Fiat for WRC?

[Martyn]

It seems Fiat and Volkswagen could be getting ready to enter teams into next seasons World Rally Championships.

The WRC has been struggling in the current financial climate, with the likes of Suzuki and Subaru withdrawing to leave the series with only two manufacturers - Ford and Citroen

News of the potential new entries into the world of WRC was confirmed by Neil Duncanson, Chief Executive Officer of series owner North One, a British television production company, and posted on an Australian website (http://www.themotorreport.com.au/) earlier this morning.

Reports also suggest that Ferrari have secured the signatures of Fernando Alonso and sponsor Santander for the next season. It seems the rumours about Kimi Raikkonen's future persist, and he may be poised to make the move to WRC.

[steve119]

this makes perfect sense as the Abarth grande won the euro rally championship a year or two ago! can't be bothered sourcing it, so if anyone can be bothered.......;)

[Venters]

this makes perfect sense as the Abarth grande won the euro rally championship a year or two ago! can't be bothered sourcing it, so if anyone can be bothered.......;)
You not thinking the S2000, 2LTR and 4wd so only a turbo away from WRC

[steve119]

Meh probably! I know i remember the fiat release on it, but i just assumed it was the abarth that they threw in!

http://www.fiat.co.uk/Content/?id=7690

You're right, it was the abarth S2000!:o

Didnt know that it had to be at least 2ltr with 4wd though, always assumed that there was different classes in the WRC!

[steve119]

and here she is in action, be warned there may be a trouser accident!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHi_ObtOd40

Right, wheres that mop?;)

[muppet42]

Not sure about Raikkonen joining the WRC, but would love to see Fiat compete in rallying like this again. That GP Abarth looks great too. Wonder if anyone will do a road version :D

[v6 stuarty]

there will have to be a road version available before they can use it in the wrc iirc 250 of them minimum

[muppet42]

there will have to be a road version available before they can use it in the wrc iirc 250 of them minimum

Think the rules of the WRC offer a certain amount of flexibility on homologation. I mean, look at the WRC cars from Ford, Subaru, Skoda, etc, there's no real road going equivalent. It's unfortunate really as it would bring some amazing road specials for sure harking back to the Quattro and RS200 days :D

[v6 stuarty]

i remember that subaru had to do it, thats why there were 250 mcrae impreza's made i think on p plate???

but maybe the rule has been scrapped?

[muppet42]

i remember that subaru had to do it, thats why there were 250 mcrae impreza's made i think on p plate???

but maybe the rule has been scrapped?

Well, they did the 22B, but that was a 2.2 anyway so wasn't a strict homologation anyway, though the body of it was very similar to the WRC spec car.

The McRae was only done to celebrate the championship win in 1995, I think 555 were produced in relation to the sponsors. There have been quite a few "rally editions" of cars that are involved in the WRC, Mitsubishi and Subaru seem to the be the one's that do/did it the most, but they're still not "required" models. Simply celebration models of a championship win or a tribute to a driver like the various RB Impreza models or Tommi Makinen edition Evo 6's.

I believe the way the homologation rule works is that the rally car needs to be based on a road car rather than the other way around. In other words, they take the basic production car, stick a turbo'd 2-litre engine producing no more than 300hp and add a 4wd drive train (if it doesn't have one already, in the case of the C4 for example) and that's what makes up the WRC car, to put it in basic terms at least.

I do think it used to be the other way around though, for example in the Group B days. The RS200 and Metro 6R4's needed to be turned into road going models to ensure they could compete rather than road cars being uprated and added to in order to compete in the championship.

Think it's very similar to the way homologation works for the various Touring Car Championships around the world :)

I think this is officially the most I've used the word "homologation" :D