The "Official" WRC thread

[Rallyfan74]

There seem to be quite a few rally racing fans on here so I figured it might be fun to have a place to discuss all things that go sideways......

I am currently watching the Acropolis rally, work nights, so watching em throughout the days over this weekend. If anyone is interested maybe we could share how we got into rally to start things off. I pretty much summed up my intro on my "new members" post recently and can't be arsed to type it all out again lol. What I didn't mention was being obsessed with the Audi Quattro as a kid. I don't know what it was, I was around 12 or so and got a little Matchbox car and living in the USA of course had zero exposure through television. Maybe I read up on it through my Dad's Autoweek magazines?

For my last two years of high school my family moved to Marin County, California. If you don't know what or where that is, it is across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco. One of the most affluent places in America. My Dad got a job as a service manager at the local Mercedes Benz dealership and it was quite a shock moving there from a smallish town in Texas. Anyways, the parking lot at school was like a freaking car show. Kids driving everything you could imagine. And this one guy had a Mk2 Gti (this was in 1993), AND a Quattro. It was new, I guess the second generation, the one that had smoother lines, and I just DROOLED everytime I saw it. Was jealous as hell too. It came time for me to get my first car and I was thrilled that I got a somewhat of a beater 1983 Audi 5000. Non Quattro, and definitely non turbo, but I drove the shit out of that thing. It was a manual and I got two speeding tickets in my first six months. Ok, NONE of this has anything to do with Rally racing anymore lololol, so that's enough from me for now.

 

[M-Sport fan]

I first really learned about actual world level performance rallying from an all-around car enthusiast on my dorm floor at the University Of Arizona.

He had a powder blue, 1969 Mustang Boss 302 with REAL Minilite wheels on it (even painted black like some of the actual Trans Am cars), and knew A LOT about all kinds of performance cars.

He was always raving about the performance of the BDA 16V Escorts (and even the 8V Escort Mexico Mk1s before them), especially the ones in full rally prepped trim.
I started trying to discover anything I could about them, and also got into the whole thing which yes, was very difficult to do given the lack of ANY interest in rallying here in the states, especially back then with NO TV coverage whatsoever, and hardly an automotive rag's mention of the sport, ever.

I really loved the looks of those Escorts with their huge flares with wide (but small diameter) Minilites stuffed under them, and that was before I ever even was able to hear the beautiful, hellacious sound they made at full, close to 9K rev chat blasting through the woods, or on the paved roads of England, Ireland, and Europe!

I had a 1976, 'Black Cat' Edition Capri 2 V-6 manual at the time, and a few years later I even found some Minilite knock off wheels to put on it!

Some time later, once already married and settled, I bought a A1 (mk1) Rabbit/Golf GTI the very first year they were offered to U.S. here.
It had a manual sunroof, but NO other options (no power steering or power anything else).
It did not even come with a radio, just a radio installation kit/prep, so I had an Alpine cassette player head unit installed along with some Alpine speakers.

There was an Audi/VW specialist repair shop nearby, and the owners (who were naturalized, but recently from Poland) were fully into SCCA Pro Rally,

They ran an Audi 4000 AWD with a Audi 5000 turbo 5 cylinder engine swapped into it at every event they could (when we still had events on the East Coast!), both small regional, short one venue rallysprints, and full National level rallies.

They basically got me into volunteering/working on SCCA Pro rallies, with my first being the 1990 STPR (Susquehanna Trails Pro Rally) based out of Wellsboro, Pa., and I was 'hooked'.

John Buffum's step son, Paul Choniere was campaigning one of his step dad's (and prepped by his step dad's rally/race prep company, Libra Racing) long wheelbase 'Ur-Quattro', 1st gen Audi Quattro coupes, (as opposed to the short wheelbase, Group B MONSTER which his step dad did run for a while in Pro Rally here, back when they were still FIA legal) and was totally dominating the scene.
There were a few others running those same cars, as well as assorted Mazda 323 GTXes, etc.

He later campaigned that same second gen Audi Quattro Turbo coupe you lusted after, and was almost as equally dominant in that, along with the Sprongl brothers from Canada who also had success in that model.

I attended every STPR, and also the newly formed by Buffum and others in New England Maine Forest Rally (both winter and summer the years they ran both), later to be renamed The New England Forest Rally, every year after that until about 2004.

I actually lost interest when the whole series became a Subaru 'parade', with hardly any other rides/marques even entered, let alone with any chance of winning, starting in the mid 2000s.

This car's release, and for the first time ever, (except for the 1st gen Focus) being able to buy even the basic car which the top two FIA rally classes were built from, got me back into the WRC, and rallying in general, in 2018 when I again volunteered on STPR and NEFR, and started following the WRC again, intently, on the internet.

It did not hurt that some here, mainly Irish immigrant Barry McKenna were running open class Fiestas and R5s (as well as offering 'arrive and drive' rental R5s and front wheel drive R2/R2Ts) in these events, and actually challenging (and sometimes beating!) the very big buck, Vermont Sportscar built/prepped, Subaru Motorsports USA, STI/WRX juggernaut.

ALL of the National American Rally Association (they took over from the SCCA, and then Rally America) in 2017 on the east coast are now GONE.

Sadly, it does not look like they are coming back any time soon, so I have lost interest in attending any live rallies to work/volunteer on, going forward.

