S2000
November 15th, 2011 by NZ Classic Car
Kiwi rally ace Hayden Paddon is taking a lot of positives from his debut in the Super 2000 class at the final round of the World Rally Championship – where he finished 13th overall and second in class.
Paddon’s use of a brand-new Subaru WRX STI R4 rally car in Wales Rally GB highlighted the potential of the new car and although the Kiwi was frustrated at times not to get it working as well as he wanted, many positives were gained.
“Certainly we got the set-up of the car a lot better on the final day than we had earlier in the event, and I was much happier with the handling and able to press on more. We took a lot of information away from the event – for me, for Symtech and for Subaru, so everyone learnt a great deal and the car has a lot of potential. We tried to have a good battle with Kevin Abbring in a Super 2000-spec Skoda Fabia, but lost time this morning on the second stage when we went wide into a ditch and stalled the car.” Read the rest of this entry »
October 1st, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
It’s official, Mini is back on the world rallying scene and this is the machine to take it there. Visitors to the Paris Motor Show have just witnessed the unveiling of Mini’s brand new rally weapon and it looks ‘the business’.
Working in with Prodrive, Mini is poised to re-enter the World Rally Championship after many decades painfully watching from the sidelines. Now, with its Countryman WRC, Mini is once again ready to compete in the 2011 season with the car driven by Kris Meeke.
The 2011 World Rally Championship will be a preparatory year for Mini and will see the new machine contesting in six of 13 scheduled rounds, with Mini then competing in the full 2012 season. In addition, Prodrive plans to make available customer 
versions to independent teams for use in the championship.
Wedged under the bonnet is a BMW Motorsport-tuned 1.6-litre turbocharged four-cylinder engine that uses direct injection and meets all FIA S2000 regulations (meaning it may have more applications outside the WRC). The powerhouse four-pot is mated to an Xtrac 6-speed sequential transmission. According to Mini the car has been extensively tested on Prodrive’s own rally track and represented itself well and is now ready to rock.
BMW’s Ian Robertson had this to say on the Mini WRC launch, “The Paris Motor Show is the perfect stage on which to launch our MINI WRC. The response to our announcement that MINI will return to the world of rallying next year was very positive. The FIA World Rally Championship is the pinnacle of rallying, making it the ideal platform for demonstrating the competitive spirit of our brand. The development of the car is running on schedule, and the preparations for the world championship are in full swing. The MINI Countryman production model provided the ideal basis for our new world championship challenger.”
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July 1st, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
One of the world’s best-known rally drivers, Alister McRae, has arrived in NZ to have a crack at this weekend’s International Rally of Whangarei.
The experienced World Rally Championship competitor is making his debut in the Whangarei event, although McRae says he’s driven some of the stages during Rally New Zealand, an event he’s competed in six times.
McRae heads to the two-day event, which uses roads around the Whangarei and Kaipara districts, as one of two high profile drivers in the Proton R3 Rally team. Australian Chris Atkinson is his team-mate and McRae enlists the assistance of another experienced Australian Bill Hayes as his co-driver.
“The New Zealand stages are some of the best in the world and I hope the flowing nature will be good for the Proton Satria Neo S2000,” says the 39-year-old Scotsman who now lives in Perth, Australia with his family.
As entrants in the 2010 FIA Asia Pacific Rally Championship, McRae and Atkinson have already contested rallies in Malaysia and Japan, with Whangarei the third on this year’s APRC calendar.
Their cars, the Proton Satria Neo, are built to Super 2000 regulations and run in the APRC by UK rally specialists Mellors Elliot Motorsport (MEM).
The 2-litre Proton Super 2000 engine produces 278 bhp (222 kW) at 7600 rpm, being derived from the 1.8 litre engine fitted to Proton’s Waja model and further developed by MEM’s engineers.
With a usable power band from 5,500 to 8,500 rpm, the Proton’s engine is matched to a 6-speed sequential 4WD Super 2000 transmission.
“We’ve had a bit of bad luck so far this season, so we hope that changes in New Zealand. The car is showing very good pace, so a clean and good points for the championship are very important,” says McRae.
