Borat_Drives_A_Scooby

This is now the 6th rally since the new subaru world rally car made its debut and i don`t see any improvement or anything to be optimistic about, in most of the previous rallies the new car has been around 2 mins 30 secs to 3 mins off the pace and the car is currently 3 mins off the pace in Spain at the min with a full day to run.

I would have expected some small gradual improvement along the way from 6 rallies competed in so far but i don`t see it, is it purely down to the car or do Subaru need to take a long hard look at their current driver line up ?

JRFRACE

simple, its the car, put solberg or atkinson in a works citroen and while they may not beat loeb often ( or at all really) they would be fairly close on time.

My understanding is that subaru have a problem because the regs now have a lot of limits on testing, and limits on things like data collection, the amount of info you are allowed to monitor on the cars in stages, all to try and simplify the technology and cut costs.

It cuts costs, but they can't develop the car up to the pace of the citroen and the ford which are well developed cars.

I'd like to see WRC changed somehow to make the cars better to watch, and closer to production ( or at least to be perceived as closer to production) looking back at some of the footage of the group A imprezas with the drivers at the time i'd forgotten how much they moved around and how spectacular they were, group N cars do fulfil the closer to production criteria but they just don't do it for me watching them, they look and sound boring.

The WRC's are incredible cars and massivly effective, but they have so much grip the drivers don't have to work the car to find it anymore, it just seems to be point, accelerate, brake, accelerate in a very efficient but undramatic way. It would be nice if they had indentifiable engine notes as well

Also while i'd like to see the above, i haven't a clue how to make that happen! i understand the difficulties the WRC people face

Borat_Drives_A_Scooby

Its not pretty viewing so far, one car is over 3 minutes behind and the other is virtually 4 mins behind.

World Rally Championship - Rallies -

Borat_Drives_A_Scooby

I was hoping this new car would be competetive by rally GB but i can`t see anything different happening than the same similar results its had so far which is miles off the pace.

LUCKO

iTrader: (3)

bring back the 22b i say

stevenhiggster

I don't want to go as far as saying the WRC has gotten boring, but it's verging on it. They need to do something to attract more manufacturers, at the moment there's only really Citreon Ford and Subaru, I know Suzuki are trying and Skoda dip there toes in every now and again but it's just not that good anymore! I don't want to take anything away from Loeb either (the guy's fu**in amazing) but the way he's dominating it makes it pretty boring too! Last season wasn't too bad with Gronholm chasing him right to the end but now he's retired Loeb has it all to himself. It just needs a big shot of freshness somehow

StickyMicky

love watching the WRC i always make a point of getting home on a sunday to catch up.


can the bloke above who wants the wrc look more like a production car, not just watch the group n/ production car stuff instead ?




why the team is not doing better?

no idea, but prodrive are at the top when it comes to doing "good ****" so maybe they are playing the long game?

i dont think anybody can take any respect away from seb (apart from the frenchness)

personally i feel if danny sordo can not keep up with seb, then i am doubtful that petter or chris could.

IMO i feel petters time is over, but i dont belive we have seen the best that atkinson has to offer yet.....

after all, its a brand new car, why go compleatly ***** out and try to win rallys and **** up a proper thought out development plan ?

Oskar

iTrader: (1)

They should get one good driver (not saying atkinson or solberg are bad, but they are not on the same level as hirvonen or loeb) and i think the car would be quick.

But to be honest petter has had his best days

D6ale

iTrader: (1)

I wouldnt say that Petter is past it... He was the top scoring SWRT driver in Spain, Atkinson struggled and the new tarmac specialist Tribassi didnt deliver... Petter just needs a decent car under him and he will dominate on gravel

Borat_Drives_A_Scooby

On the drivers point i think Chris Atkinson makes a lot of mistakes and some are big ones, Petter for me isn`t the same force as a few years back and i wouldn t say its just down to the car.

I think Subaru needs another british driver to get the crowds back on side, maybe Guy Wilkes as he has the enthusiasm and is a great personality and a very good driver, i have no idea if he is WRC class but you won`t know till you try.

The rookie

iTrader: (1)

The trouble is that Prodrive have lost so many people who knew how to design and build competative cars, witness how long it took them to fix the 'snake' with the S11/12 when the techs had reported they couldn't get the castor to spec for nearly a year and still no-one had changed the parts to fix it (a problem created by poor design in the first place), the problem is less the base car or the regs than Prodrive/STi IMHO.

StickyMicky

Atkinsons only a newbie to the WRC scene

its to be expected that he will have a few tumbles now and again

GC8

A reversion to Group A rules would be a good start. The cars that are being entered now have more in common with old GpB cars than with any series production car.

Its ironic that Subaru (Prodrive really) are suffering due to a format that they invented (WRC cars) to get the jump on everyone else...

JRFRACE

i'd like to see some kind of version of group A being used too, it'd give us all an interesting new range of cars on the road! but i think its far to expensive which is why it was dropped? having to build the amount of homologation cars, some of which didn't sell well was off putting to many, citroen for instance have been in WRC for a while but i don't think they have any interest in building a high spec 4wd car for the roads.

WRC cars are supposed to be much cheaper to build and run for a manufacturer, and yet still only ford and citroen seem to build competitive cars.

I agree about the irony as well, i don't know what it is about WRC that makes it so difficult, does anyone know did a Lancer WRC car ever win a WRC event?
the Group A cars were mighty, what were the problems getting the evo's to work in WRC spec?

The rookie

iTrader: (1)

If group A was too expensive, and WRC cost 'less' to get more to compete, how come we now have the lowest number of manufacturers involved (3) in about 4 decades, and the lowest number of cars with a realistic chance of winning (3) starting each event?

They have to do something to fix it and fast!

Simon

JRFRACE

because funding in motorsport accross the board peaked in the mid to late 90's, super touring, wrc even gt's had lots of money being pumped into them

nowadays there is money in F1, but there is no appetite from manufacturers to spend in the same way anywhere else.

Group A as it was couldn't happen today, they just won't invest in production of cars like that. It shows how tight the manufacturers are though, for them the budget for wrc is less than group a and yet still they won't do it.

WRC though while being comparable in some ways to group B, they don't create the spectacle of Group B, the individual unit costs for a privateer are too high which is why we can't have a strong BRC featuring them. When the tried a few years ago it was the M-sport entered car that would win barring any drama, no-one could seriously run against them.

I dunno, i guess i'm just fed up with wrc, wish they could make it a bit more lively to watch, and that the premier british class could run the same cars (part of the reason i think why we can't get anyone to break in) bar Matthew wilson who seems a nice enough lad, but does anyone reckon he'll ever be competitive?