WRC...why not Porsche?

GrindingGears · 01-26-2004, 09:35 AM

World Rally Championship...a 911 c4....will it ever happen?

I would love to see that, then I wouldn't have to root for Ford.

cowtown · 01-26-2004, 09:42 AM

Doesn't WRC require 2-liter turbo engines? The R&D costs for Porsche might be insurmountable.

I would love to see Porsche get into rallying too, though.

GrindingGears · 01-26-2004, 09:54 AM

yeah, 2 liter engines. but i was thinking, porsche could just outsource VW to make an engine for them (as they've done with the v6 cayenne engine). i'm sure VW has a 2 liter engine for use in its euro models, right? ok, now i'm really fired up about this...

id10t · 01-26-2004, 10:20 AM

Start re-making the 356/Carrera 2! That 2 liter 4 cam, classic styling, and a proven race history. Dunno what they'd do if the turbo was required....

CJFusco · CJFusco's Garage

maybe Porsche's rumored new "entry-level" car will be a 2 liter turbo w/all-wheel drive? then it could enter WRC

Z-man · Z-man's Garage

Porsche has moved decidedly upmarket for them to create such a 'lowly' engine and car.

That is very unfortunate.

-Z-man.

cegerer · cegerer's Garage

If it weren't for the Cayenne, I'm sure they would be in WRC, as well as ALMS, F1, CART, and maybe even NASCAR .....

jyl · jyl's Garage

The WRC cars bear almost no resemblance to the production cars. E.g. I read in Car today that the WRC Focus has all of 60 parts in common with the production Focus. And most of the production cars "represented" in the WRC are not actually 4WD.

So, Porsche could race the Boxster. The mid-engine layout would be great for the quick pivoting and powersliding of rally racing. A 4WD, 300 HP Boxster would be quite a machine.

Of course, marketing considerations would require the 911 to be racing in some "higher" class - and there isn't one, not for production-based cars anyway.

Oh, and Porsche's marketing dept probably sees no reason to race the Boxster anyway.

I am, sadly, thinking that Porsche will stay out of top-level motorsport until the marketing dept decides the "brand image" needs a little tuneup. Then they'll build a protoype, win LeMans (maybe without even bothering to race the rest of the season), withdraw from racing, and harvest another decade of marketing. The company isn't committed to racing anymore.

masraum · 01-26-2004, 06:44 PM

Not gonna happen, all of their current cars are way too big. Besides having the tiny motor, the cars are all small. We'd all raise hell if they started making an economy car, the price performance wouldn't be near what it would be in WRC trim.

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

besides, Porsche doesn't want to lose to Subaru and Mitsubishi...that wouldn't look so good.

But losing to Skoda...now that would be an honor.

GrindingGears · 01-27-2004, 07:16 AM

my dream has been shattered...

Jim Richards · 01-27-2004, 08:43 AM

Quote:

I am, sadly, thinking that Porsche will stay out of top-level motorsport until the marketing dept decides the "brand image" needs a little tuneup.

The braintrust at Porsche used to fully exploit rules for any class of racing they were interested in, with excellent results. Is there anyone currently in the company that has similar talent? Just wondering.