Prodrive Mini WRC

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Originally Posted by RICARDO75

May be identical but they are still different. :D

You have two hot identical blonde sisters, but one has biggest boobs. They are identical but diferent

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Everything is more easily explained using boob references.

To keep things clear indiscussions on the forum, we have:
WRCars (DS3 / Countryman / Fiesta)
SP or T1600 (Countryman and maybe a Fiesta)
and S2000 (Fabia, 207, Proton, Fiesta, Grande Punto)

I'm really "teimoso" :D

But ok i have to accept things as they are.

If FIA wants to mantain the "S2000" terminology who i am to go against it?

Thanks for your patiente.. all :s mokin:

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Originally Posted by wwbroe

I think there are also some people that don't WANT to understand the situation, it is explained many different times by many different people and still people don't WANT to understand. It is not THAT difficult in my opinion. :D

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It´s not about what we nerds WANT. It´s all about what media and sponsors want.

I can tell you what they want:

Pure classes, maybe only two. Maybe 2WD and 4WD. Nothing else.

Then ordinary sportsinterested people might understand what international rallying is about. And will be interested, like they are in F1 (one class).

Not the current situation, with 1001 classes, IRC, WRC, SWRC, PWRC JWRC, R4, R3T, R2, R2T, R1 and such. It´s to difficult to understand. That´s why international rallying is on a negative trend. Still is, I´m afraid.

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Originally Posted by JAM

Why call S2000 to a new car when it was born as a WRC and has a 1.6T engine? Can't understand.

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1) Because it's a definition. Everything has a a name which is given by regulations. Any other name is irrelevant no matter how strange the official one is.

2) Because the regulations for both are completely same except engine.

I understand You find it strange but it's given by FIA. You can fight with windmills like Don Quijote but it won't change anything.

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!!

If he has takne 'lead' status it's a big mistake.

The Finnish magazine “Vauhdin Maailma” tells that Prodrive has already sold eight (8) Mini WRC cars (I suspect that some of them are the SP version). Two of them are expected to be in WRC fulltime.

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Originally Posted by OldF

The Finnish magazine “Vauhdin Maailma” tells that Prodrive has already sold eight (8) Mini WRC cars (I suspect that some of them are the SP version). Two of them are expected to be in WRC fulltime.

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It is quite strange to see them selling so many when it hasn't even completed a single stage yet!

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Originally Posted by RS

It is quite strange to see them selling so many when it hasn't even completed a single stage yet!

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It was the same case with the Fiesta S2000, 23 sold before first stage and I think those are not the only ones.

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Originally Posted by OldF

The Finnish magazine “Vauhdin Maailma” tells that Prodrive has already sold eight (8) Mini WRC cars (I suspect that some of them are the SP version). Two of them are expected to be in WRC fulltime.

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Derek Magarrity was in prodrive testing a mini recently he's looking at bringing one to ireland he reckons the car is as good at the moment as the s12's he's rallied recently he hoped to have one for the circuit of ireland but they will not have a car for him so he hopes to have one for the Donegal international

There is a strange rumor about one in Czech championship.

Sordo: "Rather Mini than paying for a drive with Citroen or Ford."

"I didn’t make the deal with Mini for the reason that it was my only opportunity. It would not have been difficult to get the funds to drive with Citroen or Ford but IMO it’s better to be in a team that appreciate you as a driver and not as an payer. "

"To be honest I must say that Citroen is ahead compared to Mini but also the Citroen wasn’t competetive in the same stage of the development as Mini is in now. "

"For Sweden I try to get a group N car on my own expense."

http://translate.google.com/translat...2F01%2F1252887

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Originally Posted by OldF

The Finnish magazine “Vauhdin Maailma” tells that Prodrive has already sold eight (8) Mini WRC cars (I suspect that some of them are the SP version). Two of them are expected to be in WRC fulltime.

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There isn't a British version, is there? Then I won't feel like a muppet. :D

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Originally Posted by EavesFan09

There isn't a British version, is there? Then I won't feel like a muppet. :D

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Unfortunately there’s not and the web page is also only in Finnish.

http://www.vauhdinmaailma.fi/

Google translated: http://translate.google.com/translat...nmaailma.fi%2F

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Originally Posted by OldF

Unfortunately there’s not and the web page is also only in Finnish.

http://www.vauhdinmaailma.fi/

Google translated: http://translate.google.com/translat...nmaailma.fi%2F

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I always laugh my ass off for that Google translation for the magazine's name. :D "Momentum in the World". I'd say "World of Speed" would be better.

Craig Breen's facebook:
Off to test the new Mini Countryman WRC tomorrow.....

