The 2015 Rallying Thread

[GravelBen]

RyanTank said:

Lot of love for the Starlet Glanza
Some examples here are hitting close to celica gt4 money. Think the Celica just pips it in my books for the full WRC 4x4 connection

I've never been much of a Glanza fan, bit of a stereotypical 'girl racer' car here.

That one I don't mind though, GT4 engine/drivetrain swap

[Allyc85]

2016 Hyundai I20 isn't looking too shabby. Shame they can't just get on and use it now, as it will only get 12 months use any way!

https://youtu.be/wBzS3SNrV5Q

[confucuis]

Allyc85 said:

2016 Hyundai I20 isn't looking too shabby. Shame they can't just get on and use it now, as it will only get 12 months use any way!

https://youtu.be/wBzS3SNrV5Q

She looks more aggressive to my eye then the current car, hopefully it can take it to the Polo. I'd love to see Neuville properly challenge Ogier.

[Allyc85]

Yea same here. I think Neuville has been a bit frustrated by the lack of pace compared to the VW, and been over driving too much this season.

New R5 I20 announced today, which is good news.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119902

While it was nearly bad news for Neuville in testing! Big brown pants!

https://youtu.be/c31qcSJsHLM

Edited by Allyc85 on Thursday 9th July 16:53

[GravelBen]

Could have been messy! At least they know the brakes work.

Good reflexes from the tractor driver getting it into reverse and out of the way quickly too.

[RyanTank]

from the first angle it looks like Neuville doesn't react until late, its only from the other angle do we see that he doesn't see him until late due to the hedges!

Obviously farmer Kraut didn't get the memo that his road was being used for testing!

[Allyc85]

Finally had some details of the 2017 technical regs!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119933

Not sure about the wider cars and more aero, will have to see a few previews first as the current Polo looks bloody wide as it is!

[Slippydiff]

The cars will be running 400hp and will be allowed to run bigger brakes than the current 355 mm Tarmac items.
I don't suppose they'll go back to 2.0 litres, but the 2017 regulations should make the cars look like proper rally cars again.
The Polo is no wider than the other WRC cars, it's just the basic car isn't particularly wide, so the arches are wider.

[Allyc85]

What I meant to say was the wider arches look enough on the current model as it is. This preview looks ridiculous IMO!

[Slippydiff]

The increase is only from 1820 to 1875mm, so I think it's doubtful we'll see anything as radical as that artists impression ! !
My understanding is the FIA think the larger restrictor will allow 380hp. The manufacturers have other ideas however

[Allyc85]

Fair point regarding the width, hadn't twigged onto the current size!

The rules really do sound like a great step forwards. Can you imagine the silly fast stages in Poland with another 100bhp and much more grip?! It will be fking immense

[Slippydiff]

On the basis the current WRC cars are apparently "boring", the 2017 cars should be substantially less boring

[GravelBen]

The extra power is good news - they probably need it when the current cars are making similar power to Grp.N spec national series cars.

I'm undecided on the return to electronic diff control (at least it isn't 3 active diffs) and extensive aero - hopefully its fine but it may result in them driving much straighter lines.

Edited by GravelBen on Saturday 11th July 00:50

[Jerry Can]

the extra power is tremendous. Current restricted WRC cars sound like F3 cars, really struggling to breathe and rev hard. I just hope we have a British driver involved, then it would be double tremendous.

[Allyc85]

Are you not expecting Meeke and Evans to not be around by then? I know Meeke is under pressure after 2 bad rounds, but Evans is doing a solid enough job when the car isn't breaking down.

[RyanTank]

Kris Meeke's Citroen World Rally Championship future in jeopardy

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119978

Could this be Citroen's start of a WRC pull out after announcing it will focus on either WRC or WTCC in 2017? Or paving the way for the, once again rumoured, return of Loeb?

I do think Matton is being hard on Meeke. The Poland roll was just unlucky imho. He didn't seem to approach the corner "balls out" and seemed to just hit the rut badly.
After his win in Argentina he got 4th in Portugal, a bad result admittedly in Sardinia, and bounced back to 7th in Poland after the shakedown roll. Mads only managed 9th despite having a trouble free run.

[Allyc85]

I still don't believe that shakedown crash was all of Kris's doing. I have never seen a car launch out of a rut so violently, giving no chance of saving the roll. On the other hand I guess you could argue Kris should have spotted it.

Still maybe Citroen should give their drivers a car that is quick and strong enough to battle the mighty VWs on pure pace, rather than right on the ragged edge all the time. A pre-event test would have helped too..

[Slippydiff]

RyanTank said:

Kris Meeke's Citroen World Rally Championship future in jeopardy

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119978

Could this be Citroen's start of a WRC pull out after announcing it will focus on either WRC or WTCC in 2017? Or paving the way for the, once again rumoured, return of Loeb?

I do think Matton is being hard on Meeke. The Poland roll was just unlucky imho. He didn't seem to approach the corner "balls out" and seemed to just hit the rut badly.
After his win in Argentina he got 4th in Portugal, a bad result admittedly in Sardinia, and bounced back to 7th in Poland after the shakedown roll. Mads only managed 9th despite having a trouble free run.

I read a piece about Citroen considering their options in the WRC and WTCC in 2016 a couple of weeks ago.
I sense a genuine lack of commitment to the WRC this year (and last) on their part. Their planned upgrades to the car earlier this year didn't seem like those of a team hungry for victory. It feels like without Loeb they've given up on the WRC and any chance of victory in it.

I have to say I have mixed emotions about Meeke, I can see Matton's viewpoint as Meeke has been somewhat accident prone, and his Argentinian win whilst welcome, wasn't that convincing due to the top drivers who'd fallen by the wayside due to mechanical failures, punctures etc. Many would respond by saying "to finish first, you first have to finish", which is fair enough, but Meeke's results haven't been that spectacular when compared with the likes of Ogier, JML Andreas M and others.

As for Mads, he gives the impression he's just cruising at the moment, my guess is that's because the Polo is simply leagues ahead, the Fiesta's rapidly improving (and probably better than the DS3 now) and the Hyundai's on the pace/quicker when they don't crash or suffer mechanical issues.

No doubting either of the Citroen drivers speed, but the likes of Neuville, Andreas M and Tanak are probably quicker than both of them.......

Loeb ? Yep, he should come back for the whole championship, no if's no but's, every round or not at all. Period.
I suspect he'd get spanked by Ogier, but that in turn would probably galvanize Citroen into building a car worthy of his talents/winning the championship. Something they're patently not doing now for Meeke and Mads.

[Alex Langheck]

Thry need to cut Meeke some slack; he's pushing a car that isn't up to it; and a team with their eye elsewere. Their testing programme isn't as thorough as it could be - missing a pre event test for Poland.
They also need to move on; Loeb is not the future. Either commit fully to the WRC, or walk away to the borefest that is the WTCC.

Yves Matton could do with having a word with Audi's Dr Wolfgang Ulrich on how to run a team, and man management; as he has a lot to learn.

[Allyc85]

VW on the other hand back their drivers, no matter how many crashes they have..

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/119997