Mini in WRC 2011

[gloomyDAY]

It's not just about the manufacturer, it's also Prodrive. I think they are well capable of handling this project in all seriousness.

Yeah, tell that to Subaru. The last rally car ProDrive made was a complete dog.

i can smell failure already if they enter with this thing....

[Brother John]

i am neither pesimistic or optimistic

I am realistic...

To be realistic here on the forum can be dangerously!
A lot of people don´t know what that is.

[Langdale Forest]

to launch a crossover car for rally purposes i think its a bit stupid....how are they going to have a low centre of gravity with this thing?

The Suzuki Sx4 was a 'crossover' car?, and that failed miserabley...

[Francis44]

The Suzuki Sx4 was a 'crossover' car?, and that failed miserabley...

Failed Miserabley?! Seriously how can you think a new manufacter can fight for top spots in it's first year, if Suzuki decided to stay some more years perhaps they would be on the pace. For all of you thinking that new manufacters will be in it's first year on speed, I can't believe you can be so naive.

Both Ford and Citroen have been running last years on top performance, new manufacters will obviously struggle to compete with them. The manufacter I can see (if entering) getting to speed quickly is Skoda and Peugeout, they have been running on a competitive championship and I am sure they have loads of info for development of the car.

So it isn't fair to judge a car performance in one year.

[Rallyper]

I don´t think the bodyshell itself is different to any other car. The crossover is made by higher(longer) springs and just fool the consumer to believe he has a Land Rover.

So why shouldn´t prodrive make a sucess with this one? The have the experience anyway, no matter what the outcome of the joint venture with Subaru ended.

[Langdale Forest]

Failed Miserabley?! Seriously how can you think a new manufacter can fight for top spots in it's first year, if Suzuki decided to stay some more years perhaps they would be on the pace. For all of you thinking that new manufacters will be in it's first year on speed, I can't believe you can be so naive.

So it isn't fair to judge a car performance in one year.

Remember the Peugot 206 WRC won both championships in its return to the WRC in 2000, although that was with Marcus Gronholm in the driving seat.

And remember the Citroen Xsara got on the podium after just a few rallies, altough this was with Sebastien Loeb driving.

[Tom206wrc]

BMW/Mini will use services of PRODRIVE ???? Good, but what to expect against a team like Citroën Racing who assures the entire developpment/budget of the cars(look at Ford with M-Sport currently) ????

[J.Lindstroem]

I think this thread is very full of pessi... oh sorry realism.. maybe you are right guys. But i sure hope that this will be great and i really think that prodrive has the right things to make a car work great. About the crossover thing yeah its a little bit strange, the car looks much bigger than the others but i cant wait untill the first draft of the design.

[bretddog]

Remember the Peugot 206 WRC won both championships in its return to the WRC in 2000, although that was with Marcus Gronholm in the driving seat.

And remember the Citroen Xsara got on the podium after just a few rallies, altough this was with Sebastien Loeb driving.

Obviously both fantastic driver's. But there is one common factor, or should you say a relentless genius engineer behind both those cars; Jean-Claude Vaucard. You don't just burp up the best WRC cars of your era because you badly want to. You need some freakin talent and a clever brain behind it, among other things.

But of course one can hope the DS3 may not be dominant right off the bat.

[bretddog]

..or was he just involved in the 205, not 206? maybe I'm a bit mistaken here.. anyway, it's not a walk in the park.