Mother FREAKER! No boxer engines for WRC allowed?

[GmanJoe]

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/rally/13153/

If all the transmissions are gonna come from one source....that means Subies are out. And an Impreza with an inline engine just isn\'t a Subaru.

Also no more Turbos.


Edit - can one of you mods change the WC to WRC? Please?

[Kurt Angle]

That\'s crazy, you can\'t have the WRC without a high powered turbo engine!!! :eek:

You can edit the title by yourself I think buddy

What\'s the logic?  They trying to create a bettter standard of engineering or something?

And why isn\'t Bigfoot allowed in WRC? It\'s offroad right?

Just like the article says, the changes are necessary.  The only team hurt badly by the changes is Subaru, since they are the only ones not running a transverse mounted block.  However, Nicky Grist said on the Speed Channel coverage yesterday that Subaru was planning to develop a transverse engine just to comply with the new rules.  So it seems they know how important rallying is to their image, and they are willing to throw some money at the problem.

I think this is going to be great for the sport.  Non-turboed engines and single supplier transmissions will be more reliable than many of the current setups.  So what if the cars are a little slower?  Rallying is about control and skill in cornering, not blazing fast straights.  I love watching films of old rallies with slower, older cars.  It\'s every bit as exciting.

Lets not forget....  Now that WRC cars will be naturally aspirated 2 liter 4 cylinders...  there is one Japanese manufacturer who excels in designing engines of that type, and is not currently known as a rally car manufacturer.  The company who built the highest output naturally aspirated production car engine in history...  Their name begins with an "H"  

Maybe we will have some new factory teams entering the WRC?

There are more regulations to it. Big Foot would never win. Only an idiot would try to enter such a thing (that is if they could in the first place).

This is crappy news.
And where did it say anything about inline engine?

And screw turbo. Supercharge! Idk. I like Naturally Aspired engines anyway.

To hear of the possibility of the WRC dying is just sad.

Didn\'t Toyota have a 250hp 4-cyl in an MR2 at one point or another?  I hope Honda does well though, they know 4 bangers.

That MR2 was turboed, so it doesn\'t apply.

BTW, Suzuki has expressed interest in the new rules, so there\'s another possible new factory team.

Anyone remember the old days in the 70\'s when they didn\'t have intake restricters?  It was normal for rally cars to run with 500 -600hp back then.  The governing body discovered the cars were too dangerous, so they changed the rules.  Rule changes to reduce performance are normal in rallying.

Originally posted by THX
Didn\'t Toyota have a 250hp 4-cyl in an MR2 at one point or another?  I hope Honda does well though, they know 4 bangers.

Toyota knows them fairly well. 260HP 4 cyl in a formula atlantic 4AGE. I think they have a new one thats 20 vavles and a very high revving engine (11 or so thousand rpms).

Come on toyota!

Anyone remember the old days in the 70\'s when they didn\'t have intake restricters? It was normal for rally cars to run with 500 -600hp back then. The governing body discovered the cars were too dangerous, so they changed the rules. Rule changes to reduce performance are normal in rallying.

Yeah i dont remember how many the horses the stratos has but that had to be one of my favorite rally cars of the era. Mmmm... so sexy.

Originally posted by Coredweller
The company who built the highest output naturally aspirated production car engine in history...  Their name begins with an "H"  

Since when does Mazda start with an \'H\'?



*puts on flame suit*

I won\'t even dignify that nonsense.  But hey I would love to see Mazda enter a rally as a factory team.  Unfortunately they are owned by Ford, and Ford is already cutting their motorsports budgets around the globe.  They\'ve committed to scaling back Ford Rallye Sport, and Markko Martin is leaving the team for Peugeot.  Lame assed Ford.  Remind me never to buy a Ford.  Never mind, I don\'t need to be reminded.

[GmanJoe]

I think the cost for non-turboed cars will be more expensive to squeeze more HP out of an N/A engine. Look at what happened to F1 when they had a similar ruling about no turbos. The cost to get more HP out of an N/A engine was tremendous.

Subaru did express interest in the inline engine but I don\'t know how they\'d get past the homologation ruling. They\'d have to start marketing inline engines to the masses. That\'s not Subaru!

Sort of OT here... does speedtv broadcast WRC?  I have looked and tried to find it, but it must be called something else in the program guide.  Can anyone help me out here?  Thanks.

Speed\'s WRC coverage airs on the Sunday night of the weekend of the Rally.  The first broadcast begins at 9pm EST.  The next rally is Corsica, on the weekend of 10/15 - 10/17.  Look for the SpeedTV coverage on Sunday night, 10/17, at 9pm EST, 6pm PST.  They also do a rebroadcast a few hours later.

I don\'t think you can compare the F1 costs to WRC.  Remember that WRC entrants are limited to 4 cylinder 2 liter engines, and as you said, there is a road car homologation required.  They aren\'t going to be developing 10 cylinder engines turning 18K rpms, with pneumatic valves.  

I don\'t know what Subaru is going to do.  I agree that going to an inline transverse 4 cylinder is a step backwards for them.  The boxer engine was superior because it provided a lower center of gravity.  I\'ll have to keep an eye on the Subaru news to see what they are revealing about their plans.

[GmanJoe]

Originally posted by Coredweller

I don\'t think you can compare the F1 costs to WRC.  Remember that WRC entrants are limited to 4 cylinder 2 liter engines, and as you said, there is a road car homologation required.  They aren\'t going to be developing 10 cylinder engines turning 18K rpms, with pneumatic valves.  

 

Why not? Heck, ~you~ try getting 300hp out of your car without a turbo and compare the cost to bolting a turbo on.

And if everyone is getting their tranny from one source (like NASCAR) that eliminates the most fundemental aspect of WRC - that those cars are not too far derived from its commercial cousins.