F
ormula 1 recently
announced that it was
going to withhold its new
regulations, scheduled
for next year, until 2022, but
the timetable for technical
revolution in the World Rally
Championship won’t change.The new WRC rules weren’t
scheduled to come in until 2022
anyway, and with only three
manufacturers left at the sharp
end (or two, with M-Sport Ford
technically being a privateer),
there’s no option to delay.
Here’s the solution: the cars
will become cheaper and less
complex but still just as fast,
and their powertrains will have
a mandatory hybrid element.
The basis of the current
World Rally Car rules were
introduced for the start of
the 1997 season, allowing
manufacturers that didn’t
make a turbocharged four-
wheel-drive car to compete
with the big boys.
The 2022 regulations takethat concept a step forward.
Not only will manufacturers
b e a b l e to t a ke a
standard bodyshell
and turn it into a
top-class monster
(to be known as Rally 1),there will also be the
option of fitting a
bespoke body onto a
spaceframe chassis if
manufacturers want to
use a car that doesn’t
fit into the required
dimensions. Just think
short-wheelbase
Audi Quattro and
you will realise just how
exciting the potential is.
It’s possible, for example,
that some firms might want
to shrink the design of their
sporting SUVs and turn them
into rally cars. Lamborghini
Urus WRC? Why not? The
possibilities are limitless.
Even more necessary is
the adoption of hybrids from
2022 onwards. Why? The FIA
received the message very
clearly from all the current
manufacturers that some
form of electrification is a sine
qua non of their continued
participation. At first, this will
be a standard hybrid
element for all – a bit
like the initial era of
Formula E – before the
hybrids become more
complex and bespoke
for the next cycle of
WRC regulations, which
is set to begin in 2025.
The idea is for the
cars to use electric
power for the service
parks and road
sections. The drivers
will actually love this,
because driving a rally car
in road mode feels a bit like
piloting a tumble dryer down
a marble staircase – and is as
about as restful. What they
would love even more is the
electric power providing anadditional boost on the stages,
and that’s also in the plan.
Not everyone is happy,
mind you: Hyundai’s Thierry
Neuville recently dismissed
the cost-cutting new rules as
“shit”. But then he’s not the
one paying the bills, is he?
ANTHONY PEACOCK
New WRC rules still on track
Cars will be cheaper, simpler yet no slower from 2022. Hybrid, too
56 AUTOCAR.CO.UK 8 APRIL 2 020
DAN TICKTUM
The machine with which Peugeot returned to the World Rally
Championship for the first time since the 205 T16’s forced
retirement when Group B was banned in 1986, the 206 WRC
was quick from its first outing in 1999. Marcus Grönholm took
its first win in Sweden
the following year and
went on to claim a shock
title, ending the long
domination of WRC by
Subaru and Mitsubishi.
He took a second with
the 206 WRC in 2002.
This 20-year-old Londoner’s career
seemed in tatters in mid-2019, when he
was dumped from both his Japanese
Super Formula team and Red Bull’s
driver development programme. But
Ticktum has rebounded with the same
resilience he showed to rebuild his
career following a two-year ban for deliberately crashing into
an MSA Formula rival in 2015. He has secured a top drive with
DAMS in Formula 2 and has been snapped up by Williams as
an F1 development driver. Known for his feisty style, Ticktum
is determined to prove that Red Bull made a mistake.
GREAT RACING CARS #5
PEUGEOT 20 6 WRC (19 99 -20 03 )
M
O
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O
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S
P
O
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IM
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S
RISI
NG^STA
RESTABLISHED 1895
At the cutting Edge
6 July 1907
ONE GREAT PIONEER
of British motor racing
is one who is sadly not
widely known: Selwyn
Francis Edge. Edge was
a keen cyclist, a passion
that led to his friendship
with Montague Napier.
And when Napier began
building cars, Edge
became his sales agent.
Realising the publicity
value of racing, Edge won
a reliability trial for Napier
in 1900 and entered four
Gordon Bennett Cups,
winning the 1902 contest.
But his greatest victory
came in 1907, when he
christened Brooklandsby breaking the 24-
hour record, his Napier
averaging 65.91 mph.
Promptly after, Autocar
visited the rather guarded
Londoner for an interview.
We asked: “Didn’t you
find it frightfully slow?”
“Quite the opposite, I
assure you,” Edge replied.
“But didn’t you feel
fagged at any point?”
“No, never once, and I
was only a little stiff and
bruised when I finished. I
took no solid food but kept
going upon cocoa, beef
tea, bananas and grapes.”
“Did the concave super-
elevation of the banks
make the car self-steer?”“Oh no. The car required
holding to its course.”
“Mr Edge, racing at
120mph on this track hasbeen talked about. What
is your opinion as to this?”
“To race at that speed
is asking for accidents of a
most frightful character.
Events should be limited
to machines that cannot
exceed 80mph at best.”
“Did you have to press
your car to get through?”
“ N ot a t a l l. I ’m su r e I
could average 75mph with
the same car if needed.
There is no hardship about
such a drive. I regarded it
quite as a holiday.”
WRC SCENE
`
Lamborghini Urus WRC? Why not?
The possibilities are limitless
a
Change is coming, no
matter how grumpyit may make Neuville
New rules^ allow^ Sport^ Quattro-like^ creations