Rally2 (ex-R5) News

[Mirek]

A stronger rear axle, better rear brake cooling and better engine lubrication are all one connected system ?

Yes, of course. The car is the system.

You might not believe but one of the biggest contributors to reliability issues is vibrations and resonances. Those could be especially tricky because basically everything in the car (including the crew weight) has an impact on them and whatever you change might surpise you in the long term. Even with the most modern simulations the only way to avoid issues with them is testing, testing and another testing.

Also as dimviii said, better reliability could mean also longer service intervals. Everyone wants his parts to last longer, that applies especially for the private customers.

[Andre Oliveira]

David Salanon bought Citroën C3 Rally2 ex Crugnola to contest national and 2nd division rallies in France. Will do some rallies and test with TM Competition with M-Sport Ford Fiesta Rally2 too.

[Jarek Z]

List of upgrades in Citroen C3 Rally2:
https://www.fiaerc.com/camilli-takes...y2-for-a-spin/

[dimviii]

Running in conditions which varied from dry asphalt through rain, snow and ice, Breen found the car an improvement across the board on its predecessor, the i20 R5.

“The feeling is very, very good from the car,” said Breen. “It’s predictable and consistent when it comes to the roll centre and the transition of grip and weight in the corner. Being a new car, there’s been the freedom to work on the geometry and that’s made a difference.
https://www.wrc.com/en/news/season-2...-developments/

[Sulland]

It seems the upgrade is tested, only need VW homologation on FIA. Not clear that that will happen.

Any more info from VAG on this one?
Will someone halp the existing customers, or will nothing happen?

[Sulland]

https://www.facebook.com/10001344255...966384645/?d=n

Hopefully they get on with testing again after Monte.
If I was Adamo I would have shipped one of the new Rally2 i20s, along with a trailer of spares and a tech or two to "The Solbergs" for a Hackathon in Sweden. Let them play with it for a month!
They are good testers and will give very good feedback to the Rally2 team in Germany!

[mknight]

I wonder how much of an improvement you really can get in R5s lately.

Sure todays R5s are something else than first Fiesta R5 all those years ago. But when looking at the very top of the cars that are known to work well there doesn't seem to be much difference.

When Polo came it seemed like a bit of a step up for a moment, but then within 4-6 months over multiple rallies it somehow looked equal to Fabia (Evo) again. Similar with C3 that started good on tarmac and terrible on gravel and now it looks somehow similar to Fabia and Polo. (I purposely avoid I20 which seems to do very well a few times and then terrible next...)

Is it that everyone is closing up to the limit of regulations?

[Mirek]

No but the regulations restrain everyone from bringing groundbraking ideas and also restrain them to bring few larger improvements because the number of jokers is very small. Therefore the development of all cars is mostly about details which make them better but not that much to crush the others.

By the way Mikkelsen may have driven the new ultimate spec Fabia in Monte Carlo (next step is switch to Fabia III).

[Mirek]

According to Mr. Hrabánek Škoda sold already around 370 R5/Rally2 Fabias. He said he would be happy to reach 400 till the end of year.

[RS]

By the way Mikkelsen may have driven the new ultimate spec Fabia in Monte Carlo (next step is switch to Fabia III).

in his Monte vlog, he said at the pre-evemt test it was his first run in the ‘2021 car’