WRC overview
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WRC overview
Found this material on worldrally.net.
The WRC
If you're new to the FIA World Rally Championship (acronym: WRC), this article is a perfect place to start with. Since I don't believe that too many genuinely new people find their way first into my site, I try to include a bit of more advanced material into this too. So unless you're real expert you might find something interesting here. Also note that while this article covers some basics, more info can be found at glossary of rally terms and if you still have questions after reading these, don't hesitate to ask on via the general message board. There will surely be someone there that will be glad to answer your question.
What is it all about?
Rallying is a form of motorsports that is run over ordinary roads rather than in specialized circuits used in Formula One or off-road environment used in endurance events like Paris-Dakar.
In distinction to rallycross in rallying drivers compete against the clock, not directly against the other drivers.
And in distinction to rally-sprints, stages used in rallying are much longer (up to 40 to 50 km, average being 10 to 30 km) and special co-drivers are used to call pace notes.
Under current rules, each competitor starts into the stages with two minute intervals (applies to works drivers only, private drivers start with one minute intervals) so under normal circumstancies competitors see each others only at the start and finish of the stage.
Who runs the show?
There are four important parties involved. First one is FIA, the ruling body. It's the same body that makes also rules for Formula One, for example. Their role is only to make rules and govern, they do nothing else. Commercial rights to the WRC has been sold to International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC) which is owned by David Richards. They do all promotion, filming and distribution in relation to whole championship.
Thirdly there are manufacturers or teams, who design, build and run cars in the championship. They are required to enter two cars in every event (but can enter more if they wish) but may name different drivers in each event. There are rules for new teams who have option to contest 25% of events in their first year, 50% in second year and all in third and subsequent seasons. Fourth party are event organizers who are independent organisations around the world and it is their job to organise event under FIA rules. There are as many ways of accomplishing this as there are events, some are free for the spectators while some use tickets. Some attract up to 150 entries while some are restricted to 60 entries (a trend for smaller entries is FIA's current wish).
Cars?
There are many kinds of cars that can be used to compete in WRC but the most important one is what is abbreviated exactly like the World Rally Championship and that is World Rally Car (WRC). These are turbo-charged cars with four-wheel drive and state-of-the-art technology all around. Funnily enough, even if they are the most spoken of, World Rally Car is not in itself a class or group that is used under ruling terminology. Groups (A and N being the current ones, B was classic era in first half of 1980's) and Classes (1 to 8) are a different thing.
Group A are specially prepared rally cars where biggest changes are allowed whereas Group N is much closer to standard production cars. Classes are directly related to engine cubic volume and classes 1-4 are used in Group N and 5-8 in Group A. For example, Group A8 car is cream of the lot, having over 2000 cc engine. It's equivalent in Group N is N4. But wait, aren't most cars under 2000 cc even if they are A8? Yes, but cars equipped with turbocharger have their actual cubic volume multiplied by 1.7. All World Rally Cars are A8-machines.
The WRC
If you're new to the FIA World Rally Championship (acronym: WRC), this article is a perfect place to start with. Since I don't believe that too many genuinely new people find their way first into my site, I try to include a bit of more advanced material into this too. So unless you're real expert you might find something interesting here. Also note that while this article covers some basics, more info can be found at glossary of rally terms and if you still have questions after reading these, don't hesitate to ask on via the general message board. There will surely be someone there that will be glad to answer your question.
What is it all about?
Rallying is a form of motorsports that is run over ordinary roads rather than in specialized circuits used in Formula One or off-road environment used in endurance events like Paris-Dakar.
In distinction to rallycross in rallying drivers compete against the clock, not directly against the other drivers.
And in distinction to rally-sprints, stages used in rallying are much longer (up to 40 to 50 km, average being 10 to 30 km) and special co-drivers are used to call pace notes.
Under current rules, each competitor starts into the stages with two minute intervals (applies to works drivers only, private drivers start with one minute intervals) so under normal circumstancies competitors see each others only at the start and finish of the stage.
Who runs the show?
There are four important parties involved. First one is FIA, the ruling body. It's the same body that makes also rules for Formula One, for example. Their role is only to make rules and govern, they do nothing else. Commercial rights to the WRC has been sold to International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC) which is owned by David Richards. They do all promotion, filming and distribution in relation to whole championship.
