Circuit of Ireland Rally 2015

[Fast Eddie WRC]

The extra power of course matters... a lot.

Power matters but not so much on these technical, twisty, bumpy roads... the chassis is a bigger factor.

When WRC cars compete with a RRC/R5 on the Irish Tarmac Championship its only on the faster stages that they take time. They are also able to run higher gearing so have higher top speeds on any long flat-out sections.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Kajto testing for Ireland:

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Possible 'stealth' look coming for the Porsche 997 ??

[Mirek]

Power matters but not so much on these technical, twisty, bumpy roads... the chassis is a bigger factor.

When WRC cars compete with a RRC/R5 on the Irish Tarmac Championship its only on the faster stages that they take time. They are also able to run higher gearing so have higher top speeds on any long flat-out sections.

Eddie, what You write makes little sense. I don't know where to start. if You think that CoI is twisty event go to Tour de Corse. If You think that engine matters less on twisty events You are again wrong. The engine matters the least where there are extremely fast flat out corners from start to finish such as in Finland. CoI has a lot of T-junctions where power actually matters a lot. Anyway the difference in power between WRC and R5 is so big that it always matters unless You have a snow stage without studs...

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Eddie, what You write makes little sense. I don't know where to start. if You think that CoI is twisty event go to Tour de Corse. If You think that engine matters less on twisty events You are again wrong. The engine matters the least where there are extremely fast flat out corners from start to finish such as in Finland. CoI has a lot of T-junctions where power actually matters a lot. Anyway the difference in power between WRC and R5 is so big that it always matters unless You have a snow stage without studs...

So why are the WRC cars slower than the R5's when their drivers know their cars and roads far better than the ERC guys like Lappi last year ? Also, Breen & Abbring's new R5 was more powerful than the Skoda but the S2000 was faster due to its greatly more developed chassis..

Are you just saying that the Irish WRC drivers are that slow despite their greater power and active diffs etc ?

BTW, I have been following the Irish Tarmac championship for many years and have heard the discussion on why certain cars are faster others on these events many, many times. You dont have the monopoly on knowledge.

Regarding power vs chassis, I know from personal experience that a well set-up lower-powered car can easily be faster than a more powerful one with a poor chassis, out on the country lanes.

[Mirek]

There is hundreds of small reasons why somebody is slower than somebody else. One of them for sure is that the professional works drivers are faster. There's no point searching for excuses. It's a fact and it's not a shame for anybody to admit it. Of course also several years old WRC in private hands is hardly as fast as works one would be and it's also true that new cars usually have better suspension. Than come other points such as the risk works drivers can take while privateers sometimes drive even without insurance of the car, tyres, testing...

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Final word on chassis vs power... A great example I remember was when Ragnotti's little Renault 11 Turbo with 180bhp beat the mighty, powerful Sierra Cosworth's & BWM M3's on the Tour de Corse in 1987, due to its superior cornering & braking ability. Never forgotten that as I had an R11T !

[vino_93]

There was the same debat when WRC came to Ireland. People, fans of irish rallying, said that the best locals would fight with WRC regulars.
We've seen the result ... Irish drivers are good gentleman drivers, but only gentleman drivers.

[stefanvv]

Ragnotti was also kind of "works" driver. He was usually very fast on Corsica

[RICARDO75]

Final word on chassis vs power... A great example I remember was when Ragnotti's little Renault 11 Turbo with 180bhp beat the mighty, powerful Sierra Cosworth's & BWM M3's on the Tour de Corse in 1987, due to its superior cornering & braking ability. Never forgotten that as I had an R11T !

Bernard Beguin won Corsica in 1987 with the Prodrive BMW M3, not the Renault 11 Turbo from Jean Ragnotti.
Raggnoti was very fast with the R11 Turbo in Corsica. His great skill and knowledge of the rally, allied to 900 kg and 185cv of the Renault 11, gives a good power/ weight ratio. The M3 and Sierra had over 300 kg than the R11