world rally champonship
MINI Cancels WRC Program
In a shocking turn of events for MINI, the spunky British automaker, has announced it will cancel its World Rally Championship program at the end of the 2012 season.
MINI Misses Deadline for 2012 WRC Season
MINI‘s hopes for capturing the 2012 World Championship Rally title took a big blow before the effort even started. Mini has missed the deadline for signing up for next years championship, which expired at midnight, last night. The Mini rally car, which is based on the Countryman model is prepared by Prodrive in Banbury, U.K….
Subaru May Separate WRX From Impreza Range To Focus On Performance
Subaru may decide to have a separate WRX line different from the Impreza family in a move to create a more dedicated performance range for the automaker. The new Impreza goes on sale this fall and is expected to be a significantly higher volume model than any of its predecessors. Subaru may chose to separate the…
Fiat Punto Abarth May Join World Rally Championship By 2014
After years of Citroen dominating the World Rally Championship, Fiat is getting ready to challenge the French automaker’s dominance with their own entry, based on the Punto Abarth. The Abarth has been racing in the International Rally Challenge and national rally championships with the Punto S200. The S2000 has done considerably well in a number…
Ken Block Released from Hospital After Spectacular WRC Crash [Video]
Known for pulling wild stunts behind the wheel of his Ford Fiesta rally car, Ken Block had zero intention of rolling the high-powered machine five times. But that’s just what happened during a shakedown of the car ahead of the Rally of Portugal event this weekend. Block, and co-pilot Alex Gelsomino were both admitted to…
Volkswagen Planning WRC Entry With Polo
One obvious sign of economies returning to full steam is increased involvement by automakers in the incredibly expensive field of motorsports. A valuable R&D experience regardless of the outcome, the marketing aspect depends solely on if you win. With a Charlie Sheen obsession for “winning”, Volkswagen aims to get involved directly with the prestigious World…
MINI Countryman WRC Caught Testing in Portugal [video]
Last week we reported that MINI’s new Countryman WRC had completed its initial shakedown, and now we’ve got a trio of videos to prove it. The Prodrive-developed WRC car has been testing out in Portugal with Markko Märtin behind the wheel. As we mentioned before, the aerodynamics seen on the MINI Countryman WRC currently won’t…
MINI Countryman WRC: A First Look at MINI’s Rally Car as Prodrive Completes Shakedown
MINI‘s new Countryman WRC car has just completed its initial “shakedown” by Prodrive, the incredibly successful motorsports company that is building the rally car. More importantly, however, we’ve been provided with the first glimpse at the rally version of the MINI crossover, with a massive rear spoiler, big off-road tires and a significantly lowered suspension….
Saab Mulling WRC Entry After Decades-Long Absence from Rally Series
Saab is reportedly considering a return to the World Rally Championship. News of this exciting development comes after executives at Saab’s new parent company (Dutch sports car maker Spyker) recently met with WRC bosses in private. Not having competed in the world’s premiere rally car series since 1979, the Swedish automaker is believed to be…
MINI to Compete in 2011 WRC Series With Prodrive-Built Countryman
MINI has officially announced that it will enter the World Rally Championship (WRC) next year, teaming up with Prodrive and running a Countryman crossover. The MINI Countryman WRC is being developed by the legendary Prodrive race team (which helped Subaru win six championships) to run part of the 2011 season as it prepares for a…
Toyota Linked to Prodrive for 2011 World Rally Championship Team
Toyota appears set to return to the World Rally Championship (WRC) next year after an absence from the sport of over a decade. Last week we reported on Toyota’s fact-finding missions at several WRC races, and now the Japanese automaker has been linked to Prodrive – a motorsports company that helped Subaru rise to fame…
How To Distract A Rally Driver, Braveheart Style
Rally driving requires serious concentration on both the part of the driver and co-driver. If the co-driver reads stage notes wrong, or a driver doesn’t react quickly, a crash and possible rollover is almost a given. Many seasoned rally drivers have trained themselves to ignore the spectators along the sides of the stage, but one…
Subaru Returns to WRC With Announcement of WRX STI Spec C Homolgation
Several months ago Subaru announced a more hard-core WRX STI Spec C model exclusively for Japan and now the reason for that car has become clear. With just 900 units being offered, that is just enough to qualify for Group N (production car) homologation set by the FIA for such series as the World Rally…
Report: Subaru Stunt Driver Ken Block Headed to WRC in a Ford
American stunt driver and Subaru USA Rally America driver Ken Block (left) is close to getting the call to the big leagues. AutoSport is reporting that Block is close to a deal with Ford that would seem him driving in the World Rally Championship (WRC), the world’s premiere rally car racing series. The deal will…
Subaru Building Legacy Race Car to Compete in Japan’s Super GT Series
Is this the face of a race car? Subaru certainly thinks so. The latest rumors indicate that the automaker intends to enter a version of its new 2010 Legacy model (launched at the New York Auto Show this year) into Japan’s top-level Super GT series. The car will no doubt receive numerous modifications, but engine…
800 Horsepower Ford Fiesta to Take On Pikes Peak
In an attempt to drum-up interest in the launch of the Fiesta in North America, Ford is putting on a serious publicity stunt by running two 800 horsepower versions of the economy car in the legendary Pikes Peak race. Ford is eager to appeal not just to econonomically-minded individuals with the Fiesta sub-compact, but also…
New WRC Rules Mean No More Turbos
Subaru recently announced it would not compete in the 2009 WRC Series due to economic concersn, however, new “no turbo” rules for 2011 would most likely have seen the Japanese automaker pull out anyway. The World Rally Championship’s governing body, the FIA World Motor Sport Council has just confirmed that as of 2011 competing vehicles…
