Sébastien Loeb Signature Series Polarized DISPATCH
Ever get the insane impulse to throttle across town at hell-bent speed? French rally driver Sebastien Loeb does it professionally, and he does it better than anyone. Together with his co-driver, Loeb has earned six World Rally Championship titles. Oakley are honoring the most successful rally driver in history with this special edition of Oakley DISPATCH® sunglasses. The Matte Black frame is matched with Grey Polarized lenses, a Loeb favorite for glare-cutting performance and neutral transmission that helps him maintain color recognition in bright light. Loeb’s signature is laser etched near the bottom of the lens, and the icons salute the checkered flag with his team’s color.
Take attitude to the street with the new Oakley DISPATCH. Check out the contours, the sculptural stems and the metal band accents and notice that we took self-expression to the next level by introducing interchangeable “O” icons. The frame comes with two different sets.
Lightweight O MATTER® frame material is the secret to all-day comfort, and DISPATCH takes advantage of Oakley’s patented Three-Point Fit to keep the lenses in precise optical alignment. HIGH DEFINITION OPTICS® (HDO®) is the reason why its clarity exceeds ANSI Z87.1 standards. Notice the lens curvature that extends peripheral vision. Oakley's pure PLUTONITE® lens material blocks 100% of all UV and helps this design meet ANSI Z87.1 basic impact standards.
DISPATCH is available with polarization, and Oakley HDPolarized lenses block 99% of glare with technology that eliminates the haze and visual distortion common with ordinary polarized lenses.
LENS:
Oakley HDPolarized – Minimized glare via technology that produces the best polarized lenses on the planet with 99% polarization efficiency
Optimized peripheral vision and side protection of 6 base lens curvature
Optical precision and impact resistance meet or exceed Z87.1 optical and basic impact standards
UV protection of PLUTONITE® lens material that filters out 100% of UVA / UVB / UVC & harmful blue light up to 400nm
FRAME:
Durability and all-day comfort of lightweight, stress-resistant O MATTER® frame material.
Comfort and performance of Three-Point Fit that holds lenses in precise optical alignment
Metal band and icon accents, with interchangeable Oakley icons
Also available in: DISPATCH
The brilliant rise
As a pillar of the Citroën team, Sébastien wasn’t getting bored. In 2001, he entered for the French Championship on asphalt road with the Xsara and for the World Super 1600 with a Saxo. The duo Loeb-Elena won on both courts with five wins for five Super 1600 races.
Guy Fréquelin pushed more and more his talented driver. Sebastien entered for the Rallye San Remo with a Xsara WRC. He scored his first world scratch times and was very close to “Tarmac Master” himself (Gilles Panizzi) but he finished 2nd.
Sebastien came as a bombshell to the Rally Planet: a beginner at this level had never done such a first race before.
Naturally, he joined the WRC team for the season 2002. That was a training season since Sebastien only took part in seven events. He lost his Monte Carlo win further to complaints but he achieved a victory in Germany with panache, what confirmed that he was an opponent who would have to be reckoned with.
2003, first full WRC season. In the Citroën Team, with Dominique Heintz as opener, Sebastien had colleagues of an outstanding calibre: Carlos Sainz and Colin Mc Rae.
They had to resign themselves… Sebastien won three rallies (Monte Carlo, Germany, San Remo), accumulated the podiums and lost the supreme title for only one point. Nobody knows and nobody will never know if he could have overtaken Peter Solberg during the famous Rally of Great Britain. Everybody knows he was asked to guarantee the Manufacturers’ title. But what an achievement!
Vice-World Champion for his first real season and he offered with his colleagues the Manufacturers’ title to Citroën.