But I still follow the WRC, albeit less intently than before since the M-Sport Ford team has little to no chance against the totally unlimited budget Toyota and Hyundai teams (Ford gives them NOTHING at all), as well as because the Rally 1 car is now a Puma, since the Fiesta is totally out of production, even in Europe/UK.

The FIA still allows them to run the Fiesta Rally2/R5 cars in that class, but for how much longer, who knows?

 

[Rallyfan74]

I first really learned about actual world level performance rallying from an all-around car enthusiast on my dorm floor at the University Of Arizona.

He had a powder blue, 1969 Mustang Boss 302 with REAL Minilite wheels on it (even painted black like some of the actual Trans Am cars), and knew A LOT about all kinds of performance cars.

He was always raving about the performance of the BDA 16V Escorts (and even the 8V Escort Mexico Mk1s before them), especially the ones in full rally prepped trim.
I started trying to discover anything I could about them, and also got into the whole thing which yes, was very difficult to do given the lack of ANY interest in rallying here in the states, especially back then with NO TV coverage whatsoever, and hardly an automotive rag's mention of the sport, ever.

I really loved the looks of those Escorts with their huge flares with wide (but small diameter) Minilites stuffed under them, and that was before I ever even was able to hear the beautiful, hellacious sound they made at full, close to 9K rev chat blasting through the woods, or on the paved roads of England, Ireland, and Europe!

I had a 1976, 'Black Cat' Edition Capri 2 V-6 manual at the time, and a few years later I even found some Minilite knock off wheels to put on it!

Some time later, once already married and settled, I bought a A1 (mk1) Rabbit/Golf GTI the very first year they were offered to U.S. here.
It had a manual sunroof, but NO other options (no power steering or power anything else).
It did not even come with a radio, just a radio installation kit/prep, so I had an Alpine cassette player head unit installed along with some Alpine speakers.

There was an Audi/VW specialist repair shop nearby, and the owners (who were naturalized, but recently from Poland) were fully into SCCA Pro Rally,

They ran an Audi 4000 AWD with a Audi 5000 turbo 5 cylinder engine swapped into it at every event they could (when we still had events on the East Coast!), both small regional, short one venue rallysprints, and full National level rallies.

They basically got me into volunteering/working on SCCA Pro rallies, with my first being the 1990 STPR (Susquehanna Trails Pro Rally) based out of Wellsboro, Pa., and I was 'hooked'.

John Buffum's step son, Paul Choniere was campaigning one of his step dad's (and prepped by his step dad's rally/race prep company, Libra Racing) long wheelbase 'Ur-Quattro', 1st gen Audi Quattro coupes, (as opposed to the short wheelbase, Group B MONSTER which his step dad did run for a while in Pro Rally here, back when they were still FIA legal) and was totally dominating the scene.
There were a few others running those same cars, as well as assorted Mazda 323 GTXes, etc.

He later campaigned that same second gen Audi Quattro Turbo coupe you lusted after, and was almost as equally dominant in that, along with the Sprongl brothers from Canada who also had success in that model.

I attended every STPR, and also the newly formed by Buffum and others in New England Maine Forest Rally (both winter and summer the years they ran both), later to be renamed The New England Forest Rally, every year after that until about 2004.

I actually lost interest when the whole series became a Subaru 'parade', with hardly any other rides/marques even entered, let alone with any chance of winning, starting in the mid 2000s.

This car's release, and for the first time ever, (except for the 1st gen Focus) being able to buy even the basic car which the top two FIA rally classes were built from, got me back into the WRC, and rallying in general, in 2018 when I again volunteered on STPR and NEFR, and started following the WRC again, intently, on the internet.

It did not hurt that some here, mainly Irish immigrant Barry McKenna were running open class Fiestas and R5s (as well as offering 'arrive and drive' rental R5s and front wheel drive R2/R2Ts) in these events, and actually challenging (and sometimes beating!) the very big buck, Vermont Sportscar built/prepped, Subaru Motorsports USA, STI/WRX juggernaut.

ALL of the National American Rally Association (they took over from the SCCA, and then Rally America) in 2017 on the east coast are now GONE.

Sadly, it does not look like they are coming back any time soon, so I have lost interest in attending any live rallies to work/volunteer on, going forward.

But I still follow the WRC, albeit less intently than before since the M-Sport Ford team has little to no chance against the totally unlimited budget Toyota and Hyundai teams (Ford gives them NOTHING at all), as well as because the Rally 1 car is now a Puma, since the Fiesta is totally out of production, even in Europe/UK.

The FIA still allows them to run the Fiesta Rally2/R5 cars in that class, but for how much longer, who knows?

Good stuff! So you got hear a Quattro in full chat on a stage?

I really like the M-Sport team, have been doing a deep dive on their history, their commitment, family vibe etc, I love em! I can't believe just how much slower they are now in comparison to Toyota and Hyundai. I wonder, what is it that makes them that much slower? The powerplant? There is word that Hyundai may drop out after this year because it just costs so much money to run a team. There was also some saying that maybe the WRC would basically switch to more of a WRC2/ERC type of car. I think that could work if they let them open up the engines a bit more, they could still be pretty quick and that could let in Skoda, and Citroen into the action. But from the regs I have read on WRC their plan is to make it kind of like the DTM, all the cars are basically the same underneath except for the engine and then they can hang whatever bodywork they like on it including SUV's and trucks? Looking at the M Sport webpage I see they are making a MS-RT Ranger truck so I could see that is maybe what they are waiting for. It will be interesting to see what happens.