This is me, pretending to be excited :banana:

May Loeb have an unfortunate Baklava accident and not be able to compete.


GO SOMEONE!

A leading Petter goes down 15 minutes with Superrally penalties after a stage 2 gearbox issue strands him in transit to stage 3. Atkinson out in stage 20 from 3rd place in a freak Ouzo incident that causes him to drive off the road.

Gronholm breaks something early, storms back to second, Loeb cruises to the win.

Henning Solberg doesn't break his car for a change, and manages 3rd.

Sounds like Petter wants a clean slate:

Solberg set to quit Subaru?
http://www.crash.net/news_View~t~Solberg-set-to-quit-Subaru-~cid~4~id~130866.htm

Subaru team leader, Petter Solberg could be on the verge of quitting the Banbury-based team at the end of this season following their failure to provide him with a competitive package to challenges the likes of Kronos Citroen's Sebastien Loeb and BP Ford's Marcus Gronholm.

'Hollywood', who had another disappointing event on the Rally d'Italia Sardgena last weekend, eventually coming home ninth overall, after a series' of punctures at the end of day one and a problem with the steering on in the final stage on Sunday, told Norwegian broadcaster, NRK.no, that he doesn't want to waste another season.

"I can't throw away any more seasons now," he noted. "I have no more words.

"To be absolutely honest I have no idea what else to add. Everyone would think like this in an equivalent situation. I need to have a few answers now. I cannot fool away another year."

Since Solberg won the title in 2003, neither he nor the team have obtained the sort of results they want. Furthermore while he managed to win five events in 2004 and finished second in the drivers' championship, last season was not as positive. Indeed while he took second place again in the drivers', despite scoring the same amount of points as Marcus Gronholm, as he won three events compared to the Finn's two, Loeb's dominance left him clearly frustrated.

The start to the 2006 season hasn't helped much either and to date he has scored just 18 points, while Loeb and Gronholm have managed 66 and 35 respectively. Consequently he languishes in fifth place in the drivers' championship, although the Impreza's form on gravel, as shown by his two second places finishes in Mexico and Argentina, does bode well now that all but one of the season's four asphalt events are out of the way.

One of the bigger concerns for Solberg and Subaru though concerns Pirelli and their commitment to the sport, in light of rumours they may leave the WRC at the end of this season. Subaru are the only manufacturer team running on Pirelli tyres this season, the rest, including Kronos Citroen and BP Ford, use those provided by BF Goodrich.

My predictions:

Loeb will win again of course.

Gronholm will place second after having mechanical issues in the first few stages.

Solberg will place third after an issue free rally (we can all wish right?)

Sordo 4th
Hirvonen 5th
Atkinson 8th

Anyone know if Galli will be entering?

IBLoebwinsit

http://www.pettersolberg.no/com/asp/hjorne.asp?ID=683

"After days like this, I get very frustrated, and I then often scream out to the entire world. Somebody in media did get the impression that I wanted to quit Subaru, and then even more people got frustrated. This was not what I meant at all. Sunday afternoon we sat down, and talked it through, and no hard feelings. I am not satisfied, but that is not SWRT either, so we work together solving all problems. We are a big family you know, and we stand together, no matter what!"

IBLoebwinsit

NOOOOO~! :mad:

Oh, and props to WM for a hilarious thread intro.

Anyone know if Galli will be entering?

yeah, any word on this? sucks that he didnt even get to day 3 of sardinia. maybe that wasn't his call though. would have thought, on his 'home course' he would have sucked it in and moved ahead, despite reastart penalties. shoulda brought some chewing gum and a full bladder along with him on that transit.

IBLoebwinsit
Hopefully not.

I think its gonna be Gronholm 1st, Loeb 2nd, some supprise in 3rd since Acropolis is a grueling rally, and crybaby Solberg in 4th.

All I want to see is someone else win a rally other than Loeb or Gronholm, or atleast something out of the ordinary...


~Mark

Don't count out Stohl and Galli.

