Pace of new Subaru [Archive] - Motorsport Forums

Finni

11th March 2007, 19:27

Well someone may say that Subaru's speed was promising. I think that this is not possibly the case. I don't believe that Subaru is on the same level with Ford and Citroen. Atkinson was setting excellent stage times in Mexico even in his rookie season. If the Subaru was good he should have beated at least Sordo.

Petter has always been strong in Mexico - so it was not suprising that he was strong again. However it would have been difficult to beat Loeb even with excessive risks. In the morning Petter got quite nicely leading place but last year the situation was the same - even with crappest Subaru ever. In the afternoon Petter was slightly slower than Loeb. That was better compared to last year when he lost a lot of time during afternoon (however, do we know if it was due to Pirellis?).

To sum up: we have not yet perfect picture from the new Subaru but early signals are not utterly good. They have some work to do. The car is already slight step ahead from older crap-model but unfortunately they seem to be behind others.

SubaruNorway

11th March 2007, 19:54

Realy hard to say because everything was so new for them in this rally. Atkinsons car was a rebuildt 06 but i don't know how much of the old car was still in it.

MJW

11th March 2007, 20:05

From the little tv coverage I have seen the car definately seems to handle better than the previous few versions. It looks to be handling similar to teh Ford Focus, the obvious understeer has gone, also teh new Bos dampers look to be working more efficiently. I still think it is probably giving many BHP's away to Citroen and still some but less to Ford. I think the manufactureres best cars still are Citroen #1, Ford #2 and Subaru#3 but a LOT closer than the sh*t cars of the past few years.

Tomi

11th March 2007, 20:19

MJW

11th March 2007, 21:11

It does not really matter, their chances for any championship for are gone allready, Subaru allways launches new cars with much noise and far too early, maybe they get the package together and some results at the end of this year.

You are correct I think SWRT are targeting 2008 when the real "new" car comes out. Sure there will be wins in 07, but in reality 2007 is between Bosse and Loeb.

koko0703

12th March 2007, 00:02

From the couple video I've seen, the new Impreza seems to be handling alot better than the last one even for my eyes. I must say WRC2007 is a big improvement from WRC2006 but that does not mean Impreza is competitive against Citroen and Ford. I hope they can get some more improvements and at least get a win (with alots of luck ;) ) before the first half is over 'cuz when Ford introduces new car in Finland, Subaru won't have any chance with Marcus & Mikko in a new car with Henning & Latvala upgraded to a current works Ford car....

FrankenSchwinn

12th March 2007, 02:36

Subaru allways launches new cars with much noise and far too early, maybe they get the package together and some results at the end of this year.

i think this year they just could not wait to get rid of last year's evolution.... cant blame 'em really.

turves

12th March 2007, 08:46

Sure there will be wins in 07

I wouldn't be so sure. I have no doubt that the cars before the Subaru's sweeped the road clean, and based on that, if the new car was fast, I'd say Petters lead should have been bigger.

jens

12th March 2007, 10:41

New Subaru is closer to the top than the previous one, but is still a bit behind. The start of the rally was great, but then after Solberg's retirement also Atkinson started to drop gradually backwards. Probably they were so quick thanks to start position on Day 1?

RALLY TEAM GB

12th March 2007, 11:44

for Subaru to get any chances of success this yr, i really do think that they should get rid of Solberg im afraid to say....he spends more time in the service area than on the stages

I mean Atkinson is driving better than Solberg...

N.O.T

12th March 2007, 14:22

The new subaru is better but still lacks pace....maybe solberg can challenge the slower drivers like gronholm,sordo and hirvonen....but not loeb

White Sauron

12th March 2007, 15:20

maybe solberg can challenge the slower drivers like gronholm,sordo and hirvonen....but not loeb

I didn't understand this phrase... Who are you to put two-times champion and the 2nd most successfuld river ever in one line with Sordo and Hirvonen? Gronholm is not slower that Loeb, and he's always proving it, I just can't get it why you still have your eyes shut on it.

Back on topic, I agree that Subaru became better, but not that much to allow Solberg to compete for overall victories. I hope that I'm mistaken though... Anyway, I think his road position can help him on hot gravel rallies, but by the middle of a rally he will be overtaken by Ford and Citroen crews...

leno

12th March 2007, 16:08

it is hard to say if subaru is competitive coz solberg didnt finish

Minke

13th March 2007, 02:21

it is hard to say if subaru is competitive coz solberg didnt finish

Atkinson did.. and in 5th too!!!! I suspect he backed off to score points for the manufacturers... otherwise a higher placing was very possible.

I think the pace is there, Atkinson/Solberg now need to find it through setup as the season progresses.

leno

13th March 2007, 08:21

I think the pace is there, Atkinson/Solberg now need to find it through setup as the season progresses.

i agree

Flyinglex

13th March 2007, 14:14

The thing is Atko had turbo problems and experiments with setup on leg 2 and 3 were not the best for pace.
So think Subaru will fight for podiums and victories but not for titles.

jso1985

13th March 2007, 20:00

The car seems to handle better and to be slighlty faster yet I don't see it winning this year.
what's the point of making a huge fuss of your new car if it's gonna break as easy as your older cars?

RALLY TEAM GB

20th March 2007, 19:59

the problems subaru are having reminds me of the problems skoda had, in certain respects

amberie

20th March 2007, 23:43

The thing is Atko had turbo problems and experiments with setup on leg 2 and 3 were not the best for pace.
So think Subaru will fight for podiums and victories but not for titles.

