Can anyone pls put in some links that informs on the championchip ot teams running S2000 in Australia ?
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Can anyone pls put in some links that informs on the championchip ot teams running S2000 in Australia ?
Ford and Toyota running S2000 in Australia. The Ford team is run by Jason Bright's Britek V8 Supercar team with some very good rally people involved, they are building Fiesta's with the help of MSport. Toyota have built an old shape Corolla and Neal Bates will run that until the release of the new shape later in the year when both Neal and Simon Evans will run the S2000 cars.
The only links so far ar http://www.rally.com.au
Ray
Reigning champion Simon Evans will remain in the Gp. N(P) Toyota until the S2000's car has proven it's speed & reliability. Neal Bates will drive a Gp. N(P) that has been converted to S2000 initially until the 2007 body shape car is ready by Round 3 Rally of Canberra, close to the team's headquarters.
Ford will run 2 Fiesta's for Michael Guest & Darren Windus. Hopefully they will be fast straight from the box, unlike the MkIII Escort, sorry I mean RWD Focus.
I may be mistaken but I thought there is some Italian influence or heritage in the Fiestas.
The Ford Fiesta S2000 project is interesting - Please keep us posted on websites and Pictures of that car as they appear on Australian Sites !!
Yeh I too will be very interested in any info on the Fiesta S2000 please....
Is the plan to have the Fiesta ready for round 1, 31 March ??
Fiesta's will be ready for he first round.
Ray
Interesting to see if M Sport use any of the Oz knowledge if they decide to build a Fusty S2000
Check out this footage from Toyota's S2000 testing in Australia.
http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...=1083&Itemid=2
Is there much difference between the original Toyota Bates car and the newer S2000
Did Bates Motorsport build the new car is is this one from South Africa?
Nice car
New Corolla (Auris in Europe) is built by Bates for Australian championship S2000 regulation.
It is not based on SA car - RunX (Corolla in Europe) they had discussions but did not use any technology or ideas from SA.
Can't wait to see it (and hear it)live.Quote:
Originally Posted by aussiefan
If ROM doesn't run, will have to go interstate to see I think.
Livery of the Toyota team looks pretty good too.Quote:
Originally Posted by aussiefan
http://www.rally.com.au/home/features/articleid=2308
Any news on the Fiesta ?
Have they started the testing, the 31st is getting closer...
Or will they do this the normal motorsport way; finishing the car the night before the first rally, and just start using it ?? :p
Some news about the Ford team, here.
They have signed a tyre contract with Michelin, though it seems they haven't started testing the cars, yet.
http://www.rally.com.au/home/latestnews/articleid=2327
They produced a promo video & released it on Youtube but it only contain footage of the Gp.N(P) Focus with the S2000 Fiestas still under fabrication in the workshop shots. Nothing else has been made public yet.Quote:
Originally Posted by M5
Can't wait to see what both the Corolla's & Fiesta's are like when I head up to Queensland for the rally.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykcK43qZEeA
Link to Pirtek Ford Rally Team video
Found this photo with another story about the team's tyre deal
OK, here it is
One of the Fiesta S1600's came from Italy and had the floor modded and the Engine is from Mountune here in the UK
Anymore pics?
Anyone that could give a quick sitrep on how the S2000 cars went in the first round ?
Was very mixed results over the weekend for the S2000 cars with the Toyota having a lot more speed than the Fords. The Fords sounded quicker but didn't have the pace.
Neal Bates came second today after having a few problems on day 1 which put him back in the field. Windus in the 2nd Ford broke the gearbox housing on the start of stage 1, fixed the car for day 2 and set some top 5 times. Guest in the other Ford was on and off the pace all weekend with niggling problems.
Ray
At the end of Heat 2, both Fords have shown good promise with top 4 stage times set by both cars. Darren Windus overcame the gearbox hassles of Saturday to finish today in 5th.
One striking note about the Ford S2000 Fiesta's is their sound. Would not have been a far stretch to think that it was heard in NZ. Michael Guest was idling his car waiting for his turn on the Super Special Stage at Nambour Showgrounds & his car drowned out the noise of the pair of cars preceeding him.
The Ford Fiesta's have a 3" straight through exhaust with a resonator-like-bulge but nothing actually restricting flow or noise at all from the manifold to the tail pipe. Not sure how it passed under the noise limits.
Neal Bates in the Toyota S2000 car was second in today's heat. He was running in second yesterday until he & Coral smelled fuel???? & stopped as a precaution to fix it according to commentary at the spectator point.
Should also point out that two guys from Sadev in France were on hand over the weekend to see how the cars went.
Here is some photos of the stunning S2000 Fiesta
http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...D=31&ItemID=29
I was suprised our Autralian friends did'nt tell us about these
Built from a S1600 from Italy the team Pirtek Ford Australia have built the new S2000 car for their own series
http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...%23_Action.jpg
http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...23_Action4.jpg
http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...23_Action2.jpg
Pirtek team press release
The Super 2000 Ford Fiesta has a bright future after the Pirtek Rally Team made the world debut of the car at the opening round of the NEC Australian Rally Championship, the Coates Rally Queensland.
Darren Windus jumps his way to fifth placeThe highlight of the weekend was fifth pace outright in heat #2 for Darren Windus and Jon Mortimer.
Michael Guest and Mark Stacey were 11th at the completion of leg #1, but were running as high as fourth.
Throughout the event both cars set times in the top five.
A program that was completed in just 18 weeks, including design and construction was without doubt a massive achievement for the team.
After completing just 70 kilometres in pre-event testing on Thursday before the rally, it was not surprising that both cars experienced a range of issues throughout the event. This included a broken gearbox for Windus on leg #1 and power steering failure for Guest on leg #2.
