RE: Skoda: Rally Rather Good
Tuesday 7th September 2010
Into service...Up until this point I had never really understood the popular appeal of a rally service park, but watching the Skoda crew service rising British rally star Guy Wilks's Skoda Fabia was genuinely fascinating. The diff was changed, a left rear door replaced (after the car hit a deer) and the gearbox ratios adjusted all in a 45-minute service window - with ample time to get the car washed and sponsor-friendly.
...down to work...I was an 'embedded journalist' (sounds better than freeloading hack, don't you think?) for the weekend to get a Skoda-eye view of the Barum Rally Zlin, Skoda's home event and the Czech round of the IRC (there's more about the IRC at the bottom of the article). And to record - Skoda hoped - its claiming of the IRC manufacturer's crown.
...and a new diff within 15 minutes. GeniusLast weekend that drama happened right in front of us. Czech driver and rally leader Jan Kopecky - Skoda's lead factory driver and understandably the crowd favourite - reappeared in the Skoda garage area barely half an hour after having left service for the final time to the cheers of hundreds of Czech fans.
Helicopter ride: brilliant but not slumming itThe drama wasn't over though. The win looked to be slipping from Skoda's grasp as Skoda's Belgian dealer team driver Freddy Loix had already conceded second place to the charging Peugeot 207 of Bryan Bouffier. But Bouffier lost the lead to Loix again after he damaged his rear suspension on the last stage but one. Bouffier would then end his rally in a ditch on the final stage, courtesy of a broken water pipe leaking water onto his tyres.
How to turn an artic into a grandstandAs for Wilks, he soldiered on with a dicky rear differential (the replacement part so effortlessly installed was little better) to take his effectively front-wheel drive Fabia home in a commendable seventh place.
Dramatic, but slow...But what makes the IRC really interesting is that it offers a glimpse at the next generation of WRC cars, wich will hit the stages next year with an all-but-identical specification, save for a 1.6-litre turbocharged engine which will push out a little more power and more torque than the IRC cars manage. Whether this is a good thing or not, we'll leave for you to decide.
Skoda: Rally Rather Good
Riggers gets on his bobble hat, fills up his Thermos flask and heads for the Czech Republic
It was the way the service crew managed to change a rear differential in less than a quarter of an hour that opened my eyes. I am not one of nature's mechanics (I recently bought How it works: The Motor Car, an old Ladybird book, and found it to be genuinely instructive), but I know enough to understand that the changing of the diff was a work of efficient mechanical genius.
Into service...
And the average rally fan can get within feet of the action - I was there as an 'official' Skoda guest, but aside from there being no physical barrier between me and the car I was hardly any closer than the rest of the fans.
...down to work...
But the key to rallying's appeal is that VIP hospitality treatment gets you barely any closer to the action than regular fans can get. It is motorsport that you can see, touch and smell, where little more lies between you and the action than a line of plastic tape and a man with a hi-vis tabard. And if you happen to be in the right place at the right time there will be as much drama as you'll find in any soap opera.
...and a new diff within 15 minutes. Genius
He had spun out of a 26-second lead with just three stages left to run and then, trying to make up lost time, braked too late for a left-hand corner, beaching the car on a large branch. The anguish of Kopecky and co-driver Petr Stary were plain to see - and Kopecky's girlfriend was in tears, knowing that dropping out of the lead had effectively killed his championship chances.
Helicopter ride: brilliant but not slumming it
Bouffier's misfortune promoted the works Skoda of Juho Hanninen into second and private Skoda entrant Pavel Valousek into the third podium spot. But with Kopecky's retirement it was a bitter-sweet one-two-three that secured Skoda its hoped-for manufacturer's title. A Hollyoaks script writer couldn't have devised a more dramatic plot.
How to turn an artic into a grandstand
So just what is IRC?
IRC stands for Intercontiental Rally Challenge (the word 'international' would be just too obvious) and is a 12-round global championship for Group N rally cars (production-based cars along the lines of the Mitsubishi Evo) and Group A vehicles.
