Latest World Motor Sport Council announcements

[SJ Spode]

In their 1st October meeting the World Motor Sport Council approved the following, re rallying:

From 1st January, 2003.

Unless a waiver is granted by the FIA, a road surface of a single type (asphalt or gravel) must be used for the special stages of a rally.

The following restrictions on testing will apply:
- Testing in the country of a rally by a priority 1 crew is not permitted after the start of reconnaissance until the end of the rally.
- No testing is permitted in the country of a rally for any rallies run outside Europe.

Fuel Tanks
For reasons of safety the World Motor Sport Council decided that the maximum capacity of fuel tanks in Rally cars will be limited to 95 litres in Group A and Group N as from 1st January, 2003.

From 1st January, 2004.

A maximum of four World Rally Championship events organised in Europe may be run on asphalt.



The news on the mixed surface events is disappointing, and the testing / fuel regs make sense.

Currently there's 5 tarmac events on the calendar, inc the Monte. So unless Spain goes to gravel, something's got to give.

[Lee Janotta]

Well, they're at least leaving the waiver option open. That should have been amended amended to say "A maximum of four World Rally Championship events organised in Europe may be run on asphalt alone."

[429CJ]

What are they saying conditions in Monte Carlo and Sweden?
In Monte it's tarmac, ice & snow and in Sweden snow, ice and gravel on patches.

[Lee Janotta]

Yeah, and in Germany it's tarmac, dirt, gravel, mud, grass... Grape vines, shrubs, trees, boulders...

Rally Deutschland ist über alles.

Apparently, though, if any of it's run on tarmac, it's considered a tarmac rally.

[Liz]

How much of it has to be tarmac in order for it to be a "tarmac rally"?

What are the current fuel regs and what will this change mean?

How about a rule that says "The co-drivers' names must be easier to spell." YOU try writing a rally report at midnight and get all those Finnish names right!

[Zep]

Liz: Hey, that's same for Finns with your names... What is so difficult with our names?? Yep, our names might have "skandies", ÄÖ, but if you can't type them, just replace Ä with A, ... NOT ae! -I just wonder why "the western world" can't use skandies... Maybe it's the same thing as with metric system?

There ain't much humor left if driver changes his name from Jyrki Järvilehto to alias JJ Lehto and even after that name isn't typed correctly.

[Liz]

Oh, is that his name? I'm afraid he'd be called "Jerky" by the ignorant North American press, which would not be flattering.

I don't mean any direspect by saying Finnish names are hard to spell but I think y'all are profligate with your letters. Mannisanmaki has too many letters and so does Ratselleinen, and I know they are both misspelled. But it's the same everywhere. My dad tells a story about going to school in Wisconsin back in the 1920s and having a teacher calling the roll and looking in vain for a Ukranian kid named Martin Blewskie. Turns out his name was Martin Blue Sky and he was a Lakota Indian.

[SJ Spode]

Originally posted by Liz
What are the current fuel regs and what will this change mean?

According to the Subaru site the current Impreza has an 80L tank. So how much safer it will be with 95L

[429CJ]

Polish names are hard. I just recently learnt, how to write correctly the name of Polish NHL winger MARIUSZ CZERKAWSKI.

[JAG]

I read Monte is not classed as a tarmac event due to the conditions.

[Liz]

Due to which conditions?

I know what you mean about those hockey players -- some of the American announces just call them by their numbers because by the time they figure out who has passed to whom, the play is whistled dead or the puck is in the net.

[JAG]

Snow, Ice etc. Its not a true tarmac event, more a specialised event such as Sweden.