WRC mainclass from 2027

[Fast Eddie WRC]

Of course M-Sport will build a car, but if its a 'Puma', will Ford support it with ICE power when the road car will be EV only ? It might be time to go it alone or combine with another Manufacturer.

As for Gazoo Racing, will they want to make another new car when their Yaris Rally2 is the newest?

[saco0o]

btw, the new cars will use R5 engines. where current R5s get their engine? from the production base car and then they tune the engines for racing? what new engines the current Polos (privateers) are using since vw doesnt produce them anymore? can they use other brand engines? like a polo but with a i20 R5 engine? no idea how that stuff work. I presume current polos have to eventually change engines after being used for so many years

[WRCStan]

These points make great reasons to pull engines away from mass-production link, which I understand to be only the block anyway. Pointless to carry this regulation on into an era where no engine will be legally allowed to be mass-produced. Remove that and there's another value-add cost saving.

[WRCStan]

What do you all understand tuner to mean from the FIA publications? I was wondering whilst the forum was down, are they meaning it to be bodywork only, as in there'll be a handful of the usual suspects producing a rolling chassis with frame, and a 'tuner' produces their own body panels to stick onto it? E.g. M-Sport could build a rolling chassis, TunerX will stick body panels on it for direct entry or customer racing or whatever.

Or does a 'tuner' get to produce a whole car?

I wish they'd get some clarity published.

[saco0o]

good point. am I a "turner" if I buy a msport tube, a mecachrome engine, a xtrac gearbox and a dallara designed body pannel/aerokit design? is this the general idea?
LoL im so curious man

[WRCStan]

Everything we've heard recently has been about the bodywork frame and the reference volumes. That took up all the WMSC chat and required passing after several months of deliberation. Fantastic! But what about the rest of it?

[saco0o]

Everything we've heard recently has been about the bodywork frame and the reference volumes. That took up all the WMSC chat and required passing after several months of deliberation. Fantastic! But what about the rest of it?

hmmm didnt they said the new cars would use R5 components, right? like engines and gearboxes?
if thats the case, thats where my doubt lays: 'what engines R5s are using right now? like the example i asked... which engines the Polos users are using? because theres no more new Polos engines, right? can they simpy get any production base engine and 'tune it'? like a opel corsa engine being run in a R5 and its all fine..?

[TypeR]

Read FIA Rally2 technical rules or Skoda has done it easier..

It(engine) is based on the 2.0 TSI production engine from the EA888 family, used for example in the Octavia and Kodiaq RS. The obligation to base the engine on the series engine applies to all Rally2 class cars, as does the defined supercharged power unit capacity (1.6 litres) or the use of a 32 mm diameter intake restrictor.

[WRCStan]

if thats the case, thats where my doubt lays: 'what engines R5s are using right now? like the example i asked... which engines the Polos users are using? because theres no more new Polos engines, right? can they simpy get any production base engine and 'tune it'? like a opel corsa engine being run in a R5 and its all fine..?

The Polo Rally2 engine is the same base as the Fabia Rally2 engine, and these are still being produced for the VW and Audi groups production cars even if VW brand cars are all electric now - if they are, I can't be bothered to check if they flip-flop. But my point is they're European, rallying is European, and they're being directed by governments to stop producing them long before the end of the regs in 2037.

It's only the cast metal block of cylinders in the engine that needs to be original. They're allowed to use some original other parts if they choose, but if they're making a 1.6L engine out of a 2.0L block (VW and Skoda do for better performance reasons), they are replacing just about every part that makes it a functioning engine. If Polo Rally2s and engines are still being made then it'll be approved partners of VW on the hush. Parts have to be the spec as homologated, even when there's new suppliers of parts the paperwork has to be updated. They can't do as they please, or much without VW officially.

So why, when a tuner can make body panels to their own design for a non-production spaceframe car, would it make sense to force the same car to use a production engine block when that's free to being tuned with performance gear anyway. And electric and hydrogen engines may be coming in to compete against them which won't be production run either. This logic is missing the point of why the WRC27 rules are necessary in the first place.

That's as I understand it all anyway, sorry if I'm labouring my point.