Don't count out Stohl and Galli.
That is true. If Galli runs a clean rally, he can without a doubt be in the top 5. I would like to see Galli in the future get some sponsorship from a works team...


~Mark

Hopefully not.

I think its gonna be Gronholm 1st, Loeb 2nd, some supprise in 3rd since Acropolis is a grueling rally, and crybaby Solberg in 4th.

All I want to see is someone else win a rally other than Loeb or Gronholm, or atleast something out of the ordinary...


~Mark

crybaby solberg? im sorry, but he has every right to complain.


anyone have any connections to the Acropolis mob? maybe put a hit out on Loeb? or just crack a knee or something, something thatll stop his pace!

Yah, Acropolis, that's one where we're going to have an intact Subie at the end. Sure. :P

I wonder if you can SupeRally into leg 1 if you break coming off the ceremonial start ramp..

crybaby Solberg in 4th.





Petter has every right to complain, its the car that's been failing him, not his driving.

ah, the mediterranean rounds. At least they broke them up into two sections of the calendar this season. There are way too many of these car breaker rallies. I hope they drop Cyprus when Ireland is added. I see Jordan is now in the hunt for a WRC round too.

Predictions: since Greece usually takes the strongest car to win I see Citreon taking the first 2-3 spots. :mad: Ford will be quick but both will break. I predict the VK Sport team will finish in the points since the old Focus is so well sorted out. That leaves Petter to about 4th or 5th. And Harri also in the top 6. This is not what I'm hoping for however--blue cars 1 & 2 would be outstanding but the Pirellis will probably shred before then.

GO SOMEONE!
YAY!!!

blue cars 1 & 2 would be outstanding

as the pigs will be flying around them all rally.

Petter has every right to complain, its the car that's been failing him, not his driving.
Haha, I was just kidding. I just found it kind of funny after I watched Petter in Sardinia almost crying, compared to Rally GB when he won the drivers champtionship back in 2003.


~Mark

I wonder if you can SupeRally into leg 1 if you break coming off the ceremonial start ramp..

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Everyone might want to come up (down?) to Wellsboro next weekend, if you want to see a Subaru win.

Ba-zing!? Sorry, I'm drunk.

I liked the look of the red Subaru WRC car (Kristian ??????) in Sardinia and more importantly, it's BF Goodrich tires. :D

Loeb's overdue for a crash, followed up by a "nothin but first" rest of the season.

Loeb's overdue for a crash, followed up by a "nothin but first" rest of the season.


I like Loeb. Just from reading and watching interviews of him, he gave off the "yeah, he's an alright dude" vibe. Plus, he's so calm and collected when he drives. Look at Galli, P Solberg, even Gronholm at times. They drive with passion. This gives them a fun and unpredictable nature and they have more to say for the cameras besides "everything was good, car is running fine". Loeb doesn't immediately display the same enthusiasm so he comes off as..well, kinda boring. Loeb ends each stage saying he's tried his best, but you watch the in car of the yellow and red Peugeot and you think to yourself, "that dude is giving it all he's got."

I don't want to see Loeb crash out (even if he did, it'll just mean Gronholm gets ahead for...maybe 4 or 5 stages until he hits something) but there is always someone faster/stronger/more precise/etc. and a high is always temporary...

Same logic would mean Petter is overdue for a comeback! :banana: He and Loeb can trade luck for a few rounds and I wouldn't mind a bit. But that'll mean Gronholm wins the championship...meh. :rolleyes:

Something I was thinking earlier today; how much, if any of the factory Citroen team personnel from 2005 has transferred over to the Kronos-Citroen team of 2006?

Everyone might want to come up (down?) to Wellsboro next weekend, if you want to see a Subaru win.

Ba-zing!? Sorry, I'm drunk.

yeah, we need a u.s. rally sticky thread for each event, STPR this year is going to be a crazy battle for the up for grabs x games spot, lots of talent, about a dozen drivers capable of winning.

how much, if any of the factory Citroen team personnel from 2005 has transferred over to the Kronos-Citroen team of 2006?

actually it's almost like there are two teams: 1 for Loeb and 1 for Pons and Sordo. Leob's car is being prepeared in Citroen, the othe two - in Belgium, where the real Kronos team is based.

