Rally 3 class

[Sulland]

The FIA Rally Department used last week’s World Motor Sport Council meeting to provide further details on Rally3, which is set to go on stream in 2021.

Essentially a Rally4 (formerly R2) car with four-wheel drive, Rally3 is already attracting interest from regions around the world as a replacement for the Group N category, that can appeal to both gentlemen drivers and their career-focused counterparts stepping up from 2WD machinery.

Key facts:

• Manufacturers convert bodyshell from 2WD to 4WD configuration
• Common front and rear parts (wishbones, dampers, brake calipers, etc) to cut costs
• Car width the same as standard production car (not widened as in Rally2)
• Standard bodywork (bumpers and fenders can be bought from local car dealerships)
• Fuel tank simple in shape to reduce costs, positioned higher in car for simple design
• One gearbox ratio set only, two differential ramp angles to lessen engineering input
• Homologated from 1 January, 2021

As approved by the World Council on Friday, all cars will have the same level of performance, with the same weight of 1,180kg and same power of 210 hp, balanced by a turbocharger retrictor.
A price cap of €100,000 for the rally has been set in the homologation regulations.

Oman seminar demonstrates enthusiasm for Rally3

Interest in Rally3 at regional level was perfectly demonstrated by a recent seminar in Oman where Jérôme Roussel delivered a presentation on the new-for-2021 category.

The FIA Regional Rally Category Manager welcomed the enthusiastic response to Rally3: “There was very big interest, notably from Saudi Arabia and Qatar,” he said. “They understood the product is cost-effective, the maintenance is easy and you don’t need to call for the engineer every time you run the car. They want to support the new generation of drivers and the product is really good for this.”


This looks like a winner, and is turning out to be what they tried with R4 Kit, but missed on the price.
By having 200 hp, and not more the drivers can learn to master 4wd, and by that be more ready for Rally2 and Rally1!

[Damian Baldi]

That's exactly the same target than Maxi Rally Light class. The price of this new Rally3 seems as high as a R4 but with less performance (maybe it uses part of that development). The MR Light class uses the same components and engine as the MR (to avoid the need of new parts), but it have a 32mm restrictor. The other change on the Maxi Rally Light class is that it allows the use of an H gearbox instead a secuential to reduce costs (because in the case of Argentina, H gearbox is build locally, and the sencuential gearbox have to be imported and pay taxes). This should be mandatory or not to everybody to keep the parity.

Here is a video o Patricia Pita, showing her VW Maxi Rally Light with a H gearbox shifter and the turbo engine with only 215HP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqYLKxeV9YQ

[Damian Baldi]

Maybe taking the N5 cars from RMC could be a fast and cheapest option for Rally3. Why? Because RMC have already (as in the case of the MR) all the bodywork parts, suspension, gearbox etc etc. They are selling N5 cars on Spain, Belgium and even Finland.

FIA should look what drivers and teams are doing, instead to try to impose their ideas.

[Tarmop]

I think that a factory-built rallycar is more reliable and has more buyers in worldwide championships. Also if you read, runnign costs will be quite a lot lower than the suggested/compared classes. For example, bodywork in this class is stock: buy OEM parts from a dealer or b-parts....a big save in running costs (especially when having an accident)

[TheFlyingTuga]

And N5 cars are not cheap either, I heard prices for a competitive car around 150k, and let's be honest, for that price you can get a second hand R5 car

[Sulland]

Who will get a R3 first on the market?
Looking back, My money is on MSport.

They sold a shitload of R5s getting them first on the market in 2013.

[Damian Baldi]

And N5 cars are not cheap either, I heard prices for a competitive car around 150k, and let's be honest, for that price you can get a second hand R5 car

But the idea is to have a car to jump from FWD to 4WD. About the price of the car, it's always the same discussion about starting price versus operational price. What I thought about the N5 as a base, is to reduce the time to get the cars ready, and if the N5 have good sales the price of the bodyparts could become cheaper. Another good thing about it, it's that the car could jump into the next competition level very easy rising the engine power throught the restrictor without the need to change the car. The cars are there available now to start a new season next year.

Look at the R4 examples, it started 3 or 4 years ago and there are very few models, and you can't use a car that Oreca didn't homologate it.

[Mirek]

That's exactly the same target than Maxi Rally Light class. The price of this new Rally3 seems as high as a R4 but with less performance (maybe it uses part of that development). The MR Light class uses the same components and engine as the MR (to avoid the need of new parts), but it have a 32mm restrictor. The other change on the Maxi Rally Light class is that it allows the use of an H gearbox instead a secuential to reduce costs (because in the case of Argentina, H gearbox is build locally, and the sencuential gearbox have to be imported and pay taxes). This should be mandatory or not to everybody to keep the parity.

Here is a video o Patricia Pita, showing her VW Maxi Rally Light with a H gearbox shifter and the turbo engine with only 215HP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqYLKxeV9YQ

No, it's not in a comparable price class. Competitive N5 or Maxi rally cars are more expensive both to buy and to run.

[Mirek]

But the idea is to have a car to jump from FWD to 4WD. About the price of the car, it's always the same discussion about starting price versus operational price. What I thought about the N5 as a base, is to reduce the time to get the cars ready, and if the N5 have good sales the price of the bodyparts could become cheaper. Another good thing about it, it's that the car could jump into the next competition level very easy rising the engine power throught the restrictor without the need to change the car. The cars are there available now to start a new season next year.

The Maxi rally or N5 rules don't contain enough tools to keep their cost once the manufacturers get involved and they are more expensive already now. The Rally 3 rules are based on the same principle which works well in R5 to keep the cost on the same level for a long period of time. It's not a sort of uptuned R2. In performance yes, in the way the rules are written not. Also the rules are written so that they attract manufacturers which is also very important for creating a real ladder.

Look at the R4 examples, it started 3 or 4 years ago and there are very few models, and you can't use a car that Oreca didn't homologate it.

R5 was placed too close to the R5 both in performance and the price. Since the beginning it was predicted that it has to fail (at least in Europe).

[Damian Baldi]

Well, if the idea is to get a rally3 "ready to race" car, to buy the cars from the manufacturers as in the case of the R5 is ok. I thought that all about rally3 was about keep the small teams working and the drivers/owners.