FIA WRX 2017

[tbtstt 2,387]

Didzis said:

Reinis Nitišs will be joining EKS Audi, alongside Ekstrom and Heikkinen. The EKS team also got support from the Audi factory this year.

Yeah, three car entry for EKS and Peugeot-Hansen this year!

[dwkGravey 0]

Andrew Coley repping Dirt Rally in firesuit, helmet, and Poäng chair. Can't wait for the new season, and rallycross in D4.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vx9M4TTVF1A

[RyuMakkuro 6]

I'm interested to see how Bakkerud will fare this season, with more experience in and more developed car. Same could be said about Block, although not expecting that much from him. This is definitely going to be an interesting season.
Also, is it just me or Loeb is kind of... non-existent in WRX? Kind of feels nice when someone called Sebastien ain't dominating xD :D

On the subject of Lydden and Silverstone... never was a fan of Lydden Hill, it's just an L shaped track, two hairpins and two 90' corners. It doesn't get any more simple there, which is great for beginners but not that great for racing, since not many places for actual manouvers and what not. I think most of the "hype" for that track comes from the fact the RX basically started there. It's more iconic than actually good for high-end RX competition IMO. I mean look at Hockenheim that was in the last season. It was just a temporary in, but holy crap did it result in some epic races out there (Kristoffersons flat on the first corner :D ).
If Silverstone is getting a proper RX circuit built into it, that may be interesting. There are many ways of how you can create elevation changes, so nothing is excluded there. Wonder if they'll include some of the existing track into RX layout. Would love if they could include the Maggots and Becket and Chapel into the layout, but if they're going to do it around the Stowe then it may not be as great. Still, time will tell.

[Janneman60 154]

RyuMakkuro said:

I'm interested to see how Bakkerud will fare this season, with more experience in and more developed car. Same could be said about Block, although not expecting that much from him. This is definitely going to be an interesting season.
Also, is it just me or Loeb is kind of... non-existent in WRX? Kind of feels nice when someone called Sebastien ain't dominating xD :D

On the subject of Lydden and Silverstone... never was a fan of Lydden Hill, it's just an L shaped track, two hairpins and two 90' corners. It doesn't get any more simple there, which is great for beginners but not that great for racing, since not many places for actual manouvers and what not. I think most of the "hype" for that track comes from the fact the RX basically started there. It's more iconic than actually good for high-end RX competition IMO. I mean look at Hockenheim that was in the last season. It was just a temporary in, but holy crap did it result in some epic races out there (Kristoffersons flat on the first corner :D ).
If Silverstone is getting a proper RX circuit built into it, that may be interesting. There are many ways of how you can create elevation changes, so nothing is excluded there. Wonder if they'll include some of the existing track into RX layout. Would love if they could include the Maggots and Becket and Chapel into the layout, but if they're going to do it around the Stowe then it may not be as great. Still, time will tell.

I think in real life Lydden is a lot more complicated as the simple track you call it. But some moroon decided to place the jokerlap at the first corner. So after the first straight the angle is always out of a race. For that reason I don't mind WRX is going elsewhere. On the other hand like the oldskool rallycross circuits more as the stadiumtracks as for instance Barcelona.

[RallyDriven 398]

Lydden creates some great moments, like Davy jenay (sorry can't remember the spelling) going round the outside in turn 1 and holding it until devils elbow. It's quite a different track to the rest of the calendar as it's so fast and flat out. You have to push really hard to be fast there. It's also great to spectate as you can see the whole track from most points, especially from the hairpin at the top. Hopefully silverstone will produce a good track.

Should be a very good season this year, can't wait for it to start. That will be all 3 of the racing series I follow started for the season, which means goodbye to my weekends!

[FloatingGrass 0]

RallyDriven said:

Lydden creates some great moments, like Davy jenay (sorry can't remember the spelling) going round the outside in turn 1 and holding it until devils elbow. It's quite a different track to the rest of the calendar as it's so fast and flat out. You have to push really hard to be fast there. It's also great to spectate as you can see the whole track from most points, especially from the hairpin at the top. Hopefully silverstone will produce a good track.

