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Peugeot's Pikes Peak monster specs revealed!

Peugeot have revealed the technical specifications of it's 2013 Pikes Peak challenger, the 208 T16.

The former WRC-winning manufacturer will return to the legendary Colorado hillclimb after a long absence, armed with a brand new car and a driver capable of dominating the whole thing on his own. Being a nine-times World Champion, Sebastian Loeb certainly knows how to get from A to B as fast as possible, and as he is now semi-retired he was Peugeot's perfect choice.

“Your imagination is the only limit” said the engineer given the job of designing the new car, Jean-Christophe Pallier. These words give a small hint towards what kind of machine he and his team have built.

Pallier's creation sports an earth-shattering 875bhp, created by a twin-turbo 3.2 litre V6 (originally designed for Endurance Racing) driving all four wheels underneath a pure carbon fibre body shell. And it's just that as well, the bespoke shell is mounted to a tubular steel space frame chassis. The car also sports a six-speed paddle-shift sequential gearbox.

Stopping is taken care of by carbon brake discs and one-piece alloy callipers, while cornering is left to a spectacular aerodynamic package, which hosts a two metre wide rear spoiler and specially designed underbody, (which generates half of the car's total downforce), and massive slick tyres.

The total car weighs in at 875kgs, bringing the Power-to-Weight ratio up to the near mythical 1:1, with one BHP taking care of one kilograme of weight. Allied to this are the relatively small dimensions, being only 4.5 metres long and 2 metres wide.

The vast majority of the parts in the car are of similar spec to the hugely successful Peugeot 908 Le Mans car. But, whereas the 908 could hit speeds near 200mph, the 208 T16 will only go to 150 mph. However, it'll get there in seven seconds!

Testing gets under way this week near Pau, South-West France. Endurance racer Greg Guilvert will take the wheel of the car for this test. Pikes Peak runs on 30^th June.

Photo Credit: Red Bull

Loeb set to contest Pikes Peak!

Sebastien Loeb is set to tackle the legendary Pikes Peak International Hillclimb in Colorado, bringing back the T16 title to the infamous and terrifying ascent.

Peugeot recently announced their their intention to return to the event, and then announced that nine-times World Rally Champion and renowned tarmac ace Sebastien Loeb would drive their prototype creation in the Unlimited class.

"I would like to take this opportunity to thank Citroen for this one-off 'loan' of its exceptional champion. Our objective is to win, so we needed to stack up as many cards as possible in our favour by joining forces with the very best partners for this unique project, namely Total, Red Bull, Michelin and Sebastien Loeb.” said Maxime Picat, director general of Peugeot Automobiles.

Very little is currently known about the car Loeb will drive, other than it will be based on their 208 model and will carry the name T16, in homage to the legendary 205 T16 and 405 T16. The latter of which winning the 1988 event with Ari Vatanen and the 1989 event with Robby Unser. The new car is also expected to feature upwards on 600bhp as well, which is twice the power of a normal WRC car, but around what is expected at Pikes Peak. More technical data for the car will be released next month it is expected.

However, in stark contrast from when Vatanen won it 25 years ago, the Pikes Peak route features absolutely no gravel sections, something that will play into the hands of Loeb, who has won almost all of the tarmac rallies in the WRC since 2005, failing to win only four in eight years.

The race runs for a distance of 12.42 miles (19.99kms), over solely tarmac roads, featuring 156 corners ascending 1,500 metres. The record stands at 9 mins 46.164 secs, set last year by Rhys Millen in a Hyundai Genesis in the Unlimited 'anything goes' class. Given Loeb's appetite for shattering records, it wouldn't be too untoward to expect the Frenchman to lower the record even more this year!

Third Gronholm to take up rallying?

Niclas Gronholm is set to become the third generation on the Gronholm 'dynasty'.

Niclas, the 15 year old son of double World Champion Marcus, has been reported to be starting practising for his competition license, in a Ford Fiesta. And he couldn't have a much better mentor/teacher in his father.

The Gronholm's have had a successful history in rallying. Niclas' grandfather (Marcus' father) Ulf Gronholm was a double Finnish national champion on the 1970's. He, however, was tragically killed whilst testing for the Hankiralli, a Finnish national championship event.

