WRC vs. P-car?

[Steve PH]

I think pitting an RSR against a top spec WRC car over a short stretch of road on say the Tour de Course route would be quite interesting, the main factors that would determine the result would be how much would you allow the negineers to fiddle and adjust the RSR's set up to remain competitive?

A properly set up track car is normally a pig to drive on the road, too stiff, too twitchy and the castor induced in the steering to get the thing to turn in sharply on the track would lead to horrendous tram lining.

If you allow the race engineers cart blanche to mess with the suspension, spring rates, damping and geometry then this would help.

Also even though WRC cars have restrictors in the inlets and power held back to just over 300bhp, they are very torquey and low geared, on a sealed road a WRC car will hit 60mph in just under 3 seconds. To compete the RSR will need similar low ratios and a sequential shift.

I think it woulkd be a close run thing which, if its a flowing stretch of road then the 911 might have the edge but through in too many hairpin bends and the WRC car will have the edge, thanks to its superior traction.

Currently there are a few GT3's competeing in European rallys but these are in the GT class which has (to the best of my knowledge) a heavier weight limit than the WRC class so the cars would never be competitive.

Porsche may well be eligible to join the WRC, the rules became flexible when the World Rally Car regs were invented.

The car must be based on a production model which sell x thousand units a year. (Porsche sell quite a few 911s dont they?!)

The car must meet minimum length, width, height, weight and safety requirements.

The engine block and head must be based on a production unit (not sure if you are allowed to sleave down to 2ltrs or if 6 cyclinders are allowed!) which you can then turbocharge and hook up to a bespoke transmission and 4wd system.

Ultimately I suspect Porsche wouldn't consider getting involved because it probably wouldn't help them sell any more cars.