[WRC] News & rumours (part IV) 2016

[Mirek]

The 1.6T WRC regulations are basically same as S2000 regulations and I know for sure that with the S2000 cars no team ever managed to get under 1150 kg within the rules even though the initial weight limit was only 1100 kg (later increased first to 1150 and than to 1200 kg). In fact on gravel many were often over 1200 kg. In 2009 when the limit was 1150 kg I know that all the cars on Barum rally were around 1170 kg heavy. I also remember weighting from Rally Scotland 2012 and Peugeots had around 1220 kg (with gravel sumpguard). I admit that I don't know the recent WRC cars but since the rules are basically same I can't believe that the situation would be very different.

Regarding the F2 don't forget that those cars had 960 kg limit while the WRC cars had 1230 kg. That is nearly 300 kg difference which is huge. They also used traction control and some other features which were not allowed for WRC cars.

Now we are speaking about balancing a handicap of approximately 60-70 Hp, much better handling and cornering (active center differential against no center differential at all), more effective aero, wider track and therfore also bigger suspension travel (don't know how much better brakes the new cars will have but I presume they will). I can not see any simple way to adjust the old cars to be on similar pace as the new ones.

[shaitan]

Maybe I got the wrong point.

Basically my assumption are based on weight reducing which manufactures can easily done by themselves, that's the reason why I believe race cars' weight can be tuned according to the regulation rather than their ability.

[Lundefaret]

The 1.6T WRC regulations are basically same as S2000 regulations and I know for sure that with the S2000 cars no team ever managed to get under 1150 kg within the rules even though the initial weight limit was only 1100 kg (later increased first to 1150 and than to 1200 kg). In fact on gravel many were often over 1200 kg. In 2009 when the limit was 1150 kg I know that all the cars on Barum rally were around 1170 kg heavy. I also remember weighting from Rally Scotland 2012 and Peugeots had around 1220 kg (with gravel sumpguard). I admit that I don't know the recent WRC cars but since the rules are basically same I can't believe that the situation would be very different.

Regarding the F2 don't forget that those cars had 960 kg limit while the WRC cars had 1230 kg. That is nearly 300 kg difference which is huge. They also used traction control and some other features which were not allowed for WRC cars.

Now we are speaking about balancing a handicap of approximately 60-70 Hp, much better handling and cornering (active center differential against no center differential at all), more effective aero, wider track and therfore also bigger suspension travel (don't know how much better brakes the new cars will have but I presume they will). I can not see any simple way to adjust the old cars to be on similar pace as the new ones.

I will just say that all tough S2000 and WRC 1,6T is similar in regulations, they are not similar in engineering effort. So clever ways to reduce weight that you wouldn't afford in S2000 is done in WRC.

BTW: Hyundai is soon launching a new R5 car, if my info is correct, that car will require ballast to reach the minimum weight.

[Mirek]

I will just say that all tough S2000 and WRC 1,6T is similar in regulations, they are not similar in engineering effort. So clever ways to reduce weight that you wouldn't afford in S2000 is done in WRC.

The main point is that they use full-steel bodyshell and the older generation of cars which was made in time when main marketing strategy was high safety were relatively heavy. The weight limit 1200 kg is enough to get bellow with the design and to use some balast instead. That's what they did also with the S2000 cars. However it's a lot different to reach 1100 kg as the regulations don't allow to replace the heaviest stock parts with special racing ones like with the 2 liter cars, also many parts have minimum weight limit themselves (suspension parts for example). That issue is same for WRC and S2000. You can't win 50-100 kg just by "bigger effort", that can bring further weight reduction by let's say 5-10 kg but hardly more. The S2000 cars are not made by idiots after all (Polo WRC is largely based on Fabia S2000 design just like Fiesta WRC is based on Fiesta S2000 design).

BTW: Hyundai is soon launching a new R5 car, if my info is correct, that car will require ballast to reach the minimum weight.

That's normal. All R5 does. The weight limit 1230 kg is enough to be bellow. Also these cars made of the latest generation of stock cars have a lot lighter bodyshells as the marketing strategy and politics moved towards the low emissions and fuel efficiency.

Basically my assumption are based on weight reducing which manufactures can easily done by themselves, that's the reason why I believe race cars' weight can be tuned according to the regulation rather than their ability.

How exactly do You want to reduce the weight of current WRC cars by 100 kg when You can't/don't want to produce completely new bodyshell panels from different materials, new light-weight suspension etc. (also bear in mind that even such radical changes require change of regulations)?

[Andre Oliveira]

Possibly 3 car teams in 2017

http://www.rallysportmag.com.au/home...2017-discussed

Real hope that come true

[spyros]

memories...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0_X6-kTEdk

[Mariusz]

How exactly do You want to reduce the weight of current WRC cars by 100 kg when You can't/don't want to produce completely new bodyshell panels from different materials, new light-weight suspension etc. (also bear in mind that even such radical changes require change of regulations)?

Easy, get rid of co-drivers

[Mintexmemory]

Easy, get rid of co-drivers

Anyone who has seen Cato Mekerud and Ilka Minor side by side will understand Henning's decision in the replacement (it was that or go on a diet!!)

[RS]

Makes sense to do this. Gets rid of stupid single car secondary manufacturer teams like Volkswagen Motorsport II. Also coupled with the 'top two score points' proposal there's no messing around with driver rotation, and all drivers are subject to the same point scoring pressures.

My only slight fear (as someone that's going to Monte Carlo) is that not all the teams will have 3 cars ready in time.

Good move. It would then be sensible for VW to keep Latvala.

[Jack4688`]

Back on the subject of event rotation does anyone else remember a plan from around 2007 for, instead of event rotation as such, to split the WRC into winter and summer championships? I seem to remember reading about it around the time the WRC was due to go to Norway for the first time, but as it was most likely from Autosport it could well have been the weakest rumour that David Evans decided to turn into full page story.