[WRC] News & rumours (part II)

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Originally Posted by stefanvv

I just leave that to the numbers

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stefan, dont waste your time

http://cdn.memegenerator.net/instanc...x/23217617.jpg

I cant recall RedBull ever talking about bringing back adventure and long distance rally, Jean Todt was the main supporter of this. Actually this is the first time that there are some proposition/plans by the 'saviours' (RedBull) of WRC are heard publicly. From what it seems, RedBull is not keen to invest for live coverage in the same manner as Eurosport does with ERC... Question is why did FIA chose them in the first place?

IMHO Matton's is view on how to provide live coverage is valid and certainly acceptable. Leave the rally as it now, and run the Power Stage as a standalone event just for the sake of live coverage and award some points, like Fafe sprint.

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Originally Posted by rallyfun

That "issue" has been explained by VW and it's not a faulty handbrake it's just how VW design it, Mikkelsen has redesigned one but VW wants to test it more before putting into Ogier's and Latvala's cars. So it sounds more like excuse if they have it from begging of the season than a real problem.

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In the racecar engineering article they say VW uses pneumatic-operated clutch for handbrake turns while others use hydraulic one. The new VW one is electric one.

Last summer I spoke with some JAS mechanic during Barum scrutineering. I was curious why their works Civic R3 isn't fit with the pneumatic gear-shift paddles they developed. He didn't speak much English but I understood they had big reliability issues with the system so they abandoned it. Maybe it's same case with VW...

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Originally Posted by makinen_fan

I cant recall RedBull ever talking about bringing back adventure and long distance rally, Jean Todt was the main supporter of this. Actually this is the first time that there are some proposition/plans by the 'saviours' (RedBull) of WRC are heard publicly. From what it seems, RedBull is not keen to invest for live coverage in the same manner as Eurosport does with ERC... Question is why did FIA chose them in the first place?

IMHO Matton's is view on how to provide live coverage is valid and certainly acceptable. Leave the rally as it now, and run the Power Stage as a standalone event just for the sake of live coverage and award some points, like Fafe sprint.

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That's what I find strange. Prior this season Mr. Ribeiro from Eurosport clearly said in autosport.cz interview that RedBull offered better package then Eurosport could afford but so far we have not seen anything special from RedBull media house regarding WRC.

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Originally Posted by Mirek

In the racecar engineering article they say VW uses pneumatic-operated clutch for handbrake turns while others use hydraulic one. The new VW one is electric one.

Last summer I spoke with some JAS mechanic during Barum scrutineering. I was curious why their works Civic R3 isn't fit with the pneumatic gear-shift paddles they developed. He didn't speak much English but I understood they had big reliability issues with the system so they abandoned it. Maybe it's same case with VW...

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Are you sure it is electric? Autosport reports that the started with a mechanical device (similar to the Fiesta system), now they run the pneumatic and Mikkelsen is running the hydraulic system.
Volkswagen WRC team stands firm as drivers push over upgrades - WRC news - AUTOSPORT.com

Another question that I am not sure how the regulations work. Isn't the handbrake part of the homologation of the whole car? Can they change systems as they like as the season goes?

Here on page 2 it's written VW homologated electric one prior Mexico but didn't use it there: http://www.motorsportforums.com/wrc/...2013-a-81.html

To be exact they write VW replaced bottle with pressed air by an electric driven pump. That seems to me like the system is still pneumatic only without a storage of pressed air.

I don't know how many VO's they can homologate per year but it's sure not many.

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Originally Posted by rallyfun

That "issue" has been explained by VW and it's not a faulty handbrake it's just how VW design it, Mikkelsen has redesigned one but VW wants to test it more before putting into Ogier's and Latvala's cars. So it sounds more like excuse if they have it from begging of the season than a real problem.

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There is lot more than that as Mirek said. At some point in some cases it doesn't work at all (Latvala) or it is "stuck" when you pull it and blocks the wheels (Ogier).

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Originally Posted by Mirek

Here on page 2 it's written VW homologated electric one prior Mexico but didn't use it there: http://www.motorsportforums.com/wrc/...2013-a-81.html

To be exact they write VW replaced bottle with pressed air by an electric driven pump. That seems to me like the system is still pneumatic only without a storage of pressed air.

I don't know how many VO's they can homologate per year but it's sure not many.

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The electric motor is used to provide the pressure for the hydraulic system according to this:

Demaison admitted he was reluctant to run the hydraulic system.

"It's heavier, it's more complicated and it takes power from the engine to run an electrical motor," he said.

Doesn't current WRCars have any other hydraulic systems and hence they need a dedicated motor for that? The previous era of WRCs had all kind of hydraulic devices (gearbox, diffs etc) so such a motor would not be necessary.

Currently it's electro-pneumatic then. Wonder why it has to be complicated? What was wrong with an old-fashioned hydraulic handbrake? Like in the 70s and 80s.
Maybe I'm missing something.....

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Originally Posted by noel157

Currently it's electro-pneumatic then. Wonder why it has to be complicated? What was wrong with an old-fashioned hydraulic handbrake? Like in the 70s and 80s.
Maybe I'm missing something.....

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Damage control I guess - less power from the engine