Should be a very good season this year, can't wait for it to start. That will be all 3 of the racing series I follow started for the season, which means goodbye to my weekends!

Which three? WRC, WRX and?

[tbtstt 2,387]

RyuMakkuro said:

I'm interested to see how Bakkerud will fare this season, with more experience in and more developed car. Same could be said about Block, although not expecting that much from him. This is definitely going to be an interesting season.
Also, is it just me or Loeb is kind of... non-existent in WRX? Kind of feels nice when someone called Sebastien ain't dominating xD :D

To be honest I was expecting more from Block last year. I do appreciate that the team/drivers went into last year with virtually no seat time in the cars though, with a lot more seat and development time (plus a third car for additional testing) I am expecting the Focus to be very strong out of the box. Bakkerud should be fighting for the title, but when you look at the competition it is so hard to choose any winners at this stage. 

As for Loeb I am expecting him to be faster this year. He took a win last year and made his way through to a number of finals. All of the drivers in the World Championship are experienced rallycross drivers so, even for Loeb, there is going to be a steep learning curve. I thought the Hansen 208's looked to be at a slight power deficit last year as well. On some circuits the cars just didn't seem to have the same straight line speed. 

RyuMakkuro said:

On the subject of Lydden and Silverstone... never was a fan of Lydden Hill, it's just an L shaped track, two hairpins and two 90' corners. It doesn't get any more simple there, which is great for beginners but not that great for racing, since not many places for actual manouvers and what not. I think most of the "hype" for that track comes from the fact the RX basically started there. It's more iconic than actually good for high-end RX competition IMO. I mean look at Hockenheim that was in the last season. It was just a temporary in, but holy crap did it result in some epic races out there (Kristoffersons flat on the first corner :D ).
If Silverstone is getting a proper RX circuit built into it, that may be interesting. There are many ways of how you can create elevation changes, so nothing is excluded there. Wonder if they'll include some of the existing track into RX layout. Would love if they could include the Maggots and Becket and Chapel into the layout, but if they're going to do it around the Stowe then it may not be as great. Still, time will tell.

Blasphemy @RyuMakkuro! I'm possibly biased as I have spent a lot of time at Lydden in the last decade, but it's easily my fave of all the UK based rallycross tracks I've been to. Perhaps people do build it up given it's the birth place of the sport, but it's a ridiculously fast track and, as @RallyDriven said, you need a lot of commitment to succeed there. It's a statement that is probably true of a lot of motorsport, but you can never get a true sense of speed of the cars from the TV. The elevation (and camber) changes on the circuit are massive. It's a superb circuit for viewing as well, standing anywhere on the perimeter you can see pretty much the entire circuit. 

I remain open minded about the rallycross track at Silverstone. I immensely dislike the circuit, though in the interest of being fair I will no doubt go and sample it next year. They have already said that the track will be based around Stowe so I am expecting something relatively flat, but we'll have to see what they can do. 

Janneman60 said:

I think in real life Lydden is a lot more complicated as the simple track you call it. But some moroon decided to place the jokerlap at the first corner. So after the first straight the angle is always out of a race. For that reason I don't mind WRX is going elsewhere. On the other hand like the oldskool rallycross circuits more as the stadiumtracks as for instance Barcelona.

To be fair, there wasn't really a lot of choice when it came to where to put the joker in at Lydden. There have been a few rumours about moving it to halfway up the hill, but that would involve cutting into the spectator area so I hope it doesn't happen. I do agree that it often splits the pack, which isn't always the best for racing, but there have been a few great races after cars have merged in together.

RallyDriven said:

Lydden creates some great moments, like Davy jenay (sorry can't remember the spelling) going round the outside in turn 1 and holding it until devils elbow. It's quite a different track to the rest of the calendar as it's so fast and flat out. You have to push really hard to be fast there. It's also great to spectate as you can see the whole track from most points, especially from the hairpin at the top. Hopefully silverstone will produce a good track.

