Mk2 rallycar!

[sfwilliams@home.com (Scott F. Williams)]

Sciroccos (and A1 chassis cars in general) are not ideal for quite a few
reasons:

First of all, parts are harder than ever to come by these days. -certainly a
lot more difficult than finding A2 stuff. Secondly, the Scirocco's seating
position (low and laid back) is not good for seeing far down the road.
Notice that most successful rallycars are upright sedan designs. The last
sportscar that I recall competing in the WRC was... the Toyota Celica (early
90s). I don't know if the driver opinions were universally negative, but
Juha Kankunnen was certainly outspoken about the lack of visibility. The
greatest handicaps, however, regard the lack of suspension travel (only
about 3") and the flimsy chassis rigidity (by modern standards).

Compared to an A2, the A1 cars are relatively poor choices. They have all of
the disadvantages and no positives. So, what's the point? The later A3 and
A4 cars are even better platforms, but are often out of reach for the
entry-level rallyist.

The reason for this is interesting: Considering that class rules allow the
same motors to be installed in the oldest A1 to the newest A4, there is a
diminishing amount of performance to be had in the later cars unless you
spend a bloody fortune on tuning. Thus, the A2 seems to be the best
compromise for now. You get the best compromise of refinement, conveniences,
and *lightness*.

The End

P.S. Everyone should know that a) I enjoyed every stage mile traveled in my
beloved Warpig. The car was a formidable weapon! I had to work like hell to
keep it on the road and it scared the piss out of me from time to time -can
you say "twitchy"? I knew you could! -but, it did its job way better than a
lot of my competition ever expected it would.

b) Let's give Lauri Pettai a hand. He is currently rallying his very own
Badger5 throttlebody-equipped Scirocco over there in Estonia! You go, boy!
These cars *can* definitely hold their own. So, please don't get me wrong.
:^)

Weigh all the factors, though, and you'll understand my points.
--
Scott F. Williams
NJ Scirocco nut
'99 Subaru Impreza 2.5 RS
Mazda 323 GTX turbo "assaulted" vehicle
Golf GTI 16v "rollycar"
ClubVAC: "Roads found. Drivers wanted."

Check out our rally team's website!
http://www.usrallyteam.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lauri Pettai [mailto:lauri.pettai@netexpress.ee]
> Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2002 12:51 PM
> To: Scott F. Williams; Scirocco List
> Subject: Re: Mk2 rallycar!
>
>
> Can you enlighten me what are those reasons?
>
> > For several reasons, Sciroccos are rarely chosen to be rallycars. But,
>
> Lauri @ rallying with his scirocco
> '84 2.0 16v Scirocco GTX Kamei X1 Bodykit (VIN025736)
> http://www.eabc.edu.ee/~laurts/scirocco
> I finally added something new to my site!
>
>