At Rallyday David Richards said that he is going to take a more hands on approach next year, maybe that will help.

If you watch the rallies closely, you'll notice Petter overdriving/trying to hard. It wasn't the unreliability, it was Petter sliding wide and barrel rolling over rocks. In Germany, the service team had to completely rebuild the back of the car after stuffing it on a shakedown stage, and apparently replace the engine at Petter's request (according to WRC TV).
Unfortunately the WRC has gone a certain direction to try and attract a more mainstream audience, although it isn't as enjoyable as when I first followed it back in the nineties. I still follow it, as to me, it is still far more enjoyable than watching the F1 or touring cars (although the BTCC is quite enjoyable).
The next few years should make it a lttle better with new teams or others coming back (Citroen Factory/Suzuki/Mitsubushi/Hyundai) and the rule changes such as the fact that if you crash out, then you can only re-enter and score points for the fastest 3 from each leg, and not get in the overall classification for the rally, and also, if the car has less than 4 wheels on it, it will not be allowed to scrape back to the service park.
As for Seb, he is a wonderful talent, but his total of rallies has been amassed against a weak opposition (except for Petter and Marcus), and in no real way challenges the totals of Colin, Tommi or Carlos.
I just know that I still love this sport and is one of the reasons why I have always had Subaru's or Ford RS's.
Craig
PS I think the place to watch will be in the new Irish round next year - that'll be phenomenal.

I guess much like the old Manx Rally :D :D The rally of Wales :rolleyes: another Health and Safety excercise.

Tony

I agree. I think it will be a double-whammy for me next year. I watched the RAC (whole event) for 13 consecutive years, but the last 3 years i've not been, and neither have our crowd.

1) The ticket prices compared to the euro events could not be justified.
2) Condensing the rally to wales.
3) Restricting what stages you're allowed to watch with your ticket - which ruined the "missed this stage, let's get the next one".
4) Losing our hero, Colin, plus the other talents Tommi, Carlos, Juha, etc etc

Hoping next years WRC will get back on track, and the RAC & Irish is on, sweden, finland and possibly a tarmac one are a good possibility.

Yeh - I will deffo watch the Irish stuff. Much more fun.

I also agree with the comments made about Loeb. Yes, he's good, but I think that's moreso down to consistency and a good car, and not so much talent. although he IS talented

It is down to the whole engineering package. This is why Loeb has done so well - the package ge's driving is RELIABLE.

On the "Subaru Impreza Story" DVD, IIRC there's a whole section with Prodrive stating that they they really focus on the technology behind the WRC car.

The BIG issue with cutting edge technology is that it invariably isn't reliable. Think how many times since Petter won the world championship the car has been the reason for bombing out? what about all those issues with the front of the car and water splashes, for example? I may be generalising slightly here, if I'm honest though.

If Petter really wanted another championship, ie to build on his career, surely he would have jumped ship to a TBH, more competetive team.

SWRT, I'm sorry to say, aren't as competetive as they used to be. Great car, Great technology. Poor performance. Poor results. and that's with world champions behind the wheel (inc Tommi Mak at the time)

For those who disagree about the reliabilty issues being the reason behind the lack of success, OK, the other reason is probably that Petter's been pushing too hard, as (a) he's got something to prove, (b) there's no decent 2nd team driver to back it up

When was the last time that SWRT actually won the constructors championship.

When the French teams have won, they've won BOTH......

SWRT and in all fairness, the other teams need to take a hard look at the "winners".

I only hope it gets better when the teams return in the next year or so. With the new breed of driver coming through, perhaps we'll see some entertaining rallying......

All IMHO of course ;)

DAn

Think it's more like raw speed. I think if you stuck him in any car, he'd still be winning more than most. Loeb is getting the Schumacher effect. Too good for his rivals, so everone assumes he'll always win.

I do think the car is part of it too of course, but stick Loeb in the same car as either Gronholme (spell check) or Petter, and they'll mostly play second fiddle.

Plus the guy hardly ever makes a mistake, and when he does, and say falls back to sixth place, he soon shoots back up the leader board.

Hope that's true, but as Richards is currently fighting Green peace to get his new Factory built, as well as trying to start up a Formula 1 team, he might just have his hands full.

True, he hardly makes any mistakes, but i agree it's the whole package that is helping a lot too. Reminds me of the Gronholm/206 days. That was a perfect package, and i kept wandering what it would've been like with McCrae in a 206.

Fair play to Loeb though, but i don't think he's had to battle for the most WRC wins. Come back Colin/Carlos and get some wins to top that table again.

I was speaking to a couple of lads from Prodrive last month at the Jim Clark Rally.
They were telling me that the current model has reached the end of it's development, and what they can do with it under homologation rules. There are a few mods planned for next year and the change to BF Goodridge ie. Michelin will see some improvement, but not much.
But the root of the problem is that the current car is too big and heavy. They can get it to the minimum weight limit but there's not much ballast required, whereas the Xsara is nearly 100Kg underweight and brought up to the minimum weight with lead ballast which can be placed low in the car to give it perfect balance.
So the car is behind out of the box, and Solberg is having to overdrive it on the limit to try and get the times.

But when the current design was new, it was up there. Burns won the Championship in 2001 with a bug-eye, and Solberg 2 years later with a blobby. But it's too old now.
Jonnyrex - the 2 door car never won anything, McRae's Championship in '95 was also a 4 door car.

The good news is that Prodrive now have a 2008 shell to start designing the roll cage, and this is the brand new model we'll see as a road car late next year.
And yes the new shape Impreza is definately a small hatchback.


David

cheers Terzo!

i think we will probs see the last of chris atkinson this year in a factory drive, stig would be a good alternative for tarmac and sarrazin rarely impreses, should have stuck with Mikko who regulary beats petter!

once the tyres change for subaru it invites possible wins on the monte, spain, corsica, germany etc which all were possible mid table finishes for subaru at its best with perrelli

as for entertainment and the 3rd day being a sunday drive for the top 3 or 4, we can only hope Loeb signs for Skoda next year - come on give other people a chance your selfish b****rd lol ha!

MickeyWRX - Only joking about the stig althought I sure he would be good!

Mikko has finished well in the last 3 rallies and is definately one to watch.

Anyone else been watching the Irish Tarmac rally championship on Motors TV? The in car shots are nothing short of astounding.

Had heard a rumour that the B5-TPH model was arriving at Prodrive last January (not the Dual fuel Tree hugger version) so hope they have done a bit more than the Rollcage ;) Pehaps save a bit of time just pop the shell off the P2 and pop the B5-TPH shell on :D LOL

The Prodrive version will look 10 times better than the Pax Mower verion shown in Scoobymag :cool:

Tony

Tony,

I think the shell only arrived in June, plus I think it's more likely to just be a mock up. It's unlikely that the factory can press out chassis of the new model just yet. Can't see them changing over production moulds and presses until 4 or 5 months before production starts.

What I didn't ask, was if the shell of the WRC was a 3 or 5 door. For a road car a 3 door is stiffer, but when a huge cage is welded in, it doesn't make much difference. But a 5 door is a lot easier to work on in service area's - changing rear suspension, repairs, etc. So an arguement for both, but I hope it's a 3 door.

It will have to look a lot more aggresive and have the right stance, compared to that eco-car.

Don't know if you've seen the EVO X from Motorsport News a few weeks back, but it's still a big Lancer sized car with a wide low stance and huge grill opening. Probably too big and heavy for success at WRC level, but ok for Grp N.


David

;)



Tony