Yeah, Jeanney's move on Pucher was a great bit of driving! There have been a few very over ambitious entries into Chesson's Drift over the years, many of which have had expensive outcomes! :smiley:

Can't wait for Barcelona, less than a month now...

[RallyDriven 398]

FloatingGrass said:

RallyDriven said:

Lydden creates some great moments, like Davy jenay (sorry can't remember the spelling) going round the outside in turn 1 and holding it until devils elbow. It's quite a different track to the rest of the calendar as it's so fast and flat out. You have to push really hard to be fast there. It's also great to spectate as you can see the whole track from most points, especially from the hairpin at the top. Hopefully silverstone will produce a good track.

Should be a very good season this year, can't wait for it to start. That will be all 3 of the racing series I follow started for the season, which means goodbye to my weekends!

Which three? WRC, WRX and?

Yeah, WRC, WRX and Formula 1 stockcar racing, which is full contact, short circuit oval racing here in the U.K. Cars are around 700bhp v8's and are allowed to move eachother out the way by force. Makes for some incredible moves and tactical racing!

this is from the World Final a few years back

https://youtu.be/7DwgY37pim8

[versedi 39]

RallyDriven said:

Yeah, WRC, WRX and Formula 1 stockcar racing, which is full contact, short circuit oval racing here in the U.K. Cars are around 700bhp v8's and are allowed to move eachother out the way by force. Makes for some incredible moves and tactical racing!

this is from the World Final a few years back

https://youtu.be/7DwgY37pim8

That actually seems like a hell lot of fun to watch! Crashes assured every race :)

Hilarious advertisement roofs/spoilers (not sure what this is). 

[tbtstt 2,387]

RallyDriven said:

Yeah, WRC, WRX and Formula 1 stockcar racing, which is full contact, short circuit oval racing here in the U.K. Cars are around 700bhp v8's and are allowed to move eachother out the way by force. Makes for some incredible moves and tactical racing!

this is from the World Final a few years back

https://youtu.be/7DwgY37pim8

I've long wanted to check this out, but it involves travelling to the frozen North so I am yet to get round to it!

[RallyDriven 398]

Yep, I've been watching for almost 15 years now, love it! It's a reverse seeded grid, so the best drivers with the red roofs start at the back and the novice drivers with white roofs start at the front, so the top drivers have to battle their way from the back each race! The world final in that video is different with qualification from two semi finals

[RallyDriven 398]

Unfortunately Coventry which is one of the best tracks is looking like it is shutting down, which is a big loss to the sport. The European championship weekend at Northampton is always great, that's tarmac racing at its best!

https://youtu.be/Lol6ew2pnIA

[RyuMakkuro 6]

tbtstt said:
Blasphemy @RyuMakkuro! I'm possibly biased as I have spent a lot of time at Lydden in the last decade, but it's easily my fave of all the UK based rallycross tracks I've been to. Perhaps people do build it up given it's the birth place of the sport, but it's a ridiculously fast track and, as @RallyDriven said, you need a lot of commitment to succeed there. It's a statement that is probably true of a lot of motorsport, but you can never get a true sense of speed of the cars from the TV. The elevation (and camber) changes on the circuit are massive. It's a superb circuit for viewing as well, standing anywhere on the perimeter you can see pretty much the entire circuit.

@tbtstt I suppose this is awaiting for me, eh? xD


But honestly, it's not a ridiculously fast track. Yes, they get to high speed on the straight but all the corners are ridiculously slow. It's essentially get a lot of speed on the straight, slow down a lot for the hairpin/90' corner, rince and repeat. In my book that is a rather slow circuit tbh. For me a fast track is when there are corners that are being taken at high speeds, almost flatout where the braking is more about weight transfer rather than actually slowing down, which means that you actually have to make sure that you don't slow down much. Montalegre is a very fast track in that regard, so is Barcelona, although the gravel sections kind of spoil that circuit.
I agree about the spectators spot though, Lydden for that definitely is great, which other tracks ain't that great (Hockenheim though I believe gives full view to a lot of audience). But Lydden for me is just a highly methodical boring racing where overtakes come on the braking zone, not really from being faster through the corners. I'm the type that prefers when the racing comes from fighting over the racing line, rather than from who can nail the braking point better.

