WRC future

[AnttiL]

Thanks for sharing Antti. Besides the listed points, at the end of the piece Matton mentions again the use of a standardized safety cell; is he talking about the spaceframe chassis?

This was mentioned earlier in another article. Basically it means that the rollcage will be the same for every car to cut costs and improve safety by making sure that every team has the best solutions. AFAIK they share safety things quite openly anyway.

[AnttiL]

so current WRC cars will be banned ?

or can someone stlll enter a rally with WRC car ?

Good question! I would guess they will be fitted with restrictors.

[Franky]

The Fia Rally Pyramid is at last logic in its naming convention for the car classes!

Don't worry, they'll come up with something new again in like 10 years.

[Sulland]

Don't worry, they'll come up with something new again in like 10 years.

[doubled1978]

I would say Group A cars were faster than Group B cars by 1990. Even though they had put the 40mm turbo restrictor that year.

I'm expecting the 2022 cars to be closer to WRC2017 than WRC2011 in pace on the special stages.

I think I read somewhere that even by 1988 they were going faster than Group B in some stages, especially when the Integrale came out.
I often watch some YouTube of the 92-94 time, and those cars were very fast...sometimes suspiciously so.

[denkimi]

That's natural because even when restricted the development goes on (mainly in the dampers and tyres). However the point is that the gr.B would make a step forward in the same time period as well - and most likely greater than gr.A cars thanks to the bigger freedom of the rules.

the steps forward are different.

during the group b era, teams would put their money on making more powerful engines or bigger aero, since there were big improvements to find there.
that created very powerful but difficult to handle cars.
nowadays with much technical limits, gains are very small so teams put much money in creating cars with better drivability. there are no big inventions anymore, they will never find something that will give them 50 extra hp anymore, all cars are almost identical. so they go and test 50 different kinds of shocks to see which one will give them a 0,1% advantage.

and racing has never had much to do with the current technology. you don't see water injection, anti-lag, water cooled brakes, inverted shocks, sequential gearboxes, lsd, spoilers, ... on ordinary cars.
it's all about marketing. the racing car has to have the logo, and preferably some looks in common with the car people can buy at their dealer. nothing more

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I remember the Tour de Corse in 1987.

Ragnotti's FWD Renault 11 Turbo with a 1.4 engine and tiny turbo was settiing times within just 1sec/km of the mega-powerful Group B's the year before.

[OHL]

I remember the Tour de Corse in 1987.

Ragnotti's FWD Renault 11 Turbo with a 1.4 engine and tiny turbo was settiing times within just 1sec/km of the mega-powerful Group B's the year before.

On tarmac, sure. It's still the case today where a lighter, more nimble car can put up some really good times on tarmac. It all changes though with reduced grip.

[AnttiL]

I remember the Tour de Corse in 1987.

Ragnotti's FWD Renault 11 Turbo with a 1.4 engine and tiny turbo was settiing times within just 1sec/km of the mega-powerful Group B's the year before.

I could only find comparable times for a couple of stages. Most Corsica stages were changed because new regulations allowed them to be 30 km long at max. I don't have 1987 maps so I only assume they were similar.

1986 SS3 Petreto - Aullene 1 20.03 km Toivonen, Henri 12m 55s 93.04 km/h
1987 SS2 Petreto - Aullene 20.00 km Beguin, Bernard 13m 48s 86.96 km/h
Difference is 2.6 s/km

1986 SS6 Aullene - Zivaco 25.33 km Salonen, Timo 16m 19s 93.14 km/h
1987 SS5 Aullene - Zicavo 25.30 km Balesi, Claude 18m 43s 81.10 km/h
Difference is 6s/km (is there a mistake or rainy weather in 1987?)

1986 SS16 Moriani Plage - Orsoni 20.10 km Toivonen, Henri 14m 18s 84.34 km/h
1987 SS13 Moriani Piage - Orsoni 20.10 km Ragnotti, Jean 15m 05s 79.96 km/h

Difference is 2.3s/km

EDIT: Two more

1986 SS13 Sainte Florent - Col de San Stefano 26.81 km Saby, Bruno 19m 52s 80.97 km/h
1987 SS10 St Florent - Col San Stefano 26.80 km Ragnotti, Jean 20m 53s 77.00 km/h
Difference is 2.3s/km

1986 SS15 Folelli - Ste Lucie de Moriani 18.49 km Toivonen, Henri 14m 29s 76.60 km/h
1987 SS12 Folelli - Ste Lucie de Moriani 18.40 km Ragnotti, Jean 15m 08s 72.95 km/h
Difference is 2.1s/km

[Allez Andruet]

1986 SS6 Aullene - Zivaco 25.33 km Salonen, Timo 16m 19s 93.14 km/h
1987 SS5 Aullene - Zicavo 25.30 km Balesi, Claude 18m 43s 81.10 km/h
Difference is 6s/km (is there a mistake or rainy weather in 1987?)

Rain. It started to dry after the first cars and that's why the fastest time was eventually set by Claude Balesi on a Gp N Renault! A first for a Gp N car in WRC history btw.