Conference terri::cars_uk

Official results:

 1. Sainz	Toyota		6h57'21" Winner Group A
 2. Biasion	Lancia		+  4'59"
 3. Delecour	Ford		+  5'12"
 4. Schwartz	Toyota		+  6'31"
 5. Kankkunen	Lancia		+  7'46"
 6. Saby	Lancia		+  9'13"
 7. Wilson	Ford		+ 11'15
 8. Salonen	Mitsubishi	+ 11'22

12. Spiliotis	Ford		+ 44'33" Winner Group N

Delecour lost because of an incorrectly fastened rear wheel. Soon after the
start of the last stage he found the car undriveable. He stopped to check 
the car around and could not find any fault. He slid out of the road sometime
later while driving "slowly" and carefully. He lost approx. 6 minutes on
Carlos Sainz in the last stage. Otherwise, with a 41 seconds lead and only
one special stage to go, there was no reason he would not win his 1st world
championship rally.

Nice mix of cars in the top 10.  Might we see a little more competition in
the WRC this year?  

How good is the new Ford?  From the reports I've seen it looks fairly promising.

Who is driving for them this year and are they planning to go after the
drivers and makes titles?

The first US National PRO Rally is down here in Georgia on March 1-2.  I'm
the registrar (no funds to enter and 2nd kid due soon afterwards) so I'll
keep you posted on stuff from my end.  We should see 2 Audi quattro coupes,
1 Rallye Golf, a bunch of Mazda 323 GTXs, 1 Subaru Legacy, maybe a Mitsu Galant
VR4 and a bunch of others.

Dave

    Dave, from the top of my head, top teams and top drivers :
    
    Lancia :	Biasion, Kankkunen (works team)
    		Auriol, Saby, Loubet 
    
    Toyota :	Sainz, Schwarz
    
    Ford   :	Delecour, Wilson, Fiorio
    
    Mazda  :	Mikkola, Puras
    
    Mitsubishi:	Salonen
    
    Ari Vatanen has got no contract so far (pity).
    
    (forgot where Kenneth Eriksson is this year, maybe with Lancia).
    
    I'll look into my papers in order to give you a complete setup unless
    someone else has it handy.
    
    Most teams will not necessarily appear in all championship events and
    when they appear they may not enter all drivers.

�    Ari Vatanen has got no contract so far (pity).
    
    Yes, a real pity...
    
    I think Airrikala is also without a drive - anyone know about that ?
    
    J.R.
    
    PS - Nice to see some informative notes, thanks Patrick.

Yes, tribute to Ford for impressive preparation of a new car, and to a very 
talented driver. I've always liked Sainz (a real professional - not just
talented, but very dedicated a la Senna). This new guy must be good to come 
from behind and pressure his way past Sainz.

Anyone have details of the Ford. Is it based on the new 4WD Cosworth Saphire,
or the old RS500 ?

A real shame about Ari. The greatest talent rallysport has ever known. Soooooo
fast.....

�Anyone have details of the Ford. Is it based on the new 4WD Cosworth Saphire,
    
    Yes - this would be the Cossie 4x4 (same components to go into Escort later)
    
�or the old RS500 ?

    This is 'outlawed' in Group A rallying, as it is known that it will
    produce in excess of 300bhp - the supposed limit for Rally Cars.
    
    This is why all top Group A cars officially only produce 295-299 BHP !
    
    J.R.
    

    Sainz was quoted saying : the engine of my TOYOTA develops exactly 299.9bhp
    
    This is one of many strange things about Balestre : ban the group B
    turbo cars and then let everyone do everything they want. Let's be
    honest : all these "300bhp" turbo cars develop 500bhp, just looking at
    speeds and timing.                     