Although from all the tracks in the calendar so far, I have to say that Canada's one is definitely the worst. It's way too tight, which means that drivers can't really push for overtakes, because every 50 meters there's a section of the track where fitting two cars would require a lot of lube xD Hockenheim and Mettet are definitely my two favourite RX circuit currently. I mean Hockenheim hosted WRX for the first time in the last season, right? And it already provided a race that will go down in history, along with every other race there still being an incredible spectacle. If they're going to drop Hockenheim at some point, I'm going to be one unhappy camper xD

[tbtstt 2,387]

RyuMakkuro said:

@tbtstt I suppose this is awaiting for me, eh? xD

:D

RyuMakkuro said:

But honestly, it's not a ridiculously fast track. Yes, they get to high speed on the straight but all the corners are ridiculously slow. It's essentially get a lot of speed on the straight, slow down a lot for the hairpin/90' corner, rince and repeat. In my book that is a rather slow circuit tbh. For me a fast track is when there are corners that are being taken at high speeds, almost flatout where the braking is more about weight transfer rather than actually slowing down, which means that you actually have to make sure that you don't slow down much. Montalegre is a very fast track in that regard, so is Barcelona, although the gravel sections kind of spoil that circuit.

I think perhaps we are looking at "ridiculously fast" in different ways @RyuMakkuro. Cars do indeed slow for the turn in to the Devil's Elbow and North Bend, but they carry a lot of speed into Chessons and a ridiculous amount of speed into the paddock corner (even more so now that they have paved further into the corner) and through the chicane. The chicane is my fave bit of Lydden: watching a Supercar come through there with the throttle pinned never gets old!

Yeah, Montalagre is a fast track: the cars are heavy on the brakes at the end of the straight and the penultimate corner, but the rest of the track is very fast and flowing. It's the straight sections of Lydden that make it seem that much quicker to me though. Having said that. I've never been to Montalagre, so I really need to see it for myself before I comment...

RyuMakkuro said:

I agree about the spectators spot though, Lydden for that definitely is great, which other tracks ain't that great (Hockenheim though I believe gives full view to a lot of audience). But Lydden for me is just a highly methodical boring racing where overtakes come on the braking zone, not really from being faster through the corners. I'm the type that prefers when the racing comes from fighting over the racing line, rather than from who can nail the braking point better.

Yeah, there is probably some truth in that. A lot of overtakes I have seen at Lydden are set up in the second half of the lap though, when more speed is carried when turning off the hill, through the loose and then into the first corner.

Hockenheim was actually a pleasant surprise. I am not really a fan of the move from the permanent circuits to the temporary tracks, but Hockenheim did deliver some decent racing last year. The joker lap needs adjusting though, as it seemed faster than the normal lap on a couple of occasions! My concern is that the dropping of established circuits like Lydden makes me very worried that they are gradually going to move away from "proper" rallycross tracks and end up in temporary circuits (like the GRC).

RyuMakkuro said:

Although from all the tracks in the calendar so far, I have to say that Canada's one is definitely the worst. It's way too tight, which means that drivers can't really push for overtakes, because every 50 meters there's a section of the track where fitting two cars would require a lot of lube xD Hockenheim and Mettet are definitely my two favourite RX circuit currently. I mean Hockenheim hosted WRX for the first time in the last season, right? And it already provided a race that will go down in history, along with every other race there still being an incredible spectacle. If they're going to drop Hockenheim at some point, I'm going to be one unhappy camper xD

Canada is one of my least favourite as well, though it was vastly improved last year (with most of those car breaking jumps taken out). Argentina had some pretty serious issues as well. Although it was cool to see rallycross in that part of the world, I won't miss that track this year. I really like Mettet, the first corner can be messy, but it's an interesting circuit with quite an elevation change. Seen some good racing there, though it's not the best for passing! 