I'm sick of this WRC already.
It's becoming new F1 when MS was dominating and no one watched it because it was too predictible.
I want old WRC to be back, with Colin, Didier, Tommi, Juha, Carlos, Francois, and of course Richard Burns (RIP) :cry:

It's becoming new F1 when MS was dominating and no one watched it because it was too predictible.

the top 2 positions usually are predictable, but watching hirvonen, sordo, pons, and stohl trying to hold off one another is pretty entertaining.

and yeah, we definitely need a US rally sticky.

and yeah, we definitely need a US rally sticky.

No, we don't.

No, we don't.
can any of you local PA guys give us "intruders" some tips. How's police in PA, what to look for, where to get maps of the stages/surrounding area (not available on rally's site yet)?

can any of you local PA guys give us "intruders" some tips. How's police in PA, what to look for, where to get maps of the stages/surrounding area (not available on rally's site yet)?


And what makes you think you would find answers to your questions about STPR in a thread about the WRC Acropolis Rally?


Oh, lookie, there already is a thread about STPR full of local PA guys
http://forums.nasioc.com/forums/showthread.php?t=875114

I drove through PA once!

I drove through PA once!


http://www.cookiesinheaven.com/images/cookies/chocolate_chip_cookie.jpg

http://www.cookiesinheaven.com/images/cookies/chocolate_chip_cookie.jpg

But I like the cookie...
:lol: :lol:

I also vote for RA/NASA/CARS stickies, VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

There isn't any 'trick' to driving through Pennsylvania, just don't do anything stupid. :lol:

When you get to Wellsboro, look for the 'Green'. It's the park at the intersection of 287 and 660 (Main St. and Central Av), you can't miss it. There is a building across the street where you can buy the Spectators Guide, which will detail the stages, stage schedule and directions to and from each. If you can't find it just ask around, I'm sure someone will help you out.

I also vote for RA/NASA/CARS stickies, VIVA LA REVOLUTION!

There isn't any 'trick' to driving through Pennsylvania, just don't do anything stupid. :lol:

When you get to Wellsboro, look for the 'Green'. It's the park at the intersection of 287 and 660 (Main St. and Central Av), you can't miss it. There is a building across the street where you can buy the Spectators Guide, which will detail the stages, stage schedule and directions to and from each. If you can't find it just ask around, I'm sure someone will help you out.
thanx much :thumbup:

hey just in case you guys missed this..

from www.wrc.com

Acropolis Rally Live

The eighth round of the 2006 FIA World Rally Championship - BP Ultimate Acropolis Rally - will host a live broadcast of the superspecial run in Athens' Olympic Stadium this weekend following the success of a similiar broadcast from Rallye Argentina's Cordoba Stadium. The broadcast - like that of Rallye Argentina - will be shown on both television and on the internet.

The superspecial stage will feature a 2.8 kilometre asphalt stage, featuring a crowd-pleasing jump, where two cars will race head-to-head in front of an estimated 65,000 rally fans. The stage will open and close the event and will be shown on ERT locally as well as in Europe by Eurosport, NRK Norway, GTV in Bulgaria, Alfa TV in Cyprus and RTR in Russia as well as across the Middle East via Al-Jazeera. The broadcast will also be available on WRC+ here on WRC.com with commentary provided by the World Rally Radio Team.

The top WRC and P-WRC rally cars will kick start the event on Thursday 1 June with a live programme from 15h00-16h00 GMT (18h00-19h00 local). The rally returns to the stadium for the final stage of the rally (SS18) on Sunday 4 June from 11h00-12h00 GMT (14h00-15h00 local). Greece is GMT+3 hours

I have no idea what time that is in the US though...

-ben

East coast US is -4:00 GMT (at the moment I believe because of daylight saving), so that should be around 11:00am EST, or 8:00am west coast.

somebody please correct me if I'm wrong!

