Darrell Cartrip: "The dirt is supposed to be the great equalizer in this race." Brent Mustangburger: "French rally car Raoul ÇaRoule is counting on a big boost headed through there."
—RSN commentators about Raoul ÇaRoule
Raoul ÇaRoule (pronounced "raool sarool") is a character in Cars 2.
Known as the "World's Greatest Rally Car," #6 Raoul ÇaRoule was born in Alsace, France. A restless soul, Raoul joined the famous Cirque du Voiture French circus where he learned Gymkhana – a graceful, drift-filled motorsport that taught him pinpoint timing and an unparalleled ability to navigate tricky courses with ease. He's the first car to ever win nine consecutive rallies. Raoul is confident he can use his rally experience to pull ahead of his fellow World Grand Prix racers during the three courses' touchy dirt sections, especially with his fans in the stands waving banners that read, "ÇaRoule Ca-Rules!"
In the movie, he was seen catching up in the dirt section of the race in Tokyo. He was also seen passing Francesco Bernoulli by using the same skill that Lightning McQueen used to pass him. In the race in Porto Corsa, he was seen in last place for most of the time. He was the last one who crashed into the big crash that happened at the same time as Rip Clutchgoneski. In the race in London, he was seen in 10th place (next to last place). He also appears in the Radiator Springs Grand Prix race near the end of the movie where he passes a lot of cars by driving on the dirt at the side of the road.
Raoul ÇaRoule is a reference to French rally driver, nine times WRC winner Sebastien Loeb, with whom he shares a similar backstory and the same car.
On Raoul's sides and hood is written GRC, which is an allusion to the WRC, the World Rally Championship.
On his tires is written "Rouler Vite", which litteraly means"Roll Fast" in French, or more in context, "Drive Fast". A smaller inscription reads P210/70R18 99S.
He is based on Loeb's Citroën Hymotion4 WRC. During the production of the film, Citroën contacted Pixar complaining Raoul looked too much like their hatchback. Character art director Jay Shuster had to make a diagram of the character pointing out all the differences, and how the cars weren't the same.[2]
A French version exists in which Raoul ÇaRoule replaces Jeff Gorvette as the car Lightning McQueen meets at the World Grand Prix welcome party along with Lewis Hamilton.[3] However, most French releases apparently use the original scene with Jeff Gorvette.[4]
The French rally racer character in Cars 2 (that ended as Raoul ÇaRoule in the final film) was first supposed to be a female car, named Michèle,[5] in allusion to Michèle Mouton, that finished second in 1982 in WRC.[6] And when the character was changed to a Sebastien Loeb-inspired racer, he was first named Sebastien.[5]
Raoul's last name, ÇaRoule, literally means in French "That Rolls", which could be translated more in context as "to go fast."
Raoul is similarly modeled like Emma from Cars Mater-National as they are both rally cars.
