Hardly a murmur outside of the usual motorsport websites, but for those that haven't heard, Sebastian Loeb has broken the Pikes Peak record on his first outing.

Actually, to say he broke it is an understatement of er, mountainous proportions. Two years ago, when part of the circuit was still gravel, Monster Tajima squeaked in at under ten minutes. Last year, the first with tarmac from top to bottom, Rhys Millen took it down to around 9:45.

With Peugeot's considerable backing, everyone expected Loeb to take the record, but absolutely nobody expected him to better it by one and a half MINUTES.

OK, the cars were different, but last years winner, in a similarly powered car was 45 seconds behind.

So, with nine WRC titles, a victory first time out in FIA GT, three Race of Champions titles, second in the LM 24h and now victory in the world's greatest hillclimb, should Loeb be crowned as the most complete driver ever?

Rather makes you wonder about the FIA's decision not to grant him a super-licence to allow him to compete in F1. Maybe Red Bull were worried that he might make another Seb look a bit average...

Yes it hasn't got the coverage I expected given how impressive it appears. He should give F1 a try really, he's proved himself in most other areas.

Once he's made it through the London traffic, on a moped at rush hour, then we'll talk

Was half expecting to see second place being only seconds away while the world was focussing on Loeb, but no... Closest was 9:02.

About F1...
http://www.formula1.com/news/interviews/2008/11/8720.html

http://patronisef1.com/wordpress/features/in-memory-of-sebastien-loebs-f1-flirtation/

WOW

I know there will be the nay-sayers, but I had expected Loeb to do better in the Porsche Supercup than he did. Yes, there are different teams with different capabilities but watching qualifying and, in particular, the races live at Silverstone last weekend, in general, the cars are very competitive. In those circumstances, I'd expect the driver to make more of a difference.

There's no doubt that in one-off time-trial events like rallying and Race of Champions, he's peerless. Whether that translates to circuit racing, I think the jury is out. Even Le Mans, on its own, is a fairly unique type of circuit racing - it's not wheel-to-wheel racing per se. Until he has the opportunity to prove himself in that environment, I'd hesitate to say he's the greatest driver. I'd love to see him RACE in an F1 car - that would be worth seeing.

He is a fantastic driver can't deny that.
But I did find him dull to watch compared with the likes of McRae. McRae gave it 110% even when he didn't need too, and that cost him at least 1 world championship. But it was great to watch.
I suppose it's like F1 today's racing is like watching paint dry compared to the Senna and Mansell days.