Where are all the Polo's?

[306 Cosworth]

Firstly, sorry if this has been covered in another thread before, I missed that.

So, where are the Polo's then? What are VW doing with them, and why haven't they sold any of the older cars to Privateers yet? I'm sure there's plenty of wealthy rallyists dying to get their hands on one. I know I want to buy one when I win the Euromillions :D

According to EWRC (http://www.ewrc-results.com/cars.php?cid=45&title=volkswagen-polo-r-wrc) There have been 28 Polo R WRCs built since 2012. So where are they, and are we ever likely to see any privateer cars?

And yes I know VW don't really need to sell them, but it'd be nice to see them being used elsewhere.

[denkimi]

Firstly, sorry if this has been covered in another thread before, I missed that.

So, where are the Polo's then? What are VW doing with them, and why haven't they sold any of the older cars to Privateers yet? I'm sure there's plenty of wealthy rallyists dying to get their hands on one. I know I want to buy one when I win the Euromillions :D

According to EWRC (http://www.ewrc-results.com/cars.php?cid=45&title=volkswagen-polo-r-wrc) There have been 28 Polo R WRCs built since 2012. So where are they, and are we ever likely to see any privateer cars?

And yes I know VW don't really need to sell them, but it'd be nice to see them being used elsewhere.
you can ask the same question about the i20's, or the ds3's.

to me this seems one of the biggest problems the current wrc has. if you want to drive a modern wrc car as a privateer your only option is a fiesta.

[Lundefaret]

Rumor has it that Volkswagen was contemplating building RRC cars running a junior team (with used WRC cars) but this turned in to the Skoda Junior WRC team.

[AL14]

And yes I know VW don't really need to sell them, but it'd be nice to see them being used elsewhere.

Why they don't need it? I mean, what's the problem with getting money even if you already have them?
My only explanation is that there are some "secret" in the cars they don't want others to discover. May it be? or is it stupid? :)

[rallyfiend]

As soon as you sell cars, you need to have the infrastructure to to deal with customers.

Car companies are not good at that, as it requires investment, people, inventory etc.

It's one of the problems with having so many manufacturers directly running their programmes rather than using the traditional garagistes (M-Sport, Prodrive, MSD etc).

So yes, they could get some money buy selling cars, but they'd need to spend lots of money to be able to provide the service to them.

[AndyRAC]

VW are in the WRC to win. End of. No other distractions are needed.

[Mirek]

Why they don't need it? I mean, what's the problem with getting money even if you already have them?
My only explanation is that there are some "secret" in the cars they don't want others to discover. May it be? or is it stupid? :)

I think You see too much conspiracy there. Of course they don't need to give everything out but I guess rallyfiend is correct. It doesn't end by selling the car. You need to have facility for rebuilding of components for customers, sufficient number of parts to deliver to customers, established service chain, available engineers to support the customers etc. etc.

[Simmi]

I guess it still begs the question - where are all the chassis? Do they have 15-20 just sat in a lock-up somewhere?

[Martins Tolks]

Aren't some of those used in WorldRX?

[NoFear85]

you can ask the same question about the i20's, or the ds3's.

to me this seems one of the biggest problems the current wrc has. if you want to drive a modern wrc car as a privateer your only option is a fiesta.

2 i20 WRC are in Italy, "family" Fontana, or if you lika HMI-Hyundai Italia. and there are so many DS3 WRC, tho only one who dont have their cars for privaters is VW

[AL14]

I think You see too much conspiracy there. Of course they don't need to give everything out but I guess rallyfiend is correct. It doesn't end by selling the car. You need to have facility for rebuilding of components for customers, sufficient number of parts to deliver to customers, established service chain, available engineers to support the customers etc. etc.

Ok ok, got it. I'm totally ignorant when it comes to these kind of subjects. Thanks for explaning.

[306 Cosworth]

As soon as you sell cars, you need to have the infrastructure to to deal with customers.

Car companies are not good at that, as it requires investment, people, inventory etc.

