Some reading for the weekend, first half of my Tour de Corse route history http://itgetsfasternow.com/2020/05/1...tes-1973-1995/
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Some reading for the weekend, first half of my Tour de Corse route history http://itgetsfasternow.com/2020/05/1...tes-1973-1995/
and second half http://itgetsfasternow.com/2020/05/2...tes-1996-2019/Quote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
I made a Geoguessr map since we can't get out on the stages. Try and guess the WRC stages, the closer you get the more points and you have and 2min in each location. If you think It's fun i might post some more :)
https://www.geoguessr.com/challenge/jbpddNJlPr8RrE1q
Chris Ingram's favourite road-trip - meeting a knife-weilding nutter on the way to a rally in 2013 !
https://detour-roadtrips.com/home/ch...rally-champion
Not rally-related except hisorically... Mitsubishi pull out of the UK.
https://www.am-online.com/amp/news/m...n-with-dealers
Part of that Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi sharing world markets. ShameQuote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Wow, a small player here for a long time now, but it'll be odd not to see them at all. While I appreciate we're talking from a biased position, I really think both Mitsubishi and Subaru have really suffered, far more than they could have imagined, from leaving rallying. Rallying might not be that big anymore, but they really have left the public consciousness almost completely, in the UK at least. Maybe we under appreciate it, but Rallying and the 'halo models' they produced for these companies really did have a value that shouldn't have been thrown away. For smaller players, I think rallying really does work effectively as a marketing tool. If Ford or Toyota left, the impact would probably be indiscernible in their sales figures due to their size, but I believe the smaller manufacturers allow you to see its impact.
Good news for Isuzu and Toyota dealers in rural areas!
It took until the Evo 6 for Mitsubishi UK (Colt Cars) to officially import the car into the UK; before that, most of the Lancer Evos seen in forest car parks were 'grey imports'. And I remember a story told in MNews (by Jerry Williams, I think); it was about major party/event taking place at the same weekend, as the RAC Rally; this was mid/late 90s. All the big hitters/main dealers were at the party, as opposed to being at the WRC event. The main point being they hadn't really got behind the WRC effort at that time.
Shame Mitsubishi has pulled out of Europe - not too far into the future it is likely to give Mitsubishi the excuse to pull out of all right hand drive markets with non-JDM models, (if further cost cutting is required) as the right hand vehicle models have their own development costs in addition to left hand drive vehicles. I guess that Evo eleven is not going to happen.
Nissan also have problems, i don't know how the salesfigures for Mitsubishi is in Europe, but in Norway they sell alot of the outlander PHEV , and a small electric one, some colts, but then i really don't know about other modells.
Sent fra min SM-G950F via Tapatalk
And Lancia, which become irrelevant after quitting the sport.Quote:
Originally Posted by the sniper
Though if I am not mistaken that was driven by internal Fiat politics favouring Alfa Romeo, nevertheless a valid point and the first brand that I thought about when I read about Mitsubishi exiting the UK market, though obviously in terms of relative quality of product at the time of market exit is incomparable, in favour of Mitsubishi that is (and this is coming from a Lancia fan as you know). Interestingly Lancia still enjoys some very loyal following in Italy.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rally Power
Yep, at the time it was told that the late Giorgio Pianta was highly influential on Abarth’s move to racing, througth Alfa Romeo. Their DTM program was far from the previous WRC success and despite a continuous relauching effort, Alfa keeps being a brand in crisis; ironically, even selling a single model (the Ypsilon) on a sole market (Italy), Lancia still manages to beat Alfa sales in Europe... https://www.best-selling-cars.com/eu...rs-and-brands/Quote:
Originally Posted by NickRally
Isn't Lancia Ypsilon heavily used by the rental companies?
It´s only model which Lancia produces and it´s from 2011Quote:
Originally Posted by Franky
and officially only sold in Italy.
Subaru has continued rallying in the USA and their sales there were increasing since 2008 (When the wrc program stopped) until this year's problems.
Subaru is niche with around 1 million car production capacity.
https://www.goodcarbadcar.net/subaru...sales-figures/
Europe is a small sales area for Subaru, compared to the usa. https://carsalesbase.com/europe-suba...25%20in%202017.
Funny I've been watching a lot of YT video's lately on performance car driving and noticed so many of the American ones used Subaru Impreza's.
They are still highly respected over there.
