Building a WRC car
 

When WRC teams build WRC cars, are they buying a complete car off the showroom floor like the general public, or are they able to get a empty bodyshell/chassis from the manufacturer, and build and fabricate everything else?

I know a lot of WRC cars build from wreck car. Mitsu rally car will be exceptional.

WRC teams (not ProRally and local teams) get their chassis as a shell from the factories. There was a write-up in SCC that showed how the Subaru WRC team worked. They had a row of new shells that were waiting to get welded up and caged. Since they replace most of the internals with something stronger, it makes no sense to buy complete cars. The shell is the same as the shells on our cars, though. That's where the homologation comes in (along with engine size, type, etc.).

I have heard some people say WRC teams buy cars just like the public does, and I have heard some say that they are delivered empty (but stock) bodyshells/chassis and add everything they need from there.....

You can buy a "body-in-white" lightweight shell direct from coordsport in the UK.

I remember looking at the ProRally spec evo8s, the chassis is defintly different then the consumer ones. There isn't any strut tower bars, it's all built into the chassis.

Hey David, it's Mike. :)

I know for a fact the Prodrive UK uses the STi spec-C 16" version for their full WRC cars. This is the model with no air, roll-up windows, std. usdm WRX seats, 16" steelies and no DCCD or ABS.

I guess they could buy a shell but it must be cheaper for them to do it this way since they use several components of the engine and chassis in their WRC prorally cars.

Not sure how Mitsu does it but it would'nt surprise me if they use an EVO RS as a base.

-Mike.

As a racecar builder, I can answer some of this. Normally we would start with a rolling chassis, bought from the dealer or auction. But, we can also buy a bare shell through the dealer. We pretend to be a body shop repairing a totaled car. Both ways are proper, but unless you're not using any OE parts, the used car is the way to go. All of the wiring harnesses are there, even though we replace most of it, we still use it for templates. If you are planning on making every part for the car, then the bare shell is the way to go. If you are building an SCCA Pro Rally car, then starting with a used rolling car is the way to go. Personally, I like using a used car, it's a little easier to figure out what needs modifying. Just my 2¢ worth.

The term that is used in the auto trade here is "complete knockdown" (CKD).... the distributors buy the chassis and assemble it locally or in neighboring countries where labor costs are cheaper. In fact a lot of the cars sold in this part of the world are imported from the manufacturer this way, without the A/C, leather seats, trim etc which get added on later.

Building a World Rally Car

To make it rally-fit, the car has to undergo a World Rally Championship makeover. Teams start by stripping it down to its very barest of essentials, its panels, and then work up from this blank metallic canvas. Usually, it will take 100s of back-wrenching man-hours just to turn these bare panels into a chassis on which the World Rally Car can be built. And this is no normal chassis. It's 2-3 times more rigid than a normal road car and comes complete with an ultra-stiff roll-cage and acres of safety tubing (40m if laid out fully).

The car starts life looking like its suburban counterpart, but teams are allowed to re-shape the noses and add a rear 'wing'. The aerodynamics at the front produce less drag and the 'wing' (like an aircraft wing, only upside down) at the back generates a down-force which helps the car balance on the road.

All this technology requires a huge investment of time. It takes six mechanics working flat-out for three weeks to create a World Rally Car.


http://www.wrc.com/en_GB/Home/WhatIs...dRallyCars.htm