WRC: Manufacturers plan for four cars in 2011

[Dangerous]

15/6/10

Manufacturers plan for four cars in 2011
Both Citroen and Ford are aiming to start next year’s World Rally Championship with at least four of their all-new World Rally Cars competing.

Despite the fact that neither manufacturer has completed a new car yet - Ford expects to be running its Fiesta RS WRC and Citroen its DS3 WRC in finished form in September - both manufacturers are aiming to have their two factory cars and two customer cars ready in time for the season-opening Rally Sweden in February.

While both manufacturers have tested their new chassis extensively, neither has been able to carry out as much work as they would have hoped on the all-new 1.6-litre turbocharged engine, due to the technical regulations only being signed off earlier this season.

BP Ford Abu Dhabi team principal Malcolm Wilson said: “We’re aiming to have two customer cars ready for round one, we should be okay. But obviously, the priority remains the two factory cars.

"Obviously, time is short, but we’ve got a pretty good track record at getting cars ready against the clock. I’ve got no doubt we’ll get it sorted. Everything is coming together well. We’ve had an engine on the test bed for some time, but that engine is constantly evolving and developing. We’re not close to the final specification, but we will be by the end of the summer.”

Wilson’s opposite number at Citroen, Olivier Quesnel added: “I think the most we can get is four cars. We are having to rush and this is not the way Citroen likes to do things. Normally, we like to take our time and to test and to make sure everything is right. But, in this case, it’s not possible. I like to think we can get four cars for round one, though.”

http://wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=101&id=8090&desc=Manufacturers+plan+for+four+cars+in+2011

 

[rypt]

WRC is so pointless with just 2 manufacturers, neither of which even make a road version of the "cool" cars

 

[Dangerous]

Its set to change it 2011 with the S2000 rules.

Volkswagen are rumored to enter the sport along with Prodrive + Mini, Proton & Suzuki.

 

[rypt]

"rumoured" but nothing confirmed yet

And s2000 rules are a joke :/

 

[Dangerous]

Its cost driven so its expected; same for most motorsports.

 

[rypt]

Its cost driven so its expected; same for most motorsports.

I doubt that it costs less to run an S2000 car compared to the old Group A cars or compared to modern Group N

The difference was that Group A & N at least had/has homologination and a decent power plant with decent power

For me, WRC started to die when WRC cars came in, and has completely died over the last 2 years

 

[Housey]

I am still not clear on the new rules. Are the 2011 WRC cars 1.6L engines with turbo's, 2L NA or 2L Turbo and I assume 4WD?

 

[Dangerous]

S2000 at the moment are 1.6 NA 4WD.

The new rules for the WRC havent been set but are expected to be 1.6 turbo 4WD

 

[Janesy B]

I hope it at least brings some manufacturers to the WRC, at the moment it's pretty pathetic.

 

[alex24]

There's still some great rallying, but it really needs more manufacturers as I think interest in the sport dies a little more when another leaves. Good fight at Citroen between the Sebastians, Ogier is pretty impressive as a rookie.

 

[Janesy B]

I know but coming from the days of a field consisting of Ford, Peugeot, Citroen, Subaru and Mitsubishi with the odd year with Seat and Skoda, it's quite a disappointment.

 

[alex24]

Oh I agree completely, it's best days are way behind it now unfortunately. I hope that it is a temporary thing due to the global economic climate. It's not the greatest sport to invest in for advertisers etc so I imagine it's fairly costly to compete in general, there are lots of logistics involved too, which are expensive. My mother used to do the flights for Ford back in the day (Carlos Sainz if you remember him!).

I'm surprised that Subaru left, this was, after all, the source of their huge gain in popularity, particularly in the west as it opened up marketing opportunities for them on a massive scale, and they've had much success over the years. I think when it's financially more viable, they'll be back, so I suppose the introduction of cost saving methods (like F1 has done) could only be a good thing at this point.

 

[rypt]

I'm surprised that Subaru left, this was, after all, the source of their huge gain in popularity, particularly in the west as it opened up marketing opportunities for them on a massive scale, and they've had much success over the years. I think when it's financially more viable, they'll be back, so I suppose the introduction of cost saving methods (like F1 has done) could only be a good thing at this point.

Subaru left because the S2000 rules were forced on them, they CANNOT take part under S2000 rules due to spec gearboxes not allowing boxer engine

 

[alex24]

Subaru left because the S2000 rules were forced on them, they CANNOT take part under S2000 rules due to spec gearboxes not allowing boxer engine

Well I have to take back what I said about the cost saving methods then, obviously they're not promoting enough competition.

What's the answer?

 

[rypt]

Well I have to take back what I said about the cost saving methods then, obviously they're not promoting enough competition.

What's the answer?

A normal, ordinary, budget cap ... at a sensible level though (none of this F1 style 40mil when in reality F1 should be 100mil)

 

[ajstan]

So now they are racing tiny little hatchbacks? - Its far more interesting to watch larger cars zooming around a forest than little city cars, similar story with BTCC.

WRC and BTCC are hardly worth watching these days

 

[Dangerous]

Yes Ford are running the Fiesta and Citroen DS3 s2000

 

[[TW]Fox]

I used to be such a big fan. I never missed a single Rally back when Solberg won his world title.

Now? I couldnt even tell you who the current champion is though I guess probably Loeb? Rally for me was about big Subarus not cruddy little hatchbacks designed for chavs in McDonalds and old people to go shopping in