Topic: Suzuki to join WRC ?

[initial_D]

Suzuki has been involved in the Junior World Rally Championship for many years but the Japanese manufacturer is rumoured to consider moving up to the World Rally Championship in 2007.

At the Geneva Motor Show (early March 2006), Suzuki is supposed to introduce the SX4 WRC, the car it will likely enter in the World Championship starting next year.

Since the FIA wants to have a WRC season that spans from May to May, the 2008 season might start in May 2007 until May 2008, which means that Suzuki may decide to begin its WRC programme with the 2008 season.

The Suzuki WRC should be based on the model presented at the Geneva Motor Show, a car that Suzuki developed in partnership with Fiat.

Of the 6 Teams currently competing in the 2006 WRC, only Ford and Subaru are official factory teams, the 4 others are Private Teams. Standings after 2 Rallies, Subaru and Petter Solberg are having  major problems. The 06 Impreza WRC is not only uncompetitive, it is also very unreliable thus far.
         

1. FORD - 26
2. KRONOS CITROEN - 24
3. OMV PEUGEOT NOR.- 10
4. SUBARU - 8
5. STOBART VK M-SP.- 7
6. RED BULL SKODA - 3

[mrthompson]

Cool.   

[FiestaTT]

Its about time another company jumped into the WRC. I would absolutely love to see Toyota bring back the 96 GT-FOUR for another season

[initial_D]

The Gt-4 was a great rally car. 2-time World Champion Marcus Gronholm drove one privately before he signed and drove the Silver 206 WRC for some French car maker who has now abandoned the WRC. The Gt-4 was the first car to develop with active central differentials that are hydro-electronically controlled. Worked, but the car was heavy, not ideal weight distribution, and also somewhat unreliable. It was replaced with the Corolla WRC  in 1997, and enjoyed much better success. 

[Snowman]

WRC has a great site. Ford is performing well early with Marcus Gronholm.


http://www.wrc.com/page/Home/0,,10111,00.html

[FiestaTT]

The Gt-4 was a great rally car. Worked, but the car was heavy, not ideal weight distribution, and also somewhat unreliable.

The 6th gen Celica in general is a great car. It too is heavy. The weight distribution seems to be ok, until you turn... the only celica with an engine to match its sporty character is the GT-4. I have to wonder about the unreliable part, though. GT-4 excepted, I've never heard anything bad about the inline-4s used in these cars or anything bad about the drivetrain. Theres surprisingly little info on this car on the net. [subliminalmsg]canadiandriver, please do a used car review on the 1994-1999 celica!!! [/subliminalmsg] Its funny how I always love the underdog cars, which is why I'm still cheering for Mitsu in the WRC after all these years. I say we bring back Tommi and his EvoVI. Now THAT was an awesome car...

[initial_D]

The 6th gen Celica in general is a great car. It too is heavy. The weight distribution seems to be ok, until you turn... the only celica with an engine to match its sporty character is the GT-4. I have to wonder about the unreliable part, though. GT-4 excepted, I've never heard anything bad about the inline-4s used in these cars or anything bad about the drivetrain. Theres surprisingly little info on this car on the net. [subliminalmsg]canadiandriver, please do a used car review on the 1994-1999 celica!!! [/subliminalmsg] Its funny how I always love the underdog cars, which is why I'm still cheering for Mitsu in the WRC after all these years. I say we bring back Tommi and his EvoVI. Now THAT was an awesome car...

All my comments were regarding the WRC race cars. IMO, the baddest, meanest Lan_EVO ever the IV Edition. 



Tommi and the EVO had its time and place in history, time to march on. 

Loeb is dominating right now, even with a 2-years old, and currently driving with Private Team, cars back by Citroen. Ford is doing well right now because of the experiences of Marcus Gronholm. The Xsara is essentially a 2004 version race car, the new car, C4, will be out next year. The Focus is a newly developed  2006 race car. Subaru is having some issues with their cars, unreliable so far this year.

Loeb is re-writing the WRC record books, only in his 4th full year in racing, lot more to come.

[FiestaTT]

I have to disagree my friend, the baddest, meanest Evo has to be the Evo VI Tommi Edition. The Evo VII after it looked awkward and was much heavier, and if its good enough for Tommi its good enough for me. Sure his time was up a while ago, but he was one helluva driver. Funny how he transferred to Subaru and his career sunk. I remember one time during a rally in Argentina I believe, his power steering failed on his STi and he swore for a good 5 minutes... something along the lines of "F!@## PIECE OF SH!@!!" Shoulda never left the triple diamond, buddy.

[initial_D]

The Evo_V and Evo_VI were basically improved versions of the LAN Evo_IV. Of all the successive evolutions of the Lancer the most significant one was the Evolution IV. The engine rotated by 180°, and the gearbox was also relocated for chassis balance. The famous AYC (Active Yaw Control) was introduced on the Evo_IV. The Evo_V & VI had improved aerodynamics, suspension tuning, engine management software, better cooling system, etc.

The Evo_IV was also the most popular; the initial 6,000 production WRC copies were sold out in only 3 days. The look is also the most widely copied; there are numerous Evo_IV body kits available for regular Lancers, even kits for non-Mitsubishi cars, for Civics, 323 Protégés.

The Evo_VII is based on a completely new car, the current Lancer.

Tommi was an awesome driver, won 4 consecutive drivers titles between 1996-1999. He was also very “lucky”, unfortunate accidents happened to his closest rivals, Colin McRae and Carlos Saintz at the most unfortunate time. During that 4 year span, Mitsubishi  only won 1 Constructor Title, and Subaru won their 2nd and 3rd Titles in a row,  and Toyota also won 1, hardly dominate its competitors like Subaru, Peugeot, Citroen, Lancia,  even Toyota won 3 Constructor Titles. Tommi’s last 2 seasons with Mitsubishi didn’t result in many wins, the Evo was behind in development against the competition. 

[initial_D]

Might as well show the first 3 Evos.