Posts Tagged ‘suzuki’

The truth about the Suzuki rumours – no comeback in sight

Sunday, April 26th, 2009

One week ago I wrote about the potential Suzuki comeback rumoured in an Estonian newspaper and quoting former Suzuki driver Urmo Aava. The information sounded trustworthy and it was well in line with what I had previously heard, but now I know better. The rumours are mostly bullshit, the quotes are quite far from correct and a Suzuki comeback seems to be quite far away. My source is close to Urmo Aava and has a very big hand in his WRC bid, so this time information should be right, I’m afraid…

Last weeks rumour comes from the Estonian newspaper Postimees, and is written by a guy called Peep Pahv. Pahv called Urmo asking questions about the matter, and Urmo told he had no comments. Pahv chose to interpret that as if he was right in whatever information/ideas he had about a Suzuki comeback – and wrote the article. So, basically Urmo said nothing but Pahv still rendered a big article on the Suzuki comeback.

Quite opposite to the comeback rumours – Nobuhiro “Monster” Tajima has brought Suzuki to court after a conflict starting with Tajima’s retirement from the Suzuki WRT top position last year and the retirement of the team. My contact, who has very good insight into the WRC scene, believes that Suzuki is very tired of rallying after all problems related to the WRC assault, and that a comeback to rallying is really far away.

So, I guess the conclusion is that we shall forget about the Suzuki rumours and go back into the position we were two weeks ago, when a Suzuki comeback was still quite far away. Not very good news to the WRC, I’m afraid.

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Posted in Silly season, WRC | No Comments »

Suzuki back in the WRC in 2011?

Sunday, April 19th, 2009

Despite total silence from the Japanese Suzuki World Rally Team since their retirement in December 2008, Estonian driver Urmo Aava states in an interview that Suzuki may be back in the WRC already in 2011. These rumours conforms well with the statements made by Suzuki in the time before their retirement, where they said that they could take a sabbatical to develop a Super2000 from their WRC spec car. Aava himself has quite good connections into the Suzuki team after being one of their junior drivers for a long time, and according to RallyBuzz he also did a test with the team recently in Sardinia. Aava states:

- I have a good relationship with the Suzuki team from driving for them in the JWRC. I am hoping to get to test their S2000 car sometime in the next year and maybe I can do some rallies with them at the end of 2010 season.

They (Suzuki WRT) are currently bulding an S2000 car but I can’t say anymore. For the 2011 season they will probably do a full WRC programme.

Of course I have to bring my own “money”  to this project but if we compare this cost to the current amount of money required (for a Stobart or Citroen deal) then it’s much cheaper.

So, what do I think? Well, it very much makes sense. Suzuki have been talking for a long time about a Super2000 car, but most important it makes sense considering costs. The financial crisis over the world is expected to go up in a few years time, which would make both car makes and sponsors more interested in sport again – and a S2000 is way cheaper to build and run than a WRC car. That makes it cheaper for Suzuki, but most important it makes it more likely to be a real consumer market for the car – such as Urmo Aava.
Given all this, my guess is that the rumour is true. The car is probably under development, and I guess an announcement will be made this autumn or perhaps during the first half of next year. Maybe Suzuki will run a true works team, but more sure is that they will sell the cars to privateers.

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Posted in Silly season, WRC | No Comments »

Are FIA changing their mind about the 2010 techical regulations?

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

In connection to the FIA and Max Mosley arranged meeting between FIA, ISC, manufacturers and organisers in Paris this week regarding the marketing and promotion of the WRC – discussions regarding the techical regulations for 2010 are also scheduled later this week. The 12th of December last year, the World Motorsport Council decided that Super2000+ will be the World Rally Car of the future – starting from 2010 (read more on FIA.com). However, they postponed the decision regarding the exact look of the plus-package, because they wanted to modify it to ensure cost reductions. According to Autosport.com, FIAs strong intention is to ensure a real cost-cut from today’s expensive bills for competing the WRC, and they want it as a kit possible to add or remove to a Super2000 car in almost no time.

Now, it has taken some time since the decision in December, and I know that FIA have recieved critism – which makes sense – for taking too much time before a final decision is made. Manufacturers have to decide regarding their involvement in the WRC and then develop the car and package needed to compete. You can’t expect it to take just a few monts – since we of course want highly dedicated manufacturers that all keep a high level close to each other.

So now, it seems like FIA may change their previous decision – and there are a few possible ways to go. One is to allow for the old-fashioned WRC cars in the championship even in 2010. But then, they wouldn’t back on Super2000+ – instead they seem to want to make it a combo. This was also indicated when WRC.com made their roundup of rule changes going into the 2009 season, as they wrote the following:

“The World Rally Car era is coming to an end. This season will be the last that this type of vehicle will compete alone at the top level of the sport. 2010 will be a transitional season when a new specification of World Rally Car, based on a Super 2000 vehicle, will compete alongside the existing machinery. From 2011, however, the Super 2000 based model will take over completely.”

