Back in 2011, we brought you a 16-minute long compilation of the Porsche 911 GT3 rally car in the 2010 German Rally Championship. This time around, we are going a step further by bringing you 30 minutes of non-stop Porsche 911 GT3 rallying that highlights the best of the 2011 and 2012 rally seasons.
This video is really all you would expect of one highlighting such a great car, as the camera operators managed to get u some fantastic shots and tons of quality audio. In every single shot, you get a healthy dose of that 4.0-liter six-cylinder engine working its backside off through the gravel, dirt, mud and sometimes tarmac.
So, if you have 30 minutes to spare and a safe place to crank up the volume to hear this internal combustion orchestra, we definitely recommend it. We promise you, it is well worth the time to see this $200k machine playing in places its mommy said it’s not supposed to.
French automaker Peugeot has been a staple in the rally scene for as long as we can remember. So when word leaks out that they’re planning to reveal their next generation rally car, people tend to take notice.
At the 2012 Paris Motor Show later this month, Peugeot is bringing the all-new 208 Type R5, the car that’s slated to become their new prized steed at the Intercontinental Rally Challenge.
Needless to say, the 208 Type R5 has some pretty big shoes to fill in large part because its successor, the 207 Super 2000, rang up championships - three IRC drivers and manufacturers titles - during its time at the IRC.
The racer will have to adhere to regulations set by S2000 category. What that means is that the 208 Type R5 has been fitted with a number of racing components, including widened tracks, a spoiler, an increase in the wheel arches to accommodate a new set of 18" wheels. All these were done while keeping attention on the series’ minimum weight set of 1,200kg for the gravel and asphalt versions.
"Based on an optimisation of costs", explains Bertrand Vallat, the Type R5’s project leader, "the regulations impose, among other things, a maximum price for certain parts and technical limitations such as a minimum weight of components of the chassis and engine. In addition, a certain number of components of the vehicle must be similar. The hub carrier is a perfect example. All four must be identical. This makes operation considerably easier and limits costs and stocking."
The 208 Type R5 is powered by a 1.6-liter turbo engine that produces 280 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 295 lb/ft of torque at 2,500 rpm. The four-wheel drive system sends power to all four wheels thanks to a 5-speed sequential gearbox and two self-locking differentials.
As far as expectations are concerned, Peugeot is shooting for the stars, Vallat said: “The regulations impose, among other things, a maximum price for certain parts and technical limitations such as a minimum weight of components of the chassis and engine.”
“We are aiming for performance which is slightly higher than S2000,” he adds.
UPDATE 1/25/2013: The 208 Type R5 has just completed its second round of testing and it is all set to be delivered. According the Peugeot, it will open its order book in March 2013, so race teams mark your calenders!
UPDATE 05/01/13: The 208 Type R5 has been re-christened as the 208 T16 and Peugeot has released a new video of the rally car in action. Check it out by clicking on the photo above.
Over the years that Ken Block has wowed us with his distinctly styled Ford Fiesta HFHV, we’ve begun to associate the man with the car’s appealing white-black-and-green color scheme.
Well, with a new year apparently comes a new color scheme. And a new headquarters to boot.
Block’s Hoonigan Racing Division has decided to move into a new headquarters and to celebrate that decision, the team has also changed their colors. While there was a clear distinction of how the old colors worked - white base, black paint splatter and plenty of lime green touches - this new color setup is a little more, shall we say, colorful.
The inspiration comes from Block’s fascination with the "80s and early 90s skateboarding graphics, as well as Miami Vice-era offshore powerboats and a dash of hair metal and old school hip hop mixed in for good measure."
That long description apparently translates to a matte-black base with touches of blue, red, green and orange, and a slice of Americana in the form of the U.S. flag on the roof scoop. As always, sponsorship logos are prevalent on the car, accounting for the rainbow-like hues on the Fiesta HFHV.
Moving onto the new “eco-friendly” HRD HQ, which looks “conducive to the kind of work they do.” The industrial look has been divided into two separate areas, including a workshop and a creative office space with plenty of touches of fun sprinkled in. Suffice to say, “boring” is the last word you’d think of in describing this office.
Unlike Subaru, Scion is still a relative newbie to the Rally America scene, having only raced in the series for one year before this season. But now that it’s got its maiden experience out of the way, Scion is preparing to be more of a factor in the series’ two-wheel-drive class.
Championing their cause is the new 2013 Scion xD Rally Car, an innocuous model that has been turned into a full-fledged rally car with a 1.8-liter four-cylinder engine that has likewise been force-fed with a GReddy turbocharger. Add some rally-spec components, redesign the interior for rally purposes, slap on the obligatory sponsor logos, and you have a race car that’s primed and ready to get down and dirty.
The make the xD Rally Car more competitive this year, scion bumped up its horsepower – the amount remains undisclosed, of course – added in an all-new suspension system and better balanced the awkward-looking xD’s weight distribution.
Of course, Scion has no illusions of being a straight-up contender to the mighty Subaru team. But considering that they’re just entering their second year of competition, we’d be very disappointed if Scion doesn’t build on the foundation they set last year and get some winning results in the two-wheel-drive class.
Click past the jump to read Scion’s full press release
Subaru Rally Team USA has been more than a fixture in the Rally America champion series; they’ve flat out dominated it in recent years. So it’s not surprising that the team is returning for the 2013 season with enormous expectations of repeating their 2012 title-winning season.
This season, the duo of David Higgins and Craig Drew are set to unleash on Rally America anew and they’ve prepared the perfect steed, the 2013 Subaru WRX STI Rally Car, to help them do the job.
It certainly goes without saying that the championship will run through this team and if there are any challengers out there, they better expect nothing short of a competitive throw down against a team that has made a habit of scooping up Rally America titles in recent years.
And with the 2013 WRX STI Rally Car in the fold, the path to the championship will be much more difficult for the rest of the teams. We’ve been fans of Rally America since its inception in 2005 - yeah, back in the days when Travis Pastrana was behind Subaru’s four-straight championships from 2006 through 2009 - and trust us, it’s hard to bet against a team that has walked away with the title in seven of the eight years the series has been alive.
Six months after Ken Block released Gymkhana 5, we now have a pretty good idea on how the hooning series was made. It’s a little odd to release a "making-of" video so long after the actual thing was released, but then again, you won’t find any complaints from us.
Besides, there’s always something to learn about extravagant productions like this. If you recall, Gymkhana 5 was set in San Francisco and featured some of the hottest drifts and hooks done on some of the Bay Area’s most famous landmarks.
That video shows off the creativity, the thought process, and Block’s overall talent that went into creating a production like this. All of this work was in the name of giving drift fans something to look forward to every year.
Check out the "Making of Gymkhana 5" and if you’re in the mood, you can hop on over after the jump to watch Gymkhana 5.
Fans of rally racing, especially those that know the history of the sport, know who Ari Vatanen is. His political career as a Member of the European Parliament notwithstanding, Vatanen is also famous for winning the World Rally Championship drivers’ title in 1981 and the Paris Dakar Rally four times.
One of the teams Vatanen raced for was Peugeot, where he won three of his four aforementioned Dakar Rally titles. So it’s not all that surprising that when Peugeot decided to tease its new 208 Type R5 Rally Car, it tapped Vatanen to be the one to get first dibs on it.
The teaser video shows Vatanen wearing his traditional coat and tie that has come to be known as a trademark of sorts since he entered the world of politics. But upon laying eyes on the still-covered 208 Type R5 rally car, Vatanen decided to strip down to something a little more comfortable: a fire-resistant racing suit.
Our question is: how is this car different from the 208 Type R5 that made its debut at the 2012 Paris Motor Show?
Hopefully, Peugeot has answers for us in the coming weeks.