The 500 or the Panda are even more and they’re also best-sellers among Italian private costumeurs.Quote:
Originally Posted by Franky
The point is that Fiat wasted Lancia’s motorsport heritage in the most brainless possible way; rally and racing were vital to promote Fiat group brands but steadily all their motorsport programs were shut down (there’s only the small 124 Rally operation left) and Abarth, surely one the most vibrant racing department of the world on its golden times, was turned into a tuning company. Only Mitsubishi has done worst; they closed Ralliart in 2010 and completely pull out from motorsport a couple of years later.
I had no clue that Subaru sells 7 times more in the US than in Japan! Sadly the European market means very little to them (even Australia is better) but it’s great to see that Sti is still alive and rockin. Maybe a US WRC round is what Subaru’s board really needs to decide re-entering the series.Quote:
Originally Posted by Zeakiwi2
In all honesty Mitsubishi financially did not do well even during the rallying days and as far as I know have struggled for decades.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rally Power
Otherwise I completely agree
Sent from my GM1913 using Tapatalk
The performance crowd is small but dedicated even if the car's getting larger and heavier. Old ones are plentiful and the cheapest way to get a 4WD rally car with lots of parts availability. Luckily Subaru's US arm keeps promoting it. Canada's official team is gone but the distributors still provide support and contingency money.Quote:
Originally Posted by Rally Power
I'm sure Dirtfish has great dreams of getting a US WRC round, probably on the west coast near their headquarters, but everything's a bit of a mess here at the moment. There are events still happening but I generally don't like hot weather let alone a surging pandemic. Hopefully the fall will be better.
Yep, apparently as result of years of poor management (ironically now it’s Nissan who’s showing a chaotic leadership).Quote:
Originally Posted by cali
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/20...aiting-happen/
I'm asking here as well:
When was the first time a WRC stage had a donut marked in the road book?
So far I've found these:
2014 Catalunya SS1 Barcelona - first fully artificial donut
2012 Catalunya SS13 Riudecanyes - first roundabout donut on a non-super-special stage (4 km from the start)
2011 Mexico SS1 Guanajuato Street Stage - first roundabout donut on an SSS
Any earlier examples? Many people bring up Panizzi in Catalunya 2002 but it was not marked in the route. The Portugal Estoril donuts way back in the 80's and 70's meanwhile were just a show event outside competition after the rally had ended.
Rallying in Africa
@RallyinAfrika
@peugeotsport
's assitance car at 1986 @wrcsafarirally
The driver Pierre Pagani was driving a 205 T16 overloaded of spare parts inboard and on roof, with a flying mechanic
This car was not competitng in race. But #SafariRally was run on open roads and this kind of fancy was OK
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Eeu0WXaX...jpg&name=small
Colin McRae's biggest WRC decision
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/1...t-wrc-decision
Μalcolm onboard with escort mk2
https://twitter.com/MSportLtd/status...96176179568643
Loebs black/gold ds3 from Alsace sold for 730.000 euro
https://www.estrepublicain.fr/cultur...e-des-encheres
Further distractions for management or operations base widening? Hyundai pure - E-TCR car unveiling with Farfus. (experience & knowledge acquistion -toyota electric in the Le Mans vs Hyundai electric in the eTCR)
https://youtu.be/V3XwWey0UEk
Goodwood SpeedWeek starts tonight with runs on their rally stages. There will be coverage on their website www.goodwood.com and YouTube.
Evans, Latvala and Meeke will all be driving the Yaris GR4 as Zero-Car.
https://www.goodwood.com/grr/event-c...-to-speedweek/
https://dirtfish.com/rally/rhys-yate...ood-speedweek/
Shame it's not the WRC test car... One more run wouldn't have hurt!
Goodwood SpeedWeek is go! The GR Yaris caused a stir on the rally stage last night with @ElfynEvans and @JariMattiWRC driving. Stay tuned for more #GWSpeedWeek action over the weekend.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EkcMe1-W...pg&name=medium
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EkcMfbCW...pg&name=medium
I did see 5 different Yaris GR4 during Rally Sweden, over half year ago...
Are those 1st ones in GB ?
Possibly... maybe that's why they have Meeke, Latvala and Evans promoting them.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ekdb3wDX...jpg&name=large
What a BIG frontscoop!!!
There's been one left had drive one touring Toyota showrooms across GB since July, IIRC.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
What was the true golden era of rallying?
How many teams participated full-time or part-time?
Before 1995 I've counted a team having done a full season when they have started in 7-8 rallies (depending on how many rallies you could count to your score that year).