Who gets torrents/downloads up fastest? I've been getting them from enormouslysideways.net, but they don't get any of them up unil a few days after the rally is over.

I am about a day behind each day. I download them via Emule. not as fast as BT but hey, at least i can get them. and the HQ ones too boot. although those take a few more days due to teh size.

theres a site called pirhana exchange, (idk if i should have said that or not, hope he doesnt find this) but i lost the link so i cant PM you with it. They get the torrents for the day up that same night around 10:00 EST.

If anyone else has the link could you PM me with it?

Atkinson pwnt.


The battle to watch will be Gabriel Pozzo, Nasser Al-Attiyah and Aki Teiskonen, 1, 2, 3.

Wow, GO MARCUS!

pozzo FTW :D

SPOILERS! (dunno if this thread is considered a spoiler in itself)

























Be still my beating heart, Petter is still together after leg 1. :eek: And second no less!

Did I see right (on WRC+ Mobile) that Atkinson broke a driveshaft?

SPOILER!!!!






DAMMMMMMMMMMIIIIIITTTTT!!!!!

Petter out....some freak incident.

UnbeSNAPinglievable!

Now it's other drivers coming the wrong way on the road transit section that takes Petter out... WTF?

How the ... nnf... GRRR!

Next rally, SWRT better be watching for meteors or freak lightning strikes...

SPOILERS! (dunno if this thread is considered a spoiler in itself)

Once the rally starts Mr. Thread is no longer spoiler free.

Did I see right (on WRC+ Mobile) that Atkinson broke a driveshaft?

SWRT.com says that it was a read differential problem.

UnbeSNAPinglievable!

Now it's other drivers coming the wrong way on the road transit section that takes Petter out... WTF?


I suppose it's an upgrade from a kagaroo? Seriously, people (not the WRC drivers, but the fans) drive like morons on the transits. I've seen several drivers nearly get taken out by idiots driving on the wrong side of the road. So it was inevitable that sooner or later someone would get taken out by a road accident on a transit.

loeb loses lots of time and it forced to drag the back of his car back to service :banana: he managed to avoid any time penalties. Lets see what citroen mechanics can do!

... oh and petter is in second!! :banana:

SWRT needs an exorcist.


Solberg: road crash unbelievable

By Tim Redmayne Saturday, June 3rd 2006, 14:31 GMT


Petter Solberg has described the incident that has led to his retirement from the Acropolis Rally as 'unbelievable'.

The Subaru driver was running third when he was forced to retire from the second leg on the penultimate road section after he hit a rock face while avoiding a non-competing car that was cutting a corner.

The impact damaged the Impreza's right front corner, and the other car involved did not stop at the scene of the accident. Both Solberg and co-driver Phil Mills are unhurt and plan to restart under SupeRally regulations tomorrow.

"I had a puncture and flat tyre on the stage before, and then I was on the way to the next stage," Solberg said.

"I came around a right hand bend, completely on the inside like you should do, and a car was in the middle of the road and didn't move over.

"I didn't want to touch him, so I was so much inside that I hit a rock and bent the steering. It snapped straightaway. I was on my side... It's so bad. This is just unbelievable.

"Things have worked very well, we found many different things, but it doesn't matter when this is the end result."

the is unbelievable has that ever happened WTF I just dont get it have the rally gods cused solberg or what :furious:

The police released wanted posters of the crazy driver that caused Solberg's crash:

:lol:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5988/loebmod5xl.jpg

haha nice

I think Solberg is cursed. Really, I do.

so.....are the occupants of the non competing car being prosecuted or anything like that?

Time for Petter to go back to Disco.

so.....are the occupants of the non competing car being prosecuted or anything like that?

It's Europe. Most likely not.

I'm curious to see the in car footage.

In other news,Teiskonen is leading PCWRC in the TMR Tein SpecC. Pozzo's EVO9 overheated.

Petter's having a good run of bad luck that doesn't seem to end.

[QUOTE=WRXedUSA] It's Europe. Most likely not. [QUOTE]

i read wrong, i thought the accident happend on the special stages.

