Prodrive Mini WRC

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Originally Posted by manta400

I was reading in maxrally.com about Sordo doing the Recce on all rallies this year that will appear in 2012 season. What about Kris Meeke do you reckon he will do the same? Or has Sordo taken over lead driver already!!

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Meeke should really do it too..

I was bit sceptic towards recce-only stuff before but after 2008 Jordan I quickly changed my mind. Sordo did recce there in 2007 but nobody else did. Sordo was leading after day one and said that the recce done the previous year helped very much. Not so hard to believe... You get to know the special characteristics, road profile, what kind of "situation corners" you have in that rally etc. Very wise move, especially if there are new rallies.

Also if you are a young gun, you should really just head out to all kinds of roads along with your codriver and just do notes. This isn't done today enough, atleast seen by some Finnish top codrivers. I can easily agree.

The other day I read an old interview from Richards and he said that other car models (form different brands) suited the basic setup for his new rally car. I believe one of the cars mentioned was Mazda...are there any others?

My brother visted prodrive for a factory tour after the motorsport show the other weekend, his opinion is that prodrive are flogging a dead horse.. he reckons it will be a repeat of Suzukis WRC project, COG too high with prodrive being too desperate to accept any old contract possibly heading their direction after Subaru's WRC withdrawal. Its also the 'ugliest' rally 'car' he has ever seen and cant see any marketing values in it for BMW atall.
Not sure what their total workforce numbers are but apparently they have had to let 250 (iirc) staff go ... doesn't bode well for the BMW Mini by the sounds of things but I refuse to share his pessimism just yet as I think the long countryman chassis just might offer some advantages on the faster high speed events.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

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Originally Posted by Zico

My brother visted prodrive for a factory tour after the motorsport show the other weekend, his opinion is that prodrive are flogging a dead horse.. he reckons it will be a repeat of Suzukis WRC project, COG too high with prodrive being too desperate to accept any old contract possibly heading their direction after Subaru's WRC withdrawal. Its also the 'ugliest' rally 'car' he has ever seen and cant see any marketing values in it for BMW atall.
Not sure what their total workforce numbers are but apparently they have had to let 250 (iirc) staff go ... doesn't bode well for the BMW Mini by the sounds of things but I refuse to share his pessimism just yet as I think the long countryman chassis just might offer some advantages on the faster high speed events.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

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I suspect your brother does not know his derrière from his coude. :)

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Originally Posted by Zico

My brother visted prodrive for a factory tour after the motorsport show the other weekend, his opinion is that prodrive are flogging a dead horse.. he reckons it will be a repeat of Suzukis WRC project, COG too high with prodrive being too desperate to accept any old contract possibly heading their direction after Subaru's WRC withdrawal. Its also the 'ugliest' rally 'car' he has ever seen and cant see any marketing values in it for BMW atall.
Not sure what their total workforce numbers are but apparently they have had to let 250 (iirc) staff go ... doesn't bode well for the BMW Mini by the sounds of things but I refuse to share his pessimism just yet as I think the long countryman chassis just might offer some advantages on the faster high speed events.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

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Interesting. For some reason I've had a weird feeling about this project. Don't get me wrong, I do hope that they could be able to build a winner car.

Marcus Grönholm said to one magazine that he'd really like to drive but after testing Mini said that "it really didn't go anywhere"...

My brother visted prodrive for a factory tour after the motorsport show the other weekend, his opinion is that prodrive are flogging a dead horse.. he reckons it will be a repeat of Suzukis WRC project, COG too high with prodrive being too desperate to accept any old contract possibly heading their direction after Subaru's WRC withdrawal. Its also the 'ugliest' rally 'car' he has ever seen and cant see any marketing values in it for BMW atall.
Not sure what their total workforce numbers are but apparently they have had to let 250 (iirc) staff go ... doesn't bode well for the BMW Mini by the sounds of things but I refuse to share his pessimism just yet as I think the long countryman chassis just might offer some advantages on the faster high speed events.

I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Kind of have to agree. Going by the testing videos the Mini does look a little bit more awkward and less nimble than both the Fiesta and the DS3.

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Originally Posted by Juha_Koo

For some reason I've had a weird feeling about this project. Don't get me wrong, I do hope that they could be able to build a winner car.

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My view exactly, though it's based on very little. Time will tell.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

My view exactly, though it's based on very little. Time will tell.

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+1

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

My view exactly, though it's based on very little. Time will tell.

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+1

Oh dear, I'm another one.......I really want it to be a success. For all concerned - Prodrive, drivers, etc BMW won't hang around if it's a failure.
The WRC needs as many competitive teams as possible if it is to be a successful sport.