WRC Spec Car, Subaru out?

what do you think?

I don't like it, and as a method to control costs seems late. I don't fully understand the rules yet though..

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/13/wrc-switching-to-s2000-spec-car-for-2010-season/

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72197

also autoblog is reporting a rumor that subaru is going to pull out? Say it ain't so.

http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/15/rumormill-subaru-pulling-out-of-wrc-tomorrow/

Is it time for NASA Rally sport world wide? FIA has lost its way, I think.

Its official Subaru is out. And the S2000 is just a stupid idea. Top level racing shouldnt be a spec series, it offers no benefit to manufacturers to be involved and doesnt promote the teams to push the limits of the rules and develop new technology.
Although it sounds like htey want to put the Group N cars into the P-WRC, which doesnt make sense. Unless they're planning on changing the rules for production to allow all the wrc level modifications (defeating the point of the P-WRC) or they just want the group n cars detuned back to production specs. either way doesnt really make sense.

And my love for WRC just went to -1. Screw the FIA, I'll stick with Rally America and NASA from now on.

if only Rally America had a decent television presence.

Don't care, I get to watch the Oregon Trail one in person! Seen it the last 2 years, and am definitely seeing it again this year!

slymantis wrote: doesnt promote the teams to push the limits of the rules

You don't pay much attention to racing, do you? The most maximizing and rules pushing/cheating is done in spec series... and any thought otherwise is just ignorance.

The cheating part is there specifically for more grassroots series, but it happens in bigtime racing too. Michael Waltrip Racing, anyone?

there is an article out there somewhere in which Loeb rails against the spec car.

Yes i do pay attention to racing, specifically WRC as it is the best form of motorsports in my opinion (although it sounds like that may be changing). My reference to pushing the rules was in terms of developing and designing new technology that push the intent of the rules. and having the manufacturers have the freedom to approach the designs differently and still be able to fight so close. Having that gives the manufactures new tech which they eventually cascade down to our road cars. Look at how much wrc cars have evolved in just the last decade. And do you think without rally we would have the EVO or the STI, ro the Focus RS (if they would ever bring it here from europe). I doubt it.
Yes I know spec series have the most "pushing" of the rules, but thats with reguard to all the minute little details that all top teams will eventually learn and do. And given the level and expertise of hte teams they will all pretty much reach the same conclusions by the end of teh first season, because they're all stuck with the exact same package, which means that to get ahead in terms of technology you eventually end up cheating, or each team is stuck with the exact same thing which really takes away what you have to look forward to season to season in my opinion. Where as having WRC the way it is now lets teams approach things differently. Is the Ford focus the same as the Citroen C4 or the Subaru Impreza or the Suzuki SX4? Not even close. There were alot of things you had to consider in the races. During early development of hte C4 the Focus tended to be faster on loose surfaces, but the C4 was faster on sealed surfaces (although its a good argument that was more down to Loeb than anything). In rallies with higher altitues the boxer engine of the imperza suffered slightly less from power losses than the other cars. And before the FIA instituited the stuipd spec pirelli tires for the 2008 series the pirellis were faster on wet surfaces while the bfgoodrich tires were faster on dry surfaces. And before they banned tired cutting in 2008 you always had to watch who cut their tires or not and how much they cut them. All these affected the times a huge way and it made trying to predict winners of stages a fun and interesting and difficult which was half of hte fun. With spec rally cars, now it'll just be boring. Will i be sitting there thinking, oh that car must have extrude honed its manifold 0.001" over allowable limits? Did they swap to a different oil? Probably not.

Oh and yes there is an artilce where loeb says he wouldnt race teh S2000 although he does say that if they allow the wrc kit (added turbo, new intake exhaust manifolds, and some aero) that he would likely be willing to drive those. and from the sounds of things they are going to allow the wrc kit.

If they really needed to reduce costs, why not just change the top level of competition to production based cars with limited mods and no complex technology. Without all the expensive electronic aids the cars would be more sideways, which would be good for the fans, and less expensive, which would be good for the teams. Making the cars more similar to what you buy at the showroom would be a marketing boost as well.

Basically, as long as the cars are fast, safe, and sideways, most people (including the drivers) don't care how expensive or technologically advanced the cars are. Thats what F1 is for. The late great Colin Mcrae suggested a similar formula a few years ago, for a lot of the same reasons as I've said. A spec car series just takes so much of the fun out of it for me..