Thirdly there are manufacturers or teams, who design, build and run cars in the championship. They are required to enter two cars in every event (but can enter more if they wish) but may name different drivers in each event. There are rules for new teams who have option to contest 25% of events in their first year, 50% in second year and all in third and subsequent seasons. Fourth party are event organizers who are independent organisations around the world and it is their job to organise event under FIA rules. There are as many ways of accomplishing this as there are events, some are free for the spectators while some use tickets. Some attract up to 150 entries while some are restricted to 60 entries (a trend for smaller entries is FIA's current wish).
Cars?
There are many kinds of cars that can be used to compete in WRC but the most important one is what is abbreviated exactly like the World Rally Championship and that is World Rally Car (WRC). These are turbo-charged cars with four-wheel drive and state-of-the-art technology all around. Funnily enough, even if they are the most spoken of, World Rally Car is not in itself a class or group that is used under ruling terminology. Groups (A and N being the current ones, B was classic era in first half of 1980's) and Classes (1 to 8) are a different thing.
Group A are specially prepared rally cars where biggest changes are allowed whereas Group N is much closer to standard production cars. Classes are directly related to engine cubic volume and classes 1-4 are used in Group N and 5-8 in Group A. For example, Group A8 car is cream of the lot, having over 2000 cc engine. It's equivalent in Group N is N4. But wait, aren't most cars under 2000 cc even if they are A8? Yes, but cars equipped with turbocharger have their actual cubic volume multiplied by 1.7. All World Rally Cars are A8-machines.
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Part 2
Drivers and co-drivers
There are two kinds of drivers: official works drivers and privateers. The only difference between them (besides the skill, of course) is that the other is employed by a team and may be nominated to score points in manufacturer championship. All drivers participating in a WRC event are able to score points in drivers championship. Term called seeding (FIA seeded 1, 2 and newest is 3) refers to this. Most important thing to know about it is that FIA priority seeded drivers can be re-seeded to start in front of privateers if they've fallen behind and they are eligible for two minutes starting interval.
Co-drivers are the lesser known fellows sitting beside the driver. Their main duty is to call out pace-notes to driver from their note-book (this is explained in depth later) but they do a lot of other things too. While driver mostly drives the car, speaks to reporters and makes decisions about set-up of the car and tyres, it is down to co-driver to speak to team via radio from stages, liaison with rally officials at time controls and handle just about any pressing matters that driver has no time to handle in order to free him to the vital task of driving.
Stages, road sections and service
Each event consists of three legs (usually each leg takes one day but in cases where event starts with so-called super special stage in thursday evening, the first leg spans two days) and each leg contains at least one stage, several road sections and service parks. Special stage (abreviated SS) is that part of the rally where drivers go for full action and it is timed to tenth of a second. There is time control (TC) at the each end of stage where start and finish times are marked by the rally officials to the time card. Time card is in custody of co-driver and is single most important document in the car.
Service parks are the only places where any other than driver and co-driver can perform servicing of any kind on the car. Most services are 20 minutes long but at the end of the day there is 45 min service. Entry and depart from service parks must be made exactly on right time like arrival and depart on each time control too. Failure to do so means ten seconds time penalty for each minute early or late. Servicing by anyone else other than crew outside the service-parks is strictly forbidden and for example as late as 1999 Tommi Mäkinen was excluded from Safari rally when he was "helped" by over-anxious spectators to change the flat tyre.
When cars are moving from service to stage or from one stage to next stage, they are on "road section". At such time they are subject to normal traffic regulations of the particular country even though top drivers are often escorted by the police to ensure their timely arrival through if there are traffic jams.
There are two kinds of drivers: official works drivers and privateers. The only difference between them (besides the skill, of course) is that the other is employed by a team and may be nominated to score points in manufacturer championship. All drivers participating in a WRC event are able to score points in drivers championship. Term called seeding (FIA seeded 1, 2 and newest is 3) refers to this. Most important thing to know about it is that FIA priority seeded drivers can be re-seeded to start in front of privateers if they've fallen behind and they are eligible for two minutes starting interval.
Co-drivers are the lesser known fellows sitting beside the driver. Their main duty is to call out pace-notes to driver from their note-book (this is explained in depth later) but they do a lot of other things too. While driver mostly drives the car, speaks to reporters and makes decisions about set-up of the car and tyres, it is down to co-driver to speak to team via radio from stages, liaison with rally officials at time controls and handle just about any pressing matters that driver has no time to handle in order to free him to the vital task of driving.