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ek6hpQeW...pg&name=medium
Competitiveness can be measured by looking at how many of the teams managed to win a rally, finish on the podium or neither?
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ek6hpQdX...pg&name=medium
I have counted only one team per brand so the likes of Stobart do not count.
Also, I only counted the top class entries so for example Volkswagen in 1986-1987 doesn't count in.
Some one-offs were also left off but for example in 1985 it was difficult to leave out Renault who won their only start.
Belgium themed bars are always good place to drown your sorrows
Nice work AntilLQuote:
Originally Posted by AnttiL
Ideally you would add a 3rd bucket about works teams competing in the second tier category (Rallye2, Super2000, F2, Gp.A when Gp.B was the top class, etc ...). Although they do not provide competition for wins, not oinly do they bring the unsual podium (or win) but also some works seats fro drivers. I am so depressed to day that the last step is near impossible for a young gun (if not backed from youth "a la RedBull"or with deep pockets (buying a seat)
Similarly I would not leave the one-offs since these teams usually competed in other well supported series (IRC, Asai-Pacific in its heyday, ...)
And finally I would go all the way back to the 70's, interestingly you had many works team but probably none was doing more than 5-6 events per year (true to say that during this era, they were a lot of non championship events with better entry list than the WRC/ERC.
If you are sheltered in place as we now are (again) here, this is a good way to. use your week-end ;-)
The story of how Sébastien Loeb could have been a Subaru driver in the WRC
However, with the arrival of Loeb to the Bahrain Raid Xtreme and Prodrive, it has come to light that the relationship between David Richards and Sébastien Loeb goes back a long way, specifically from Seb's first steps in the WRC, when the British… He tried to sign him for Subaru! At that time, the person in charge of the structure based in Banbury was the one who decided the steps of the signing of the stars in the World Cup, so his attempt to sign him was a risky bet in search of a replacement for a Richard Burns that he would leave the team's discipline at the end of that year.
From no to Subaru to the story of a spite:
The structure lost the World Champion, who had a contract signed with Peugeot for 2002, while Petter Solberg was still in training and a Markko Martin that had a year full of mishaps and that would end up leaving for Ford to complete the team with Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae. Loeb decided to decline the appetizing offer to sign for Subaru full-time and form a structure with what would be his great rival for the 2003 title, opting to remain at Citroën and do a part-time program at the World Championship in 2002.
Subaru chose at the time to sign Tommi Mäkinen after Mitsubishi's disastrous move to WRC regulation. On France TV Loeb was asked if he thought precisely that this refusal to sign for Subaru could have influenced Subaru's claim in the 2002 Monte-Carlo against Loeb and the Citroën team. In that edition, the sports commissioners of the event applied a two-minute penalty for changing tires in an assist (Service G of only 10 minutes) in which it was not allowed.
loeb-citroen-wrc-2002-1
His team had changed tires before the Xsara WRC made the short drive to the Parc Fermé in Monaco so they had not gained any kind of competitive advantage. However, those two minutes made Loeb lose the lead, with a penalty that remained in the air due to the possible appeal of the team, believing that it was too severe a punishment for an error that Guy Frequelin himself admitted for a team that he had practically just made it to the championship.
Finally, the appeal would be withdrawn on Monday to "preserve the good relations between Citroën and the FIA" and Tommi Mäkinen took the Monte-Carlo victory in 2002 ahead of a brilliant Sébastien Loeb who had to wait for Germany that same year to savor his first World Cup triumph. Precisely Loeb has pointed out that the insistence to punish that mistake was more on the part of the Finnish pilot than of the one who is now his boss, David Richards.
Ford and Volkswagen also tried to sign him:
loeb-race-champions-2008-ford-focus-wrc
It was not the only time that history could have turned upside down, since after Citroën's decision not to include him in the team's plans for 2019 after the fall of Abu Dhabi as a "main sponsor", Malcolm Wilson tried a second time to sign Loeb, again with the same result he obtained in 2005, when even Sébastien did a test at the wheel of the Ford Focus RS WRC in the summer of that same year in the forest of Greystoke, very close to the headquarters of the M- team. Sport in Cumbria. History is already written and Loeb decided again for Citroën, even if this meant racing in 2006 under the colors of the private Kronos Racing structure. It would be nice to know what was the intrahistory of his possible signing for Volkswagen at the end of 2011
https://www.diariomotor.com/competic...to-subaru-wrc/