rv65 wrote:Only 2WD N4 and not R4. N4 can allow either 2WD or 4WD.
Yes. Interestingly N4 or N general has no relation to 4x4, just the niche products and the gravel content made it not very interesting to homologate an N4 car without 4x4, even if suitable cars with 4x4 are rare. In theory you can also homologate a 4x4 car into N3, and I think the Daihatsu Charade GTXX was such an example. But in N3 you usually have no turbo, which means you have the added weight and torque eating of 4x4, but not the torque to move it. If I remember right, off my head, the late 80s Daihatsu Charade was a perfect case of proof. GTXX was atmo 4x4 and was useless and GTti was FWD and 998cc Turbo and a car that came near the top10 o/a on many events, remember Terry Kaby....
In my early active days Renault themselves had the perfect N3 car, the R5 GTTurbo, FWD, 1400cc turbo. It was unbeatable in N3. Then came an FIA rule change and changed the turbo factor from 1.4 to 1.7 and that moved the R5 GTTurbo into the N4 category, where it still was a front runner in gN! But no more a regular class winner, which is why Renault eventually lost interest. Maybe these are even cars one could learn a lesson from. I don't think the R5 GTTurbo was always legal, but it showed how easy and cheap it is to tune a turbo. A road going R5 GTTurbo should have 115BHP, which sounds already quite good from a 1.4 Turbo in around 1990. But Alain Oreille won the PWRC 2 years running outright with this FWD gN car and I have stopped counting how often this car was in the top10 overall in a WRC event. As a groupN based on a 115BHP road version? Yeah right, more like 200+BHP! I do think the concept of 2WD turbo would be cost efficient and spectacular even today, Renault is one of those manufacturers I trust if they did a rally car it will always become a front runner for its purpose. I like the theory that the gN front runners of the past 1.5 decades were those manufacturers who never were the best, hence there is a lot of potential for improvement with only minor reg changes. But remember the competition in those days, if in gN a FWD 115BHP Renault drives circles round a Mitsubishi Galant VR4 or a Subaru Legacy, even I start scratching my head!