Final results (Rally drivers championship only)

 1. Kenneth Eriksson	Mitsubishi Galant VR4 (winner Group A)
 2. Mats Jonsson	Toyota Celica 4WD
 3. Marku Alen		Subaru
 4. Ingvar Carlsson	Mazda 323 4WD
 5. Lasse Lampi		Mitsubishi
 6. B. Johansson	Mazda
 7. Hannu Mikkola	Mazda
 8. Per Eklund		Lancia Integrale
 9. Didier Auriol	Lancia
10. L. Asterhag		Toyota

11. Stig-Olov Walfridsson   Mitsubishi Galant VR4 (winner Group N)

    Mitsubishi, Toyota, Subaru, Mazda
    
    Just shows that the Japanese have got the rallying 'game' worked out
    (even if they teams are based in Europe).
    
    Surprising to see a Group N car at 11th position, especially being a
    Galant - which I would expect to be quite heavy.
    
    Any news on what the Ford team achieved (results or breakages) ?
    
    J.R.

    I think Ford did not enter. Sweden does not count for the manufacturers
    championship. Similarly Lancia was not present (no works team).
    
    Mitsubishi have just announced they won't be at Portugal Rally
    (technical reasons).

    Portugal Rally 1991
    
    1. Sainz		Toyota Celica 4WD (Group A)
    2. Auriol		Lancia Integrale 16
    3. Biasion		Lancia    "
    4. Kankkunen        Lancia    "
    5. Alen		Subaru Legacy
    6. Chatriot		Subaru   "
    7. Puras		Mazda 323 4WD
    8. De Mevius	Mazda 323 4WD (winner Group N)
    
    All 3 Ford Cosworth drivers ran out of the road.
    
    
    Rally drivers championship
    
    1. Sainz		40
    2. Biasion		27
    3. K. Eriksson	
       Alen		20
    5. Kankkunen	18
    6. Auriol		17
    7. Jonsson		15
    8. Delecour		12
    9. Carlsson
       Schwarz		10
     ......
    
    Manufacturers championship
    
    1. Toyota		40
    2. Lancia		34
    3. Ford		14
    4. Subaru		10
    5. Mazda		 6
    6. Mitsubishi	 4

    
    Does anyone know whether Toyota plan to replace the old style Celica
    with the new in rallying? Surely they must have built enough of the
    cars by now?
    
    Mark

    The results seem to reflect my idea of which teams are best.
    
    Toyota tops (again)
    
    Lancia next (shame they're not tops)
    
    Others also in the order shown.
    
    As for Ford, I would think they may take a while getting used
    to top-flight rallying as a team - they've had a long absence.
    
    Although Subaru are up there, aren't they handled by David Sutton ?
    If not, they have taken to it rather well.
    
    Good luck to all manufacturers who compete, shame on those that don't !
    
    J.R.

    
    The Toyota team remind me a lot of Mclaren.
    
    They have one drive who can seemingly sweep everything before him, but
    the rest of the team don't really look that good.
    
    I suspect Lancia IS still top TEAM, but they haven't got any drivers
    who can compete outright with Sainz, who really seems to be in a class
    of his own. Delecour, the Ford driver, appears to be fast enough, but
    as yet hasn't got the car to allow him to compete without pushing too
    hard.
    
    As you say, Subaru are run by Prodrive.
    
    Mark

    .14�    of his own. Delecour, the Ford driver, appears to be fast enough, but
    .14�    as yet hasn't got the car to allow him to compete without pushing too
    
    Delecour was 2nd in Portugal (behind Armin Schwarz, Toyota) when they
    encountered FOG and SNOW. Both Delecour and Schwarz should be winning
    races very soon.
    
    Ford will enter the Fiesta Cosworth 4WD as soon as rules permit.
    Otherwise Sierra looks very good. The new Celica should appear this
    season too.
    
    Mazda are said to stop rallying for the rest of the season. Mitsubishi
    decided to skip Portugal. Subaru still need some adjustments.

    >> Ford will enter the Fiesta Cosworth 4WD as soon as rules permit.
    
    Patrick, presumably you mean the Escort?
    
    Mark

    .16�    Patrick, presumably you mean the Escort?
    