McRae reckons competition in Whangarei will be tough. He’s been seeded fourth, behind current APRC series leader Japanese driver Katsu Taguchi, Atkinson and New Zealand’s own Hayden Paddon.
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January 29th, 2010 by NZ Classic Car
Kiwi rally fans get to see a whole new class of WRC action when the new Super 2000 WRC category lines up for Rally New Zealand in May this year.
The Super 2000, or S2000, class of rally car currently comprises production-based cars with non-turbocharged two-litre engines. Ford and Skoda are the two manufacturers with the most S2000 vehicles confirmed for the 2010 season to date.
There are two competitions for S2000 entrants, explains Paul Mallard, general manager of Rally New Zealand.
“The Super 2000 World Rally Championship (S-WRC) is a competition for drivers and the WRC Cup is a competition for teams running S2000 cars,” says Mallard.
“Currently six teams have confirmed entries for the WRC Cup, with four of the teams selecting Rally New Zealand as one of their seven events in 2010.”
The International teams confirmed for Rally New Zealand are:
- The Czech Ford National Team brings Martin Prokop, the reigning FIA Junior World Rally Champion, to New Zealand in another Ford Fiesta S2000. Prokop’s move to the S-WRC is regarded by European rally commentators as one of the biggest names to make the switch to the new category. Prokop contested Rally New Zealand in 2008, taking a tight-fought P-WRC class win.
- Swedish driver Patrik Sandell and the Red Bull Rally Team are bringing a new Skoda Fabia S2000 to Rally New Zealand. Sandell drove this model of car to victory on the opening two P-WRC rounds in 2009 (when the S2000 cars were allowed to run in the same class as P-WRC cars). Like 2009, Sandell’s car will be run by Austrian motorsport company BRR under the Red Bull banner. Driving a Group N Mitsubishi, Sandell came second in the P-WRC category in Rally New Zealand in 2008.
- Barwa World Rally Team, which will run a Ford Fiesta S2000 for Qatar driver Nassar Al Attiyah, the 2006 Production World Rally Champion and six-time Middle East Rally Champion. Al Attiyah was one of the stars of the 2009 P-WRC season, driving his Subaru Impreza to class wins in Argentina and Italy. He will be accompanied to New Zealand in 2010 by his regular co-driver Italian Giovanni Bernacchini.
- The JanPro team from Finland has entered another Ford Fiesta S2000 for former official Skoda driver Janne Tuohino. Having contested 40 WRC events in several different WRC cars over seven seasons, the double Finnish rally champion will be back in 2010 with his privately-run team and co-driver Markku Tuohino.
- The S-WRC for drivers currently has eight drivers entered — those listed above and the following drivers who are not planning to come to New Zealand:
- Last year’s J-WRC runner-up Michal Kosciuszko with the Dynamic World Rally Team in a Ford Fiesta S2000;
- Former P-WRC driver Eyvind Brynildsen and Skoda Rene Georges Rally Sport will campaign a Skoda Fabia S2000;
- Portugal’s Bernardo Sousa is driving a Ford Fiesta S2000 prepared by M-Sport;
- And former WRC manufacturer team driver Xevi Pons is also contesting the S2000 Ford.
Marc de Jong, responsible for the commercial development of WRC support championships through the championship promoter North One Sport, says the take up for this year’s inaugural S-WRC competition was ‘fantastic’.
“The S-WRC has a very strong appeal because it is the championship of the future,” says de Jong. “These are the cars that are going to dominate the WRC of 2011, because S-WRC cars form the basis of the next generation of World Rally Cars.”
De Jong believes the number of entries could increase to 12 by the final cut-off date of 9 April.
“I’m aware of about four others who are close to signing up and confirming. If all goes to plan, I expect we will have between 10 and 12 entries. In the first year of a championship like this that is a fantastic number.”
Skoda and Ford are the only two manufacturers represented in the entries so far, but de Jong is expecting entries from other marques to follow. “I know that Peugeot, Abarth, Proton and MG drivers are among those looking to get into the championship.”
WRC regulations state that no new Super 2000 cars may be homologated after the end of 2010 with a normally aspirated two-litre engine. In future, they must be fitted with 1.6 litre turbocharged engine.
