New R4 Car - Think Tank

[Mirek]

Doesn’t the Fabia R5 use a Chinese VW engine block?

The block is normally used by Škoda China (Škoda produces cars also in China). Moreover it's just localized variant of the same Audi-developed engine (EA888) used by all VAG brands (the stock engine itself was far from being reliable and maybe the Chinese variant has some critical issues fixed). That's very different case than using Mitsubishi/Hyundai engine in Ford competitive car.

[Rally Power]

This one will probably give a heart attack to the orthodox FIA rules defenders…José Maria Ponce (several times Canarias rally champion) will use for the second time at the Rally Islas Canarias a JTR Seat 600 Proto; a tinny tubular car with the shape of the iconic Fiat/Seat 600 and a Hayabusa engine.



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgPjTu_5cuM

With such a rich rally record and on such a respectful age, it’s fantastic to see this great champ embracing a project developed by amateurs, with the same passion and commitment as on his top rally years; hats off for him!

[pantealex]

There is seperate thread for those Proto/Dytko/selfbuilt/R-Lite etc. cars

Please use it and let´s keep this one only R4

Makes things way more easier, because many people don´t know diffrence between R4 and those others.

[Rally Power]

Relax mate, no one will confuse that tinny 600 with an R4...

[Sulland]

Anyone knows if any Oreca based R4 cars have been testing or competing yet?

It is very quiet on the website of Oreca on this topic. Looks like they are not that interested in getting this class kicked off, and to prove it has a place for national and regional series.

Anyone here that know if the kit sold to Argentina have been used yet?

Have Evolve put together a Yaris testcar, that is possible to rent?
http://www.evolve-motorsport.com/yarisr4evolve/

[br21]

No R4 kits running anywhere for the moment.
Evolve didn't build any car.

[Rally Power]

Not sure if this is the first R4 kit Oreca has sold, but apparently there’s a team in Argentina building an Etios R4 to debut at the Codasur series: http://rccompeticionteam.com/2018/05/25/1933/

Btw, Renault Spain has cancelled the order for 2 kits and ended their rally programme (started last year with a N5 Clio provided by RMC).

[Sulland]

If Toyota does not have a suiteable engine for R5 (strange), the kit for R4 could open a market for them as an option national series.
But, pricing of such a car will be essensial.

Gazoo are building a bridgehead in the Baltics, maybe a R4 shop could be integrated.
It is a market opportunity up for grabs, if they find a ok price.

No one else seems to care about this car class.
If Tommi tells Oreca "I buy 50 kits, what price can you give me"?

could be a kick start.

If nothing happens in 2019, FIA needs to kill it off, as they did with S2000 and N4, and go back to the R4 drawing board, and put a max price before they invite.
IMO 60-70 000€ is max if they want to get volumes into the rally world.

[mArvAlcao17]

If Toyota does not have a suiteable engine for R5 (strange), the kit for R4 could open a market for them as an option national series.
But, pricing of such a car will be essensial.

Gazoo are building a bridgehead in the Baltics, maybe a R4 shop could be integrated.
It is a market opportunity up for grabs, if they find a ok price.

No one else seems to care about this car class.
If Tommi tells Oreca "I buy 50 kits, what price can you give me"?

could be a kick start.

If nothing happens in 2019, FIA needs to kill it off, as they did with S2000 and N4, and go back to the R4 drawing board, and put a max price before they invite.
IMO 60-70 000€ is max if they want to get volumes into the rally world.

Basically it's a difficult situation as there are already some similiar spec in some regions like AP4 in asia pacific or Maxi Rally in South America, or N5 in Spain.

Also to be considered that FIA R4 is basically a single-spec

[Rally Power]

Finally, some news from Oreca; the R4 kit is homologated since April 1 and a few units have been already sold to different tuners.
https://www.oreca.com/en/news_oreca/...-now-eligible/
https://www.facebook.com/OrecaStore

Oreca is also announcing a price cut on the kit, costing now €85.000. This reduction makes sense if we realize the kit isn’t a full kit (roll cage, dampers, springs, electrical, interior, etc, not included).
https://www.oreca.com/en/news_oreca/...tion-cost-cap/


R4 Kit parts; photo: Oreca