Rally Wrc Monte Carlo 2017

[dimviii]

it only shows differences in gearbox ratios. you can tell nothing about the engine based on top speed.

nobody with powerfull engine uses a short gearbox vs other competitors.Specially when there are stages where he go to limiter for plenty of time.

[denkimi]

Actually you can. Normally You don't run longer gearbox with weaker engine (unless it's completely different design, i.e. has completely different characteristics). See R5, S2000 or even gr.N where cars with stronger engines have also higher top speed.

In case of 2017 I would say that the main unknown factor is drag force from the aero package.

you run gearbox ratios based on the event, not based on the engine power. that's why they use different gearboxes throughout the season.

there's no point in having a gearbox that makes your car go 220km/h, if you know you will never exceed 190 on the event. and vice versa, if you know you will be at very high speeds often, there's no point in being on the limiter all the time.

and as you said, without knowing the drag coefficient there's absolutely no way you can determine the difference in engine power based on top speed.

only partially related, but still interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yktl2-lVm_s
he has more speed gun measurements on his youtube channel.

[lnvs]

Who knows in which stage is that spot(Ogier 4.14)?

SS9/11 in this case SS11 2mins after the start.

A bit strange i20 2017 onboards never have that more accurate speedo+gear+rpm. There is only speed which has gps style behaviour.

[Mirek]

you run gearbox ratios based on the event, not based on the engine power. that's why they use different gearboxes throughout the season.

That's irrelevant point because we speak about the same event. And it's also wrong. Both the event the engine characteristics are very important for setting the right gear ratios. Think about why all S2000/R5 cars use a lot shorter gear ratios than Škoda (using an example where the reality is all well documented) on the very same events.

there's no point in having a gearbox that makes your car go 220km/h, if you know you will never exceed 190 on the event. and vice versa, if you know you will be at very high speeds often, there's no point in being on the limiter all the time.

Sorry but that's again irrelevant here because we speak about the same event.

and as you said, without knowing the drag coefficient there's absolutely no way you can determine the difference in engine power based on top speed.

That's the only important contributor we don't know here. At least we can see what they can reach on the same event, i.e. who can benefit from long straights.

[J_n_z]

Short gearbox also means bigger overlapping of gears. So correct selection of gear is not so important, because two of them can both do good job in certain speed range. Theoretically (I have never driven such beast of a car) it can be handy in saving moments and linking corner combinations, both very likely in monte.

Remember 6 speed Xsara vs 4 speed 307... roughly same power, same top speed, but 50% more gears to ease drivers job... Here we are talking about same thing compromised by lower top speed... We can't tell much about engine power from this.

P.S.: we are off topic...

[dimviii]

nice video
https://youtu.be/zDKioaCOIug

[GravelBen]

[drag coefficient]
That's the only important contributor we don't know here. At least we can see what they can reach on the same event, i.e. who can benefit from long straights.

Not the only contributor - we also don't know how close to optimum gear ratios (for the engine and event) were achieved by the engineers from each team do we?

It could be that Toyota (as a new team with less data to work from) just underestimated the peak speeds that would be reached on those stages, and geared the car slightly too short as a result.

[Munkvy]

I feel sorry for Juho, relatively small mistake taking him out, looking at stage times he was actually pretty on par with JML and Meeke, which is an encouraging sign, given everyone seems to agree that the Toymota is a bit weak.

Once again poor Ott has been robbed however! I wonder what he has done to deserve such rotten luck.

[seb_sh]

After a bit of pondering I though I'd share my impressions. First it's quite sad about that spectator I hope Paddon and Kennard get over it, it wasn't their fault and it shows RMC organisers need to improve. It can be done - look at Portugal in the 80s-90s and now.

The rally was a classic Monte, I think the conditions were juuust right with the mix of dry tarmac and snow, with many many stages where all drivers said conditions are tricky. Add to that dramas everyday including a change of leader who had a big gap and many stage winners. Also the new cars are great, it makes me want to break my duck and finally attend a WRC round this year.

Because of the nature of the event it's hard to say too much about the cars but it's clear the Hyundai is a good package and the Ford is probably close but less refined at the moment. The mechanical problem's on Ott's car and Ogier's struggle in the first half of the event show that there's work to do. Citroen is still a bit of an unknown. Toyota was closer than i expected, but they'll probably be a bit farther back on "normal" rallies, however they were pretty reliable so they're not looking to bad.

I think 5 drivers deserve praise:
Ogier for jumping into a new car and new team and doing the job to the end.
Tanak was always around the podium ready to profit from any mistake and had a good rhythm where he didn't risk much.
Breen for a solid run, even considering his spins, he spun "safely" and didn't damage his car; I look forward to seeing more of him.
Mikkelsen for doing the job and showing what we all know - I won't say it again
Latvala for finally doing a clean rally - podium deserved.

On the flipside:
Paddon - crashing on the first stage is never good
Sordo - continuous lack of confidence, if he goes on like this he could consider retireing
Neuville - impressive speed and confidence but the mistake came when he wasn't pressured
Meeke - seemed out of it and had a silly crash then bad luck
Lefebvre - even if he had orders to finish he was too slow

So Hyundai had the best car and worst drivers, Citroen put their best driver in the wrong car, Ford needs to refine their car but Ogier and Ott look like they can bring the title with some backup from Evans and Toyota not looking bad at all. Even if they are a bit slower than here, they are not that far off and will probably mix in the midfield (5th to 10th place area).


It also looks good for the rest of the season. There are many possible rally winners in the field now and we're going to go into the next 3 rallies not knowing who will win. Over the season Ogier's consistency may pay off but Hyundai has a strong package if the drivers get it together.

[EstWRC]

nice video
https://youtu.be/zDKioaCOIug

holy man! this first flat out corner from Ogier and later in the video 2.10 from Tänak! impressive, cant wait to get to finland already!