Meeke seemingly testing new Fabia in Greece.
Last moment changes or planned tests that got delayed?
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Meeke seemingly testing new Fabia in Greece.
Last moment changes or planned tests that got delayed?
Planned tests.
Apparently car was homologated in August, but due to shortage of spare parts they won't use it in Acropolis.
Lindholm should be testing in Greece also.
But, from what I heard, car still has some particularities and is a bit different to drive than the current one.
Meeke/Floene in Greece: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vcq3ztNooOQ
New Fabia was homologated on September 1st: https://www.auto.cz/skoda-fabia-rs-r...soutezi-145522
- This was delayed due to the requirement to produce a certain number of road cars on which it was based.
- They are short of everything (not just chips)
- Debut possibly not until Monte
In the Dirtfish article they write what likely is the main reason. That they want to start production and continue without stopping with at least 5 cars in first batch. They say they could run 1-2 now.
Also interesting that they call it "the most anticipated Rally2 ever".
I'd say Hyundai last year and maybe even more the Polo (if you include R5) were more anticipated.
Hyundai cause their previous car wasn't all that competetive and Polo cause VW motorsport dominated in WRC
Current Fabia is still probably the allround best car, even though some other cars are better in specific conditions.
But might be that people who want to buy brand new car have to wait for this, cause the current car is no longer produced.
Maybe the works team will run a couple of cars on Catalunya to showcase it and concentrate on getting the customer cars built for the beginning of 2023?
NoQuote:
Originally Posted by RS
It is simple - they dont have enough parts for the cars. To build them and also to run them. So for them it is nonsense to start with new car and show its speed, when they are not able to sell the cars...
Not even enough parts to run two cars on a tarmac rally?
Why they should run the car on tarmac rally when they cannot sell it? It is nonsense to do it now...Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
From what we have been told about the car it should excel on a rally like Catalunya. It’s end of October.. they can take orders. nobody would expect it to be delivered until next year anyway. Unclear what the point of homologating it now was if they don’t intend to use it?Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
They have plenty of orders now. No need to make additional promo for car which cannot be sold...Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
Ofcourse Skoda want to take all possible orders, if they don't, Citroen/Hyundai/MSport will get those orders...
If they dont, most of the competitors will wait. If somebody wants Skoda, they will take older Skoda Fabia Rally1 Evo rather than Citroen/Hyundai/Ford...Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
Is it also the most expensive among R5s?
Apart from the new Fabia, i20 is still pretty new as fiesta. Can we expext new generation from citroen/stellantis?
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yes, if they go mild hybrid.Quote:
Originally Posted by manthey
Or turned around, under current rules I believe this Fabia is the last car to be homologated under current rules.Quote:
Originally Posted by wyler
Either they change the rules (slightly) or we get completely new rules and R5/Rally2 will slowly turn into "historic" class like N4 Evo/Imprezas did when R5 was introduced.
Problem with changing rules just a tiny bit might be that both new and old cars still need to have about same speed. Even some 20 kg mildhybrid will be a weight penalty and probably very little power gain. We could see how endurance racing struggled when they tried to make rules for different drivetrains or configurations, be it closed cockpit vs open, turbo vs NA, petrol vs diesel or hybrid vs diesel. Usually one of the two options turns out noticeably faster.
With that many cars in the market, it is hard to kill the class.
And mild hybrid is a expensive dead end.
Quote:
Originally Posted by wyler
Mild hybrid what the privateer wants is it?Quote:
Originally Posted by M5
don't know, but is what stellantis definitely want. (they openly asked it more than once)Quote:
Originally Posted by WRCStan
I could see a Rally2 Hybrid side class being created for manu teams and WRC2 primarly, with privateers and national championships run with old cars.
I can't, that'd threaten the existence of an already too fragile Rally1 whilst not serving the manufacturer unless they subscribed to the same costs anyway, something Skoda don't want to do either - but at least they have Rally2 sales, which would have to have hybrid forced onto the customer, which would only work if it's cheap, reliable, free IP... can't see it.Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
It might be coming to Rally1 soon though lol.
Are they still building new chassis of the old car? I thought they stopped that some time ago.Quote:
Originally Posted by PLuto
I still can’t agree on the logic with not running the new car. Apart from the promotion issue, I would have thought it would be quite useful for them to see how it performs on a real rally ahead of next season starting, instead of it just sitting around gathering dust for another few months.
They do not, becauseQuote:
Originally Posted by WRCStan
- Cars will be more costly to buy
- Cars will be more advanced and harder and more costly to maintain.
- It takes time to get a good 2. hand market for people to start. Today you can buy an old Fabia R5 and fight in the top, in national series. Would be stupid from FIA to kill off the most successful carclass they have.
I'm not sure hybrid in rally cars does much at all for selling road cars, even with the Rally1's. Putting it in Rally2's would have little effect for the promotion of it on the road models which have been around for years already.
If anyone takes anything from rallying to decide their purchase its probably sportiness, toughness and reliability.
plan with Mikkelsen in new Fabia @lausitzrallye
https://forum.rallye-magazin.de/thre...itz-einsetzen/
Weird.Quote:
Originally Posted by CWJ
He is testing in a snazzy new livery at the moment: https://twitter.com/AM89news/status/...trzz8rSdw&s=19
https://www.rallit.fi/rallit-fi-palj...ssa-yleisolta/
Toyota has tested their new Rally2 car last week, but it's still all officially a secret.
Finally some good news in the Rally2 thread!Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
About time! With the new Fabia coming on-line soon we need another manufacturer to keep them honest and you have to assume Toyota/TGMR will do a proper job.
Didn't Latvala say they would develop a Rally3 car first as there was less competition?
Good news but they could've done all this much sooner.
The Yaris AP4 car running down-under has been doing well and I'm sure Toyota could've used some of the info from that to get going instead of looking at all the other Rally2 cars.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RS
According to Czech regional newspaper Deník there were showcase day for media a guests.
I´m sure that looking at all other Rally2 cars is way more useful than looking AP4 car.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Video from this event with a special guest car:Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenneth
https://youtu.be/EffVRbq_6-k
Longer video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9Jk2XylrE4
When the driver gets it right, it’s super impressive how this car can turn on a sixpence and drive off with instant response from the engine (see 6m20)
yes its engine is very impressive from what we have seen.
Maybe to fine-tune the car, but when they're only just starting I'm sure the AP4 car is a good basis.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
It’s a different regulationQuote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC