World Rallycross Championship a.k.a RALLYX

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Originally Posted by MrJan

Entertaining stuff, lots of bumper car action but that's what we expect from Buxtehude isn't it? Funny how Timmy is complaining about other drivers being aggressive, then takes two penalties in two meetings. Didn't seem to be as easy for JK, most of the other races this year have seemed like done deals but pace seems to be much closer.

On another note, interesting to hear Coley say that they'll go up Eau Rouge and back down again...hope it doesn't mean some crappy hairpin at the top a la COTA/Istanbul/Hockenheim/Catalunya etc.

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It was a lot of action, but that first corner makes it more like a lottery than a race. The joker is also an issue. Since the exit speed is low, it's best to take it on the last lap, otherwise you'll loose time. Combined with a very short joker it doesn't give any room to advance on joker strategy either. The drivers can only hope that the guy ahead makes a mistake which allows them to pass. Otherwise the result is pretty much the same as the order out of turn 1, lap 1. And that turn is again a lottery so...

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Originally Posted by Alpha

Otherwise the result is pretty much the same as the order out of turn 1, lap 1. And that turn is again a lottery so...

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We actually saw quite a bit more action after T1 in this race than a lot of other races this season, so I'm not sure that's completely true. E.G Bakkerud led the final (think it might have been the first attempt) on the first lap but JK put it up the inside. Timur made a pass in Q4 I think, Gronholm got by Solberg in the final etc. compare it to even Hell and I think there was more overtaking at Estering.

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Originally Posted by MrJan

On another note, interesting to hear Coley say that they'll go up Eau Rouge and back down again...hope it doesn't mean some crappy hairpin at the top a la COTA/Istanbul/Hockenheim/Catalunya etc.

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That sounds awful! At Spa they at least have a chance to make a track with proper gravel sections in natural environment, like a proper RX track. But I'm not surprised that they'll screw it up.

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Originally Posted by Alpha

It was a lot of action, but that first corner makes it more like a lottery than a race. The joker is also an issue. Since the exit speed is low, it's best to take it on the last lap, otherwise you'll loose time. Combined with a very short joker it doesn't give any room to advance on joker strategy either. The drivers can only hope that the guy ahead makes a mistake which allows them to pass. Otherwise the result is pretty much the same as the order out of turn 1, lap 1. And that turn is again a lottery so...

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I agree that the last lap joker advantage is an issue, other than that. I don't see that the first corner is a lottery, it's more than possible to go in first, and come out first. That there are less joker strategy isn't all bad either. Nice to have some almost old, proper RX :)

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Originally Posted by Alpha

Each driver can only use two engines during a season. Petter blew an engine at Höljes earlier this year. If this is another failed engine he will be opening a third engine for this season which means 15 points are removed and he has no chance to get silver in the championship. Hell, he'll be battling with Timmy for 6th.

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I knew about the two engine restriction, but I forgot Petter blew an engine at Holjes! Yeah, as you say, if he has to go to a third engine then his bid for second is surely over.

Peugeot have pulled the plug.

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Originally Posted by T16

Peugeot have pulled the plug.

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How strange, I thought Peugeot Sport looked well committed to World Rallycross, why the sudden change in heart?

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Originally Posted by tbtstt

How strange, I thought Peugeot Sport looked well committed to World Rallycross, why the sudden change in heart?

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They want to be seen as electric pioneers and the series planned on being all electric for 2019, but then did a U-turn.
Probably doesn't help that the Polo is way ahead and that the series has hit a wall in terms of excitement (all the cars are to efficient and therefore the racing is too 'neat').

Peugeot Sport quits WRX at the end of 2018 ► http://bit.ly/2NNVG3P

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Originally Posted by T16

They want to be seen as electric pioneers and the series planned on being all electric for 2019, but then did a U-turn.

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The switch to electric was planned for 2020 and has only been deferred by a year (for now). Has that extra year forced them away?

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Originally Posted by tbtstt

The switch to electric was planned for 2020 and has only been deferred by a year (for now). Has that extra year forced them away?

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Sorry - yeah... I was a year out. Reading between the lines, i'm not sure there is enough certainty that the change will happen and when, so I guess that's enough for PMC to say goodbye.

First nail in the coffin of traditional rallycross. The ohers wont be far behind...

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Originally Posted by T16

Sorry - yeah... I was a year out. Reading between the lines, i'm not sure there is enough certainty that the change will happen and when, so I guess that's enough for PMC to say goodbye.

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I could be completely off - as I don't know if PSA have a central pool for motorsport funding or if each individual manufacturer has a separate budget - but could this be connected to Citroen signing Ogier?

With Citroen getting Ogier onboard and talking about going all out next year, I just wonder if the extra funding has come from elsewhere within the PSA Group? Or are Peugeot stepping back from rallycross there are concrete plans for electric in place?

[QUOTE=tbtstt;1195622]I could be completely off - as I don't know if PSA have a central pool for motorsport funding or if each individual manufacturer has a separate budget - but could this be connected to Citroen signing Ogier?

Yeah - I guess it's a possibility that the main PSA budget has diverted more funds towards the Citroen WRC project, but Peugeot still will need to market their vehicles and they have always been keen on using motor sport for that.

Peugeot may have something else up their sleeve in terms of exposure (wait for WRC to become hybrid/ formula E).

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Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC

First nail in the coffin of traditional rallycross. The ohers wont be far behind...

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Many people have suggested that manufacturers are making it expensive...now they're quitting and people are saying it's the death of rallycross. Which is it?

Strange that Peugeot came in so wholeheartedly for just one season. One thing I can't understand is why these teams on a budget have such large setups, the Peugeot rig for 2018 was so noticeably more expensive than previous years when they were Hansen. Likewise EKS have a mad input. I think at Riga they had 4 huge lorries, 4 supercars and space for a static display. I'm sure a huge amount of it is just needless expense.

The truth is most OEM's know it will be difficult to promote and excite fans in general with electric races, they may say they are completely behind those changes via PR marketing but in the end they are afraid of spending millions on new technology and having empty stands and no interest in the series.

Anyway, no sense to invest yet in a full electric series when you just announced you will focus your development of regular cars ands sportscars in Plug-in Hybrid form.

is this farce dead yet ?

I hate to say this, but GRE will be broadcasted by Eurosport..

Sent from my A12 using Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by Arnold Triyudho Wardono

I hate to say this, but GRE will be broadcasted by Eurosport..

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As long as they have a SuperCar class, not only this spec crap that they preseted today... Then Im sold!
https://www.facebook.com/globalrally...6180917033612/
Nordic RallyX Is also expandind to 7 races next year, with Latvia and another round in Norway...

Edit: It looks that GRC Euro car could have a few different body kits... thats a little better than spec cars

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Originally Posted by MrJan

Many people have suggested that manufacturers are making it expensive...now they're quitting and people are saying it's the death of rallycross. Which is it?

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Hammer. Nail. Head.

Well, called it last year. VW nearly murdered WRC and are now on course to murder RX. Peugeot will concentrate on the 308 TCR, which has been a pleasant surprise in the WTCR this year.

Production of 3-door 208 ended long time ago...

Why would Peugeot promote something which you can´t buy ?

(same with Audi, new A1 was introduced wile ago, EKS S1 car is old model, VW isn´t "factory" team, so they can still use old model Polo, no PR problems)

I kknew that this would happened. Fisrt Audi now Peugeot. Way to go VW... You're making it again. Not a surprise at all.

Well...it is part of the game to be the best, same time obeying rules. You can`t blame anyone in that.

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Originally Posted by Tarmop

Well...it is part of the game to be the best, same time obeying rules. You can`t blame anyone in that.

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Exactly right. Makes me smile when people complain about manufacturers making a car better than the rest. It isn't the fault of VW that Peugeot and Audi aren't quick enough. If you don't understand that then I'm not sure you understand what the point of sport is.

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Originally Posted by MrJan

Exactly right. Makes me smile when people complain about manufacturers making a car better than the rest. It isn't the fault of VW that Peugeot and Audi aren't quick enough. If you don't understand that then I'm not sure you understand what the point of sport is.

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Spot on. Truth be told I don't think the Polo is significantly faster than the competition this year; it is more reliable though and the PSRXVW operation seems to be much better run (on and off track). Oh, and Johan Kristoffersson might be a robot.

I still think it's a rather rash decision from Peugeot given how much they have poured into the evolution of the 208 rallycross car. I suspect that there were be at least one Hansen on the grid next year, though I wonder if this season is the last we will see from Loeb.

I hope GCK get some Renault funding to plug the Peugeot gap.

Peugeot only came back with full factory support this year. Can't the 208's continue under Team Hansen in 2019, or is it too expensive ?

Is it possible that PSA pull the plug on Peugeot involvement and focus now on WRC because of Ogier coming? Are they really that cheap so that they can't run two programmes at once?

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Originally Posted by deephouse

Is it possible that PSA pull the plug on Peugeot involvement and focus now on WRC because of Ogier coming? Are they really that cheap so that they can't run two programmes at once?

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No, they have openly stated it's because of the delay in the introduction of electric rallycross.

We'll be fine as long as Hansen Motorsport is still racing..(I hope)

And I hope GRE will have a YouTube channel so the non-European fans can watch that..