Holjes and Hell are the two I really want to get to, especially Holjes. Both tracks are superb, but I particularly love the second half of the lap at Holjes: that flat out drop down the hill with the little crest at the bottom. Shame it's such an expensive place to get to!

[FloatingGrass 0]

Hell is awesome! The elevation changes make for a really unique circuit.

As for Lydden Hill, I guess I might miss it a bit. Not as much as Argentina though :disappointed: to be fair it wasn't that great of a track at all, but it was the only one I had less than three hours away. I was there to see Larson's win. Shame it'll be gone.

[Ruben Correa Alves 28]

Will be interesting to see how this kind of suspension testing improves the car this season.

https://youtu.be/7Da9N2rWtag
                                        
https://youtu.be/5l25ZypUHVg

[Jepsertti 26]

I think that we need Finland back in the WRX calendar because the Kouvola RX circuit is in my opinion one of the best rallycross circuits in the world (I might be a bit biased though because I live only ~40km from the circuit) :)

[Smitty87 0]

RallyDriven said:

FloatingGrass said:

RallyDriven said:

Lydden creates some great moments, like Davy jenay (sorry can't remember the spelling) going round the outside in turn 1 and holding it until devils elbow. It's quite a different track to the rest of the calendar as it's so fast and flat out. You have to push really hard to be fast there. It's also great to spectate as you can see the whole track from most points, especially from the hairpin at the top. Hopefully silverstone will produce a good track.

Should be a very good season this year, can't wait for it to start. That will be all 3 of the racing series I follow started for the season, which means goodbye to my weekends!

Which three? WRC, WRX and?

Yeah, WRC, WRX and Formula 1 stockcar racing, which is full contact, short circuit oval racing here in the U.K. Cars are around 700bhp v8's and are allowed to move eachother out the way by force. Makes for some incredible moves and tactical racing!

this is from the World Final a few years back

https://youtu.be/7DwgY37pim8

https://youtu.be/REPexuErYec

Us kiwis enjoy the carnage too

[RallyDriven 398]

The kiwi stockcars look incredible, I really want to go out and watch the team racing at some point! Team GB did pretty well out there again this year!

your rules on contact are quite a bit different to ours though!

[tbtstt 2,387]

Jepsertti said:

I think that we need Finland back in the WRX calendar because the Kouvola RX circuit is in my opinion one of the best rallycross circuits in the world (I might be a bit biased though because I live only ~40km from the circuit) :)

Yeah, I really liked Kouvola, would be great to see it back. The back section of the new Latvian track actually reminds me of Finland: not quite as interesting though!

[sqdstr 107]

Petter Solberg's VW Polo RX 2017 unveiled
https://de.motorsport.com/world-rx/news/petter-solberg-stellt-neuen-vw-polo-fur-die-rallycross-wm-2017-vor-884178

[tbtstt 2,387]

Very interested to learn if that really is the finished car, or if that is just a mock up. 

If that is the final car, then it would seem that VW Motorsport have significantly deviated from the usual with their design. 

[Jepsertti 26]

I really like the look of it. The livery looks like a great mix between VW Motorsport, PSRX and the VW Sweden team. The bodykit seems to be almost exactly like in the Polo R WRC (only differences I find are the bonnet and rear wing) which is a great thing because I always loved the look of it as a WRC!

[RallyDriven 398]

I don't like the black bonnet much, think they should have just kept the black at the rear. Other than that, I think it looks quite good

[tbtstt 2,387]

RallyDriven said:

I don't like the black bonnet much, think they should have just kept the black at the rear. Other than that, I think it looks quite good

At least the livery looks finished this year: I thought Petter's 2016 DS3 looked like someone had got interrupted midway through the livery and not been able to finish! :smiley: