After two decades of participation and six WRC titles, Subaru pulled itself from the World Rally Championship at the end of its 2008 season. Subaru fans everywhere could not imagine the WRC without their beloved Subaru and held on to the hopes that the brand would reconsider. Now, after only about a year and a half, Subaru lovers everywhere can rejoice in the comeback of the brand. Subaru announced today that the Impreza WRX STI Spec C gained the official Group N Homologation certificate from FIA and will compete in the Rallye Deutschland of Production World Rally Championship from August 22nd, 2010. The homologation certificate is a requirement to compete in any FIA-approved racing and rallying championship.
The WRX STI spec C features enhanced engine and chassis performance as well as a lighter body on the premise of driving in motor sports. The ECU is upgraded right from the factory so the new ball bearing turbocharged DOHC 16 valve flat four EJ20 engine now delivers 308 HP and 311 lb-ft of torque. The Spec C comes complete with an aluminum hood, smaller battery, lighter windows, and some new 18 inch alloy wheels.
After nine seasons in Formula 1, Kimi Raikkonen will now take part in the 2010 World Racing Championship for the Citroën Junior Team. Raikkonen’s departure from Formula 1 was a shock to some due to the contract he had with Ferrari for the 2010 season. Many rumors flew around in regards to where Raikkonen was headed, but none seemed to pan out as McLaren, Mercedes, and Toyota all signed other drivers.
Red Bull Racing team boss, Christian Horner has downplayed rumors that Raikkonen will be riding with them in 2011, but for now he is racing in the WRC. The World Racing Championship consists of 13 three-day events driven on surfaces ranging from gravel and tarmac to snow and ice. Here’s how Kimi Raikkonen overcame this special stage and obtained his first points in the 2010 WRC Jordan Rally. Enjoy!
We love our rally car racing here at TopSpeed, and anytime we get an opportunity to show you what it’s like to be out on the dirt, we don’t waste time doing it.
By now, you’ve probably heard about Ken Block’s less-than-stellar showing at the Rally Mexico, which incidentally is the first-ever World Rally Championship race for Block and navigator Alex Gelsomino. While we’re going to attribute Block’s 18th place finish to a little case of ‘getting their feet wet’ in the art of WRC racing, we’re expecting the dynamic duo to have a better showing at the next race in Jordan on April 1-3.
In any event, we have here a WRC-exclusive of Block and Gelsomino romping off the dirt roads of Mexico during the recently-concluded Rally Mexico. It’s a ten-minute piece so sit back, relax, and enjoy the bumpy ride…err…clip.
Ken Block’s 2010 World Rally Championship season at the Rally Mexico got off to an impressive start – that is until, it ended sooner than he and co-pilot Alex Gelsomino would have liked.
Block and Gelsomino ended up crashing out of the race when he shot wide on one of the gravel corners forcing his Rally Ford Fiesta into getting beached at a slightly awkward tilted position. It was a disappointing end to an otherwise impressive race, one where Block was consistently in the top 10 and moving in and out of the top 5 until his slight miscalculation.
Afterwards, Block admitted that the crash was his fault, attributing to a rookie mistake of slightly miscalculating the braking into the tight corner and realizing his blunder just a tad too late. While we’re a little disappointed too, we’re going to give Block a little benefit of the doubt and hope that he puts this ‘rookie mistake’ to good use and doesn’t do it again.
Check out the video and watch how Ken Block’s Rally Mexico race ended prematurely.
Although the Japanese automaker Subaru pulled out of their factory backed World Rally Championship efforts, the company that built those iconic blue WRC competitors, Prodrive, are still working hard on new versions of the purpose built rally car for privateer racers. Prodrive has just released details about the 2010 Group N Subaru Impreza that will compete in 2010, priced at just under $200,000 the Prodrive Subaru Impreza N2010 WRC is sure to deliver for those willing to take the risk on the stages of the World Rally Championship.
The Impreza N2010 utilizes a new larger 33 mm air restrictor connected to the turbocharged. The new piece was introduced by the FIA in order to help balance the performance between the Group N and unrestricted Super2000 rally cars. Simply by increasing the size of the opening by only one millimeter, fitting a set of high flow fuel injectors and recalibrating the ECU to make everything work harmoniously gives the Scooby a 20 HP bump while beefing up the torque curve and increasing throttle response throughout the entire RPM band while the new Ohlins suspension ensures that the all wheel drive rally car stays on course until the end of the stage.