However, under the regulations both cars were able to complete each leg of competition, and score valuable points in the ARC championship.
More importantly was the information gained by the crew to further improve the cars for future events.
"This has been a very good start for the Pirtek Rally Team," said Windus.
"There have been plenty of challenges throughout the weekend, but overall we are very pleased with what we have achieved.
"For me it's been a massive learning experience, as a driver it was a totally new car to get on top of as well as work with a professional organisation for the first time.
"The car is excellent to drive. Along with the team we know there's plenty to come and we are looking forward to making great gains throughout the year."
Michael Guest had no doubt the car has enormous potential.
"We have only scratched the surface with the Fiesta," said Guest.
"The Pirtek Rally Team has the right vehicle, but also the crew to make improvements for the upcoming events.
"For me this weekend was about getting back into a quality all-wheel-drive rally car. I'm sure we can get on top of this car going forward.
"We can look forward with confidence for the next event in Western Australia."
Team owner Jason Bright had plenty of praise for the Pirtek Rally Team.
"I was impressed with the speed of the car, but more importantly how this team met all the challenges," said Bright.
"We expected to have some technical issues with the cars this weekend, but we fully understand what these issues now are and we can work to rectify them and improve the reliability. From that point we can get work on improving the speed.
"Both drivers took the right approach. They were aware that they needed to finish and that has brought a great reward for the team.
"From a personal point of view it was great to see the professional look of the car and team. The sound of the cars is something else and I really enjoyed being part of the event.
"I know that our decision to take on the Pirtek Rally Team Ford Fiesta Super 2000 program was the right one."
The Pirtek Rally Team now heads back to its Melbourne base before taking the long journey across the country to Western Australia for round #2 of the NEC Australian Rally Championship, the Quit Forest Rally outside Busselton on 28-29 April.
http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...ews/Windus.jpg
Darren Windus' Fiesta before the start of Heat 1 - ROQ
For an internal look of sorts
What is the difference between the winning corolla and the corolla S2000?
The winning car is Gr. N 4x4 prototype, which is allowed only in australian championship (and maybe elsewhere), but the S2000 is built according to international FIA rules for this category, so it can run everywhehe, e.g. APRC or PCWRC. That's all I know :-)
Australian S2000 Corolla is apparenetly only homologated regionally - it can't do PCWRC or IRC series.
This is because CAMS (Australian Federation) gave a special homologation different to FIA homologation (fewer kits to be produced), in order to get the Corolla and Fiesta S2000 cars into the Australian series. The Australian series has had problems and this was a move by CAMS to save the series.
We can post the final results off the first rally in Australia.
I see in the first day Darren Windus is 21ste. (gearbox problems)
and the 2ste day he's 5th?
is that a classement par day?
Who can post the final results thanks.
Yes, each day is a separate heat. Because the Australian championship covers the same geographical area as Europe, it would was considered unfair to competitors from opposites ends of the country to travel at great cost so far & be out with a minor problem early on the first day. Thus ARC introduced the pre-cursor to the Superally system.Quote:
Originally Posted by rallyfanbelgium
The podium though is only given for the entire round, with an extra point to the winner, which combines the results of the two heats. If two drivers have equal points, then a count back is used with overall stage times, stage wins, etc...
Thus the round winner for the Rally of Queensland was Simon Evans(1st both heats), 2nd was his brother Eli Evans (3rd both heats) & third was Brendan Reeves (4th both heats). Thus 2nd place getters on Saturday, Dean Herridge, & Sunday, Neil Bates never got onto the podium.
Here is a rear view of the S2000 Corolla.Quote:
Originally Posted by HaCo
Here is a rear view of the Gp. N(P) Corolla.Quote:
Originally Posted by HaCo
The difference is the Exhaust!!!! :D LOL
Unfortunately was not allowed around to the front end to peer in there.
Thanks for the reply's. The front grill is different too.
But technically seen, how are they different? Does the N4 has a turbo or a bigger motor or... ?
Group N racing has turned into a two horse race, either a WRX or a Lancer, with no other manufacturer able to produce a fast 4WD car. In Australia, local rules were developed to allow to modify an existing car to fit in with Gp. N rules.Quote:
Originally Posted by HaCo
Basically the Gp. N(P) car is a Corolla with Celica GT4 internals in order to make it 4WD but still conform along Gp. N standards. Any manufacturer was allowed to use the running gear from another vehicle in their product line to make a competitive car.
Rightly or wrongly, in the name of parity, Toyota have been given slight changes to their original homolgation to be more competitive against the Gp. N Subaru's & Mitsubishi's.
For what ever reason, Ford looked at the rules & thought building RWD N/A car that would be allowed a bigger engine would make them competitive. It was a failure in many ways, at least 200kg overweight & very fragile at times. It was stated this was a learning process before developing a 4WD car.
Inspired by this way of thinking, the FIA then set about creating S2000 regulations but removed the headache of developing the drive train by using a control system made by Sadev. Now the Australian Championship has accepted the international standard of S2000 as the way of the future. Gp. N(P) will not be further developed but will be allowed to compete by Toyota & privateers who have bought them.
Livewireshock, thank you for your clear reply!!
No vids of the last rally anywhere?
It helps if you look for yourself:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=neilh13
The sound of the Fiesta is crazy!! :D
Some more vids
http://members.iinet.net.au/~asupply.../Guest%201.mp4
http://members.iinet.net.au/~asupply...Windus%201.mp4
http://members.iinet.net.au/~asupply...Windus%202.mp4
And pictures from official Ford photographer here:
http://www.inetpics.com/viewfolder.asp?unid=47651