    Yes, sorry about that

    And Lancia will have the evolutione du� 16v integrale. (sp ?)
    
    Somehow, I doubt that that will be good enough, as it
    centres around suspension changes and no 'major change'
    to the rest of the car.
    
    But, this is the team with the best 'history', so they should
    never be written off too lightly.
    
    I remember reading that within the Fiat empire, the Lancia
    name is to be used for 'executive' cars and that Alfa is to
    be used for 'sporting' cars.  Seems to be the opposite to what
    the current car range is badged as (SZ excepted).
    
    How would rallying fit into that scheme of things ?
    
    J.R.

    .18�    I remember reading that within the Fiat empire, the Lancia
    .18�    name is to be used for 'executive' cars and that Alfa is to
    .18�    be used for 'sporting' cars.  Seems to be the opposite to what
    .18�    the current car range is badged as (SZ excepted).
    
    The positioning of the various divisions of the Fiat empire is
    difficult to articulate, but should look like :
    
    - Ferrari	F1
    - Alfa	Sports Cars, CART
    - Lancia 	Rallying
    - Maserati 	?
    - Fiat	nil
    
    We should have seen a 3.5ltr silhouette a few years back. It should
    reappear (in a different shape) one of these days in the World Sports
    Cars Championship.

    
    Do Alfa have a commitment to their CART programme? It hasn't seemed 
    very successful so far (even by Porsche standards). The proposed
    Group C programme seems to come and go with every issue of MN too.
    
    Things do not seem well within the Fiat group.
    
    Mark

due to the fact that they won last years Manufacturers Championship...

    Saw a report about Portugal on TF1 yesterday : it was VERY wet (pouring
    rain). Didier Auriol was explaining the problem Lancia have with Toyota
    (both Sainz and Schwarz) : "I was driving absolutely flat out, taking
    incredible risks, ... at the end of the stage a relaxed Sainz appears
    and .... wins by 10 seconds. What can we do ?"
    
    Schwarz (Toyota) and Delecour (Ford) were leading the race when both 
    ran out of the road in the same stage (snow AND fog). 

�due to the fact that they won last years Manufacturers Championship...
    
    Was this the seventh or the eighth year that they have won this ?
    
    I still don't expect them to manage it this year, although I
    would like to see them do it yet again !
    
    J.R.

Safari Rally results - 4th round of 1991 championship

 1. Kankkunen/Piironen		Lancia Integrale
 2. M. Ericsson/Billstam	Toyota Celica GT4
 3. Recalde/Christie		Lancia Integrale
 4. Waldegard/Gallagher		Toyota Celica GT4
 5. Blomqvist/Melander		Nissan Sunny GTI
 6. Duncan/Williamson		Subaru Legacy	
 7. Kirkland/Thanhi		Nissan Sunny GTI
 8. Shinozuka/Meadows		Mitsubishi Galant
 ...............

    Sainz quit with a broken engine
    Biasion was stopped by an accident with a local car
    
    
Drivers championship		Manufacturers championship

 1. Sainz	40		1. Toyota	57
 2. Kankkunen	38		2. Lancia	54
 3. Biasion	27		3. Subaru	18
 4. K.Eriksson	20		4. Ford		14
    Alen	20		5. Mitsubishi	 8
 6. Auriol	17		6. Mazda	 6
 7. Jonsson	15		7. Daihatsu	 2
    M.Ericsson	15
 9. Delecour	12
    Recalde	12
11. Schwarz	10
    Carlsson	10
    Waldegard	10

 ......

Did Ford enter a works team in the Safari ?

    No.
    
    Mark

    The Tour de Corse is underway. Current (30 Apr at 12h00) leaders are:
    
      - Delecour Ford
      - Auriol   Lancia
      - Sainz    Toyota
    
    all 3 within seconds ... Early leader Armin Schwarz ran out of the road
    yesterday afternoon.
    
    Finish line: tomorrow night

    
    Where are the Renaults now, Patrick?
    
    Mark
    

    .28�    Where are the Renaults now, Patrick?
    