Ulf's son Marcus went that bit further than he did, becoming World Champion in 2000 and 2002. Known for being quite tall and devastatingly fast, Marcus would become a legend in rallying.

Niclas already has competition from the son of one of his father's former team-mates. Kalle Rovanpera, son of Harri Rovanpera (Marcus' team-mate on and off between 2001 and 2004), has already begun practising, with video's of him testing a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo emerged on Youtube 2 years ago.

With his grandfather a double Finnish national champion and his father a double World Champion, what are the chances of Niclas repeating both these feats? Only time will tell.

This Is Rallying
An onboard video of a Polish driver, without his pacenotes for part of the stage, driving like his life depended on it!

With thanks to siemko79 for uploading.

No F1 test for Block

Gymkhana star Ken Block's hotly anticipated Formula 1 test has been forced to be put off until later in the year, owing to Block being too tall for the car.

The test, which was due to be carried out at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza earlier on this month, but when Blocked jumped into Pirelli's test car, a Toyota TF109, it was found that, although he could fit into the car, the steering wheel caught his leg when he tried to turn the wheel to full lock.

“We can’t find a car big enough. The test has had to be delayed until we find a suitable vehicle. We’re confident we can do it, but we haven’t yet found the right car. And when we have found the right car, then we can’t find the people to run it - because there are no longer any test teams and very few have running old F1 cars. To be honest, it’s been a bit of a challenge - but we will make it happen.” said Paul Hembery, manager of Pirelli's Motorsport end.

Another, bigger, car was sought after, but it came to nought after time ran out, which was caused by the mandatory F1 summer holiday and Block's own schedule, which included the X Games in America, testing for the ADAC Rallye Deutschland and the event itself. It also proved difficult to also source old F1 cars, with very few private owners of the multi-million pound machines.

Pirelli are now understood to be wanting to re-schedule the test to coincide with Pirelli's own tyre test later on this year, where ex-F1 driver Lucas di Grassi will be present.

New cheaper S2000's planned for 2013

A second-generation of the current Super 2000 cars could be introduced in 2013.

Peugeot Sport's Bertrand Vallat said that both Peugeot and Skoda are in talks with the FIA about the introduction of a new version of S2000 cars, which will cut costs of the cars by half.

Peugeot and Skoda have already built S2000 cars, the 207 and Fabia, respectively. There have been S2000 cars built by many other manufacturers, which have been successful on the world stage, such as Ford's Fiesta S2000 and Fiat's Punto Abarth S2000. Toyota built two cars, the Auris and the Corolla, which have been very successful in South Africa, but have never really been rallied outside of SA. Proton are currently dominating the APRC with their works-entered Satria Neo's too.

This may sound like an impressive list, but at the recent Volkswagen Rally in South Africa, there were 18 S2000 cars in the entry list, but 9 were either works-entered or had a major backer. Skoda Motorsport is funded by Skoda themselves, and Peugeot UK and Peugeot France are funded by Peugeot's UK and French branches. Proton's cars are works run, too.

This shows that for privateers it is very difficult to get an S2000 drive, with either a vast personal wealth or a major sponsor needed to purchase, or even hire, one of these cars, with the cars costing upwards on €200,000 to buy.

If this new set of technical regulations for the S2000 cars, which will be powered by 1.6 turbo engines, similar to today's WRC cars, is ratified by the FIA, it could cut the costs of the S2000 cars to a more affordable €100,000.

“Skoda and Peugeot are talking with the FIA for a new car from 2013. It will be a standard car with a 1.6 turbo based on a future model. We are trying to cut the technical cost by half. It will be a big challenge to reduce this cost but we will be working hard with the FIA to achieve this. The category could be good." Vallat said to respected reporter Colin Clark.

I've still got it, says Atkinson

Chris Atkinson says that he still has the speed to compete in the top echelons of rallying.

"Anybody who thinks I can't drive anymore should think again. This has been a fantastic season so far with Proton; the car's really come good this year, thanks to some fantastic work from the team, and I feel I'm driving better than ever.”

