Review: World Rally Review 2011 DVD

The 2011 World Rally Championship produced a hugely exciting, landmark season. Granted, Sebastien Loeb won again, but this time around nothing was certain. Not even near-certain.

The French rally ace endured probably his toughest season yet, as it became obvious early doors that fellow countryman Sebastien Ogier wouldn’t be a compliant team-mate in the mould of Dani Sordo.

Citroen’s intra-team rivalry reached new levels of bitterness on the dusty stages of the Acropolis as Ogier upstaged Loeb amid much criticism. From thereon in the two Sebs could barely hide their contempt for one-another, and there was every possibility that Loeb would find himself dethroned after seven years at the top.

Over at Ford, however, Mikko Hirvonen and Jari-Matti Latvala worked brilliantly together, capitalising on the strife within the Citroen camp – along with Loeb’s silly Australia accident and French engine failure – to ensure that the title fight went down to a nail biting finale in Great Britain.

Last year was anything but dull in the WRC. It was a season that delivered plenty of thrills, spills and outstanding driving, but unfortunately, due to a lack of television coverage – worsened dramatically in the UK following the EPSN deal – you probably missed most of it.

Well worry ye not, for Duke Video has come to the rescue with their two-disc rally extravaganza that is as comprehensive a review of 2011 as you could ever want it to be.

Running close to eight hours, World Rally Review 2011 contains most of the essential action from all 13 rounds of last year’s championship. As you might expect given the long running time, it’s pretty thorough stuff.

It contains a colossal amount of footage, interviews, features and, because it’s a North One Sport product, the voice of the WRC, Paul King, provides us with his typical well-informed commentary.

Complimenting the fantastic action footage are genuinely interesting in-depth analytical segments that scrutinise some of the key moments of the season, explaining how events were won and lost, and describing in layman’s terms some of the more technical aspects of the sport.

From snow and ice in Sweden, to the damp Welsh forests of Rally GB. Mini’s dream comback, newboy Mads Ostberg making a name for himself, an assortment of crashes, the Citroen kerfuffle… everything and anything that happened in the WRC in 2011 is contained within.

And that’s what makes World Rally Review 2011 so blimmin’ brilliant. It’s insanely thorough, and yet, never once does it border on becoming dull. Thanks to some superb editing, you could quite possibly digest the whole review in one sitting – it’s that good.

About the only criticism it could come in for is the lack of coverage for those further down the field, but then that would push the running time into days, not hours. Otherwise, World Rally Review 2011 is borderline perfection and should find a place in any rally – nay, motorsport – fan’s collection.

Rating: ★★★★★ (5/5)