Rally2 (ex-R5) News

[Mirek]

Also... Look at it from the following logic...

Everytime you bring something on the market there MUST be something best on the market already. It means there is always this challenge in front of you (except if you are the first on the market and enjoy a monopoly like M-Sport did with the R5 at the beginning). Škoda came late both into S2000 and R5 market and won. VW also came late into the business yet it seems it was able to bring a great product. M-Sport sure can do that too. We'll see.

[PLuto]

Autosport:
M-Sport had originally hoped to get its latest R5 version of the Fiesta ready for the start of the season, but it will now be unavailable until the middle of 2019.

"The FIA's homologation procedure takes longer and, being honest, we're committing more technical resource than ever to this new car," Wilson explained.

"I want this car to follow our own trend of cars coming out of the box ready to win.

"We wanted to look at the competition first, we wanted to see what the Volkswagen was looking like, we're putting a huge emphasis on this car within the company."

I understand they want the Fiesta to be a winner, but have they left it too late and can it be better than the VW-MS Polo ?

Pfff, has any sense to comment it? I have read only first sentence and that is enough for me. M-Sport originally hoped to get latest R5 ready for start of the season, but this plan was broken almost one year ago. Since middle of last year it was sure that homologation will be in the middle 2019 or later. Car is not ready yet...

[Tarmop]

Don`t know how it has been interpreted in the magazine, but Toyota PR cordinator said in an interview that TGR WRT Finland operations is already constructing a R5.

[dimviii]

https://twitter.com/BRRBaumschlager/...34703307190273

[Mirek]

Don`t know how it has been interpreted in the magazine, but Toyota PR cordinator said in an interview that TGR WRT Finland operations is already constructing a R5.

Would be interesting to know which engine they picked as the base.

[Micke_VOC]

First wintertest for C3R5 today, Mattias Adielsson are the driver.

https://www.facebook.com/Adielssonmo...9812360206435/

[Tarmop]

How do yo call Östberg testing and competing last week(end) then?

[Andre Oliveira]

January 30th is before

[Tarmop]

Silly me...quite silly me. I could`ve swore, that it showed today in it (perhaps i had the browser open since 30 was today).

[Sulland]

From parcferme.no translated

Following Rally Hadeland, Mads Østberg can reveal how he believes Citroën's R5 car must be "rebuilt"

In advance, it is only to reveal that this is an article for the above average technically interested in a rally car. On the other hand, we will try to explain how Mads Østberg's ideas will make the Citroën C3 R5 roughly a completely new car.

At least when it comes to the undercarriage, driveability and hopefully competitiveness.

In any case, he does not shy away from sharing the information and knowledge he is sitting on which he believes will make the C3 car a competitive R5 car in tough fight against manufacturers such as Skoda, Volkswagen and Ford.

Max height and open shock absorbers

During Rally Hadeland, he gained some important experiences, although not everything can be solved to Rally Sweden based on how he optimally wants a rally car. The main challenge for Østberg is that the car has a naturally rigid construction, which makes it a high-performance asphalt car - but demanding as soon as it becomes loose ground. During a loose and snowy Rally Hadeland, this was the immediate grip he had to make:

- Because it's so stiff in nature, the only thing we could do was hoist the car so high it was possible to try to shift as much weight as possible. In addition, we drove full "opening" on the dampers. Nevertheless, we had too rigid shock absorbers and springs, although this was the softest that was delivered to the car, says Mads Østberg to Parc Fermé.

With full opening on the shock absorbers, it means that the dampers work with as little resistance as possible to keep the wheels constantly seeping into the ground and absorbing the irregularities. But no matter how much he "opened" the car for a loose and uneven surface, there is still a lot that needs to be done with the car, according to mads.

That's why he goes to Finland this week for a three-day development test. There is no clean running test in that way, where two of the days will be spent exploring new parts that Østberg has asked the Citroën factory to deliver what is within the regulations and the homologation requirements. More is not possible before Rally Sweden

Aggressive driving style

But first, Mads explains how he is driving, and a number of other drivers make use of, which in turn is why he wants full rebuilding of the R5 car.

- I drive in a way that makes me put a lot of energy into the car. So an aggressive driving style. One often sees that the car "plunges" into the bend, then to sit down in the butt out of the bend, and this applies to the vast majority. For that you need a car that is soft and free in geometry. It's just to see how, for example, Skoda and Volkswagen are moving. It has a very soft foundation, also the components that determine how stiff it can be on firmer surfaces. Not the chassis, says Østberg.

Therefore, much of the rigid constructions must be rebuilt to what Østberg will have "softer and freer". This can quickly compromise on the French philosophy, as they have history from building good asphalt cars and the greatest expertise in precisely building rigid cars - both for rally and not least track racing.

Few opportunities for new homologation

But Østberg believes that he and the team can talk well together, and that he has full confidence from the team about how he believes the car can become competitive on all surfaces, without it reducing the competitiveness it has on asphalt and solid surfaces.

- I think it is possible to safeguard the forces in the car, although many changes have to be made. In a modern world, the chassis doesn't have to do the big job of being a good asphalt car. One has technology in shock absorbers, differentials and other ways to gain stability and stiffness. If you can remove much of the stiffness that is generally in the suspension, this can be restored in modern technical solutions, says the Norwegian.

Many of these technical solutions are not just introducing in the car. They must be called "homologated", a well-known term in the rally world. Homologation means that the part must be approved for the car from the FIA ​​after it has been developed by the manufacturer. The R5 car has three so-called "jokers" distributed throughout the year when one can homologate new parts - but that will not happen before Rally Sweden.

Therefore, Østberg can use individual parts that are approved without the need for new homologation, but it is only a simple "back road" that he calls it.

- Things in the body and geometry must be re-homologated. But things like shock absorbers, roll-bar and the like are a lot we can try to obtain without the need for new homologation, and these are the solutions we will find out now in the development test. There will be more adjustment than driving and not as many miles as in an ordinary test, but during the third test day we will hopefully get driven and tested much of what we develop the first two days, says Østberg.

Disappointed if it doesn't win;

He himself is well pleased with his own achievement from Hadeland, considering the challenges he announced in advance. Second place in the race he says happy with, even though he himself is aware that he is only looking to win what he puts in.

This also applies to Rally Sweden, although he also warns that he is prepared that he will not be able to get the car 100 percent optimal.

- The winning skull in me says that victory is the only thing that applies, and that I am disappointed if it is anything but victory. But then I know that it may be unrealistic, so then reason must come in and pull it down. Then the winner's skull and reason get argued in between. It would have been quite amazing if we managed to win, but still a position further down the list is too bad, says Østberg.
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Google translate, not 100%, but you get the picture on what he will be trying to get from the car in a short period of time!