The new FIA WRC-car concept 2017

[stefanvv]

VW and Ford look great, Citroen is like a smashed frog, Yaris just looks weird....

[Jack4688`]

They all look about 5% different from this year, so nothing to get excited about. I read in this week's Motorsports News that Markku Alen said:

"At the moment you take away the sponsors names from the cars and they all look the same. The new regulation is coming in 2017 and we have all been waiting for 30 years. In Group B we have S4, Audi, RS200, everything looking and sounding different."

There has been a lot of reference to Group B for some reason from various people and then this statement from Alen. I'm sorry but they will look different when you compare the 2016 cars to the 2017 cars but this isn't major changes we're talking about. All the 2017 cars will look just as similar to each other as the current ones do and sound broadly similar.

I'm sure someone like Jarmo Mahonen (correct me if I'm wrong) said that these regulations will provide much more variation but, again, I don't see it. Unless the FIA haven't told us some pertinent detail in order to shock the fans come 2017 Rallye Monte Carlo they will still be B-Segment cars featuring some bodywork appendages and large diameter wheels.

Don't get me wrong they may be great to watch and the best compromise between keeping costs down, keeping the manufacturers interested and giving something extra to keep the fans interested but I wish they'd stop trying to make out that this is something that it's not.

THIS IS NOT A NEW GROUP B. IT IS WRC 2017

[itix]

Cost: How can a whole tube cars be expensive when all the parts are cheap?

Strength: A rallycar is a "tube ting" already, in that it has almost all its strength from the roll cage. Easily spotted in a crash, when only the roll cage is left. And judging from how they survive the huge crashes, NASCARs are quit strong.

Cost of repair: A rallycar (R2/R3/R5/WRC) is way to expensive to repair after a crash. This is because the roll cage is an integral part of the body, making the repairs very advanced compared to just taking the body off, putting the cage in a jig, and changing what is bent.

Compared to top level racing in Europe, NASCAR-type cars are incredibly cheap, and an extremely good value for money. That is why this type of American circle track racing is a much better business case than all of European motorsport. The return on investment for the sponsors are much greater. Why? The cars are MUCH cheaper. The cars are MUCH cheaper to run. Television broadcasting of the races are on another level. There are a lot more races.

Compare the prices of a new, or slightly used NASCAR-type car to European top level racing: LMP1, WRC, F1, or even WTCC. The European engineer driven motorsport is hugely expensive, and totally reliant on manufacturers to cover the bills. The sponsor money required to run even the lower feeder classes is enormous, and thats why we see so few really talented drivers coming up trough the ranks, even in WRC to challenge Ogier.

In the USA a huge number of drivers and teams get paid to come and race. Tell that to a European rally- or race car driver, and he won't belive You.

If we should build more excitement in the WRC it doesn't help with a car that is a few millimeters wider. A WRC-car should be so "cheap" to build and run that it would be such a good return on investment for the sponsors that it would be unwise to stay away.

Does it need to be a space frame chassis?
- It would be easier if every manufacturer had to start from one specified chassis, with a limited amount of modification.
- But it could also be done by making the R5-cars the WRC starting point, and have more powerful engines.

Should there also be other cost caps? Yes!
- All major components should have a cost cap, and also be made available for sale.
- Schock absorbers, gear boxes, diffs etc.
- Engines should also have a cost cap, and should also be able to buy for private teams.
- If there are discovered any changes between "factory" parts and the parts offered for sale, it should be heavily fined.
- The engine should be of a smarter/cheaper format to reach the performance goal. If You want to have 400hp and 800Nm, there is a lot of cheaper (and better sounding) ways to achieve that, than start from a 1,6 liter turbo engine with a restrictor.

Safety:
- The aerodynamics and damper travel should be limited for safety reasons, with the added benefit of the cars becoming more spectacular to watch.

This way we would have a lot more cars, and the teams would need to get their hans on real talent (not pay drivers), which again would lead to stronger competition, which in turn would lead to a much greater spectacle being a lot more interesting for TV, which then again would result in better sqedualing and more air time and higher payments from the TV-channels for the broadcasting rights. This would turn a negative spiral to a positive spiral. Which we need!

I get that space frame cars would probably be cheaper, but we are forgetting where rallying come from... rallying started with a road car body shell that got faster and faster as people started modifying said shells. Top level rallying will lose all it's contact with its grass roots if we went space frame. The fact that we have top level rallying together with national events where you can see the same body shell compete in two different categories and know that both comes from the same production line means that you still retain some level of connection with the real world. Rally cars have to be road registerable after all.

Also I think your magic cure-all cost formula will be ruined by competition pretty soon anyway. Like someone said, it will will probably be more cost efficient with an evolution of the regs rather than a revolution. I am sure the manufacturers would agree with me on that if they would read this.

I could agree in cost cap for components. There you are on to something. More engine power is seriously not a bad thing... I don't know if the aerodynamics are going to make a huge difference, we will see. The parts are so damn flexible anyway that i doubt that they generate much downforce. When I first read the regs and saw the mockup done by wrc promoter, I thought it would look ridiculous but now I am not so sure.

If the cars look anything like the mockups in this thread and around the interwebs they are going to be great! The Polo should start testing in winter so I am sure we will see pictures emerging pretty soon.

I think they reg changes are largely positive although I agree with what others are saying about the active center diff making a reappearance... That I don't believe in. It is going to favor set ups that will have the cars straighter through the corners which is something we want to strive away from (plus the cost issue).

[Arnold Triyudho Wardono]

useless photoshops for kids...

I wish you'll able to say that to the artists..:heh:

BTW, why Fiesta has Focus RS face..??

[Fast Eddie WRC]

They all look about 5% different from this year, so nothing to get excited about. I read in this week's Motorsports News that Markku Alen said:



There has been a lot of reference to Group B for some reason from various people and then this statement from Alen. I'm sorry but they will look different when you compare the 2016 cars to the 2017 cars but this isn't major changes we're talking about. All the 2017 cars will look just as similar to each other as the current ones do and sound broadly similar.

I'm sure someone like Jarmo Mahonen (correct me if I'm wrong) said that these regulations will provide much more variation but, again, I don't see it. Unless the FIA haven't told us some pertinent detail in order to shock the fans come 2017 Rallye Monte Carlo they will still be B-Segment cars featuring some bodywork appendages and large diameter wheels.

Don't get me wrong they may be great to watch and the best compromise between keeping costs down, keeping the manufacturers interested and giving something extra to keep the fans interested but I wish they'd stop trying to make out that this is something that it's not.

THIS IS NOT A NEW GROUP B. IT IS WRC 2017

This is true. Group B cars were all so different in design and layout and there were so few rules, only that 200 cars had to be made. Group B is history and its like will not be coming back.

WRC 2017 will just be another evolutionary change with cars just adapted to some new rules. This is normal and good to look forward to, but not the big deal its being made out.

[Mirek]

I wish you'll able to say that to the artists..:heh:

BTW, why Fiesta has Focus RS face..??

Actually it is quite useless since
a) it shows just authors imagination and nothing more
b) doesn't even respect the proposed regulations

[danon]

VW and Ford look great, Citroen is like a smashed frog, Yaris just looks weird....

How about that one...

[skarderud]

It should been so nice if they could use cars like Audi TT, vw scirocco, hyundai veloster, etc, instead of the shoppingtrolleys.

[stefanvv]

How about that one...

what is that?

[EstWRC]

lol, these pictures get funnier every time.