    At CORTE (12H00) the Renault Clios were in 9th (Bugalski) and 10th
    (Ragnotti) place at around 9/10 minutes from Delecour.
    
    This afternoon Delecour is reported to have had a mechanical problem
    which made him lose 15 minutes. He's now in 11th place. Auriol leads in
    front of Sainz.

Tour de Corse 1991

Final results				1991 World Rally drivers championship

 1. Sainz	Toyota			1. Sainz	60
 2. Auriol	Lancia			2. Kankkunen	38
 3. Cunico	Ford			3. Auriol	32
 4. Duez	Toyota			4. Biasion	27
 5. Wilson	Ford			5. Alen		20
 6. Loubet	Lancia			   K.Eriksson	20
 7. Bernardini	Ford			7. Jonsson	15
 8. Bugalski	Renault			   M.Ericsson	15
 9. Chatriot	Subaru			9. Delecour	12
10. Manzagol	Renault			   Recalde	12
					   Wilson	12

Manufacturers

1. Toyota	77
2. Lancia	71
3. Ford		28
4. Subaru	20

    Delecour's Ford Sierra expired in the last stage Tuesday. Schwarz hit a
    wall and ran out of the road. Ragnotti with the 2nd works Renault Clio
    does not appear in the final results. Another fine win for Carlos Sainz
    who managed to break Didier Auriol's record (3 wins in a row) in
    Corsica.

    Didn't anybody notice the Acropolis (sp?) Rally in Greece????
    
    Juha Kankkunen won after a very hard race against Sainz & co.
    
    - Jyri -

Bring Juha back within touch of Carlos (17 points ?). Anyone have the story of
the race - it wasn't reported down here ?

Acropolis Rally

1. Kankkunen	Lancia
2. Sainz	Toyota
3. Biasion	Lancia
4. Auriol	Lancia
5. Schwarz	Toyota
6. M Ericsson	Toyota
7. K Eriksson	Mitsubishi
8. Mikkola	Mazda
 ....

1991 Rally drivers World championship 

1. Sainz	75
2. Kankkunen	58
3. Auriol	42
4. Biasion	39
5. K Eriksson	23
6. M Ericsson	21
7. Alen		20
8. Schwarz	18
 .....

    The results do not reflect the race. The absolute top performer in
    Greece was Kenneth Eriksson who managed to win 30 of the 47 stages but
    was delayed by a collision with a non-rally car while crossing Athens.
    He was given a 7' penalty. Later on he got a few more minutes. If you
    deduct those penalties Eriksson wins by a wide margin.
    
    Leadership of the race was in the hands of both Sainz and Auriol (d�ja
    vu) until both were slowed by mechanical problems. Kankkunen was
    obviously there to score. Biasion was never in position to lead the
    race. The Fords were all delayed by minor problems with schocks,
    brakes, differential, etc ... Acropolis is one of the most demanding
    rallies in terms of reliability and while most cars have suffered
    various failures, the Lancias and Toyotas seemed to be well prepared
    and more reliable.
    

Results of the Drivers Championship round in New Zealand.

A very good win to Sainz in the Toyota by 1:15 from Kankkunen in the Lancia 
with Auriol further back.

I followed the whole rally as part of a media contingent and Sainz was at his
best - very consistent and mostly just a *bit* faster than Kankkunen.

Drive of the rally to Auriol who had a rear brake failure on the first day and
lost over a minute, followed by a front diff failure of the last SS of the
2nd day losing another chunk of time. He drove the 160-odd Kms of special
stage up the Motu river *so* fast. This is extremely desolate country, a narrow
single lane road of about 160kms (3 stages) that crosses a rugged set of hills
in the center of the country. The road is up the side of a hill with drop-offs
of over 500m to the valley floor (I know because I drove it). Auriol put on
over 15s from the others over this terain. Great to watch. Why is he so
unlucky ?

There seems to be little separating the top cars, except that the Toyota
manages to sound *remarkably* like a Group B car...

