Printable View
Too me he looks like a boy from the neighborhood who has a dream to become a rally champion. He looked that way especially in the times when he was sponsored by 11 Degress clothing company. I like this guy too! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by lmmjvss
https://www.facebook.com/11DegreesCl...2554249535750/
https://detour-roadtrips.com/home/ch...rally-champion
For info, Ingram just split with his long-time co-driver Ross Whittock.
Not sure why but it may be finance-related as they dont do many events. Ross has also had to work in a supermarket before to make a living...
Partners no more :(Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
https://www.fiaerc.com/erc-title-win...tners-no-more/
Latest on Skoda testing: https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/...-snow-and-ice/
Has the Polo gotten any newer jokers or is this list complete?
https://autorally.lv/files/r198/R5-J...-VW%20Polo.pdf
I must say I am impressed that the Polo still seems to be one of the top two RC2 cars, long after VW left the sport.
The Polo still is the most stable and well balanced Rally2/R5 car, and performs well on all sufaces.
I am guessing the new Fabia will use lessons identified from the Polo to increase VAGs grip on the class.
In the MEM video above, they say how well-engineered the Polo R5 is (much being based on the Polo WRC) and the really high quality of its components (compared to their previous i20).Quote:
Originally Posted by Sulland
The Polo R5 was according to many engineers/mechanics a bit like a "small WRC", it's a fantastic car, there's a lot to play with, but it has to be set up properly. Not everyone can jump in and be fast with it, while the Fabia has the reputation of being a much easier car to drive. Seeing the numbers it's clear which car is most successful. The Fabia winning many national events and championships all around the world. At Skoda Motorsport, it's more about having a profitable business with many customers rather than having a works team winning championships. It would make sense to stick with their philosophy and build another "user-friendly" car where it's easier for customers to extract the potential of the car.
BTW as the rumors say, Skoda's going to spend a whole week doing development tests in the Ypres region. They're really taking it everywhere.
I don’t have the same opinion on the Polo R5. For me, it’s a disappointment: it was VW car (big domination in WRC), the group had Skoda’s experience in R5 (and Skoda stopped their development with VW coming) and it was clearly customer-oriented as a project (except the first rally, they never had a team as Skoda had with Lappi, Tidemand, Kopecky or Rovanpera). So the goal was clearly to overtake the Fabia and to be the next big thing in this category.
And ok, they succeeded in matching the level of the Fabia but they didn’t manage to overtake it whereas the Polo was newer. Polo has some points better (more high-performance oriented) than Fabia and the contrary is true also (Skoda probably more polyvalent and easy to use).
And now, the Citroen is also at this level I think.
Probably the fires (Camilli, Kajto, one guy in Portugal) didn’t help them also to promote it.
So in the end, I would not say the Polo R5 is a failure but a disappointment, yes clearly: the ultimate proof is that the group decides to stop the evolution of the Polo and to come back to the Fabia as the main car to develop.
Apart from the firesQuote:
Originally Posted by Danny0405
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-erD0PA8Hz...86225920_n.jpg
there were also rear suspension problems, at least for Kajto, Veiby, Saba and some other drivers:
https://static.motor.es/fotos-notici...01849670_1.jpg
https://twitter.com/PeAChapaRacing/s...201849670.html
http://www.kwa-kwa.pl/strona/images/...5/image008.jpg
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PMLX46MYO...56041216_n.jpg
so Polo R5 had quite a bad start which may have discouraged many customers...
Ok, I made a confusion (Kajto had a fire but it was not a VW, it was Veiby with VW and the Portuguese guy I was thinking about was Meireles): but having two cars with a fire in the same rally (Veiby + Meireles in Portugal WRC 2019) and 3 in 2 months (including Camilli in Corsica 2019) is clearly really bad for promotion, especially when it happens in WRC with drivers in contention for class win.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarek Z
Rear suspension issues has not helped for sure.
It’s always difficult to face a reliable car (as the Fabia is) from the beginning (neither VW, nor Citroen, Ford and Hyundai succeeds to do it and only VW and Citroen had matched it after some time).
There was also a Spanish driver Daniel Marban in Rally Islas Canarias in ERC:Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny0405
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrhxpbymfmU
When even teams who have won at WRC level struggle, it just goes to show how difficult it is to make a competitive and reliable R5 car and why proper testing is essential. The new Fiesta was not good ‘out of the box’ either despite MSport’s experience with a first generation R5.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny0405
First day of a five day test for Skoda in Ypres Region. Today they are testing in Wervik with Jan Kopecky. They are testing latest prototype (PT3) of the new Fabia R2.
I would disagree with you guys, I think Polo was a fast car out of the box but had some reliability issues, all of which were rectified quickly. As for posting that picture of rear axle getting loose in the tests, this is why they do tests, to see how far they can push the car before it breaks. And then fix that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Danny0405
But to me it's quite amazing that after several years of no active testing, the car can still win its class in WRC. We must remember that the factory stopped supporting the car right as it was released. There has been some updates but likely the development budget has been relatively small.
Also remember that after Polo came the Fabia Evo, and Skoda has still a big motorsport department doing the development all the time. Citroen has also been developed constantly, and the new Hyundai had an extensive development program.