Another option is to go for the common Super2000 from next year, without the additional expenses of the Super2000+ package. In a recent interview in Autosport Max Mosley admits that the Subaru and Suzuki redrawals from the WRC may have caused people to change their opinions on wether the plus package should be introduced or not – despite the fact that the WMSC explicitly decided not to go on with the plain Super2000 spec in December. He opens for the possibility to go for a pure Super2000 specification without an additional package.

My opinion is that keeping the WRC cars in 2010 would be tough. They have a better performance than Super2000+ cars – and who would like to run a car doomed to lose? Also, it could cause even the Super2000+ cars to be overdeveloped and expensive, in the crazy chase for milliseconds that costs so much money in today’s WRC. I don’t know how it could be done smoothly – but I’ve also heard indications that Citroen, one of the championship’s most loyal manufacturers – expect to run the 2010 WRC with their C4WRC, so FIA may be in a difficult situation.

To me it makes most sense to skip the plus package on the Super2000 cars and make it a pure and really cheap formula that would probably attract quite a few manufacturers already from the beginning. Citroen would hopefully accept that – even since they don’t expect to take their Super2000(+) car into competition until 2011. Regarding the fans, I’m convinced that people’s interest and heart in the sport doesn’t come from – or depend on – a few horsepowers or km’s more or less – or the turbo. It depends on sideways action, nice sound and the fights between the best drivers on demanding surfaces – and that’s not a problem with Super2000. What we really need that we will also get (at least closer to) with Super2000 is a lot of manufacturers all on a good level that keeps the competition on top – and the end of the era where Citroen and Loeb can win everything almost without resistance.

Note: The next World Motorsport Council meeting, deciding about the 2010 technical regulations, will be held in March.

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Posted in WRC | 2 Comments »

Interview: PG looking forward to Rally Norway

Monday, February 9th, 2009

Despite a tight economy, PG Andersson will drive Rally Norway in the same Skoda Fabia WRC as he has used during two rallies in the Norweigan Championship recently.  The Fabia is owned by Norweigan driver Bernhard Kongsrud and has now passed a major overhaul since last time it was used. During Sunday and Monday, PG tested the car in Finnskogen, Norway:

- It worked out quite well. I want to change some small things, but overall it works fine. On Wednesday we will get new differentials delivered, so we will try to fit them on the car before shakedown to test them there. Besides that, it’s the same car as I used in the Norweigan Championship – the only difference is that it’s now completely gone-through and checked.

In 2008, PG was works driver for the Suzuki World Rally Team. However, after just one year of competition – Suzuki decided to close their WRC activity and blamed the financial crisis. Just looking at the chassi, the Skoda Fabia WRC is quite similar to the Suzuki, but we all know that means almost nothing. So, how similar are the two cars? PG answers:

- In size, they’re quite similar and they also have the same type of suspension, so it’s not a major difference – but all cars have their own character. The Skoda has a little bit more torque than the Suzuki, but it lacks a bit of top capacity. Besides that, the Suzuki was more aggressive and therefore harder to drive than the Skoda.

Surprisingly, PG’s regular co-driver Jonas Andersson can’t accompany him in Norway. He is a building worker and got a new employer in December that doesn’t seem to like rallying – despite the building company being Norweigan, Jonas can’t get off-duty. That means that Anders Fredriksson will join PG in the rally. He is not completely new to PG and the Skoda, since he has done quite some rallies with PG before – and also was the first one in the right seat when PG tested the WRC Skoda for the first time.

Yesterday I talked to Patrik Sandell, who said that the new wider Pirelli Sottozero tyres worked good in the tracks but made it really slippery in the snow. PG seems to agree to that, but he doesn’t share Patrik’s theory that the tyres would favour Scandinavians:

- The tyres work really well in the tracks, but as soon as you get out of the track it get’s slippery. Of course it has always been slippery out there, but now it’s even worse than before. Now it has been snowing quite a lot, but I can’t see that it would favour us Scandinavians. I think Loeb and the others can keep into the track too…

Talking about Sandell, some people have speculated on the Fabia Super2000 car being able to beat the Fabia WRC, probably much because of the good initial result of the Proton S2000 in Ireland. However, this seemed to depend much on the tyres in the difficult Ireland conditions – and PG doesn’t give much about the thought about the Fabia S2000 beating the WRC, if nothing happens of course:

- I’m nooot worried, says PG with a laugh.

As I mentioned previously, PG’s start has been surrounded by economical problems. However, those seems to be solved now, but the rest of the season looks dark:

- We’re obviously here and we’re gonna drive – but there wont be any money left after that, is PG’s short answer being questioned by me about the economical situation.

So, what can we expect in Rally Norway? During todays tests, PG drove on the same roads as Petter Solberg on Finnskogen. They did some comparisons and after winning two Norweigan Championship rallies PG seems to look resonably bright on his chances, despite not having a top car:

- Petter did his last run today 4 seconds faster than me with new tyres on a 9 km road, and I set my time using tyres that I had driven on for 100-110 km’s, so it seemed quite okay. The opposition now is of course totally different from the Norweigan Championship rounds I’ve driven, so if I can finish on fifth or sixth position I have to be really satisfied. You can’t really drive away from the Fords and Citroens, so you have to have some luck too. If I can battle somewhere around Mads Östberg I’ll have to be happy…

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Posted in Rally testing, WRC | No Comments »