It's Europe. Most likely not.

i read wrong, i thought the accident happend on the special stages.

No, it happened in transit.

I just saying, little prosecution would be done.

Rally drivers drive like ass in transit routes anyways, so I'm curious to see the video.

<--- Been run off the road by more than one World Champion.

<--- Been run off the road by more than one World Champion.



Me too

so.....are the occupants of the non competing car being prosecuted or anything like that?

Per the article, the oncoming car did not stop. So I'm guessing that catching them and prosecuting them would be very difficult. Anyway, something like that is probably just a traffic ticket rather than being a prosecutable offense.

theres a site called pirhana exchange, (idk if i should have said that or not, hope he doesnt find this) but i lost the link so i cant PM you with it. They get the torrents for the day up that same night around 10:00 EST.


PM'd ya, but the site seems to be down this morning!
[edit]

Looks like the domain expired yesterday. Whew! That means it should be back up soon.
Domain Registration Date: Sat Jun 04 21:13:20 GMT 2005
Domain Expiration Date: Sat Jun 03 23:59:59 GMT 2006
Domain Last Updated Date: Sat Oct 29 12:25:08 GMT 2005

I just finished watchign day 2, man petter broke his paddle shifter again and as far as the other car it stopped. it was a narrow one lane road and as they came around a corner the other car also came arond but from the other direction and tried to squeeze by the subaru, they hit just enough to push petter's car into a giant rock on the side of the road and broke the steering arm. He was almost in tear's. gotta feel for the guy..

I ran a world champion off the road once too. 1983 POR.
Anonymous :)

I love how SWRT retires and comes back with Superally and then claims a bunch of stage wins on the following legs and pins it on thier chest like some great accomplishment.

If it wasnt for Superally, there would be no SWRT as of late.

7th aint bad..... I guess.

Congratulations to the great sportsmen Marcus and Timo.

Subaru claimed the PCWRC victory with Al- Attiyah holdin off Pozzo.

I honestly wouldnt be surprised if someone did it on purpose because they were angry that subaru wasn't losing as badly as usual and wanted to ensure some kind of damages.

Secondly, if Solberg can come back and win the entire 3rd day practically, then why didn't he do that on day 1 and day 2 until the incident, or in previous rallies as of lately?

Thirdly, WTF is wrong with SWRT.... they can't even replace a paddle shifter that doesn't break two rallies later. Do paddle shifters fall off of any of the other cars? no. At least his tires didnt instantaneously explode after ceremonial start... I almost half expected that.

I too have to wonder what the deal was with taking 3 or 4 stage wins right after blowing up. Is getting Petter p*ssed off what it takes to put him on the podium? If so, keep him away from Pernilla for 2 weeks before the rally or something. Or make him drive a VW Thing on the shakedown run.

I love how SWRT retires and comes back with Superally and then claims a bunch of stage wins on the following legs and pins it on thier chest like some great accomplishment.

You would prefer that they don't have stage wins? Given how poorly things have been going for the team of late I say they should enjoy whatever positives they get. I think it's an encouraging sign to see Petter come back and lay down some nice times. Superrally or no, he has not been doing that most of this year.

I think that in general SWRT did fairly well on this rally. If it wasn't for a random piece of bad luck that was completely outside their control Petter would have landed in second. They still aren't running a perfect rally yet, but I think that, while dumb, the gearshift paddle falling off is a good deal better than, say, engine failure like they saw in Monte Carlo or the host of problems they had in Sweden.

I have been really impressed with Petter's driving this year. Yes, the overall results suck. But with one exception (Corsica) the bad results have all been due to things outside of Petter's control. He used to make a habit of making small but costly mistakes. I'm not seeing that happening so much any more. I think once he gets a dependable care with competative tires then we're going to see some pretty amazing stuff out of him.

Rallying isnt about winning stages. It's about being there in the end.

