News and Rumors Open Thread

[rv65]

Colin Clark did the commentary for the MotorsTV broadcast of Rally Sweden.

[ChrisB]

What happened to Colin and Becs on World Rally Radio?

Well, I can't say much here, as adding to rumours and speculation doesn't really help.

That said, I really liked the new set up of WRR. I thought it was really great and informative! That said, I don't get Motors TV, but I would rather have Colin Clark as a TV commentator than any of the commentators EuroSport Germany ever came up with!

[rv65]

You know Peugeot is working on a 208 R2 as well as a R4T. No R3T for some reason. I guess Citroen gets the R3T and not Peugeot.

http://peugeot-media.com/index.php?nav= ... &langue=en

[ChrisB]

Yep, here:

http://peugeot.rallye-info.com/article. ... &stid=9907

The picture in your link however shows the 208 R2. If you want to know more about the new 208, you find it here:

http://peugeot.rallye-info.com/article. ... &stid=9853

You are right in what you are saying about there being no 208 R3T. Maybe the R2 was cheaper for the Peugeot Cup, which currently runs with the 207 R3T? There is the DS3 R3T of course. Maybe that indeed is the reason. Citroen is doing a DS3 RRC now and Peugeot a 208 R4T. There seems to be a slight difference between RRC & R4T with the R4T being slightly faster.*

* I am actually not sure with all the new FIA stuff. They really try everything to confuse people with them so similar new classes. See also how they renamed Souprally now to Rally2. So in Sweden, what about Alister McRae for example, who went off on both the first two days. He started day3 again, is that then Rally3?

Back to Peugeot, two things that have me bemused:

- They talk about customer 207 S2000 also in WRC. Really? They don't even have drivers for IRC. Since when is Peugeot interested in WRC again? Oh that's right, Quesnel hates IRC, didn't he? But we are now 2 of 8 SWRC rounds into the season and there is no sign of a Peugeot anywhere!

- And indeed again the choice of R2 over R3. I think Peugeot is having to get rid of some older engines. The future is clearly turbo. Well I am a turbo fan, but it's not only that. 208 sales start in April. By June will be a new range of 1.0 & 1.2 3-Cylinder engines. A few more months later the current 1.4 engine is stopped completely and the 1.6 atmo will be stopped. The 1.6 turbo with 156BHP will stay and there will be a 208 GTI in future with the 200BHP version of the 1.6 Turbo. But the plan is, beginning with the 208, on all models the 1.4 & 1.6 engines below the 156BHP version will all be replaced by turbo charged variations of the new 1.2! So why develop a 208 R2, using an engine that is going to be obsolete in less than a year's time?! Hey, if you start doing things like that, I would quite like to see a new version Peugeot 504 Coupé V6 rally car!

[RonSkoda]

I think the 207 they talk about for WRC might be Solowow.

Would be surprised if R4T is quicker than RRC. They are talking about a 32mm restrictor but it won't have proper racing suspension e.t.c. like the RRC does.

[rv65]

http://www.topgear.com/uk/car-news/new- ... 2012-02-13

Even with the Fiesta in the WRC, Ford is hard at work developing a new Focus RS. This new model will have a 2.3T instead of the 2.5T 5 cylinder from Audi err Volvo. Engineers liked the unique 5 cylinder engine, but it was too thirsty and an EcoBoost 4 cylinder will do the job just fine. Ford has no plans to make the Focus RS with AWD as he thinks people would not pay for it.

Well I probably should have posted this, but it sounded interesting enough to be posted here. After all, it is a rumor of a popular Ford hot hatch.

[rv65]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97514

FiA is working on a promoter deal for the WRC. The same Mahonen said last week that TV deals had to be done on an event by event basis, but that now has changed. It could be for this year or even next year. Who knows for sure? It does sound like it is for this year.

[rv65]

RIP Anders Kulläng who died in a drowning accident in Thailand. He was 68 years old and won the 1980 Swedish Rally.

[rv65]

http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... ot_4%2FTes

My Spanish is basic, but Sainz said that Sordo could join VW after his stint with Mini.

Oh and Dennis Kuipers will drive Wilslow's Fiesta in Portugal. Portugal as we all know will have Fafe as a special stage . I like Fafe as it has a big jump that has had it share of moments. I also enjoy the video of a Group B car going through and the spectators had to quickly move off to the side to let the car go through.

http://www.rallye-magazin.de/rallyes/wm ... index.html

Oh and Rally Germany will have 15 stages this year.

Then again, Rally GB 2012 will not have Great Orne, due to a stupid FiA regulation saying that stage like Great Orne cannot be run on a gravel event. Super specials are exempt from this requirement.

http://www.wrc.com/news/mcrae-joins-mot ... ?fid=16138

Finally, Colin McRae was the first rally driver to join the Motorsports hall of fame.

Just some quick news update for now, and I am glad the forums are finally fixed.

[ChrisB]

Even with Todt and Mouton the FIA never stops to be stupid it seems. The Great Orme was a fantastic show for everybody and a great advert for rallying and the WRC! But we don't want to advertise and promote this sport it seems.

Same on Rallye Deutschland and their 15 stages. The rally has seen a major revamp for 2012 with the organisers saying the only stage that is run unchanged to last year is the Circus Maximus superspecial in Trier. Sorry, but Circus Maximus is utter rubbish! The main reason for the revamp is that last year we had a new stage called Hermeskeil. It is easy to reach from Trier, had some short bits of gravel, but these included some fantastic flowing corners and a big jump. Everybody, including the drivers, absolutely love this stage! But new FIA rules mean the stage can't be run any more. What is this for an organisation and government body? The best stage is banned and the biggest rubbish stage by far is kept! What's the effing point of that?

