World Rally Championship season gets underway at Monte Carlo!

[FoMoJo]

...for those who are rally fans.

http://www.rally-live.com/wrc/en/headlines/news/news_rally.shtml

So far, it's Sebastian Loeb in his new Citroen...but he has some competition from his teammate this season.

They need some more manufacturers to compete in the WRC.? It'd be nice to see Audi, Toyota, Renault, and Mitsubishi with a serious effort, back in it.

[S204STi]

I am predicting another mediocre year from Subaru.  However it would be interesting to see if any improvements are made now that Subaru is using BFGoodrich tires rather than Pirellis.

[r0tor]

I completely lost track of this series after Speed Channel was converted to Speed TV and coverage became horrible 

[the Teuton]

Hope:  Subaru.
Prediction:  Pegeout.

[Payman]

I completely lost track of this series after Speed Channel was converted to Speed TV and coverage became horrible?

I used to love the Speed Channel. Now I fucking hate it. I don't even have it anymore.

[heelntoe]

speedvision anyone?

[J86]

Go Subaru!!!!!

[ro51092]

Go Subaru!!!!!

[Michael Estorol]

hell yeah -- with a bit of luck, subaru might push up to third!

   

[the Teuton]

There's a reason a lot of people are betting the next WRX will be a smaller hatchback design instead of a sedan and wagon.  It's called homologation production for WRC racing to get competitive again.

[MrEddy]

Pretty good result for Atkinson in the Subaru all things considered. Would have been nice to see him keep 4th though. I really hope he has a good season.

[ro51092]

There's a reason a lot of people are betting the next WRX will be a smaller hatchback design instead of a sedan and wagon.  It's called homologation production for WRC racing to get competitive again.

I hope it's not a hatch.

[MrEddy]

I hope it's not a hatch.

What is it with you americans and your anti-hatch thing?

[ro51092]

I love hatches, it's just that the WRX is a sedan, and I hope it will continue.

Same reason I would never buy a GLI over a GTI. The GTI is supposed to be a hatch, not a sedan. Even though the GLI is supposed to be a whole different model, the GTI is what it really is, except in a sedan.

[Raghavan]

Man, the Citroen looks good.

[the Teuton]

I hope it's not a hatch.

While I'd generally agree with you, and I hope that there is a WRX sedan when the next model comes out, I think it will happen for several reasons.  First, Subaru's car is based on a design, that while a little different that the original, is still a little outdated.  The original WRX in street trim weighed about 2,800-2,900 in most applications whereas the new one is about 3,150-3,300 lbs.  Most, if not all of it through the years has gone to safety and structual rigidity, but the same basic design is starting to lose out in the way of performance for practicality.  There's a reason a lot of tuners will take the GC/GF/GM-series (last gen) over the GD/GG models.  The rally cars, while hundreds of pounds lighter, are still based on heavier designs than these little 206s and the like.

With the new design, they need to lighten the car again and make it more advance so they can make a better rally car with a more rigid frame (aka little hatchy wagon thing).  When was the last time that you saw a Subaru in rally garb in an ad?  Answer:  a long time ago.  It isn't as competitve, and being that Subie is a smaller company (albeit now 9% Toyota owned), they keep designs around a little longer than most.

So other than making a smaller hatch thing to compete with the other hatch things, the other reason I think it will happen is that Subie is competing in Europe where people don't care that you race a hatchback.  In America, unless it's a sub-$20,000 Focus SVT, it will sell in small numbers if it is a sporty hatch.  Period.  And even then, it still won't sell in logistically justifiable numbers.

I think it's a good move, but no one has seen an Impreza sedan mule running around yet, so there may not be one coming.

[S204STi]

hell yeah -- with a bit of luck, subaru might push up to third!

   

They were third last year.  It was the drivers who failed to reach the podium.

[r0tor]

speedvision anyone?

oh yea, it was actually SpeedVision when it was a good channel... oops

[heelntoe]

i used to get speedvision here due to some bizzare mix-up.

[S204STi]

i used to get speedvision here due to some bizzare mix-up.

Betcha didn't complain?

[Raza]

Is Seat or Skoda running?

[FoMoJo]

Is Seat or Skoda running?

They're a couple of Skoda teams...but they're private entries.

[Raza]

They're a couple of Skoda teams...but they're private entries.

Oh.  I might as well pull for one of the French teams, since I really like French cars.

[heelntoe]

Betcha didn't complain?

it was fun while i had it.

Is Seat or Skoda running?

a couple of skoda fabia hatches run by privateers

[Tave]

I had my own little Rally Championship when I was back home over break. It consisted of nothing more than me driving around everynight when I got bored looking for fresh parkinglots.

[VTEC_Inside]

I completely lost track of this series after Speed Channel was converted to Nascar TV and coverage became horrible

Fixed...

And that was about the only reason I entered this thread. To mourn the loss of Speedvision. Seems like yesterday I'd turn off Gran Turismo 3 late at night just in time to catch the late night WRC repeat... sigh....

[Raza]

Well, didn't NASCAR buy Speedvision?  I used to love that channel.