November 2017
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 - For 2017 at least, the FIA got the WRC rules balance right, which gave the entrants scope to pursue their own design solutions
- Grid: IN THE NEWS - Interest grows in fielding R5 machinery, roundup of new or revised cars in the 2017 WRC, and more…
- In Conversation: MALCOLM WILSON - M-Sport’s founder and owner tells Lawrence Butcher how an independent team can take on the might of the global OEMs – and win
- Dossier: VW POLO GTI SUPERCAR - Lawrence Butcher gets the low-down from VW Motorsport’s technical director Francois-Xavier Demaison on the development of this potent, short-track specialist
- WRC TECHNICAL REVIEW - The technical freedoms in the 2017 WRC allowed teams to take a range of approaches to the same problems, as Lawrence Butcher explains
- Digest: M-SPORT FIESTA R2 - Lawrence Butcher finds out where performance and value have been added in this cost-conscious package
- Insight: RALLY SUSPENSION - Lawrence Butcher reports on developments in rally suspension technology, particularly dampers, that have led to better road-holding ability
- Digest: PEUGEOT 3008 DAKAR - Lawrence Butcher examines why Peugeot decided to buck the trend and run this Dakar winner with only two-wheel drive
- Insight: RALLY CAR SIMULATION - Chassis engineering expert Damien Harty explains to Andrea Quintarelli why rallying has its own particular simulation issues
- Digest: JRD MODULAR AWD CHASSIS KIT - Lawrence Butcher reports on an intriguing concept for converting any roadcar for rallying in the US
- APPENDIX - We explain the make-up of the various classes in rallying and how a typical rally is run
- SUPPLIER DIRECTORY - Our listing of the companies providing products and services to the offroad racing community
- PS: HYBRIDS IN THE WRC - Despite their range limitations, hybrid and EV offroad racers are showing they can stand on a level footing with conventional rallycross machines