Subiesport Magazine - February/March 2008 - (Page 82)

MOTORSPORTS The future of Subaru WRC ing some certain problems we felt we had in the chassis and steering of the car, and as we worked through each problem we tended to reveal another one underneath. I think we’ve pretty much got to the end of that and the car is now far more consistent and competitive than it was at the beginning of the year, but we’ve not been able to give the drivers enough confidence in it yet to deliver the results we’d like to see. However, we think we’ve got a much stronger base to work from and we’re optimistic that next year we will improve still further. Do you think this evolution of the car is very much different to previous ones? Certainly, whilst the results might not look that different, we’ve got a lot more consistency in the car now than we had a year ago, and we’re much more comfortable with the specifications; we’ve got a more conventional spec for the car in terms of differentials and so on than we had 12 months ago. So, we’re a lot happier with it as a base than it was, for sure. have you been pleased with the efforts the drivers have put in this year? both drivers [Solberg and atkinson] have worked very hard indeed to try and move the car forward with us. one of the things that will benefit us next year is that we will almost certainly be taking on an additional test driver, because obviously we will have a lot of testing to do in the first part of next year, particularly with the new car development, and, really, the workload for that is too great for just the two drivers with them doing events as well. So, by putting in a good quality test driver as well, we hope to improve that situation as well. By: David Hobbs how about Xevi ? he’s clearly been getting used to the car; how do you think he has done? Interestingly, his best result was the first one in finland when he finished sixth. obviously, he did very well there and he’s been a bit up and down since. He’s been a bit unlucky with one mechanical failure in Germany, which didn’t help, and he’s had a couple of accidents as well. I think he’s shown very good pace at times when he’s got used to the car, but again that hasn’t always been converted into decent finishing positions. how is the development of the new car going? Very well; the last six months have seen really fast progress on it. The first car build is just about complete now and we should start running in testing within a couple of weeks, certainly before Christmas. an exclusive Subiesport interview with Subaru World Rally team (SWRt) managing Director Richard taylor at Wales Rally Gb 2007 Subiesport: We’re in the final rally of the season. how would you sum up 2007? Richard taylor: Clearly, results haven’t been that good. We’ve had a couple of podiums, a couple of fourth places, but realistically that is not the level of performance we aim to achieve. So we’ve got to say it’s been a disappointing season for us. I think we’ve made a bit of progress with the development of the car, particularly in the last few months, but we haven’t been able to convert that into the level of results we’d like to see. is there one area you can pinpoint that explains this situation, or is it a combination of things? I think it’s a combination of factors. Earlier in the year we went through a process of eliminat- When do you expect to run it in competition? Well, on [which] event we’re not decided yet. We’ll make a decision on that during the first part of next year as we see how the testing evolves. Are the initial signs good in your development work so far? Yeah, we set some pretty stiff targets for what we expected to see in terms of all the key criteria and areas of improvement compared to the current car. from the theory, we’re meeting those targets and, in some cases, exceeding them. obviously we’ve actually got to put that to the test on the road, but at the moment we’re very pleased and we’re confident it will be a big step forward for us. Do you think the new body shape will make a difference? The shape is one thing, and as a road car the StI version is a very good car. It helps us in terms of weight distribution and engine position, so yes, it does give us some significant advantages. 82 MARCH 2008

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Subiesport Magazine - February/March 2008 Contents Travis Geny Letters Readers' Rides Subaru News Subie Sleuths Hatched Plans United in Subarus East Meets West WRC Rally Catalunya WRC Rally France WRC Rally Japan WRC Rally Ireland WRC Wales Rally GB The Future of Subaru WRC Team Orange Where to Buy Subiesport 1993 Impreza "Dreadnought" Performance Radiator Install Special Kei Ad Directory Spotted!

Subiesport Magazine - February/March 2008

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