It's one of the problems with having so many manufacturers directly running their programmes rather than using the traditional garagistes (M-Sport, Prodrive, MSD etc).

So yes, they could get some money buy selling cars, but they'd need to spend lots of money to be able to provide the service to them.

That's very true, but I'm sure VW are more than capable of setting up a 'customer base' without effecting the main WRC programme.

[Mirek]

Of course, but why shall they do that?

[Rallyper]

Of course, but why shall they do that?

It´s a matter of sportsmanships behavour. Now they only playing masters keeping everything for themselves.

[Simmi]

It´s a matter of sportsmanships behavour. Now they only playing masters keeping everything for themselves.

I'm not sure you can really call them out on sportsmanship grounds for not shelling out the money and increased infrastructure to create a customer programme. Especially when others have said, they have absolutely no need (or obligation) to do it as a fully factory supported outfit. Besides VAG can always just point to Skoda for their customer rallying programme.

I think the best we could hope for is a kind of satellite squad to appear which runs a couple of cars, but retains close links with the factory. If/when they actually start to get some serious competition they might consider it.

[Rallyper]

Open market is an honour in many places. Why do some choose to have a closed one in rallying?

It´s not a big issue, maybe only for the drivers good enough to handle such cars and also having money to buy them.

[Barreis]

They don't sell them 'cos they don't need to sell them...

[Mirek]

Open market is an honour in many places. Why do some choose to have a closed one in rallying?

It´s not a big issue, maybe only for the drivers good enough to handle such cars and also having money to buy them.

There's no real market for WRC cars as those are not allowed in FIA events except WRC. The amount of cars they can sell can't make it profitable for them. They would only loose huge money for creating the customer service from zero.

[AL14]

And probably they would barely kill mr Wilson. :)

[Rallyper]

And probably they would barely kill mr Wilson. :)

That might be closest to the truth.

[Coach 2]

Have allready all forgotten that one could not buy Group A parts or cars from Mitsubishi in the nineties.

[Mirek]

If I remember well they actually sold two factory cars to the customers. One was maybe for Andrea Aghini in Italy and the other went for Michal Gargulák to Czech republic. Anyway You have a good point. Two cars don't change the rule.

This is the Czech one, later it was for a long time used in hill climbs by David Komárek but the car was a lot modified from the original rally state.
http://www.ewrc.cz/images/2002/mcr/kopna/MichalGargulakKopna02.jpg

[TWRC]

If I remember well they actually sold two factory cars to the customers. One was maybe for Andrea Aghini in Italy and the other went for Michal Gargulák to Czech republic. Anyway You have a good point. Two cars don't change the rule.

This is the Czech one, later it was for a long time used in hill climbs by David Komárek but the car was a lot modified from the original rally state.
http://www.ewrc.cz/images/2002/mcr/kopna/MichalGargulakKopna02.jpg

If my infos are correct, those two cars were never factory cars, they were kits that you could put together yourself. The currently existing "ex-works" cars (de Koning, Walfridsson, etc.) are also interesting, as most of them have an old Evo V chassis rebuilt to Evo 6.5 spec. But this is off topic ;)

[Mirek]

Thanks. Do You have an explanation why those cars had British registration plates then? I don't remember the history but I thought Gargulák bought it as finished car not as a kit.

[Coach 2]

As I remember it, they (Mitsubishi) did not sell either cars or parts for the sake of taxes. If you only have a promotional company it is other taxes for the company than if one also produces parts and cars for sale.
It is possible that this also applies to VW.

[TWRC]

Thanks. Do You have an explanation why those cars had British registration plates then? I don't remember the history but I thought Gargulák bought it as finished car not as a kit.
Not sure about that, but maybe that car was built through Mellors Elliot Motorsport. That is only a guess, but Tagai's car also went there for a small rebuild in 2008, so they have some connection to those cars.

[Ounin]

It´s a matter of sportsmanships behavour. Now they only playing masters keeping everything for themselves.

What about Slowly Sideways, some millionaires on Eifel Rallye 2025?;)