WRC mainclass from 2027

**WRCStan** · Yesterday, 22:23

Please don't suggest I want to see a buggy championship. Is a Rally1 a buggy? Is a Rally1 a touring car?

These new rules allow for bespoke designs by tuners. Do you want to call them buggies because they don't have a Toyota badge on? I'm not going near the word. You are free to call them that, I disagree. Can you tell me the 'tuners' are not manufacturers IF they offer their builds for sale? Why and how?

Yes there are many series-production touring car bodyshells being rallied. They are not modified touring cars - and they're practically all deprecated or on their way. How many common parts are between a C3 on the street and a Rally2?

**WRCStan** · Yesterday, 22:28

Originally Posted by focus206

Could you give some example (real or not) of cars you'd see running?

How about a McRae R4 of today, space frame style.

**saco0o** · Today, 00:09

what about these ones? lol
really cheap, fast, spec ford engines (tho some used Illmor engines in RX?), tube frames and ugly body kits to remember 'road cars"... theres a MercedesISH, the second one is a fiestaISH? or an audiISH? haha something like that. they had another models at some point, also ugly.
just work on that bodykit.

andros trophy series used stuff like that too. french 'division 3' in rallycross also have stuff like that. its cool cuz their engines are on the back, so its like some of those old group b cars where they open the 'back' of the car and its just tubes and the engine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9RaepuCtlE

**Sal yet again** · Today, 07:02

We had this car in the UK back in the early 2000s which would make the ultimate 2027 spec car!

https://youtu.be/ekG6wbaQKlg?feature=shared

Come back Andy Burton your time is now!

**Morte66** · Today, 07:26

Originally Posted by Sal yet again

We had this car in the UK back in the early 2000s which would make the ultimate 2027 spec car!

https://youtu.be/ekG6wbaQKlg?feature=shared

Come back Andy Burton your time is now!

As a complete non-expert on the rules side of things, I can confirm that that was a fun car to watch.

Although I wonder how much of that is down to roadside cameras, older suspension giving some bounce, and a bit of sideways. Would a modern version be as fun?

**Sal yet again** · Today, 07:42

My post was a bit tongue in cheek and as you say for WRC level the refinement needed for such a car would probably remove some of the wow factor. Having said that it is an example of what a "tuner" might be able to produce. My only issue is that rallying has mostly been about manufacturers in the past unlike say sportscars with its number of independent chassis makers and I just wonder how many "tuners" will be able to find the budget to develop and then run cars with good drivers onboard over a worldwide season as the championship moves away from its traditional European base.

**wyler** · Today, 09:01

Originally Posted by WRCStan

What is a manufacturer to you?

I made a list of 10 manufacturers of rally cars that'd be available for sale to the public (hypothetically). They'd all be manufacturers, manufacturing manufacturers' wares. You might say "but I can't buy one". Yes you could. "You don't see anybody driving them on the roads". How often do you see a Rally1/2/3/4/5 being driven?

Lancia built 100 Rally4s already? Great, why not allow low-volume car manufacturers in to that market? Why does there need to be 25,000 similar looking cars of a different construction, different fuel type, sharing little comforts and components... etc.. it doesn't make sense. It would only make sense if Lancia/Stellantis were pouring enough bucks into the FIA coffers, but it appears the manufs are all in crises.

This is a long term reset and transformation for sustainability into the next decades, not a 'how do we scrape through another season with the existing players'. The 'touring car' is dead, going rallying with a 'modified series-production touring car' is dead, and there's zero link between a rally car and 'SUV' mobility vehicle/android phone on wheels.

to me, and to most of people in the rally world, a manufacturer is a company that produces road cars.
but we can also refer to company/entity that builds their own shells, works the same, as the majority of names you did are just tuners, or company/entity that uses others' shells to prepare a race car. in the space frame era, maybe this can change, but till now, i don't see anyone other than a manu producing space frame chassis. (and that works only for rally1, minor category still refers to a legal road car as base.) so, i see the road version of every rally2/3/4/5 being driven, and also we can say that yaris gr and i20n are base model for rally1 ( the puma is a bit different...)

honestly, i don't get all the part about lancia. if u are saying that fia must change the homologation standard, i can agree. anyway, the minimum quantity for rally2 (and lesser) is 2500, not 25000, that is not that far from low volume to me. rally1, as being a space frame doesn't have a minimum quantity.

i don't get also the last part. long term reset and transformation is about the strategy and the direction of the championship, not so much about the technicalities of the car. if an existing car class can fit the strategy, then it's ok, no need to look for a revolution. and as you can see, we were very close to base this "long term reset" simply on the rally2 cars, now it looks like we will have a rally2mod or rally2+ for 2027 on, with balanced performance with the current ones.