The Aussie is an ex-World Championship star, formerly driving for the Subaru World Rally Team alongside now privateer Petter Solberg. Atkinson's WRC career started in 2005 when he shared his points nomination with ex-Formula 1 test driver Stéphane Sarazzin. Atkinson scored his first podium on the Rally Japan in 2005, Sarazzin was dropped at the end of 2006, with Atkinson taking over the second car full time. Atkinson, and team-mate Petter Solberg had a long run of horrid luck until 2008, when Atkinson took 5 podiums, including one in Finland with the then-new Impreza WRC2008, the car's only third event. Solberg scored a second place on the car's début & fought for victories for the rest of the season. Atkinson ended his career with Subaru on a low note, after crashing spectacularly at the season-ending Wales Rally GB. Days after, Subaru announced their withdrawal from the WRC, leaving Atkinson & Solberg out in the cold.

Atkinson made a one-off appearance with the Citroen Junior World Rally team at the start of 2008, on the season opening Rally Ireland. He took fifth place after a few off's, one spectacular one in which he cut a telephone pole in two. After his Citroen outing, he went quiet for a while before signing with the Proton team. He drove the car in some APRC events in 2010, and in 2011 will take part in 10 IRC events and the entire APRC calendar.

Atkinson, 30, says that driving the S2000 Proton Satria Neo has made him a better driver, citing that you must drive the car hard to extract it's full potential, saying: "Driving a Super 2000 car like the Satria Neo has made me a more complete driver. You absolutely have to commit to everything with these kind of cars and we're doing that. I've got a lot to give in this sport, but right now I'm focused on winning the APRC title with Proton."

Atkinson's next event is the Rally Hokkaido in Japan, which runs from 1st-2^nd October. Atkinson currently leads the drivers standings by 21 points over his Proton team-mate Alistair McRae, and Proton Motorsports currently commands a substantial lead in the teams table, 77 points to be precise. It's a similar story in the manufacturers standings, with Proton holding 14 points over nearest rivals Mitsubishi. Currently, it looks like Proton and the driving partnership of Atkinson/McRae seem to be the one's to beat in this Championship.

No Estonia for Meeke

Kris Meeke will now not be competing on this weekend's Rally Estonia after a testing accident.

The MINI WRC Team driver is believed to have hit a rock on Monday during testing for Rally Finland. The car was repaired, allowing himself to complete the day's testing, and allow team-mate Dani Sordo to continue testing for the next two days.

However, it later transpired that the car would need more work than could be carried out on-site during the test. This, coupled with the big push on for Prodrive to complete the four other cars for their customers, led to the team taking the decision to pull Meeke's entry for the Estonian event.

“Obviously, I’m disappointed to be missing out on competitive event mileage before Rally Finland, but it’s the team’s decision.” said the 2009 IRC Drivers Champion.

Pulling out of the event, however, allowed Meeke to complete some testing after Sordo's test ended. David Lapworth says that the Meeke's problem on Monday hasn't caused any problems for the team's Finland testing programme, saying both drivers, collectively, ran 750Kms of testing.

He said: “Both drivers have done more then 350 kilometres of testing. In total, across the three days, we have done around 750 kilometres, I think that’s a pretty good test.”

Martin back for Rally Estonia

Reigning Rally Estonia winner Markko Martin has placed his entry for Rally Estonia, which will run next weekend, 15-16 July.

"Markko Martin's participation in Rally Estonia is very good news for the rally fans. For the organisers this means bigger publicity, good competition and a great opportunity to introduce Estonia in Europe. As Markko is starting in Rally Estonia, there is a very big possibility that victory of Rally Estonia will come to Estonia." said the event director, Urmo Aava.

Martin stormed to the win on last year's event, driving his own MM Motorsport run Ford Focus WRC03, a car which he says is his favourite world rally car. The 2010 event marked the return to competitive driving for the Estonian, who took five wins and drove for three manufacturers, Subaru, Ford & Peugeot, during his 5 year WRC career. More recently, he has taken part in tests for Ford and Subaru.

The Estonian is seen as a good event for pre-Rally Finland testing in a competitive environment. This year's event will see Kris Meeke take part for the MINI WRC Team, Mads Ostberg for the M-Sport Stobart Ford Rally Team as well as René & Dennis Kuipers for FERM Powertools World Rally Team. Meeke and Ostberg will drive the cars in which they will take part in Rally Finland in. It will be interesting to see how Martin's older 2.0 Turbo car will stack up to the new 1.6 Turbo cars. WRC Academy drivers Alistair Fisher, Craig Breen, Molly Taylor and Egon Kaur will also take part in their Ford Fiesta's.

