I don’t know if this is a necessary thread but I decided to start it anyway. All this is for WRC, regional championships and national championships.

N4:
Giving more freedom just for the purpose of getting them (N4) closer to the performance of S2000 cars only will increase the price and there will be fever drivers in the N4 group. N4 as it is now, is the cheapest (full spec car about 140 000 €) way for a driver to drive a 4-wheel car. It’s not a competition car but anyway.

If there’s a need for getting the N4 cars (Mitsubishi & Subaru to keep them happy) closer to the S2000 cars, there should be a new class called N4+ or whatever. In this class for example the suspension and the brakes parts would be similar to the parts of a S2000 and if necessary also the engine parts as pistons and connecting rods etc. A S2000 has about 280 hp (and some maybe even more) and the min. weight is 1200 kg, they have a weight to power ratio of 4,29 kg / hp. If a N4 with the 33 mm restrictor have about 310 hp the weight to power ratio (counting with a weight of 1350 kg) is about the same 4,35 kg / hp. But even with these upgrades the price of a N4 wouldn’t be even close to a piece of a S2000 (Janne Tuohino paid for his Ford Fiesta S2000 280 000€).

S2000:
The homologation of S2000 cars beyond 2011 should be allowed. These cars have a nice sound and are spectacular to watch, at least on gravel (as seen by the links Mirek posted in the “Rally d´Italia Sardegna” thread). These also would be a “middle” class between N4 and the new WRC1.6T, both in performance (hopefully) and price aspect.

R1, R2, R3; R3T and R3D:
These are IMO all good classes, especially R2. There already three makes: Citroen, Ford and Renault. R2, and these cars are real competition car at a quite reasonable price (40 000 – 50 000 €) and is good start for a junior to start his/her rally career.

The R3 is class is maybe little to expensive, Renault Clio about 60 000-70 000 € (http://www.renault-sport.com/en/rall...io_r3_maxi.php) and a Honda Civic 95 000€ (http://www.jasmotorsport.com/Pdf/188.pdf ).

R1 is the class being close to a road car and IMO is the cheapest way to start a rally career with (as Mikko Pajunen is doing in the British rally championship (http://translate.google.com/translat...83&sl=fi&tl=en).

There are not many cars in the R3T and R3D classes but maybe in the R3T class there will be more cars when the WRC 1.6T starts.

And then finally WRC 1.6T:
Most of the drivers are happy that it’s going to be a turbo engine. A turbo engine has of course more torque compared to a NA engine. The torque of the 1.6T would with a boost of 2,5 bar would be about 550 Nm (it’s just my guessing) and with a 33 mm restrictor and 2,5 bar boost, the power could be little higher compared to a N4 with a 33 mm restrictor. IMO it should be sound and power wise better with a 35 mm restrictor and 2 bar boost that would give the engine about 480 Nm torque (again just my guessing), which is a lot more compared to a S2000 that have about 250 Nm, and the power peak would be at quite high revs. With lower boost and bigger restrictor I think we could have quite good sounding engines.

If the direct injection will increase the price by 40% of a S2000 car (which I don’t understand why), the price of a WRC 1.6T cars would be nearly 400 000 €.

If it’s true what I’m have read on this forum that the gearbox will be hydraulic, will of course increase the price of 1.6T of cars but lets hope it doesn’t have an active centre diff which will increase the price of the gearboxes to the same as in WRC today (about 100 000 €). This price also depends if these gearboxes are design / made for each team or has the same format as in S2000, three manufacturers to choose from. With these assumptions (compared to the price of a gearbox of a S20000 (http://www.motorsportforums.com/foru...12634-p-3.html) the price of a WRC 1.6T car would be 280 0000 * 1,4 –25 000 + 100 000 = 467 000 €.

These where my thoughts about the different classes, what’s yours?