New R4 Car - Think Tank

[Rally Power]

All I keep hearing is how R4 is already dead??

R4 is not dead, but its biggest problem seems to be R5 success. Like some have pointed here, a new R4 is supposed to cost more than a used R5 and most amateur drivers will think twice before paying more for less; besides, for many of those drivers runing costs (one of R4 advantages) aren’t a big issue, as they usually do a limited number of low mileage national events and in most cases they also have the option to rent a R5 car at competitive prices, which probably is the most rational way to do a handful of events per year.

For me it's a little bit strange that a spanish company invest in R4 when in our national chamiponships we have N5 that are more or less the same and actually are quite common, probably more than 30 units have been built

N5 is the spanish version of Argentinian Maxi Rally. They use Subaru stock transmission and a ligth tuned PSA engine, but they still cost a lot more than a similar proto from Dytko using Mitsubishi mechanics and they don’t have FIA approval, like R4 has. Somehow N5 failed to attract manus attention (with Suzuki exception) and they’ve only become interesting to privateers as there’s a strong pressure from the main tuner (RMC) to sell them and a limited number of local rally companies renting R5’s.

R4 are FIA, so can be easly sold to everywhere.

Probably the best solution is to get a FIA rule for Europe inspired on AP4 regulation, allowing all sort of 4wd protos (MR, N5, AP4, R4, Dytko, etc) to run on a separate class from R5. It’d be easier than having different cars from country to country and would allow drivers to also run and sell their cars abroad. Clearly a win win situation.