RE: NZ rallye report (no audi content)

["Dave Eaton" <Dave.Eaton@clear.net.nz>]

ahh scott,

as i didn't mention any listers names in my post except for the quip about
some people not appreciating the differences between group 'a' and 'wrc'
cars, i'm puzzled why you would think that this referred to you?

i am also puzzled that especially you, as a "crew chief" for a rally car,
seem to be confused about the differences between 'wrc' and group 'a'.  mind
you, you probably haven't seen a 'wrc' car, and are therefore in the dark.
never mind.  what are the differences you ask?  you could start with a
"free" transmission per year.  go on to engine locations, rear suspension
technology, pickup points, cooling and aerodynamics etc. etc.  differentials
are "free" as they are with group 'a'.  anyway, it should be enough to
accept that all the top-line teams (bar one, see below) now run to the 'wrc'
rules, and not the group 'a' rules.  out with the old, in with the new.

why has mitsibushi stuck with a group 'a' car, while everyone else has a
'wrc' car?  they are clearly focused on the group 'n' championship (where
the base car is an enormous advantage), and are using group 'a' to sell cars
in japan, nz, and now britain.  but perhaps i should quote mre chief
engineer bernard lindauer "it's starting to be so close in the world
championship that we need something different now.  we are pushing more and
more to have a different car. the various options that are available to us -
which way the engine will be and all that - are stopping us from doing too
much development on the driveline for the moment....i'm hoping for 2000 that
we will have a wrc car, but it's not decided yet.  i have tried to highlight
in japan that, very soon, we will be at the end of this car" (rce, vol8)
enough said?

also , i fail to understand what you mean by the assertion that "actives
aren't competitive" (i assume that you are talking differetials here).
there is no front running team without an active centre & front now that
toyota has abandoned their centre clutch.  and with the new-for-finland evo
seat and focus, afaik, all top cars will now also be running active rear's.

with regard to the bollocks about wishbones and struts, as with your very
public confusion about differentials, this is of little interest to anyone
else so probably shouldn't be even be on the list.   perhaps you should just
accept that some much more qualified people than you or i have decided that
their rally car, upon which their company is pinning it's motorsport
reputation (and scott, not just their internet business reputation) is
better off with struts.  in this group we must put *all* the designers for
the top-line rally cars.  poor misguided souls, if only they could have the
pleasure of talking to you.  we have the chief focus designer quoted as
saying that the reason for the decision to go with struts is better camber
control, we have an interview with a mechanic where they also spoke of the
ability to have much larger dampers, and also the ease of setup for
differing surfaces.  liars...

your insistance in calling struts  not "state-of-the-art" is, of course,
disengenious and (again) wrong.  by definition, you could expect anything in
a top-flight rally car to be "state-of-the-art".  using ford as an example,
if you're purchasing your xtrac gearbox for over $250k usd, and are paying
your driver $us6m, when you send a crew of upwards of 80 to each rally, then
you could expect the highest possible tech.  when you see the cars, this is
in fact what strikes you.  fwiw, a used focus (1 y.o.), with spares package
could be yours for around $2m usd.

your assertion that struts are no good on a curcuit?  check out the latest
le mans results before you push that load of coblers.

as always, fondest regards,
dave
'95 rs2
'90 ur-q
'88 mb 2.3-16

-----Original Message-----
From: QSHIPQ@aol.com [mailto:QSHIPQ@aol.com]
Sent: Tuesday, 27 July 1999 06:07
To: Dave.Eaton@clear.net.nz
Cc: audi-s-cars@lists.emailsol.com; quattro@audifans.com
Subject: RE: NZ rallye report


A good report, a couple of targeted shots so excepted, it sure would have
been better without that ordinance.  Two thoughts come to mind over them:

1)  Given the groupe 'A" and the WRC comment, what exactly is "night and
day"
difference in suspensions, if by your own interview (and contradicting your
own former posts), actives aren't competitive, and wishbones aren't used?

2)  It appears you forgot to ask whether given the choice, the team and/or
the driver would prefer the wishbones based on performance.  Your interview
gave my exact posted points on the "compromises" they accepted (and most
Group A, N, B as well) in using the strut arrangements.  As crew chief with
24 different springs and struts in our Groupe A S2 service arsenal, I can
say, "hello", many BTDT.  Thanks for that unintended acceleration.

Sticking to the facts would have left a fine post in your wake Dave.  I'll
try to do that with my Maine SCCA Rallye report after this weekend.

Scott Justusson
QSHIPQ@aol.com
'87 5ktqwRS2-10vt
'84 UrqRS2 -20vt
'87 4Runner turbo