Mads Ostberg, Ford Fiesta RS WRC, said: "Markko Martin starting means this will be a good rally, and we are going to fight for the victory for sure. We are working with different set-ups, though, and our goal is to get a good feeling before Rally Finland."

Martin's MM Motorsport team will run four cars, two Focus WRC's, a Group N Impreza and a Ford Fiesta, for Martin himself, Georg Gross, Sander Parn and Egon Kaur, respectively. Latvian Ivars Vasaraudzis will take part in a Mitsubishi Lancer WRC for the Skandi Motors Rally Team, the same team under which Jari Ketomaa will drive a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo X R4.

Monster makes it six in Colorado

Nobuhiro Tajima has taken his sixth straight win at the Pikes Peak Hill climb in Colorado, but has fulfilled an ambition to break the ten-minute barrier.

The man known as 'Monster' took his 850 BHP Suzuki SX4 Hill Climb Special up the 20km run in an amazing time 9mins 51.278secs. The previous record was set in 2007 at 10mins 1.41secs by Tajima himself, and he said he was sure he could go faster and break the 10min barrier. He did so this year, and says he'll have a go at going quicker.

75% of this year's event was run on sealed surface, and it is planned that the 2012, and the 90^th , running of the event will be held on 100% sealed surface tracks. A lawsuit filed against Colorado Springs has forced this change to the road.

Monster's run was not completely trouble-free though, his Suzuki's power-steering failed and the engine began to overheat in the final kilometre of his record-breaking run.

Al-Attiyah out to defend Dakar title

Nasser Al-Attiyah has said he is out to find a drive which will enable him to compete on, and possibly win, the 2012 Dakar to follow up his success on the 2011 edition of the mammoth event.

The Qatari driver took the win on this year's Dakar Rally driving a works VW Toureag. However, with VW calling a halt to their hugely successful Dakar programme to focus their efforts on their WRC campaign, Al-Attiyah is out of a drive. Al-Attiyah is not completely out of Volkswagen, with the Qatari scheduled to test VW's rally car as early as December, and he has been linked with a drive in the team.

Al-Attiyah is not keen to jump at the first Dakar drive he is offered, however. He has said he wants to wait until he finds out that VW intend to do, after which he will make his decision.

“There are a lot of options to do Dakar again with another team but for me I must know exactly what I will have for the next three or four years [with Volkswagen]. Dakar is my dream because I won this year and I want to defend my title. I need to know [Volkswagen’s] decision.” he said.

WRC 2010 sequel confirmed

The official sequel to WRC 2010, WRC 2, is due to hit the shelves this October, publisher of the game Black Bean Games have confirmed.

CEO of North One Sport, the WRC's promoter, Simon Long said that WRC 2 will be a worthy sequel to the hugely successful WRC 2010 saying: “The 2010 WRC game put our sport back on the gaming map. With WRC 2 we look to take this further. More realism, more detail and more variety is what we have seen in the studio so far this year. The new game is rich in WRC history, but also gives a glimpse of the future. With MINI taking on the established Citroen and Ford teams and the impending return of Volkswagen, the WRC is heading for a golden era and we want to take our WRC gamers on that journey too.”

Under development by Milestone, developers of WRC 2010, the game is to feature 90 different stages in 15 different countries. The game is also to feature a challenging weather system, with 25 different weather conditions and terrain types to face.

Nine category of rally car also feature, with cars ranging from the classics of the 1960's to the modern day super-cars. Career mode, which enables players to start at the bottom in 2WD machines and work their way up to WRC level, has undergone a renovation, as has the online gaming facility, with 16 different players able to compete head-to-head.

Luisa Bixio, from Leader Spa, of whom Black Bean Games are part, said: “There are millions of WRC followers and racing games enthusiasts all around the world and our ambition is to make them happy with our official products. Most of them simply can’t wait to know more about the next WRC episode.”

“We really want to deliver a state-of-the-art off-road motorsport experience which combines a great graphics impact, the best driving model in this genre and all the WRC elements from the current season such as all classes, drivers, all rallies as well as much more to enjoy.”