The 2016 Rallying thread (WRC, ERC, RX, etc)

[RyanTank]

I get the comments by the drivers over the use for tractors, but the likelyhood of a accident similar to Bianchi would have been nigh on impossible in a WRCar, an f1 car is some 35" tall for instance. And the trees/brick walls they smash into is more damaging than the giant rubber wheels fitted to the tractors.


M-Sport have released testing images of the 2017 Fiesta, mostly mechanical stuff under the body of the current gen Fiesta, aero upgrades are still in development with Ford Performance.
Malcolm Wilson & Martin Prokop have been doing most of the donkey work in the car at Greystokes. With Matt Wilson set to take over.
http://www.wrc.com/en/wrc/news/august-2016/2017-fi...

This is where M-Sport are losing out imho. The other teams are testing with WRC Champions or at the very least quick drivers. Having Matt in charge of the development isn't inspiring, he was a mediocre WRC driver at best, Prokop is decent enough for most of the donkey stuff. Evans doesn't have any commitments past the Ulster rally (where he can take BRC Honours) so he'd be an ideal candidate for the testing stuff on the car. His results have been mixed in the latter part of the season, mostly through car failures over his mistakes, but he is without doubt a quick driver.

The Fiesta has been proven over the last 2 rounds as still a quick and capable car against the big factory teams. but if the 2017 car is being developed by low table drivers then it cant possibly expect to be up and running with a car being tested by the likes of Gronholm at VW, Juho Hanninen at Toyota (and Tommi), Kris with the Citroen etc etc.

[Allyc85]

Amazing video from Finland, with spectators and photographers in some crazy places!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v...

[DelicaL400]

RyanTank said:

This is where M-Sport are losing out imho. The other teams are testing with WRC Champions or at the very least quick drivers. Having Matt in charge of the development isn't inspiring, he was a mediocre WRC driver at best

I'd have thought at this stage of development they'd be wanting to test with drivers who have experience of the current car and the 2017 model. Malcolm/Matt have that experience. I doubt they'll have Elfyn in the 2017 car while he's in talks with Toyota.

[BOBTEE]

Allyc85 said:

Amazing video from Finland, with spectators and photographers in some crazy places!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v...

That's awesome, better than the WRC.com footage!

[GravelBen]

Little highlights video from a local club rally yesterday, pretty dicey conditions! https://www.facebook.com/wwrally/videos/1791667191...

And a teaser photo until I process and upload the rest...

DSC_8014 by Ben, on Flickr

Edited by GravelBen on Sunday 7th August 11:28

[GravelBen]

More photos up now here: https://flic.kr/s/aHskEB2QdJ

DSC_7903 by Ben, on Flickr
DSC_8345 by Ben, on Flickr
DSC_7914 by Ben, on Flickr
DSC_8092 by Ben, on Flickr
DSC_8460 by Ben, on Flickr
DSC_8531 by Ben, on Flickr
DSC_8765 by Ben, on Flickr
DSC_8842 by Ben, on Flickr
DSC_8848 by Ben, on Flickr

[Skylinecrazy]

Club rallies are the best sometimes. The range of cars is always diverse

[BOBTEE]

Looks like a good event! Love the pic of the two guys taking a wheel for a walk

[GravelBen]

BOBTEE said:

Looks like a good event! Love the pic of the two guys taking a wheel for a walk

Was a good effort on their part - they hooked the culvert on the inside of the corner and ripped it off (see the photo above that one), finished the stage on 3 wheels and then walked 1.5km back into the stage (up a hill too) to collect the wheel so they could fix the car and carry on. Quite funny when they wandered up "we kinda need that".

[GravelBen]

Skylinecrazy said:

Club rallies are the best sometimes. The range of cars is always diverse

Yip, 90-odd entries for this one with a good variety of machinery. The Subaru in the first photo is the sweetest sounding Impreza I've ever heard, has a 3.0 H6 motor in it - revs for Africa and you can hear it coming miles away.

[Allyc85]

Top pics as always!

We booked our flights for the Monte Carlo last night, can't wait to see this beast in action!!

https://youtu.be/9lbvfjF1IXg

[Slippydiff]

Allyc85 said:

We booked our flights for the Monte Carlo last night

YHM

[Allyc85]

You should have a reply

Citroen have been back out testing, the old Ds3 looks so plain and boring in comparison!

https://youtu.be/_PmODjaIWp0

[BOBTEE]

Tell me I'm wrong but aren't these 2017 cars a bit dull? They sound great and I don't doubt they're extremely quick but they seem to lack a bit of excitement, for me anyway. They don't seem to move, at all!

[Alex Langheck]

BOBTEE said:

Tell me I'm wrong but aren't these 2017 cars a bit dull? They sound great and I don't doubt they're extremely quick but they seem to lack a bit of excitement, for me anyway. They don't seem to move, at all!

They're fast & noisy.....

Two points I've already made:

1: The current WRCars are the fastest rally cars through a stage we’ve ever seen. The ‘problem’ is they don’t appear fast; there’s very little drama. Actually live stage side, they’re fantastic – but on the official WRC TV coverage they don’t seem that way.

2: So, why are we getting faster cars next year? Are they really needed?
What the WRC needs is far better promotion, different event types and better coverage. I don’t think the cars are the real problem.


I'll say it now, and I hope I'm wrong; these new 2017 cars will not be the panacea the WRC world is hoping for.

[BOBTEE]

I went out to Germany again this year, I agree, no probs at the side of the stage!

I'm not fond of the coverage as it is at the moment. We all know how rallying works, just give it to us straight. The fake commentary and fake surprise does my nut in. In fact I'm considering binning my subscription after I've watched the German coverage.

[GravelBen]

BOBTEE said:

Tell me I'm wrong but aren't these 2017 cars a bit dull? They sound great and I don't doubt they're extremely quick but they seem to lack a bit of excitement, for me anyway. They don't seem to move, at all!

Some of the testing clips have shown the cars moving around a bit, but in general I agree - no problem with the extra power, but active diffs and more downforce is probably going to favour straighter driving styles and less sideways action.

I did read an interesting interview with someone from Michelin who said that grip levels may not increase as much as people expect because they'll have to use harder compound tyres to avoid the extra power wearing them out too fast.

[confucuis]

You'd think Citroen would get Loeb involved in testing the new DS3, given that VW are using Gronholm and Sainz (don't know where I read that so could be wrong).

[Slippydiff]

confucuis said:

You'd think Citroen would get Loeb involved in testing the new DS3, given that VW are using Gronholm and Sainz (don't know where I read that so could be wrong).

Saintz heavily involved with the VW WRC team (I think)
Meeke is an excellent test driver, no need for Loeb.
My ex-WRC contact said Loeb's engineers had the dullest job in the sport, he (Loeb) rarely changed things once they'd arrived at the optimal set up, whereas someone like Saintz was always trying something new/different.

[ArnageWRC]

Meeke is a qualified engineer - with a degree from Queen's University. There is a reason he's been testing PSA competition cars for about 10 years.

As for Loeb testing for Citroen; he has left, and is now a Peugeot driver - and will be busy testing their new Dakar challenger. Yes, Citroen-Peugeot are based in the same building - but it seems it wasn't a happy separation from Citroen. Also, possibly, Citroen need to move on from Loeb; they need to build their new car around their new drivers - not their ex superstar driver.