real life 2020 FIA World Rally Championship

[SRD_SimVansevenant 863]

Either the tests weren't long enough in order to test the durability of the parts or weren't rough enough. Also quite a few mistakes from their drivers to be honest, except for Breen. He's the only one that has shown consistency. 
Not to mention that Ford also has lots of issues with parts malfunctioning.
Toyota Gazoo seem to have built a tank because there aren't many cases where parts fail.
Hyundai seem to have built a solid car with here and there some issues when it comes to parts.

If I'm not mistaken, the driving style also plays a role. Neuville for example has quite a clean driving style (not throwing the car around too much) compared to Paddon (quite flamboyant). Neuville hasn't had as many parts failing on his car compared to Paddon.

[gfRally 449]

SimVansevenant said:

Either the tests weren't long enough in order to test the durability of the parts or weren't rough enough. Also quite a few mistakes from their drivers to be honest, except for Breen. He's the only one that has shown consistency. 
Not to mention that Ford also has lots of issues with parts malfunctioning.
Toyota Gazoo seem to have built a tank because there aren't many cases where parts fail.
Hyundai seem to have built a solid car with here and there some issues when it comes to parts.

If I'm not mistaken, the driving style also plays a role. Neuville for example has quite a clean driving style (not throwing the car around too much) compared to Paddon (quite flamboyant). Neuville hasn't had as many parts failing on his car compared to Paddon.

Could the Asians just be building better cars nowadays?  

If others like Paddon (Meeke?) tend to drive harder.. well, then, maybe build a better car...   This isn't F1 where the cars are put under the same stresses race after race, this is Rally, everything changes even from stage to stage.  

Its good to be a smart driver, but with everything to focus on, the cars need to be built with room for error and pushing the car harder.  

Easy to sit here and point fingers and play couch coach, but there is quite a problem with Citroen for sure.

[dwkGravey 0]

The cars seems to be failing at different points with different drivers with different styles, but that's what I'd expect of a raft of brand new cars. Meeke's car is failing spectacularly. I can understand it not happening with Breen since he's probably driving a little more cautiously overall, but even the World Rally Blog post showed he's not immune at the same points that caught out Meeke.

Aren't the i20 WRC and Yaris WRC effectively German and Finnish cars respectively? How much of the cars come from the factories? I thought just the shell and some of the body panels.

[Scyy 0]

dwkGravey said:

The cars seems to be failing at different points with different drivers with different styles, but that's what I'd expect of a raft of brand new cars. Meeke's car is failing spectacularly. I can understand it not happening with Breen since he's probably driving a little more cautiously overall, but even the World Rally Blog post showed he's not immune at the same points that caught out Meeke.

Aren't the i20 WRC and Yaris WRC effectively German and Finnish cars respectively? How much of the cars come from the factories? I thought just the shell and some of the body panels.

Pretty much my understanding as well as far as where they are built.

[SRD_SimVansevenant 863]

dwkGravey said:

The cars seems to be failing at different points with different drivers with different styles, but that's what I'd expect of a raft of brand new cars. Meeke's car is failing spectacularly. I can understand it not happening with Breen since he's probably driving a little more cautiously overall, but even the World Rally Blog post showed he's not immune at the same points that caught out Meeke.

Aren't the i20 WRC and Yaris WRC effectively German and Finnish cars respectively? How much of the cars come from the factories? I thought just the shell and some of the body panels.

I presume the engine also started out as a factory engine. However most of the parts come from other companies contracted by the teams to manufacture parts for their cars. Looks like Hyundai and especially Toyota have contracted companies that deliver more durable and reliable parts.

Citroën was always renowned for its reliable rally cars during the Loeb era, so was Ford for the past decade and a half.
Citroën has lots of their mechanical parts failing, while Ford has quite a few issues with the electronica of their cars and aero, if I'm not mistaken.

[juu1ius 5]

Meeks ss14 accident was his own bravery as he himself commented on that, slightly off the clean line and hit a bump. But still, Citroen has had major setup problems 3 out of  5 rallies now. This is something you don't expect from factory team who have had basically 2 years for testing and development. Then again who knows how big their budget is comparing Toyota and Hyundai. Example, take a look at the rally park facilities - Citroen is comparable to M-Sport, nothing near to Hyundais mega-structure.

[RallyDriven 398]

The parts are normally sourced from a wide range. We made some parts for the Yaris at my work in the UK! We've also done a few parts for Focus WRC's in the past year.

[Dytut 89]

Entry list for portugal:
http://rallydeportugal.pt/ResourcesUser/Documentos/Listas_Inscritos/2017/Entry_List_02052017_v4a.pdf

15 WRC17 cars entered :-D 
Al Qassimi gets his very own C3 to crash ;-)

[FloatingGrass 0]

The latest Autosport's article regarding Paddon goes into detail about his "career low" at Argentina last week. At one point in the article, Paddon says that the team and him had tried to work together to morph his sideways driving style into a smoother style like his teammates, and that it didn't work and hurt his confidence. After the complete struggle that was rooting for Latvala last year, during which time he went though the same thing, I can't help but feel gutted for poor Hayden. I hope he can return to form soon.