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Originally Posted by tbtstt

No, they have openly stated it's because of the delay in the introduction of electric rallycross.

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And you really believe that.

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Originally Posted by tomhlord

I hope GCK get some Renault funding to plug the Peugeot gap.

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At least something has happened, as it has gone from being a GCK Megane, to a Renault Megane, and they have actual Renault branding on the car.

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Originally Posted by deephouse

And you really believe that.

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Actually it makes perfect sense. They’ll launch the new 208 road car earlier next year (probably in Geneve Motor Show) and it’ll include an EV version. With sales starting during 2019 second quarter, the 2020 WRX season would still be a viable timing to promote the new model. Waiting for 2021 seems far less interesting and the lack of a proper number of competitors in the eWRX probably also helped Peugeot pulling out.

Besides, while eWRX is looking to become a fiasco, the new Le Mans hybrid Hypercar rules (ready in December) are attracting a huge number of manus and its running costs will apparently get way lower than initially expected. Who knows, maybe Peugeot is changing their focus to LM/WEC 2020, starting ASAP a full scale LM Hypercar project. Fingers crossed!

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Originally Posted by MrJan

Exactly right. Makes me smile when people complain about manufacturers making a car better than the rest. It isn't the fault of VW that Peugeot and Audi aren't quick enough. If you don't understand that then I'm not sure you understand what the point of sport is.

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While you are 100% right, it still gets awful boring if the cars always finish in the same order.
It's up to the rules to try and make a level field so the racing is interesting. There will always be teams with more skill and resources and if they do their job right, they can dominate. There have been many examples of this in the past which brought about things like penalty weight, etc to try and keep the field fairly evenly matched. Whether it's good or bad can be argued.
Whatever the case, it's not the manufacturers fault they have built a better car but the sport may want to keep the big picture in mind with the regulations.

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Originally Posted by OHL

While you are 100% right, it still gets awful boring if the cars always finish in the same order.

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I wouldn't say it's boring (Estering had plenty of action with the same winner), but completely agree that the last two seasons haven't been as exciting as previous years....but it's probably still my favourite motorsport. I still get annoyed when people make out like it's the fault of the dominant team for being dominant though.

Some swedish media says Hansen try to take the cars home and run it like before. It's also says it's a possibillity Loeb doing WRX with them.
Probably wait for some official news.


No, WRX don't even reach WRC to it's knees, it's same sort of boring like when the Loeb citröen era.

Sent fra min SM-G950F via Tapatalk

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Originally Posted by skarderud

Some swedish media says Hansen try to take the cars home and run it like before. It's also says it's a possibility Loeb doing WRX with them.
Probably wait for some official news.

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Thanks. What I said / hoped.

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Originally Posted by Rally Power

Actually it makes perfect sense. They’ll launch the new 208 road car earlier next year (probably in Geneve Motor Show) and it’ll include an EV version. With sales starting during 2019 second quarter, the 2020 WRX season would still be a viable timing to promote the new model. Waiting for 2021 seems far less interesting and the lack of a proper number of competitors in the eWRX probably also helped Peugeot pulling out.

Besides, while eWRX is looking to become a fiasco, the new Le Mans hybrid Hypercar rules (ready in December) are attracting a huge number of manus and its running costs will apparently get way lower than initially expected. Who knows, maybe Peugeot is changing their focus to LM/WEC 2020, starting ASAP a full scale LM Hypercar project. Fingers crossed!

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But then the real question would be, are they really that invested in electric cars?! Peugeot boss has openly said on twitter they will focus Peugeot on plug-in hybrid sportscars, and for me that is not an electric car, even if the PR departments try to pass them as such. In that case maybe WEC makes more sense.

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Originally Posted by MrJan

Exactly right. Makes me smile when people complain about manufacturers making a car better than the rest. It isn't the fault of VW that Peugeot and Audi aren't quick enough. If you don't understand that then I'm not sure you understand what the point of sport is.

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Have to agree. It's something that affects motorsport, in particular. And the usual solution is some form of handicapping, BoP, ballast, running order, etc Which is a bad road to go down.

Oh and Peugeot have history in pulling a programme suddenly...

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Originally Posted by Francis44

But then the real question would be, are they really that invested in electric cars?! Peugeot boss has openly said on twitter they will focus Peugeot on plug-in hybrid sportscars, and for me that is not an electric car, even if the PR departments try to pass them as such. In that case maybe WEC makes more sense.

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The next 208 will have a 100% electric version, using the new E-CMP platform (recently inaugurated in the DS3 Crossback). The ‘electrification’ mentioned by Peugeot CEO is about having Hybrid models but also fully Electric cars; there’s no PR confusion in it.