I agree. Petter got the 2007 car, but he's still got his 2006 luck, it seems.

It was nice to hear Phil and Petter chatting about all the improvements in between stages in Mexico. Maybe we can get a more complete answer of why it took so long to make them in the Discovery Channel documentaries.

Gard

21st March 2007, 08:49

I agree. Petter got the 2007 car, but he's still got his 2006 luck, it seems.

It was nice to hear Phil and Petter chatting about all the improvements in between stages in Mexico. Maybe we can get a more complete answer of why it took so long to make them in the Discovery Channel documentaries.

This has been answered many times. HOMOLOGATION! and that they didn't want to make the same mistake again. Homologating too early that is. Then find out that your design is unusable and not being allowed to fix it.

Roy

24th March 2007, 11:19

Q&A with Petter Solberg

http://www.crash.net/feature_view~cid~4~id~10972.htm

Brother John

25th March 2007, 10:34

Petter Solberg:
We are still not up to date with everything. We have gone back to basics and now things will go much easier.

Is that not what some forum members for years try to explain?
Those hitech and hydrolic technique and also the lap-top boys must disappear!
S2000 is on the good way! End result is cheaper cars, and more factories in wrc. :p :

pflugi

28th March 2007, 03:11

I don't know if this post fits in this thread, or if people are officially sick of hearing about and seeing badly Photoshopped pictures of the next Impreza, but here's another one that is supposedly for real in that it comes from the next issue of Motor Trend magazine:

http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1230198

I hope the 5-door hatch doesn't spell disaster for the next WRC car. That body style hasn't shown great form in the past. I'm guessing we might not see the WRC car until late 2008, though. Here's hoping for the best-

TKM

28th March 2007, 04:07

S2000 is on the good way! End result is cheaper cars, and more factories in wrc. :p :
And boredom!! S2000 is suppose to be Group N equivalent. Watching a WRC of only Group N and equivalent cars would send me to sleep.

jparker

28th March 2007, 05:54

And boredom!! S2000 is suppose to be Group N equivalent. Watching a WRC of only Group N and equivalent cars would send me to sleep.

Since you are Oz, you will be sleeping during most of the events anyways :)
If your focus is only on the cars itself, yes you are in trouble, but if you manage to focus on the actual fight between drivers that will keep you awake.

Brother John

28th March 2007, 06:51

And boredom!! S2000 is suppose to be Group N equivalent. Watching a WRC of only Group N and equivalent cars would send me to sleep.

S2000 is not a group N! Group N is an improved, ordinary car that we can buy! I see none S2000 standing at the concessionnaires!
I said "S2000 is on the good way!" and the same for R3 or how they call it.
Cheaper cars is the only solution for the future of rally and certain WRC.

DonJippo

28th March 2007, 10:32

S2000 is not a group N!

S2000 is not N-group you are right but these two classes are both meant to compete in PWRC.

TKM

29th March 2007, 00:26

S2000 is designed to allow performance parity with the current Group N rally cars for manufactures that don’t have a Group N homologated car. Compared to WRC they are slow and boring.

jso1985

29th March 2007, 04:52

and yet another thread that turns into "WRC sucks! S2000 is better, bla, bla..." :rolleyes:

Brother John

29th March 2007, 07:24

and yet another thread that turns into "WRC sucks! S2000 is better, bla, bla..." :rolleyes:

Wake up jso! I dont say WRC sucks and S2000 is better!
I say S2000 is more realistic and payable.
Of course I like to see wrc cars but the rallys and the championship become booring....with only 3 factory cars!

Roy

29th March 2007, 08:07

Is the pace of the new Subaru the same of a S2000? :rolleyes:
Then they never win the championship!

Brother John

29th March 2007, 09:34

Is the pace of the new Subaru the same of a S2000? :rolleyes:
Then they never win the championship!

What do you mean with this reaction? :dozey:

Roy

29th March 2007, 10:21

What do you mean with this reaction? :dozey:

;) This is a thread about the pace of the Subaru and you (again) start with S2000. So what I say is a joke and say in other words: We have a S2000 thread.

Brother John

29th March 2007, 11:00

;) This is a thread about the pace of the Subaru and you (again) start with S2000. So what I say is a joke and say in other words: We have a S2000 thread.

Read this page and you see why we talk about S2000!!! :s mokin:

jens

3rd April 2007, 18:37

koko0703

3rd April 2007, 20:47

The pace of Subaru was clearly disappointing in Portugal. If we exclude DQ's, then Petter wasn't even able to fight for 3rd position properly. It seems that without the unluck of rivals it wouldn't be possible to take a rally win this year. :(

How long does it take to get back to the top? :\

I must agree. It was very disappointed see Subaru back to behind Citroen and Ford. I was expecting alot more in term of pace. It seems SWRT will need lots of time to get back to where they were in 2003 or 2004.

I also wonder how Loeb knew about the decline of Subaru at the end of 2005. Loeb said he will not sign with Subaru because the development of Impreza was going in the wrong direction....

Brother John

4th April 2007, 09:48

How long does it take to get back to the top? :\

It will never happen! :rolleyes:

WRC2006

4th April 2007, 10:34

According to David Richards, the new Impreza 07 is an intermediary car while they are working on the New Subaru 2008. So we don't expect to see the new Impreza winning rallies as already it still have the same problems as the old cars had in the past. (Oil link, steering problems, set up, etc).

Even if the new car looks like very fast than the old car, but I still think that there is no difference between the Impreza 06 and Impreza 07. Still the car is very difficult to handle.