WRC Rally Schedule
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Subaru Motorsport News
The search for the 2003 rallyXS Pirelli girl has
begun!
This year's search for the new Pirelli girl goes pan-European and
will end at Rally Australia. The World Rally
Championship's favorite competition returns for 2003, bigger and better
than ever. The rallyXS Pirelli Girl is the annual search for a new face
to join the elite group of girls which work on behalf of Pirelli on the
WRC.
| This year's winner will be able to claim particular kudos,
because she will be the winner of a pan-European search for a new
girl. Due to popular demand we're rolling out the competition to
several other countries all keen to join the fun. Like last year the
competition will feature a selection process, followed by a public
vote to choose the winner. |
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Having done the hard bit, our lucky winner will
celebrate by going to the Telstra Rally Australia held on September 5-7,
and take in a week's vacation as well!
Then comes the real test. At one of the season's
European rounds in Sanremo, Corsica, Catalunya or Great Britain, 'our
girl' will join the team on a rally to experience the buzz of working
with Subaru's star drivers Petter Solberg and Tommi Makinen. It will be
an experience to savor.
How to enter
Send a recent photograph and one side of A4 paper about yourself to the
following address: rallyXS Pirelli Girl competition, FREEPOST SEA 4600,
60 Waldegrave Road, Teddington, Middlesex, TW11 8LG, UK (FREEPOST
applies to UK residents only).
Click here to check out last year's contestants and see if you have got
what it takes!
Overview of Rally Sweden. Feb. 6th
- 9th 2003
A battered Subaru team is looking for redemption
at the second rally of the 2003 season and it couldn't be a harder
rally to win. The harsh conditions of the Swedish winter take their
toll on the precisely tuned WRC cars. The danger of intercoolers
freezing and the hazardous ice and snow that cover the roads are
only a few of the things that will be on the drivers minds this
weekend. Hopefully, Subaru can land some points on the board and get
back in the hunt. However, Rally Sweden has not been a winning sport
for the Subaru Team historically. To learn more about Rally Sweden
please read the overview below provided by
wrc.com. For
continuing information please check back here throughout the
weekend.
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Down The Years
Gripped by some sadistic primeval urge, most people's natural
instinct in front of snow is to pick it up, mould it into a
ball, then stuff it resolutely down a companion's neck. The
consequences can include hilarity and a declaration of snowy
war, or if it goes horribly wrong tachycardia and sudden death.
Probably safer to go rallying instead and for the past 50 years
the Swedes have done exactly that. The Uddeholm Swedish Rally is
the World Championship's only snow rally and has been the
preserve of those hailing from colder climes from its inception.
Home-grown talent and Finns (of course) have dominated the
event. Carlos Sainz has come close – he was only nine seconds
off Harri Rovanpera's winning pace in 2001 when he finished
third. But these days there is no reason why the likes of
Richard Burns and Colin McRae, who have set fastest stage times
on the event, cannot win on snow. |
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Mother Nature
Rally versus Winter is how the Swedes described their event. And
that does pretty well sum the rally up. But for a really classic
Swedish Rally, you need lots of the white stuff and in recent
years that hasn't always been the case. If the weather is mild
and there is not enough snow, the cars' skinny, spiky tyres rip
up the gravel stages, churning up the roads. However if
conditions are perfect – lots and lots of snow – then spare a
thought for the mechanics. These guys still have to work wonders
to repair the cars in service, but can you imagine changing a
gearbox when it dips below minus 15 degrees Celsius? |
Fans of Sweden
Spectating couldn't be easier in Sweden: the stages
tend to be easily accessible, helpfully marshalled, and offer
many good vantage points. Fans are noisy and good natured –
probably the best way to keep warm! Unsurprisingly, lots and
lots of Norwegians make the short trip across the border to
Karlstad to cheer on Petter Solberg. When you go, just make sure
you wrap up very warm and stick to the local speed limits.
There's more radar on the Swedish Rally than there is in most
James Bond movies. |
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The route
The stages are about an hour north of rally headquarters in
Karlstad, to try and guarantee the maximum snowfall. When the
snow does fall, Sweden's stages are among the best in the world.
They resemble a flat, elongated Cresta Run, with high snowbanks
lining fast roads, which are similar in character to those of
Finland.
But it's unlikely to be 100% snow, which means that patches
of slush can often crop up on the stages. These are best
avoided: they rip out the precious studs (see below), and
provide the sort of variation in grip that can spell the
beginning of a big accident. Granberget is probably the
favourite. It's the longest of the event therefore something the
drivers can get their teeth into. |
The Swedish Challenge
To gain the maximum possible grip, teams use skinny
tires peppered with spikes. The cars look as ridiculous as Sumo
wrestlers in tutus, but the emasculated wheels actually generate
more traction than normal tires on gravel.Experienced drivers
'lean' on the snowbanks to help their cars negotiate the
corners, using the same principle as a pinball machine. But
there's a fine line between bouncing off the snowbanks and
crashing straight through them – as Colin McRae and Richard
Burns discovered a couple of years ago.
That's just one of the aspects that makes Sweden an
incredibly specialized event. It's also much faster than most
people imagine. Peugeot have cleaned up in recent years, as
their 206 is powerful enough to cope with the flat-out sections,
but small and nimble enough to change direction quickly (and not
clout too many of those pesky snowbanks).
A big danger is also the risk of ingesting snow into
radiators. Unlike certain rock stars, World Rally Cars don't
enjoy stuffing white powder up their noses. The snow rapidly
freezes over, no air gets into the engine, and it becomes only a
matter of time before the powerplant goes pop.
Click here
to view the official Rally Sweden site. |
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Special thanks to wrc.com for the
Rally Sweden overview. To visit wrc.com
click here.
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