Australian S2000

[M5]

Anyone that could give a quick sitrep on how the S2000 cars went in the first round ?

[raybak]

Was very mixed results over the weekend for the S2000 cars with the Toyota having a lot more speed than the Fords. The Fords sounded quicker but didn't have the pace.

Neal Bates came second today after having a few problems on day 1 which put him back in the field. Windus in the 2nd Ford broke the gearbox housing on the start of stage 1, fixed the car for day 2 and set some top 5 times. Guest in the other Ford was on and off the pace all weekend with niggling problems.

Ray

[Livewireshock]

At the end of Heat 2, both Fords have shown good promise with top 4 stage times set by both cars. Darren Windus overcame the gearbox hassles of Saturday to finish today in 5th.

One striking note about the Ford S2000 Fiesta's is their sound. Would not have been a far stretch to think that it was heard in NZ. Michael Guest was idling his car waiting for his turn on the Super Special Stage at Nambour Showgrounds & his car drowned out the noise of the pair of cars preceeding him.

The Ford Fiesta's have a 3" straight through exhaust with a resonator-like-bulge but nothing actually restricting flow or noise at all from the manifold to the tail pipe. Not sure how it passed under the noise limits.

Neal Bates in the Toyota S2000 car was second in today's heat. He was running in second yesterday until he & Coral smelled fuel???? & stopped as a precaution to fix it according to commentary at the spectator point.

[Livewireshock]

Should also point out that two guys from Sadev in France were on hand over the weekend to see how the cars went.

[ste898]

Here is some photos of the stunning S2000 Fiesta

http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...D=31&ItemID=29

I was suprised our Autralian friends did'nt tell us about these

[m.lowe]

Built from a S1600 from Italy the team Pirtek Ford Australia have built the new S2000 car for their own series




Pirtek team press release
The Super 2000 Ford Fiesta has a bright future after the Pirtek Rally Team made the world debut of the car at the opening round of the NEC Australian Rally Championship, the Coates Rally Queensland.


Darren Windus jumps his way to fifth placeThe highlight of the weekend was fifth pace outright in heat #2 for Darren Windus and Jon Mortimer.

Michael Guest and Mark Stacey were 11th at the completion of leg #1, but were running as high as fourth.

Throughout the event both cars set times in the top five.

A program that was completed in just 18 weeks, including design and construction was without doubt a massive achievement for the team.

After completing just 70 kilometres in pre-event testing on Thursday before the rally, it was not surprising that both cars experienced a range of issues throughout the event. This included a broken gearbox for Windus on leg #1 and power steering failure for Guest on leg #2.

However, under the regulations both cars were able to complete each leg of competition, and score valuable points in the ARC championship.

More importantly was the information gained by the crew to further improve the cars for future events.

"This has been a very good start for the Pirtek Rally Team," said Windus.

"There have been plenty of challenges throughout the weekend, but overall we are very pleased with what we have achieved.

"For me it's been a massive learning experience, as a driver it was a totally new car to get on top of as well as work with a professional organisation for the first time.

"The car is excellent to drive. Along with the team we know there's plenty to come and we are looking forward to making great gains throughout the year."

Michael Guest had no doubt the car has enormous potential.

"We have only scratched the surface with the Fiesta," said Guest.

"The Pirtek Rally Team has the right vehicle, but also the crew to make improvements for the upcoming events.

"For me this weekend was about getting back into a quality all-wheel-drive rally car. I'm sure we can get on top of this car going forward.

"We can look forward with confidence for the next event in Western Australia."

Team owner Jason Bright had plenty of praise for the Pirtek Rally Team.

"I was impressed with the speed of the car, but more importantly how this team met all the challenges," said Bright.

"We expected to have some technical issues with the cars this weekend, but we fully understand what these issues now are and we can work to rectify them and improve the reliability. From that point we can get work on improving the speed.

"Both drivers took the right approach. They were aware that they needed to finish and that has brought a great reward for the team.

"From a personal point of view it was great to see the professional look of the car and team. The sound of the cars is something else and I really enjoyed being part of the event.

"I know that our decision to take on the Pirtek Rally Team Ford Fiesta Super 2000 program was the right one."

The Pirtek Rally Team now heads back to its Melbourne base before taking the long journey across the country to Western Australia for round #2 of the NEC Australian Rally Championship, the Quit Forest Rally outside Busselton on 28-29 April.

[Livewireshock]

Darren Windus' Fiesta before the start of Heat 1 - ROQ

For an internal look of sorts

[HaCo]

What is the difference between the winning corolla and the corolla S2000?

[Karbonyl]

The winning car is Gr. N 4x4 prototype, which is allowed only in australian championship (and maybe elsewhere), but the S2000 is built according to international FIA rules for this category, so it can run everywhehe, e.g. APRC or PCWRC. That's all I know :-)

[milly]

Australian S2000 Corolla is apparenetly only homologated regionally - it can't do PCWRC or IRC series.

This is because CAMS (Australian Federation) gave a special homologation different to FIA homologation (fewer kits to be produced), in order to get the Corolla and Fiesta S2000 cars into the Australian series. The Australian series has had problems and this was a move by CAMS to save the series.