Regulations

[markf8691]

Just wandering if anybody had any more information -

Why did rally move away from Group A regulations - there was quite a lot of manufacturers involved when these regulations were used. Why did they move onto WRC regulations if they were so much more expensive?

As much as I love modern day rallying, it just seems whenever i watch videos from this era they seem much more spectacular or something - maybe its just cos i grew up in this era, will remember it fondly.

[Mark]

Around 1996 IIRC and WRC regs were actually cheaper than GpA at the time.

[Mirek]

Yes, it was discussed here plenty of times before but generally the reason was that to build a road-legal rally car was becoming extremely expensive and manufacturers themselves didn't want to continue with gr.A regulations (except for Mitsubishi). The main push for WRC regulations was from PSA and Ford if I remember well.

[Rallyper]

Gr A regulations required 2500 ex of roadcars. Wasn´t that a keyhole to pass which was negative for the Gr A regulations?

[Mark]

Gr A regulations required 2500 ex of roadcars. Wasn´t that a keyhole to pass which was negative for the Gr A regulations?

I thought WRC actually required more but allowed more types of car. Hence why the Peugeot 206 was entered where under GpA this wouldn't have been allowed/practical.

[Mirek]

In my opinion the quantity in the regulations doesn't matter much. If You undergo all the development and investments which a stock car requires You sure don't do that for making 2500 cars. That's profitable maybe if You sell them for airplane prices but never with normal cars.

The problem is that with more strict regulations, stronger competition, more automatization, higher standards for customer comfort and performance the development of stock car became a really huge process which takes several years, requires hundreds of suppliers, thousands of people and investments in billions. No manufacturer would do that only to create WRC car, no way.

On the contrary to have a small team (in manufacturer's terms) of specialized people independent of stock production is relatively cheap and flexible. The flexibility is very important because imagine what it is to stop modern automatic lines just to tune some small things for the rally performance. Every minute You make a car which is scheduled for it's new owner for months. You can't just come and say "stop it, I need to change something". I work in car industry and frankly I can't imagine any manufacturer willing to do that today.