The police released wanted posters of the crazy driver that caused Solberg's crash:

:lol:

http://img401.imageshack.us/img401/5988/loebmod5xl.jpg

:lol: :lol: :lol:

Rallying isnt about winning stages. It's about being there in the end.


well, not necessarily. it's about finishing, but completing each stage quicky as possible. it is a race after all...unless you're doing tsd's or non performance rally..

anyway, bring on germany :banana:

well, not necessarily. it's about finishing, but completing each stage quicky as possible. it is a race after all...unless you're doing tsd's or non performance rally..

anyway, bring on germany :banana:

I suppose for a manufacturer its better to finish a race in the top 8 than be the fastest on the stages but have a technical problem or a crash out in every rally. Manufacturers want to give their buyers a sense of confidence of the durability of their product. If subaru just wanted to tell you their car was fast they would have built a cusco GT300/500'eque car instead of a WRC car.

PM'd ya, but the site seems to be down this morning!
[edit]

Looks like the domain expired yesterday. Whew! That means it should be back up soon.

Any updates on what's up with the site?

well, not necessarily. it's about finishing, but completing each stage quicky as possible. it is a race after all...unless you're doing tsd's or non performance rally..

anyway, bring on germany :banana:

If such a philosophy was true, I'm sure the WRC competitors of the mid-70's would LOVE to hear your strategy in completing the 5-day long Safari Rally.

holy crap, just finished up day 3 and watching huge chunks fall of LOEB's car on teh way to service is crazy, he blew the left rear tire, was dragging wheel then teh whole rear axle flrew off, BTW this is on a public road. then the right rear wheel came off, so he made it to service with only his front wheels/tires... crazy ass rally drivers... but he didnt get a time penalty.

If such a philosophy was true, I'm sure the WRC competitors of the mid-70's would LOVE to hear your strategy in completing the 5-day long Safari Rally.

well you obviously do have to build to suit your conditions but a car that is solid as a rock before and after the race does no one any good if it or the driver are slow or unmatched to the competition they're aiming for. that is, unless the compeditors are using the event as testing or 'just for fun'. yeah we all want our cars to hold together but it doesn't always work out that way.

it's neat to see all the little secrets the manufacturers and engineers come up with to try and overcome some of the problems the cars will see on stages. the co driver controlled double throttle body trick for crossing water bars is pretty cool.

holy crap, just finished up day 3

Damnit! Where? Could someone PM me some torrenty wrc Grecian goodness? Please? Nothing seems to have hit the "public" torrent sites yet.

emule! its slow but steady.. and its better than nothing. :)

Subaru has to get rid of Prodrive or they will become the next Skoda...

Day 1 is up via public torrent:
http://zerotracker.com/torrents-details.php?id=59821

Here's another Day 1
http://www.motorsport-torrents.info/index.php?series=WRC

Subaru has to get rid of Prodrive or they will become the next Skoda...

I dont think it's prodrive at all. I think that their tires suck, they have been unlucky, and there are still some kinks to work out in the new model since there were a lot of changes made between this year and last. I mean the paddle shifter business occurring twice is quite possibly prodrive's fault directly, but the majority of other problems they have had have been bad luck on some rough road, tires that dont hold a lick and are not durable, and crazy local hitmen drivers taking them out when everything else is going well.

well, they have been having drive shaft issues.. both petter and chris have broken driveshafts.. and steering issues as well.

I thought Prodrive was making the move from less WRC to more F1 with Stephan Sarrazin (sp?) as a potential driver. I've read a lot (of speculation?) pointing to that as a potential part played in the recent season of SWRT suckage. I don't know what, if any of it is true though.

not in my opinion. its been downhill since after '03 for a reason. and for the most part, its not a technical deficiency. Blame it on SWRT, not Prodrive.

from what i've seen this season, I have a few thoughts..

subaru + tarmac = bad news
subaru + wet surface = podium finish
subaru + dry surface = pushing to keep up, taking chances, crashing car.
chance of not breaking something +/- 90% per rally. when the car didnt break and aside from freak happenings its been close.. If you like him or hate him you have to feel bad for petter, just like last year with Marcus and his car. I knwo if it was me, i'd be close to crying a few times.. just from frustration.