[rv65]

http://www.irallylive.com/ir_news.htm?00000393&10

Looks like Hyundai is now thinking of coming back to the WRC. I guess they could find a company like Tommi Makinen racing or something like that to run the program. Hyundai is better off sponsoring soccer, but it is their decision not mine for them to join the WRC.

[ChrisB]

Poor Tommi Mäkinen, if they chose him. Wasn't it enough, that they ruined Dave Whitehead and his company?

[rv65]

Mäkinen's company is moving to a new location as they are having financial problems. The new building he built will become a school. It would have been a great place to build a rally car. For all I know, Hyundai could do it in house. They are only thinking about the WRC and this is just a rumor (for now). Toyota is still thinking about the WRC as they did build a Yaris R1 for a rally cup. I have heard that Renault is thinking about the WRC. iRally did say that a few manufacturers are thinking about the WRC. Then again, WRC needs a stable promoter before getting more manufacturers. Without a good promoter, manufacturers will not be able to get the proper exposure that they deserve.

I still want a GT-86/Subaru BRZ R-GT with a 300+ HP 1.6T. Subaru is working on the BR-Z GT300 for SuperGT and is in testing. That car has a 2.0T and should produce over 400HP as the GT300 cars are similar to FIA GT3, though some are custom built prototypes (BR-Z is a custom built prototype).

Just some more news.

[rv65]

Well, I would rather have Toyota than Hyundai join the WRC.

[ChrisB]

Well, I would rather have Toyota than Hyundai join the WRC.

Me too. I could imagine Toyota to do quite well, but what we don't need is a repeat of what Hundei did 2000-2003, or Suzuki. It was a good laugh with all their promises, how soon they would be world champs, then saying every year that next year they are back, etc., but they added nothing to the sport and how they blamed their failure on teams, engineers and drivers doesn't help anyone.

To be honest, I don't even understand their success on the road, at least here in Germany. If I was asked to name the most characterful Hyundai, it would be the Pony. It is completely beyond me how anyone can draw (it has nothing to do with design any more) cars with so many silly dents, gaps, things that still has zero character. Their model politics as well, at this very moment we have two totally different i20s and two totally different i30s and from their characterless, unfunctional design I can't even tell which one is the newer one. Engines and technology is nothing special and if you compare their prices to French, Italian cars or i.e. Ford, Hyundais are very expensive! And if they have the name of Asian reliability, it is false, ADAC rescue service statistics for 2011 Hyundai was last by a long way! I just don't get it!

[rv65]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/97870

Manufacturers are wanting the WRC to focus on Europe and the Americas. Now it could be the EuroAmerican World Rally Championship. South Africa could have been interesting, and Todt still wants China, India, and Russia on the calendar. He also wanted to split the WRC calendar into 1/2 Europe and 1/2 non European events. Looks like Australia and New Zealand are off the calendar . I liked those events, and I guess the manufacturers need less control not more. FiA should find a plan and stick with it.

[mof]

This is getting a bit silly. I understand that the manufacturers have stood by the WRC despite the mess the promoter arrangement became, but this deal where the manufacturers want short clover leaf rallies, daylight only, only go here and there, too hard to down there and over there... Bitterly disappointing from Australian perspective. For years Rally in Perth was always well received by teams and drivers, and if you overlook the event destroyed by Greenies, the last NSW based event was extremely popular with drivers and teams, and all those manufacturer's cars are for sale here too.

We really need a strong promoter who loves rally, and wants to showcase it to the world, and take it to the world. Can FIA deliver? Sadly, I have serious doubts.

[ChrisB]

I have to admit it was me who in the 2011 calendar named the event "The Green Party Rally Australia". That one off was an utter joke. Those Greenies should have been done for attempted murder! For me, and likely most global public, these incidents were double disappointing, for we thought Australia was one of the last free countries on this planet, without silly, braindead idiots, a real holiday dream location. This event, or more those green fanatics, did more damage to Australia than help it. That all said, the last event in NSW indeed was absolutely ace again!

And what is without a doubt an absolute favourite of mine is NZ. It just is the best rally roads in the world. I would probably consider a new layout for the event, more of Motu/Rotorua, or go to South Island Alps and Fjords, or do a proper Rally NZ, start in Auckland, finish in Christchurch.

What the FIA is missing, if we go global it should be locations that can not only be marketed locally. See a Safari win could sell cars world wide, because Joe Public understood this event as an adventure and challenge. NZ works for the pictures, Australia works for it is a free dream holiday locations (as long as you lock the Green fanatics away on rally week). China was always a failure, most other parts Joe Public can't relate to. A rally in South or Central America can work, but we don't need 3 of them in one year. That would be back to the old problem with them 16 rounds clover leaf: triple the travel and logistics cost and for Joe Public it still is roughly one and the same location, so no added global marketing value.

[rv65]

Well, Walter Rohrl turned 65 on march 7, so happy late birthday to him.

[rv65]

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php? ... 5279984438

PR to a tribute to Ove Andersson. I cannot believe that it has been 5 years since he had died in a rally crash. I bet Ove Andersson would be very happy if Toyota did decide to join the WRC again. His car will be driven by 3 drivers such as Juha Kankkunen, Hannu Mikkola and Mikko Hirvonen. This rally is a tribute to him.