WRC confirms series to go normally aspirated?
The heavily modified S2000 car that will form the base package for some of the cars in the 2010 World Rally Championship will be stripped of at least one major modification the following year. According to Autosport, the World Motorsports Council has agreed to a new regulation that turbochargers would not be allowed on the 2011 cars, leaving aero mods as the only alterations left to be made to the basic car.
In 2011 and 2012, when S2000 cars take over from the current WRC runners as the template, the cars will be naturally aspirated. Then, from 2013, in a decision proposed by the World Rallies Commission of the FIA and also ratified by the WSMC, the cars will run "cost-effective" 1.6-liter turbocharged engines.
While the regulations have driven industry stalwart Subaru out of the WRC, they could open the door to other manufacturers such as Peugeot, Skoda, Abarth, and Proton who already run S2000 cars in the WRC-rival Intercontinental Rally Challenge. Hat tip to bn_me!
[Source: Autosport]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Jorge 7:07PM (3/25/2009)
There goes all the emotion that was left in the WRC...
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Rick C. 11:52PM (3/25/2009)
Hardly. Looking forward to the old guard returning to rallying. Newcomers to rallying seem to forget cars from Fiat-Abarth (and Lancia) owned world rallying in the 70's, 80's and early 90's. Their departure opened the door for Subaru, Mitsu and others.
adrian 1:45PM (3/26/2009)
Bring back Group B
Jorge 2:19PM (3/26/2009)
Group B back, that wpuld be sooooo cooool!!!
F-22 7:16PM (3/25/2009)
Rest in peace WRC...
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Ben 11:00PM (3/25/2009)
WRC died when Subaru left.
hashiryu 11:24PM (3/25/2009)
WRC died long before that.....
why not the LS2LS7? 1:34AM (3/26/2009)
WRC died when Sebastien Loeb started winning. Nothing against the guy personally, and he's a great driver, but he's incredibly boring to watch.
larry a 9:07AM (3/26/2009)
Bring back Group B!!
Noah 7:18PM (3/25/2009)
Why make them go from turbo to NA to turbo again, in span of 3 years? That doesn't seem cost-effective.
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peter314 7:23PM (3/25/2009)
1.6 liter turbocharged engines... S2000 class..i assume those are smaller cars?... can i say i'd be pysched to see the return of MINI to rallying!!!! that would be awesome!! who's with me?
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esteva03 10:33PM (3/25/2009)
+1. i dunno what the problem is. im sure people would kil to see a lambo doing rally? no. small cars lots of power less weight and so many other variables that are still going to be exiting. i dunno but the thing is all the cars were doing pretty much the same exept loeb was dominating all these years now they are kicking the board a lot so im for it.
Bloke 2:25AM (3/26/2009)
I am ... the old Minis were a joy to watch, as were Cortinas, 911's, Escorts, Saab 96s, etc etc.
I don't understand those calling the removal of turbochargers as the ruination of the sport. Most of the competition Lancia Stratos models were non-turbod and exceptionally fast.
davet 12:28PM (3/26/2009)
"im sure people would kil to see a lambo doing rally?" Heh, I remember seeing a video of a Group B Corsica Rally. Lancia 037 gracefully power sliding through a hairpin, BMW M1 having to do a 3-point turn in same hairpin. Pretty funny.
nzo 7:20PM (3/25/2009)
Henceforth to be known as the 'Who Really Cares' racing series.
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commandoten 7:26PM (3/25/2009)
It may be my optimism showing, but I'm for anything that keeps organizations like this alive. I'm desperate for any racing organization to convince Speed TV (or whatever it is called) to stop airing stale lifestyle shows and air some non-nascar racing for once.
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Steve 7:30PM (3/25/2009)
Did I mention I hate Nascar?
Haon 8:17PM (3/25/2009)
I still call it Speedvision for some reason. I know it doesn't deserve that name anymore.
exkart 10:52PM (3/25/2009)
yeah I too want more non-nascar related anything on that channel.
speedball3 11:36AM (3/26/2009)
Well, they did recently show the 12 hrs of Sebring and another 24hr race (forgot the track) a couple months back. I really enjoyed those. But for the most part, I agree it sucks, it's all Pinks, some tow truck show, and that low rider show. Lame. Oh and they seem to show motorcycle races at random, which is kind of nice, aside from the 5 minutes of commercials every 3 laps. I'm more forgiving tho since I didn't have cable when it was SpeedVision (don't know what I'm missing).