute corker of a rally. This week brings the flip side of Finland; it’s gravel, but it has very little – if anything – in common with what goes on in Jyvaskyla. Turkey’s about winning slowly and with the least possible risk.

Ott Tanak was forced into that approach last season, but his slow Toyota paid handsome dividends.

While I’m a big fan of the flat-chat, I have a huge appreciation for what a win this week means. Rallies which offer real opportunity through strategy, scheming and the odd gamble are few and far between, but Turkey’s one of them.

Charging at this week’s stages full tilt is absolute folly. The removal of any margin for error will likely leave a driver on the sidelines sooner rather than later. But… Thierry Neuville and Sebastien Ogier have very little option. They have to push. Thirtythree and 40 points adrift respectively, those boys can’t afford to be nibbling at Tanak’s lead. They need to slash into and pull some big points out of it.

And the only way to do that is to push. Turkey was the Toyota’s Achilles’ heel last season and, while Tom Fowler and Ott Tanak have talked in detail about suspension improvements elsewhere on this page, the Hyundai and Citroen both had more pace (remember Craig Breen led early doors in his C3 WRC).

The Estonian has told us he’s not going to go at it for the first morning (it is possible he might revise these tactics – we shouldn’t believe absolutely everything every driver tells us…), but a potentially steady start could offer Neuville and Ogier a window of opportunity. And they have to take it.

Regardless, bits will break and stuff will happen in the mountains around Marmaris this week and, much as Tanak is increasingly deserving of this year’s title, you still have the feeling there’s another twist and turn to come.