MINI Countryman WRC

[Matra et Alpine]

It's why the engine size was dropped.
The 2 litre engines were being managed to maximise TORQUE and they were getting massive figures.
So by dropping to 1.6 then they get the torque down to more reasonable levels.
But, no, not seen any figures for factory cars yet .. and unlikely we'll see the truth till mid way through season and expect lots of mis-truths to be spread to put off the competition

[RacingManiac]

A huge portion of it will also be how the torque curve is shaped though. They might well have similar amount of peak torque but the 1.6 have less through out the range, and in many instance of WRC that they may well be in the very bottom of the rev range in those really slow corners. I don't know how the turbo rule is in WRC though, are they allow to use something like VGT?

[Matra et Alpine]

Not sure on the new rules, RM.
But it's as you say, they were sacrificing power to get torque where they needed and wanted it. Shaping the torque curve. Had heard it was pretty much flat from 1500 revs to 7000 !! Never got that confirmed tho'

[Badsight]

Originally Posted by group c n b man

It's a shame the rules eventually dictated that 1.6 turbos would be used instead of 2.0N/As

money

the works teams would be minutes ahead of privateers with their hundred-thousand dollar R&D engines

easy to reach the HP limit with turbocharging tho , & makes it possible for private teams to keep up with the works cars

the torque wont drop by half just because they are going from 2.0 to 1.6

thats a 500cc cylinder versus a 400

F1 are NA 300cc per cylinder alloy engines making over 300 Hp per liter , so its not the aspiration but reliability & cost behind the rule change

while i find a clay brick to be more pleasing asthetically than the new Mini , being as small as it is should make for an excellent rally wagon

i was Very surprised as to why the 306 peugeot was so poor compared to the much shorter 206 , the wider & longer 306 had much better dimensions for high speed sliding

[fpv_gtho]

How much of the calender is made up of high speed touring though? Even Subaru went from the sedan Impreza to the hatch for their new model to get a smaller car.