I was just wondering if all the cars on the WRC are AWD or just the Subaru? When I watch it, I say to myself they have to be AWD to go off road at that speed, however, I don't think any Ford Focus has AWD.

thanks in advance,
Steve

yes all

you are about to be bombarded by more thorough answers than this...but essentially they are all some variation of AWD with very sophisticated diffs. they all produce similar hp due to restrictors and such, they all weigh exactly the minimum weight required by wrc.

I think at some point the cars had to be much more closely related to their actual production counterparts...but not so anymore, as you said, you have never seen an AWD focus.

Kevin

within the last few years all WRC level cars are AWD... I'm pretty sure there were still a few FWD (Peugeot/Citroen?) cars as late as 2001 but I'm not positive.

But I thought the cars had to be almost stock. Isn't putting an entire new drive system make it too far from stock? I understand upgrading parts, but that's not an upgrade, that's fabrication.

The Focus RS was originally supposed to be AWD, but ford couldn't find a system for production it liked (cheap enough). So it stayed FWD. 'Course that doesn't explain the Citroen & Peugot & Hyundai's that were running with AWD when they didn't have a production counterpart.

Tom

Group-N has to be pretty close to stock, relatively speaking. WRC cars have about as much stock as a Nextel Cup Monte Carlo. Seriously.

Engine - barely related, they use modified EJ20g blocks. It's not in the same place, even. Tranny - unrelated. Clutch - unrelated. I/C - don't make me laugh. Brakes - completely different.

The Focus RS was originally supposed to be AWD, but ford couldn't find a system for production it liked (cheap enough). So it stayed FWD. 'Course that doesn't explain the Citroen & Peugot & Hyundai's that were running with AWD when they didn't have a production counterpart.

Tom

Citroen was actually FWD until just a few years ago...

The Focus RS was originally supposed to be AWD, but ford couldn't find a system for production it liked (cheap enough). So it stayed FWD. 'Course that doesn't explain the Citroen & Peugot & Hyundai's that were running with AWD when they didn't have a production counterpart.

Tom

IIRC, at least for Hyundai's ProRally spurt, they were using drivetrains from Mitsu.

Also, IIRC, There are certain rules that allow manufacturers to run awd versions of their cars if their isn't a suitable awd to build off of.

I'd still like to see some S1600 action on speed and just more GroupN / JWRC coverage period instead of the occasional mention of it.

Peugeot had a kick ass lower powered yet lighter FWD WRC car for the tarmac rallies just 3+ yrs. ago. Panizzi was beating the "open" class AWD cars and I believe won a couple tarmac events too. It was fun to hear the "open" AWD WRC drivers complain that they shouldn't be beaten by a FWD and that the FIA needs to do something about the rules.

Didn't matter as Peugeot made the 305/6 WRC AWD car and hired Magic Marcus Gronholm as their ace driver and took a couple Championships.

Like mentioned above, all the current WRC cars are AWD. (who would want anything else:)) They have very sophiscated and expensive active diferentials that do amazing things with traction.

And if you have an extra $70,000 laying around, you too can buy one of the transmissions. Differentials are extra though.

I've seen regional results like the british rally championship where a S1600 car has won first overall. I'm not 100% sure but I think one won the overall championship one year. They do better on tarmac rallies where a light FWD car does just as well as some of the WRC cars. The S1600 cars aren't cheap though, they use sequential transmissions and cost more to build than a GrpN car...