As for being "difficult to jump into", how about Lappi and Suninen jumping into the car and winning instantly?
they're top-tier drivers.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
instead, i think that's very true for gentlemen and middle-tier drivers, some local drivers i chatted with -that tested and raced almost all r5- confirmed so. they said is very "professional" oriented car, that needs huge competence to get 100% potential, but also to find the soft spot around 80%-90%, while fabia on the opposite is easy to bring 80-90% with confidence.
that's for the average customer, not a big deal for professionals stepping down from wrc, extracting easily the top performance.
on a curious side, they reported fiesta mk2 as to have huge potential, but no feeling at all. they said you have to trust the car a lot, something they can't do, and nearly impossible for a driver doing few days in the car a year.
Difficult doesn't mean impossible. And both of them are pretty experienced drivers, which probably helped.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
I dare to say Polo was probably not that difficult car to drive in its nature but a rather difficult (or complex) car to properly set and service.Quote:
Originally Posted by tommeke_B
I somewhat disagree. There was quite a number of updates inlcuding 4 jokers (last one in July 2021), some development was shared with Škoda. You can find them here, the name of the document is "2022 - Complete List of Homologated Vehicles with Extensions - Dec. 2021": https://www.fia.com/regulation/category/760Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
IMHO Fiesta was homologated way too early when it was not fully developed.Quote:
Originally Posted by wyler
We can all agree the Polo is quick, although it may soon be surpassed by other manufacturers bringing new cars or further developing their current ones.
So what is the reason that relatively few people use them on the international stage? Is it about ongoing works support? Not just with jokers but I mean engineering and parts support on events. Skoda have made a point of having a service truck at WRC and some ERC events and will also supply engineers to help with setup and servicing. I wonder whether this is one reason Gryazin decided to join up with Toksport? I think he said something to that effect but i can’t remember where i heard it.
Do you know who else will drive this week? I presume Meeke but obviously not Mikkelsen or Lindholm who are both in Sweden.Quote:
Originally Posted by wwbroe
I will start from end - I think Gryazin left Polo mainly because there is no more development. So for future it is better to change the brand. I think that biggest problem for Polo was difficulty of finding correct setup and also price for running the car...Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
yeah, definitely it lacks something, but i'm just reporting drivers' impressions, anything can be!Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirek
Kopecky will do two days, Meeke also and friday it will be Loix testing the car.Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
Thanks.. i did wonder if Freddy would put in an appearance as he has been involved with testing of the Fabia S2000 and Fabia R5 previously.Quote:
Originally Posted by wwbroe
The Rally2 Fiesta was largely developed by the guy who was Ogier's engineer while he was at M-Sport.
But they didnt do nearly as much testing as Skoda and VW before releasing it. There could be many reasons for this but I suspect some over-confidence after the success of the Fiesta R5. Plus those drivers that came and tried it all said it was amazing.
Development was very short and not so good. They need to work on it much more. It was too early to homologate the car and start in Estonia, when it was not ready. Also setup was disaster.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Polo is very quick. It had problem in beginning with not so many cars and spare parts available. Also it is more expensive than other R5 cars. And not so easy for gentleman drivers to drive the car. To be fast, you must push really. And later, when there were supposed to be more Polos over the world, VW decided to stop the project. So it is nonsense to buy a car without future.Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
Come on Belgian people.. where are all the videos?Quote:
Originally Posted by wwbroe
But this car without future still wins. Solans totally dominated Rally Fafe, the first round of European Championship, and Linnamae was third :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Eric_B
https://rally-base.com/2022/rally-se...-boticas-2022/
Mellors Elliot Motorsport
🇫🇷 Vive la France! 🇫🇷
Delighted to announce Oliver Mellors will debut the MEM Proton R5 on French soil this weekend as they tackle the Rallye National de Haute Provence.
The outing will give them some experience of European asphalt for later in the season.
I don't know how good of a driver he is, but he will have a couple of R5 cars to beat:Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
https://www.ewrc-results.com/entries...provence-2022/
More on aero development of the new Fabia Rally2:
https://www.skoda-storyboard.com/en/...source=twitter
And a video: https://youtu.be/OsQhKDWVVnY
No luck. Mellors and his Proton crashed on SS5 when they were 3rd overall:Quote:
Originally Posted by Jarek Z
https://www.ewrc-results.com/final/7...provence-2022/
Iriz R5-based RX car to enter the 2022 Euro RX1 Championship:
https://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/w...x-in-euro-rx1/
Attachment 2265
At a quick look it could seem like Skoda was building a spaceframe car....
Sadly not, and the car is the ned Rally2 car inner build up.
Latest tests new Fabia Rally2.
Kopecky: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yunCNpDO1Z8
Meeke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eUvvoptWfuI
Looking quite smooth and sophisticated.
I like the sound of that exhaust note, quite different to most Rally2s
Nice and raspy, reminds me of old Citroen World Rally Cars. Proper turbo chatter and nice pops and bangs too!Quote:
Originally Posted by HKSjbg
Have VW Motorsport suddenly made 10 new cars?
Any upgrades for those?
Can we see more cars being produced?