Stages, road sections and service
Each event consists of three legs (usually each leg takes one day but in cases where event starts with so-called super special stage in thursday evening, the first leg spans two days) and each leg contains at least one stage, several road sections and service parks. Special stage (abreviated SS) is that part of the rally where drivers go for full action and it is timed to tenth of a second. There is time control (TC) at the each end of stage where start and finish times are marked by the rally officials to the time card. Time card is in custody of co-driver and is single most important document in the car.
Service parks are the only places where any other than driver and co-driver can perform servicing of any kind on the car. Most services are 20 minutes long but at the end of the day there is 45 min service. Entry and depart from service parks must be made exactly on right time like arrival and depart on each time control too. Failure to do so means ten seconds time penalty for each minute early or late. Servicing by anyone else other than crew outside the service-parks is strictly forbidden and for example as late as 1999 Tommi Mäkinen was excluded from Safari rally when he was "helped" by over-anxious spectators to change the flat tyre.
When cars are moving from service to stage or from one stage to next stage, they are on "road section". At such time they are subject to normal traffic regulations of the particular country even though top drivers are often escorted by the police to ensure their timely arrival through if there are traffic jams.
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Part 3
Pace-notes
One of the interesting parts of the rallying are pace notes. These are set of codes used to describe the road ahead so that driver knows what's coming after each bend. Drivers have different kinds of pace note systems but all contain ways to describe corners (some use numbers, some use different kinds of codes) and distances. Besides these, there are different kinds of supplemental information like notes for tightening or opening corners, warnings for road-side obstacles or other hazards like ice or oil.
Notes are prepared by the driver and co-driver during recoinnaissance (or recce) before the rally. As most stages are used from year to year, experienced drivers can use old notes which is clear benefit over younger drivers. Also experienced drivers are better making good notes to new stages in allowed number of passes (in most rallies crews can visit each stage before the event only twice).
Scoring points
As I said before, all drivers taking part in the event are able to score points in drivers championship. Points are given for top six (ten for winner, six for second, then 4-3-2-1), exactly like in Formula One. Points for manufacturers championship are scored in similar way but the only difference is that drivers not nominated to score such points can't block points from nominated drivers. For example, event is won by a private driver, he scores ten drivers points but not a single manufacturers points. Instead, if nominated driver finishes second, he scores six personal points but full ten points for the team.
Road position
A bit more finer detail is road position (or running order or starting order) but one which is encountered quite often. As cars pass the stages, the surface of the road changes. In asphalt it gets dirtier as drivers cut the corners and there late runners usually suffer, especially when it's raining as dirt turns into mud. On dry gravel roads the surface is swept clear from loose gravel and dust and therefore late runners benefit from better grip on clean roads. This leads to grotesque episodes as drivers wish to avoid starting first on the road for critical legs and because of that they drive slowly on the stages, take time penalties on purpose or employ other tactics.
One of the interesting parts of the rallying are pace notes. These are set of codes used to describe the road ahead so that driver knows what's coming after each bend. Drivers have different kinds of pace note systems but all contain ways to describe corners (some use numbers, some use different kinds of codes) and distances. Besides these, there are different kinds of supplemental information like notes for tightening or opening corners, warnings for road-side obstacles or other hazards like ice or oil.
Notes are prepared by the driver and co-driver during recoinnaissance (or recce) before the rally. As most stages are used from year to year, experienced drivers can use old notes which is clear benefit over younger drivers. Also experienced drivers are better making good notes to new stages in allowed number of passes (in most rallies crews can visit each stage before the event only twice).
Scoring points
As I said before, all drivers taking part in the event are able to score points in drivers championship. Points are given for top six (ten for winner, six for second, then 4-3-2-1), exactly like in Formula One. Points for manufacturers championship are scored in similar way but the only difference is that drivers not nominated to score such points can't block points from nominated drivers. For example, event is won by a private driver, he scores ten drivers points but not a single manufacturers points. Instead, if nominated driver finishes second, he scores six personal points but full ten points for the team.
Road position
A bit more finer detail is road position (or running order or starting order) but one which is encountered quite often. As cars pass the stages, the surface of the road changes. In asphalt it gets dirtier as drivers cut the corners and there late runners usually suffer, especially when it's raining as dirt turns into mud. On dry gravel roads the surface is swept clear from loose gravel and dust and therefore late runners benefit from better grip on clean roads. This leads to grotesque episodes as drivers wish to avoid starting first on the road for critical legs and because of that they drive slowly on the stages, take time penalties on purpose or employ other tactics.
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