Daydream time: imagine a Toyota team with Latvala, Lappi and Paddon! That would be a hell of a show.

[FloatingGrass 0]

This is off topic with what we've been talking about lately, but I get chills every time I see this. It really shows how beautiful the WRC is in more ways than just fast cars on narrow roads:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95cqUlkMWJs

[juu1ius 5]

FloatingGrass said:

This is off topic with what we've been talking about lately, but I get chills every time I see this. It really shows how beautiful the WRC is in more ways than just fast cars on narrow roads:

A lot of emotions in there. I like those small clips of Beef making jokes. I bet he would have been one of the legendary co-drivers like Luis Moya or Nicky Grist.

[versedi 39]

https://youtu.be/pGefayFlzYA                                                   

[juu1ius 5]

Mads running on Dmack for this rally, this will be interesting. Weather seems to be try and not too hot for the whole rally, so the first day will be crucial, but DMack soft compound should be working like a charm. There's at least 3 drivers with very good starting positions who could win it and adding top4 who are fast abt - quite a bunch... I'm trying to predict but it's anyone's game really.

1. Tänak - comfortable in the car, 6th time in Portugal, 3 times on podium for this year this is and one of his favorite rallys.

2. Evans - DMack and starting postition will give him good pace

3. Neuville - tbh most likely to win it, but I'm hoping to see another winner for this year.

Ogier - will he find a good setup ? Latvala - idk, this should be the rally where we can see how good the Toyota really is.  Meek - how much did that crash affects him and what to expect from the car?

[Dytut 89]

I think we're going to see Ogier going for it now. We know his goal, and that is to finish in front of the one chasing him in the championship. In Argentina he could accomplish that by keeping in front of Latvala, but now he has to keep both Latvala and Neuville in check since they're pretty much tied on points.
It's going to be quite fun to follow portugal, since now it's about who wins and also how the threeway battle for the championship goes :-)

[versedi 39]

Ogier will have a brand new Fiesta for Portugal.
He was also the only one running with new differentials in last rally from Ford and he suffered quick tyrewear which's not normal in his case (IMHO best tyre manager from all current drivers). 


What I'd love to see:
1. Paddon
2. Tanak
3. Evans

My prediction:
1. Ogier
2. Tanak
3. Meeke

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Tell us more about this new Fiesta he's getting?

[sqdstr 107]

versedi said:

Ogier will have a brand new Fiesta for Portugal.
He was also the only one running with new differentials in last rally from Ford and he suffered quick tyrewear which's not normal in his case (IMHO best tyre manager from all current drivers). 


What I'd love to see:
1. Paddon
2. Tanak
3. Evans

My prediction:
1. Ogier
2. Tanak
3. Meeke

Conditions are mostly the same as in Argentinia, just less rough. So I think top3 won't be that much different either.
You're pushing Neuville aside way too quickly, he's in his best form ever so far so he'll be top3 for sure (unless mechanical issues come into play).

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

This season is amazing. No one really has the upper hand right now because the field is pretty even. I'm hoping for a good result for the M-Sport guys in Portugal.

[versedi 39]

F2CMaDMaXX said:

Tell us more about this new Fiesta he's getting?

http://www.eurosport.com/wrc/portugal-rally/2017/ogier-gets-new-car-for-portugal-wrc-round_sto6169440/story.shtml

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

versedi said:

F2CMaDMaXX said:

Tell us more about this new Fiesta he's getting?

http://www.eurosport.com/wrc/portugal-rally/2017/ogier-gets-new-car-for-portugal-wrc-round_sto6169440/story.shtml

So they built him a new car. No upgrades or anything but a new car. I think that's a good approach. They can start fresh and hopefully get the win.

[versedi 39]

More R5!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/129574/proton-set-for-wrc-return-with-new-r5-car

[juu1ius 5]

F2CMaDMaXX said:

Tell us more about this new Fiesta he's getting?

https://www.motorsport.com/wrc/news/m-sport-builds-new-wrc-car-for-points-leader-ogier-907010/
nothing much, same specks as before.

[F2CMaDMaXX 505]

Wow, are they really just sleaving down the 2ltr engine?  hmm, ok.

[DiRTKiNG808 15]

versedi said:

More R5!

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/129574/proton-set-for-wrc-return-with-new-r5-car

I want to see Subaru and Mitsubishi return to the WRC. The rivalry between them would be great to see again. Plus they would be battling Ford, Toyota and Citroen just like old times. I love Subaru and miss them in the WRC.

[juu1ius 5]

Subaru has revived Justy model, so they have a small enough model to develop a decent R5 car imo.