Rally Race Technology Magazine

Snow, gravel, tarmac today's rally car has to be capable of coping with a huge variety of terrain. Where racecars are engineered to exploit the billiard table smooth surfaces of today's racetracks, the rally car has to be far more versatile. It has to cope with some of the most demanding environments in motorsport and to endure not hours but days of gruelling competition. Rally Race Technology opens up this fascinating world of engineering for a global sport that makes demands like no other. Never has the rally car been more deeply analysed as we provide a unique insight into a world where the engineering is nothing if not radical. Contents are Intro THE EDITOR VW's departure from the WRC, coupled with new and more potent cars, heralds a new era for the series Grid IN THE NEWS BMW unveils its latest Mini for the Dakar Rally, growing popularity of rallycross prompts rule and technology changes, and more In Conversation SIMON CARRIER For its return to WRC, Toyota opted to build its contender in Finland, and as the project's lead designer tells Lawrence Butcher, time was short Dossier SKODA FABIA R5 Skoda had to start from scratch with its Fabia R5 project but has still produced a championship winning car. Lawrence Butcher reports In Detail SUSPENSION STRUT LOCATION The rules in R5 constrain the suspension layouts allowed, writes Lawrence Butcher, leading to variety and of course compromise Technical Review WRC Lawrence Butcher caught up with some of the key WRC technical personnel at Rally GB in September 2016 to get their take on rallying's new direction Digest HYUNDAI I20 R5 Lawrence Butcher finds out what it took to enter this customer rally car in the R5 class for the first time Special Investigation R5 TRANSMISSION A leading R5 transmission system builder takes Lawrence Butcher through its design and development process Digest SUBARU IMPREZA WRX STI Hal Ridge looks at how the team that develops this rallying icon exploits the regulatory freedom in Rally America's Open class PS GROUP S We look back on this abortive replacement for the old Group B, and some of the technological wonders it could have spawned