The top-spec cars - such as our friend the Skoda Fabia - are based on S2000 regulations, which means a normally aspirated 2.0-litre engine giving around 265bhp, a six-speed sequential gearbox, four-wheel drive and two mechanical differentials.
Dramatic, but slow...
Discussion
I remember the RAC rally coming through Lancaster in November 1993 and seeing the Escort WRCs, the Toyota Celicas, Ford Sierra Cosworths, Lancia Deltas and of course Colin Mcrae in his Subaru Impreza.
It's nice to see these cars rallying, especially the Skoda as I've been driving one for the last twelve months, however it seems that the glory days are over for international rallying, which seems a shame.
It's nice to see these cars rallying, especially the Skoda as I've been driving one for the last twelve months, however it seems that the glory days are over for international rallying, which seems a shame.
300bhp/ton said:
WRC dropping to 1.6 litres???
Seems the downward slide of top level rallying continues...............
In common with most people, I normally like to disagree with you... But I can't. It's not just rallying, motorsport as a whole seems a pale imitation of even 10 years ago. Seems the downward slide of top level rallying continues...............
Papa Hotel said:
300bhp/ton said:
WRC dropping to 1.6 litres???
Seems the downward slide of top level rallying continues...............
In common with most people, I normally like to disagree with you... But I can't. It's not just rallying, motorsport as a whole seems a pale imitation of even 10 years ago. Seems the downward slide of top level rallying continues...............
Awesome sounds too, with a mix of BDA's, V8 Rovers, V6 Stratos's and 5 cylinder Audi's. Truly glorious
I'm not going to claim to know all the answers on how to make rallying interesting again but the organisers must be able to look at it and know it is inherently a boring form of motorsport to watch. The spectator doesn't have a view of a significantly large part of the track, only gets to see a car every 30 seconds or so and rarely sees any overtaking. So how do they remedy it? 1.6 litre engines. Bring back Group B you tossers.
Speed_Demon said:
How the f
k did they come up with dropping to 1.6 engine capacity?
"It seems people love the old days with the powerful group B cars"
"Well then the only solution is LESS POWER""
It's got something to do with cost-cutting and making it more accessible, hoping more manufacturers join in. Yep, that's what we need, a load of different slow cars.k did they come up with dropping to 1.6 engine capacity?"It seems people love the old days with the powerful group B cars"
"Well then the only solution is LESS POWER""
That's what'll make me don my woolly hat and sit freezing in a forest in Wales for days on end.
Papa Hotel said:
Speed_Demon said:
How the fk did they come up with dropping to 1.6 engine capacity?
"It seems people love the old days with the powerful group B cars"
"Well then the only solution is LESS POWER""
It's got something to do with cost-cutting and making it more accessible, hoping more manufacturers join in. Yep, that's what we need, a load of different slow cars.k did they come up with dropping to 1.6 engine capacity?"It seems people love the old days with the powerful group B cars"
"Well then the only solution is LESS POWER""
That's what'll make me don my woolly hat and sit freezing in a forest in Wales for days on end.
Bring back group A I say, but make the conform more to production models as per the late 70's cars did.
Papa Hotel said:
...Yep, that's what we need, a load of different slow cars...
What we need is to take off the rose tinted glasses....IRC cars are now in the top 10 of WRC events, so they're not slow. WRC cars are now at £0.5m - how can the affluent enthusiast get one of those to do a national championship? Simple really they don't. The BRC is for GpN (or now R4) cars and fiercely competitive, much more of interest that watching a Ford trying to catch a Citroen.
There's maybe one or two WRC cars doing the rounds but otherwise the whole structure is grinding to a halt because of a lack of flow of new cars. When MkII Escorts are still showing in the top 10 of a national event is it because the WRC cars are slow? No, there aren't any....
Environmentalists are flushing motorsport in general down the pan.
'Consumers' apparently don't want to buy heavilly polluting cars, and as such manufacturers don't want to build cars specifically for motorsport that have no relation to what 'the consumer' wants. Hence, since the demise of homologation, motorsport in general has been pants for yeaars.
