Rally Wrc Mexico 2017

[steve.mandzij]

So... Who thinks Latvala might struggle on day one? As a massive fanboy I really hope he'll maintain a steady pace through his road sweeping day and then bounce back.

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[danon]

My sixth sense tells me that this year Ogier is going to have a hard time making it five in a row...
Latvala is the real menace.
Ogier knows why!

[Gregor-y]

What happened to Subaru in 08? I'd'nt followed the WRC between 2004-2010 pretty much.

Prodrive hit some kind of wall incompetence in 2006 and the Impreza could never compete. I'm surprised Subaru took so long to stop the program and allowed them to build a new car for 2008. As for why I suspect it was Prodrive's branching out - particularly a plan for an F1 team - that took away resources from the WRC program.

It sounds like Suzuki's WRC program was dead before the season started and it was like a zombie out there, literally and figuratively.

[janvanvurpa]

Prodrive hit some kind of wall incompetence in 2006 and the Impreza could never compete. I'm surprised Subaru took so long to stop the program and allowed them to build a new car for 2008. As for why I suspect it was Prodrive's branching out - particularly a plan for an F1 team - that took away resources from the WRC program.

It sounds like Suzuki's WRC program was dead before the season started and it was like a zombie out there, literally and figuratively.

I think considering what they had to work with, they worked miracles..
Look


You know what sits in front of that bellhousing?

ALL of this:


When was the last time a car hanging the entire engine waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out 100% in front of the front wheel centerline did anything in WRC?

15-16 years prior.

And everybody else was leaning theirs back so the weight was directly over the spindles, much closer in, reducing polar moment by a metric shit-ton..

The other thing was the engine itself.. You know what the bore was?
And what EVERYBODY else had for bore?
Does the words "flame front propagation" make you raise one eyebrow??

I think there is the problem and there was no way around those 2 huge problems...

A little late but you know what their new FJ or whatever they call the new thing has for bore?

[Gregor-y]

That doesn't explain what happened to the program in 06, though. Plus it's not a terribly large motor to hang ahead of the front axle.

[GravelBen]

I always got the impression they found it increasingly hard to be competitive as WRC moved further away from production base - like the aspects fo the car that were positives for production based rallying became limitations under the WRC rules, while other platforms (Citroen etc) were able to make better use of the freedom in WRC rules.

It seemed like Subaru as a company were less interested in non-production based rallying too, but maybe that was a result of not being so competitive there while still being a dominant force in Group-N.

[janvanvurpa]

That doesn't explain what happened to the program in 06, though. Plus it's not a terribly large motor to hang ahead of the front axle.

I'm suggesting that everybody else just had everything else nailed. You know in WRC we see speed differences often less than 0,5% between winner and 2-3-4th...If everybody else has their weight and F?R balance more of less the same---you look for anomalies.. That engine--and they aren't that light---relative to what the others are using---for example Ford's 2,0 Duratec is lighter-- and its bore size---you din't even respond to those questions (sniff)----are 2 things which are WAY different...and I don't think it takes a lot of imagination to sorta zero in on what is drastically different and at least wonder what role those anomalies have in the demise.

Additionally I believe Prodrive internally was getting awfully big head and I've read interviews where their chief engineer was saying in essence "The cars are far to complex now for mere bumpkin drivers are able to understand anything..I know what is needed so they must just shut up and drive because they don't understand"

What do you think happened?

[Rallyper]

I'm suggesting that everybody else just had everything else nailed. You know in WRC we see speed differences often less than 0,5% between winner and 2-3-4th...If everybody else has their weight and F?R balance more of less the same---you look for anomalies.. That engine--and they aren't that light---relative to what the others are using---for example Ford's 2,0 Duratec is lighter-- and its bore size---you din't even respond to those questions (sniff)----are 2 things which are WAY different...and I don't think it takes a lot of imagination to sorta zero in on what is drastically different and at least wonder what role those anomalies have in the demise.

Additionally i belive Prodrive internally was getting awfully big heada nd I've read interviews where their cheif engineer was saying in essence "The cars are far to complex now for mere bumpkin drivers are able to understand anything..I know what is needed so they must just shut up and drive because they don't understand"

What do you think happened?

That´s what could happen to big companys as well. Making themselves best in class, just stops developing and the longterm backwards movement starts ending up in disaster for whatever company or brand.
Understand what I mean?

[Mirek]

That doesn't explain what happened to the program in 06, though. Plus it's not a terribly large motor to hang ahead of the front axle.

Every engine hanging complete ahead of front axle is a fundamentally bad idea. Success in motorsport is about being better than others in details because every professional is able to solve major things. When You start with non-solvable handicap You can hardly expect success.

To Jan's point. Boxer engine always has to have short stroke and large bore because it would be simply too big. Also there are two heads, two sets of cams, long intake and exhaust pipes (with one turbo I guess it's a lot more problematic than with two). The boxer conception itself isn't weight effective at all.

[dimviii]

You want to insult my intelligence.

no intelligence,its just plain stupidity.