If reports are accurate, when the driver’s line-up for the 2010 Formula One season is completed, one household name will not be included in it. After spending nine years in Formula One, Kimi Raikkonen will seek a different challenge next year in the form of the World Rally Championship. The news was first reported by MTV3, a Finnish broadcaster who has ties to Raikkonen.
Raikkonen’s interest in driving rally cars has been well-documented and the former F1 champ has even got a few rally races under his belt. After cutting ties with Ferrari, speculation surrounding Raikkonen’s future made headlines in and around the industry. There were reports linking him to Mercedes GP, taking up rallying instead, and even going on a year-long sabbatical.
Whatever the case may be – and whatever Raikkonen’s decision is – watching an F1 race without the Iceman is going to take some getting used to. Then again, if he does enter the world of the WRC and trades in his Ferrari F60 for a Ctiroen C4 – the car he is rumoured to be driving - then that’s something a lot of us will be looking forward to watching.
The world of rally racing is filled with edge of your seat excitement and some of the most fearless drivers in the world. In this particular instance it was the Russian rally driver Evgeny Novikov who managed to make his co driver pray to the deity of his choice as their yellow Citroen C4 was sent skyward after launching off a jump with a little too much zest during a special stage in the recent WRC Rally Finland.
The Japanese automaker Toyota will bring a handful of their remarkable racing cars to the Goodwood Festival of Speed, July 3-5. The three day event is Europe’s answer to Monterey Historic Races that take place every year at Laguna Seca. The event allows racing enthusiasts to get an up close look at everything from classic competition cars to the racecars of tomorrow and allows these machines the opportunity to do what it is that they do best when they race against the clock and the hill.
The sombrero wearing import carmaker will be showing off a Lexus LF-A super car and a TF108, last year’s unrestricted F1 car complete with the German Timo Glock behind the controls. Making almost as much power as the F1 machine, Toyota will also bring a four wheel drive Celica GT4-X developed by English based tuners Fensport. The Celica makes 700 HP and can make consistent 10 second quarter mile passes all day long.
Rally enthusiasts will be happy to know that their will be a pair of classic Group B Celicas as well as the car that won them the Manufacturer’s Championship in 1999, a WRC Corolla. Alain Prost’s championship ice racing Toyota Auris will also be on hand, the car is built to look like the compact city car, except the racecar is built from carbon fiber and features a tuned 3.0 Liter V6. There will also be a couple of Can-Am and Le Mans racers on hand as well.
However, it will be Gazoo Racing’s V10-powered Lexus LF-A endurance racer, coming straight from competing in the Nurburgring 24, along with an IS-F that competed in the same race twice around the clock, that will be one of the main attractions on the hill climb course, making an appearance at the Earl of March’s annual gathering.
Subaru today revealed full details about the 2008 Impreza World Rally Car. It will be powered by a flat four-cylinder engine with a maximum power of 300bhp @ 5500rpm and a peak torque of 650Nm @ 3000rpm. The engine will be mated to a six-speed electro-hydraulic transmission.
The Impreza WRC also features front and rear MacPherson strut suspensions, Bos fully adjustable shock absorbers, AP Racing 310mm ventilated discs and six-pot calipers front and rear. For asphalt use, front brakes are 378mm ventilated discs with six-pot calipers.
With a weight of only 1230kgs, the car includes a LCD color monitor with eight selectable data screens, Kenwood radio equipment. It sits on 15" diameter for gravel, 18” for tarmac wheels and Pirelli tires.
Sebastien Loeb had no problem winning the Monte Carlo rally for the fifth time in his carrier, a record that is actually quite hard to smash.
But how many of you knew that Loeb was close to a tragedy in Monte Carlo? During some special racings made on Saturday, the world champion was close to smash one of the police officers from the race. The guy crossed the road without checking first and Loeb passed at a very high speed at not even 10 centimeters from him!
Can you imagine what could have happened in there?
