Wrc 2017

[AndyP]

Anybody else really looking forward to this? Like F1 there has been quite a big change in the rules for this year meaning more power, more grip and more aero. This will hopefully be a step toward the old group B days?

Anyway just look at how Ogier's Fiesta comes out the the hairpin at 10secs!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9P-8D5dTlQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmjF6WchEuM

I cant wait for the Monte to start next weekend.

And I want to know where they get those LED spot lights from!

[SteveH]

Sweet! I'm sure the tip of Ogier's exhaust was cherry red in one of the night shots with all the anti-lag running. The manifold and turbo must be glowing red hot the whole time...

[HORCH]

The wrc died a long time ago for me, the sport was ruined, its full of little diddy cars now

[steve briance]

hopefully this will rekindle the interest.

I agree WRC was missing something in recent years, i think part of that was domination by either one team or one driver. Loeb + citroen then VW and no one else close. hopefully the excitement (and marketing value) will come back and more teams are attracted to entering.

I have to say, the testing videos make me wonder whether these current cars are quicker than group B. Yes, everyone of a certain age has fond memories of the GrpB spectacle but these cars have the benefit of 20 years development and goodness knows what electric trickery. They surely must now be quicker?!

looking good, just hope it is on TV!

[AndyP]

I think they've been quicker than Group B for a number of years now, the lack of power is more than made up for with modern gearbox's, super trick differentials and better suspension.

[mcandmar]

As above, tires, suspension and brakes have come a long way in the last 30 years. If you look at old group B footage now you can see how slow they were in turn in and mid corner vs the modern stuff. They did have double clutch transmissions way back then, and a lot more power so for straight line speed they are still up there.

[steve briance]

I remember a story about the Audi double clutch system (PDK) when it was fitted to the quattro. The co driver (christian geistdorfer) had trouble adapting because he said he used to use changes in gear to sense where he was on his notes - he knew what gear would be where and could feel it being changed. when the PDK system came in, it changed gear so quickly he lost count of which one the driver was in and couldn't call the notes quick enough!

a quote from the interweb:

The transmission was almost too good. Driver Walter Röhrl won the Semperit Rally with PDK by 19 minutes, but crashed out of the following British Lombard RAC rally. Röhrl wrote in his biography that PDK was quite possibly to blame, as Audi File explained.

What caused the ‘off’ depends on to whom you speak, but Röhrl has it that Short, who knew the section, momentarily lost the power of speech because of the E2's incredible pace that night. For sure, the PDK equipped Audi’s ‘hot’ seat could be a terrifying place to be. Röhrl relates how legendary Audi Sport engineer Dieter Basche, who’d sat calmly beside him through hundreds of miles of Quattro testing, climbed out of the PDK E2 after a fearsomely fast gravel test in Greece and said “no more”. Geistdorfer complained of a different problem: the PDK’s seamless gear changes lost him the rhythm of his pace notes.

[kompressorgolf]

Will always prefer WRC to F1, was avid F1 watcher until they went to turbo V6. Then that became lame to me. VW has been very dominant, which took some excitement out of it. Hopefully the sport livens this year, Monaco coming fast

[Bowie69]

Nice! Looking forward to both to be honest

Turbos will be with us until the demise of the petrol engine, we just have to get used to it.... why not turbo in F1 when acceptable in WRC?

With no Rosberg who will be challenging Lewis this year.... Hopefully one of the youngsters.

[AndyP]

With no Rosberg who will be challenging Lewis this year.... Hopefully one of the youngsters.

Looks like it's Bottas! I think he'll give Lewis a good run for it too.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/38489054

[kompressorgolf]

the sound of F1 died with the new v6. I felt the same when the v10 went to v8. Both sports are more fun with less dominance... Now I watch F1 for Kimi radio lol.

[AndyP]

I think both F1 and WRC will be much better this year, the rule changes in F1 are much more radical and really mean that all the teams are starting again with their design, which could end the Mercedes dominance

[AndyP]

Well, that's not a good start

[quattrostyle]

I take it you mean this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rjvYFGTEfY

[Bowie69]

Watched the Red Bull TV footage of the WRC last night, some pretty good action, shame it was all rather low speed due to the snow, ice and slush on the roads of Monte

Exhaust tips definitely running red, pretty epic sight really, shame not more flames though