Many drivers testing the Mini already? :)

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Originally Posted by mousti

Craig Breen's facebook:
Off to test the new Mini Countryman WRC tomorrow.....

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Great news :D :D

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Originally Posted by mousti

Craig Breen's facebook:
Off to test the new Mini Countryman WRC tomorrow.....

Many drivers testing the Mini already? :)

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Also Mellisa Debackere from Belgium is testing the car.... :D

must be a big test day tomorrow sordo will be there,it must just be a free for all i also saw that tom cave will be there too

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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.

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Originally Posted by AndyRAC

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.

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I wonder why we all feel this way without anything in the way of evidence that the car is crap? Is it, perhaps, because it's such an unlikely car with which to go rallying? Would we not be batting an eyelid if Prodrive had teamed up with, say, VW to rally a Golf, or with Vauxhall to run the Astra?

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

I wonder why we all feel this way without anything in the way of evidence that the car is crap? Is it, perhaps, because it's such an unlikely car with which to go rallying? Would we not be batting an eyelid if Prodrive had teamed up with, say, VW to rally a Golf, or with Vauxhall to run the Astra?

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I agree, it's strange that we feel this way with little 'hard evidence'. If it had been a normal Mini, or even a BMW 1 series maybe it would be different. It is a strange choice for a WRCar. Isn't there a saying, "If it looks good, it usually is good"?
Saying that, Prodrive's last few years with the Subaru was hardly fantastic. But as I said before, I hope we're all wrong.

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Originally Posted by BDunnell

I wonder why we all feel this way without anything in the way of evidence that the car is crap? Is it, perhaps, because it's such an unlikely car with which to go rallying? Would we not be batting an eyelid if Prodrive had teamed up with, say, VW to rally a Golf, or with Vauxhall to run the Astra?

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Indeed, I probably wouldn't be batting an eyelid either if the had chosen the standard non estate bodyshell. Could Prodrive have spotted a packaging or weight distribution advantage? I wonder whether this was Prodrive or BMW's choice and for reasons other than marketing. Other unorthodox cars like Peugeots 'whale' etc and their lack of success probably also colours our views.

Wouldn't it be fantastic if they blew everyone away on their 1st event.. (Sardinia?) Not gonna be holding my breath though. ;)

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Originally Posted by Zico

Indeed, I probably wouldn't be batting an eyelid either if the had chosen the standard non estate bodyshell. Could Prodrive have spotted a packaging or weight distribution advantage? I wonder whether this was Prodrive or BMW's choice and for reasons other than marketing.

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The BTCC Volvo 850 Estate springs to mind, I must say...

I quite like the shape of the new MINI it atleast looks aggressive and mean the only thing i hope they change is the livery but im sure they will have some new sponsors by the time of their début rally.

I wonder if Prodrive ever had Novikov on their driver list. Would Northern Europeans have more use for a 4x4 Mini than Iberians ?

There is too much negativity around this project already, plus Marcus refusing to drive this season, even if the problem was not the car, didn't help. In the end I think we know what this car is going to be, an average car able to post some top 5 times if extremely well driven.

I have a feeling this car will be like the majority of Subaru WRC's that Prodrive built - good in some areas, devastating in others but drastically bad in a lot too.
Ie. The early they were all good in the mud and cold/slipery conditions, 2000's Subaru WRC's were good at high altitude, but they could never seem to get the top end horsepower or tarmac performance that rival teams could.

I have hope that Prodrive being a very professional outfit arnt going to let the Mini project be another Suzuki/Hyundai/Seat venture.

It also bugs me about the Mini WRC's obvious faults that we fans can see. But, at the same time, I can only hope that there are countless hours of hard work being put in to counter act these obvious downfalls. I certainly bloody hope it was a VW's and not Prodrive's decision to run the Mini and not another car as the basis for their WRC.

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Originally Posted by grugsticles

I have a feeling this car will be like the majority of Subaru WRC's that Prodrive built - good in some areas, devastating in others but drastically bad in a lot too.
Ie. The early they were all good in the mud and cold/slipery conditions, 2000's Subaru WRC's were good at high altitude, but they could never seem to get the top end horsepower or tarmac performance that rival teams could.

I have hope that Prodrive being a very professional outfit arnt going to let the Mini project be another Suzuki/Hyundai/Seat venture.

It also bugs me about the Mini WRC's obvious faults that we fans can see. But, at the same time, I can only hope that there are countless hours of hard work being put in to counter act these obvious downfalls. I certainly bloody hope it was a VW's and not Prodrive's decision to run the Mini and not another car as the basis for their WRC.

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BMW, not VW ;)

I wonder if BMW would send a couple of Schnitzer engineers over to give the Mini project a bit of an audit ?