1st day of 2004 WRC year begins

[Evil Ewok]

Wrc is back at it today, and from what I can already see it's going to be a good year. Mitsubishi is going to dominate in my personal opinion this year, they are already beginning to show their talents this year, and it's just going to get better. Everyone comment on how they view this year is going to be.

[Pliz]

well may the best team win

[DasModell]

so .. are you sure Citroen will win ... . well i am

[SPN:DOC]

Go Peugeot!!!

[henk4]

Citroen has just won, but Ford is in the lead for the constructors. Loeb took it quitely today, but still has more than one minuut advantage in the end.

[DasModell]

well . i was expecting a win .. off course .. .. he won it for the last 3 years now hope he won't blow it again in France

[Evil Ewok]

Last 2 years I think, he also won in germany but they disqualified him for something.

This is the man buddy! Mitsubishi is back and great!!! 6th place is a good start for this year, after being in 14th and working himself all the way to 6th!! YES

[DasModell]

it was Monte to .. he "won" the race but for a mistake from Citroen he was penalised 1 minute so he finished second to tommi makkinen

[NAZCA C2]

I was watching the Monte Carlo rally on Speed TV and they were talking about the new Peugeot 307's engine, they said the new engine produces more torque so they use a 4 spd gearbox instead of a 6 spd. How the hell do they get that much torque out that little motor? They must have way more than 400lb-ft of torque. Amazing! World Rally Rules!

[Evil Ewok]

Of course it does!!! And yea they were thinking about it in the perspective of the fact that every shift loses a time, so they shortened the gear box to 4 gears and increased the power output so that they wouldn't have to worry about stalling or chugging out. Smart decision I think, but I still love gilles panizzi and mitsubishi .

[Matra et Alpine]

Of course it does!!! And yea they were thinking about it in the perspective of the fact that every shift loses a time, so they shortened the gear box to 4 gears and increased the power output so that they wouldn't have to worry about stalling or chugging out. Smart decision I think, but I still love gilles panizzi and mitsubishi .

Well they didn't increase power as WRC limits them to 300bhp.
SO, being smart engineers, they decided to concentrate on the new engine to develop LOTS more torque and then run fewer gears.
There's talk that FIA will add a torque limit to the WRC formula to prevent it getting out of control again - remember Group B ??
Watching the Monte, I think they may NOT use the 4 speed again as there were a few sections where the engine was hitting the rev limiter for 10 seconds on the straighter sections. That was losing them top sepeed and lots of time.

[Evil Ewok]

It's not that the officials increased it, im saying that they increased the power put compared to the 206. That is the reason that they could run the higher torque and fewer gears.

[DasModell]

how on hell are they gonna restrict torque ??? .. i mean .. the restrictors they have now limits the power to around 300 BHP(i don;t think the FIA puts the engines on the dyno ) but the torque .. i have no ideea how they gonna restrict that

[Matra et Alpine]

It's not that the officials increased it, im saying that they increased the power put compared to the 206. That is the reason that they could run the higher torque and fewer gears.

NO, the WRC rules prevent them increasing POWER.
Power is limited to 300bhp.
What I was pointing out was that Peugeot have got around the spirit of the rule and have made a torquier engine which measures same bhp on dyno.
The talk is that the FIA are considering adding a torque limit to the engines to prevent this becoming a race which will make cars faster and as dangerous as the Group B days.

[Matra et Alpine]

how on hell are they gonna restrict torque ??? .. i mean .. the restrictors they have now limits the power to around 300 BHP(i don;t think the FIA puts the engines on the dyno ) but the torque .. i have no ideea how they gonna restrict that

The FIA does not add something to the car or engine which RESTRICTS power.
The engines ARE run on dynos and the power checked and documents provided to the FIA.
The FIA can at any time require a power check during scrutineering.
So in the same way they restrict power they could restrict torque.
By making it a part of the class rules !
If your car doesn't conform to the rules you will fail scrutineering.
If you are found to have broken the rule, you will lose points, possible fines and disqualificaton