When Volkswagen said that it was entering the World Rally Championship in time for the 2013 season, it stamped the announcement by revealing the Polo R WRC Concept, the prototype model of what would eventually become VW’s production series race car.
Over the weekend at Monaco, Volkswagen finally pulled the covers off of the latter, giving further indication that it’s ready to take the WRC by storm next year.
Judging by the overall look of the car, the high-performance sports hatch appears to have retained most of the design and performance characteristics of the concept. The rally-inspired lower front spoiler with large air inlets are still there, as is the spoiler on the rear edge of the roof and the rear diffuser. Some new additions on the body are purely aesthetic, including the “WRC” badging on the rear and the “R” logos on the front and rear.
The race version of the Polo R WRC also receives a set of 18-inch alloy wheels wrapped in 215/35R18 tires. Helping bring it to a halt are 16-inch disc brakes. Inside, the rally car comes equipped with a race-spec interior, highlighted by a black roof liner, race-style pedals, an Alcantara steering wheel, and the typical insanely long rally transmission stick.
Overall, the car only weighs 1,200 kg (2,645 pounds), which Volkswagen accomplished by using carbon and Kevlar on the doors, tailgate and wheel arch extensions. The svelte weight even accounts for the wider frame of 1,820 mm (71.65 inches), which is around 138 mm (5.43 inches) wider than the production model.
In terms of performance, the Polo R WRC Edition is powered by a 1.6-liter turbocharged TSI four-cylinder engine that has been limited to only produce 315 horsepower. This engine mates to a six-speed sequential transmission with a 0-to-100 km/h (62 mph) time of just 3.9 seconds.
The Polo R WRC Rally Car will make its long-awaited debut at the Monte Carlo rally this coming January with Sebastien Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala taking the helm. The event should be a good barometer for the company and the team to gauge how ready the car is when it makes its WRC debut later that year.
Opel’s offering to the city car segment, the Adam, is getting a race-spec version in the form of the Adam Cup Rally Car.
In announcing their return of to the motorsport world, Opel’s Adam Cup Rally Car will compete in the ADAC Opel Rally Cup as part of the ADAC Rally Masters race. It’s hardly the WRC, the highest level of rally racing in the world, but for a company that’s only returning to the rally scene after a prolonged sabbatical, the Adam Cup Rally Car is being prepared for great things.
Full race-spec details of the Adam Cup Rally Car have yet to be announced, but we do know that the car will get the full complement of aerodynamic racing components. There’s the full-on livery dress-up and a new set of wheels and tires on the body and an interior that carries a full roll cage, sport bucket seats with six-point harnesses, and a new steering wheel.
Keep an eye out on the Opel Adam Cup Rally Car next season when it officially enters competitive racing again. As a race-spec machine, the race car was built to adhere to FIA R2 regulations.
UPDATE 02/04/13: Speaking of being updated, the Opel Adam Cup Rally Car will be on hand at the Geneva Motor Show. Be sure to keep an eye out on it when it hits the stands in Geneva.
The last time Opel achieved success in motorsports was 2003 when the Astra V8 Coupe conquered the 24 Hours of Nurburgring race. Since then, Opel has kept a low key profile in racing. All that, though, is set to change when the new Astra OPC returns to racing.
The new Opel Astra OPC has been given some racing juices, and thus, the Astra OPC Cup was born. The future race car is set to compete in the 2013 season and has been built to fully comply with "VLN Endurance Championship" standards, considered as the most popular grass roots racing series in Europe.
In addition to competing in its own brand trophy class as part of the VLN Endurance Championship series, the Astra OPC Cup will also ply its wares in the race that its predecessor once conquered: the 24 Hours of Nurburgring.
Full-spec details weren’t announced surrounding the Astra OPC Cup, but according to Dr. Thomas Sedran, Opel’s Deputy CEO, the race car being built plays into Opel’s new direction as a company. These new motorsports activities play an important role in the strategic re-alignment of the company; they are a fundamental element of our brand profile," Dr. Sedran said.
