Saloons or Sportscars?

With regard to the threads on S2000 and the future of the WRC I was just wondering why not let manufacturers into the WRC who are interested but don't have a saloon available. I have been watching Greatest Years of Rallying 1970-80's and there were quite a lot of sportscars taking part. I can only think they were outlawed because the FIA/FISA didn't want spectacular exciting cars making the WRC more popular than F1. A lot of the recent saloon based cars have been boring, whats wrong with a 2 seater Rally car? Or is that a silly question?

But what exactly do you mean? Cars like Ferrari, Porsche 911 and BMW M1?

Who have you got in mind, I'm struggling to think which manufacturer would want to S2000 or WRC who doesn't make a saloon?

Maybe Porsche like the 911 of old or people like Spyker if they had the resources of course, theres is a Db9 which did some rally testing and a Nissan 350 rallying in Belgium I think.

I guess that's the kind of cars he's talking about.

I didn't word the question very well, Toyota used to use the Celica GT 4, which was a 2 seater, I think. Yet when they came back they used the Corolla.
I know in Belgium there is a class for sportscars, i.e Porsche 911 GT3, Aston Martin Vantage V8GT. But I wasn't thinking of that type of sportscar. I just wondered when did the FIA stipulate that the cars had to be saloons?

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Originally Posted by AndyRAC

I didn't word the question very well, Toyota used to use the Celica GT 4, which was a 2 seater, I think. Yet when they came back they used the Corolla.
I know in Belgium there is a class for sportscars, i.e Porsche 911 GT3, Aston Martin Vantage V8GT. But I wasn't thinking of that type of sportscar. I just wondered when did the FIA stipulate that the cars had to be saloons?

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Pug 307WRC hardly a saloon.Think the choice is down to the manufacturer which model they use as long as it meets the weight/dimension regs and the engine used is based on the one originally found in that car. Dont think S2000 will struggle for manufacturers and cant see the likes of Aston running on gravel and snow anyway...

Well no, they couldn't run on gravel, though I'd let them enter the Tarmac rounds, they couldn't score manufacturers points though. The more cars the merrier....

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Originally Posted by AndyRAC

Well no, they couldn't run on gravel, though I'd let them enter the Tarmac rounds, they couldn't score manufacturers points though. The more cars the merrier....

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You forgot there is hardly any tarmac rally left in WRC championsip Andy!

Fair point!! Bring back San Remo...(though that should really be mixed event!!)

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Originally Posted by AndyRAC

I didn't word the question very well, Toyota used to use the Celica GT 4, which was a 2 seater, I think. Yet when they came back they used the Corolla.
I know in Belgium there is a class for sportscars, i.e Porsche 911 GT3, Aston Martin Vantage V8GT. But I wasn't thinking of that type of sportscar. I just wondered when did the FIA stipulate that the cars had to be saloons?

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I'm fairly certain that all of the Celica's were 4 seat cars :)

The reason why sportscars are outlawed is because firstly quite a few go over the 3.5L engine capacity rule and secondly there is a rule which makes a lot of 4 seat cars illegal. Basically a certain weight is placed on the rear seat and if there isn't a certain amount of room from the weight to the top of the ceiling the car is illegal.

I don't really see the point of sportscars on WRC events. Mainly because the stages are too slow for them to actually stretch their legs and if they were faster than the WRCars it wouldn't be by much. But I guess it could add something to the WRC I honestly don't know :)

You're probably right about stretching theit legs. Its just that I'd like a bit of variety in the WRC; Turbos, N/A, Saloons, Sportscars, etc

Sportscars ? That could be cool...
Nevertheless I can`t imagine any big manufacturer interested in series where they can`t promote their mass-production through similar-looking rallybeasts.

It is practically of no use for manus of sportscars to compete in wrc; they have much to loose when it comes to reputation and nothing to win: wow, Porsche won against the Xsara... Another point: you would have to downscale the engine with revlimiter/restrictor, thus probably creating an engine less suited for your purpose then the ones who do the trimming the right way; by increasing the BHP... Anyway you would get some new problems to deal with...
F1 is another thing though!