Got a couple of questions that have been rattling around in my brian about the WRC car. Both the questions are about the scoops. Roof scoop, what exactly does it do. Hood scoop, while watching the WRC tonight I noticed that the Intercool is up right behind the bumper and knowing that the scoop is there to feed air to the intercool what exactly is it doing.

from what I understand the roog scoop is the 'air conditioning' that the driver and co-driver get since race cars don't have a/c, or power steering, or reclining seats, or an interior, or easy drivablitiy on the streets, after all it is a race car. The hood scoop? to look good...http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/tongue.gif

you're right about the front mounted intercooler which provides more immediate cooling, especially with the exit scoop for hot air right behind it. The classic intercooler hood scoop on the front is for allowing cool air into the engine bay i'm not sure about that.

Ed

Top scoop: cabin exhaust / fresh air
Intercooler: That intercooler is an air and oil cooler, which kills two birds with two stones. Also, the turbo is IHI with a 34mm restrictor (inlet). ECU manages transmission,engine,suspension. Suspension is controllable from inside and can be changed to whatever setting you want http://www.i-club.com/ubb-files/smilies/smile.gif
tony.

I believe the WRC cars all have power steering.

Glenn

yes they do... one of the SEAT's had the powersteering go out last year on a tarmac stage ( i think san remo)... trying to turn wide tarmac tires without powersteering is not for the faint of heart

WRC cars have power steering.

The hood scoop is purely cosmetic on the WRC car. Removing it would also in be in violation of the rules. Because they submit the WRX for homologation, and the scoop is a factory item.

I thought the roof scoop provided a direct amount of air flow from the front of the roof to the back, where it's aimed at the spoiler, in essence, improving the downforce it provides. I could be wrong though, I'm really not certain.

~Loki

WRC cars have Power Steering

Roof Scoop = "air conditioning"

Hood Scoop = "Intakee sccop" since ic is now front mounted. been this way for awhile

The roof scoop is a general air intake vent. The rules state that you must run the car with the windows up while on a stage, to keep debris out for oupant safty. For the foyur door car they usually also run a small filler stip along the top of the rear window. I.e. you roll down the rear window. put this smacer with holes over the glas pane, then roll the window up sandwiching it between the glass and the door frame. Alowing the window to be "rolled up" while still allowing air flow through the car to cool the ocupants. Mitsubishi runs these alot, so if you head over to their WOrld Rally page you can see it in multiple pictues there.

The hood scoop on the impreza is used as an air intake. Of course as the intercooler is front mounted, there is no need for a top mount one. So instead they make a small plenum, with a filter, that seals up to the hood scoop (this helps releive any sort of mass water intake), and then dump in down to the turbo intake. The hole mounted in front of it is sealed op to the intercooler, and promotes air flow through the FMIC, and keeps any unwanted hot air from entering the engine.

On other cars like Mitsupishis', Seats, Skoda's, and Hyundais, the hole in the hood is used for venting hot air out of the engine bay, some may have adopted a similar ducting system for their intercooler as Subaru has, but subaru has more room to play with somthing like that because of the boxer engine design. Also the scoops on most of those cars are functional as air intakes, for example the small scoop off to the rifght of the Evolutions hood (from evo-III on) is a turbo inlet scoop, dumping directly into a plenum, or an air box for the turbo. Its very rare to see a scoop, or vent on a WR Car that isnt functional, it wouldent be worth it to have a non functional scoop that couldent aide in cooling somehow. I think the only time those scoops arent used is on Safari where they have to use a snorcle for high amounts of dust, and water crossings.

WR Cars do run with AC in events like Acropolis, and Safari where temperatures in side the car would be astronomical. Becuase of the mostly wide open stages, the cars wont suffer to much of a power loss from them. And the A/C units themselves dont have to be very large, its not like your trying to cool a luxury car to 25 below, your just trying to keep the driver comfortable, and able to drive safly. On events like Cypris they have the option of running an A/C unit, but becuase hte roads are so twisty, and speeds are very low, putting aditional heat, and power strain on the engine isnt worth it, so they usually devise some sort of water/air coolin system. Like a swap cooler setup that can easily run off of a small fan.
WR Cars also usually have basic heaters installed for window defoging. Remember these cars DO drive on the streets, and do have to meet safty regulation to do so. And its no good if you cant see out the window. Likewise, it would be too cold for an event like Sweden, or Montecarlo NOT to have a heater. Again, your not trying to keep the kids toasty warm, your just trying to keep the driver comfortable. So the system doesnt have to be all that beefy.
I dont beleive the FMIC and oil coolers are run on the same cooling unit. They are all seperate, intercooler, oil cooler, and engine radiator, are all seperate components, maybe one behind the other in order of priority, but i boubt in the same unit. Becuase that could be potentially bad if one system fails, and starts to heat up another, its a recipe for disaster. Alot of thing son WR Cars are modular, i dont beleive the cooling systems are one of them.
To my knowledge, driver.co-driver adjustable suspension is not allowed. The cars would be WAY to easy to set up if that was the case, and the whole point of tuning a car at service and tweaking various setting would be pointless. And from cockpit the only really adjustable setting would be the sway bars, and as i said, i dont beleive thats allowed.
WR Cars also have power steering, they have to...you ever tried drifting your scooby without power steering? Didnt think so...
The roof scoop serves no aerodynamic purpose, other then to create unwanted drag, its there only as a means of cooling the driver and co driver on stage.

Hope that cleard some things up.

The vents above the headlights connect to tubes attached to the underside of the hood. These also feed into the air intake below the hood scoop. The air filter sits exposed where the IC is on the WRX. Somebody had some pretty good underhood pictures from the Rim of the World Rally.

-J