This thread (http://paradise.motorsportforum.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=120404) from the Rally Paradise forum is pretty interesting. There's a lot of input from around the world and many of the members are rally drivers and enthusiasts themselves.

For those who don't wanna read the whole thing, it basically says that the subaru boxer engine is hanging out in front of the front wheels (we know this already). However, because of this, the car is too front end heavy with the engine out too far from the front axel (Audi style) and plows a hell of a lot more than the Xsara and the Focus. The question is asked if the down low boxer 4 has reached the end of its lifespan and if the Impreza is really sticking true to its rally roots or if Subaru is kinda transitioning to a more circuit racing design. Interesting arguments. Read it anyway, make what you want out of it.

^^ Why did this never really become so exacerbated until this season though? I suspect that the 2008 car will have a better balace and it can still use the boxer engine just placed an inch or two rearward.

It doesnt really look like the wheels on the Ford are placed much further forward than the subaru, and though the boxer engine does take up more space horizontally, etc.. it's not like Ford put their engine inside the passenger compartment. In this picture it looks like the wheel lines up with the front of the Ford emblem on the hood.
http://news.caradisiac.com/IMG/jpg/Ford_Focus_WRC_2006_1.jpg

I guess subaru will have to rethink the axel:engine placement in the 08 if they want to be competitive.

The fun with the transverse engine though, is that you can tilt the engine back to push the front wheels forward and lower the center of gravity. All that weight moves behind the wheels too, which reduces the car's polar moment.

Subies have to carry the weight of the engine ahead of the front wheels, unless you do something exotic with the transmission -- and even then you'd need to raise the engine to fit a front differential underneath it.

Maybe someday we'll see them go to a Saab 99-style setup where the engine is behind the transmission, but with an output shaft running under the engine to send power to the back wheels? Or with "dual" transmissions, one ahead of the engine for the front wheels, one behind for the back wheels? Managing the front/rear torque split would be a bear with that configuration. It'd be heavy, too.

This isn't Subaru's main problem though. Tire choice, tire durability, assembly/part QA and "just weird events" are what have been killing them this year. The car itself has shown it has good pace when it has proper rubber for the conditions.

on a side note i was watching teh preview and they were recaping the 1997 running of the rally and they has some incar of the mitsu team and they are just chillin' in t-shirts and jeans.. haha, were are the 2k race suits?

If I recall, on the hotter rallies (Acropolis, Safari, etc) they were racing in, at best, fire 'pants' and T-shirt up until about 2000 or 2001.

not in my opinion. its been downhill since after '03 for a reason. and for the most part, its not a technical deficiency. Blame it on SWRT, not Prodrive.



Prodrive is incharge of the technical development and packaging, no matter what you want to think (fine, its the SWRT engineers, that work for Prodrive).

The car is overtly technical, with fragile and complicated system. It is not being designed as a rally car. The constant failure of similiar systems alludes to the fact that the car is not being designed to be sturdy enough to be reliable.

The fact that the team has done so little testing, had some of the same DNF problems in testing and they still aren't fixed speaks to major problems with the management and execution of the team. Simply look at how hard Petter has to try to drive the car, how violent he is with the wheel, and then look at the freaking Xsara, virtually the same car minus the diffs since 2003. That car should be technically obsolete and lucky to break the top 5 from a development stand point. The fact is the Xsara was designed to be a complete rally car, it is robust, balanced for driving on dirt, and reliable, 3 things SWRT and Prodrive have yet to find after 3 years of development. You still think they aren't the problem atleast a little, if not entirely?


Don't get me started on the conflict of interests. There are sources that can confirm almost a second per KM difference on all surfaces (larger on tarmac) than the last two iterations from Pirelli, and these numbers are from SWRT tests. Take a look at all the other Prodrive managed interests and tell me what kind of tires they are running on? I doubt after this post you'll be very surprised. Prodrive has sold out SWRT for more sponsorship and support of other Prodrive interests, or thats the way it sure as hell looks....

Prodrive SHOULD NOT recieve a contract for 2007. If Subaru wants to win they need a new management and technical approach, from scratch...