Although millions of rep-mobiles and hot hatches used to be sold on the basis of a manufacturer's motorsports success, or just their touring and rally cars looks/sound/drivers etc, its seems that times have changed and the uneducated, or rather ill-informed, public don't want to be seen driving a touring car wannabe these days. Much better to mention over a dinner party conversation that you're in love with rabbits than the fact you drive one of 500 cars thats "almost just like the racing one".
Boo and, indeed, hiss. Bring back homos, thats what I say......errr, you know what, I didn't mean that
'Consumers' apparently don't want to buy heavilly polluting cars, and as such manufacturers don't want to build cars specifically for motorsport that have no relation to what 'the consumer' wants. Hence, since the demise of homologation, motorsport in general has been pants for yeaars.
Although millions of rep-mobiles and hot hatches used to be sold on the basis of a manufacturer's motorsports success, or just their touring and rally cars looks/sound/drivers etc, its seems that times have changed and the uneducated, or rather ill-informed, public don't want to be seen driving a touring car wannabe these days. Much better to mention over a dinner party conversation that you're in love with rabbits than the fact you drive one of 500 cars thats "almost just like the racing one".
Boo and, indeed, hiss. Bring back homos, thats what I say......errr, you know what, I didn't mean that
Geoffcapes said:
Ranger 6 said:
Papa Hotel].../quote said:
When MkII Escorts are still showing in the top 10 of a national event is it because the WRC cars are slow? No, there aren't any....
RS2000's! Now they were proper rally cars!Hours of fun driving whilst looking through the passenger window!
300bhp/ton said:
Geoffcapes said:
Ranger 6 said:
When MkII Escorts are still showing in the top 10 of a national event is it because the WRC cars are slow? No, there aren't any....
RS2000's! Now they were proper rally cars!Hours of fun driving whilst looking through the passenger window!
Edited by Papa Hotel on Tuesday 7th September 14:38
Papa Hotel said:
300bhp/ton said:
Geoffcapes said:
Ranger 6 said:
When MkII Escorts are still showing in the top 10 of a national event is it because the WRC cars are slow? No, there aren't any....
RS2000's! Now they were proper rally cars!Hours of fun driving whilst looking through the passenger window!
Edited by Papa Hotel on Tuesday 7th September 14:38
Very wrong indeed. Of course the original RS2000, 1600 and Mexico's.
For some reason I'd got this in my mind though:
Ooops....
300bhp/ton said:
my bad
Your bad what?....... Actually I meant RS1800 as that was the basis for the Gp4 Homologation
But the only BDAs these days are in historic rallying - the MkIIs on the Nationals are seriously developed with 300bhp and sequential gearboxes.
Seriously though we do need some realistic costs in the sport, a £200k limit on WRC cars for example, that would then mean the filter through to the country and regional championships would be maintained as well as some competitive fields instead of the 'who can come second to Seb' rallies we see these days.
Ranger 6 said:
300bhp/ton said:
my bad
Your bad what?....... Actually I meant RS1800 as that was the basis for the Gp4 Homologation
But the only BDAs these days are in historic rallying - the MkIIs on the Nationals are seriously developed with 300bhp and sequential gearboxes.
Seriously though we do need some realistic costs in the sport, a £200k limit on WRC cars for example, that would then mean the filter through to the country and regional championships would be maintained as well as some competitive fields instead of the 'who can come second to Seb' rallies we see these days.
Personally I think an easier way is make the cars closer to production cars. e.g.
To compete the car (and all components) must be full time production models, so no limited run of 20 cars or something silly which spiral costs. And must have produced say something more akin to 5000 units.
Allow any displacement and any transmission type, so long as it is that which is in the production vehicle. Then limit how far mods can go. e.g. no sequential gearboxes if the road car uses a H gate. No turbo's if the road car is n/a
Some discussion and sanity limit on power/boost might be needed. But if it is all based on production components it would pretty much self limit this anyhow.
End results - any car maker could field a rally car affordably. And we'd see more interesting road cars to cater for it.
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