Rally of New Zealand 1991
-------------------------

1. Sainz	Toyota
2. Kankkunen	Lancia
3. Auriol	Lancia
4. Alen		Subaru
5. Allport	Mazda
6. Millen	Mazda
......

Peter Ashcroft (Ford) has decided not to compete for a while until
the Sierras 4x4 (and maybe the new Escort) are improved significantly
in terms of reliability of major components such as shocks, diffs, ...

Also New Zealand does not count for the Marque Championship (only for
the Drivers Championship)

Drivers Championship 1991
-------------------------

1. Sainz	95  (4 wins)
2. Kankkunen	73  (2 wins)
3. Auriol	54
4. Biasion	39
5. Alen		30
6. Eriksson	24  (1 win)
7. Ericsson	21
8. Schwartz	18
............ 

    Situation here in Finland after the first day:
    
    1. Markku Alen
    2. Carlos Sainz
    3. Juha Kankkunen
    4. Ari Vatanen
    5. Sebastian Lindholm
    
    
    Sainz is only one second behind Alen, and the hole top six are very
    close to each other; Lindholm is only 54 secs behind Alen. Seems to
    become an interesting rally.
    
    - Jyri -
    

    Final results:
    
    1. Juha Kankkunen, Lancia
    2. Didier Auriol, Lancia
    3. Timo Salonen, Mitsubishi
    4. Kenneth Eriksson, Mitsubishi
    5. Carlos Sainz, Toyota
    6. Tommi M�kinen, Mazda
    7. Mats Jonsson, Toyota
    8. Ari Vatanen, Ford
    9. Stig Blomqvist, Nissan
    10. Armin Schwarz, Toyota
    11. David Llewellin, Nissan
    
    

    Drivers Championship after 1000 Lakes Rally
    
    1. Sainz 		123
    2. Kankkunen 	103
    3. Auriol 		81
    4. Biasion		54
    5. Eriksson		34
    6. Alen		30
    7. Ericsson		27
    8. Recalde		20
    9. Schwarz		19
    10. Jonsson		17
    
    
    

    Australian Rally, the results:
    
    1. Juha Kankkunen, Fin, Lancia
    2. Kenneth Eriksson, Swe, Mitsubishi
    3. Armin Schwartz, Ger, Toyota
    4. Markku Alen, Fin, Subaru
    5. Timo Salonen, Fin, Mitsubishi
    6. Rod Millen, NZ, Mazda
    7. Ross Dunkerton, Australia, Mitsubishi
    8. Jorge Recalde, Arg, Lancia
    9. Neal Bates, Australia, Toyota
    10. Ed Ordynski, Australia, Mitsubishi
    
    
    Carlos Sainz and Didier Auriol had to quit. So, situation is quite
    exciting in the top of Drivers' Championships.
    
    
    - Jyri -

    Situation of Drivers' Championships:
    
    1. Carlos Sainz, Spa, 125
    2. Juha Kankkunen, Fin, 123
    3. Didier Auriol, Fra, 81
    4. Massimo Biasion, Ita, 54
    5. Kenneth Eriksson, Swe, 51
    6. Markku Alen, Fin, 40
    7. Armin Schwartz, Ger, 32
    
    
    Situation of Makers' Championships
    
    1. Lancia, 148
    2. Toyota, 140
    3. Mitsubishi, 45
    4. Mazda, 38
    5. Ford, 34
    6. Subaru, 32

RE: .42

"Sainz had to quit" is a bit of an understatement! Anyone seen the film of him
rolling it - he did at least 6 flips. The Toyota was a big mess.

    He drove out several times, the last time was so bad he couldn't
    continue.

Glad to see Roddy (Rod Millen) do so well in a WRC event.  He's been US National
PRO Rally champ and is basically one of the top 2 rallyists in this country,
the other being John Buffum.  Even though he's from NZ, he's currently based
out of Southern California.

Dave

Lancia wrap up their 5th consecutive Manufacturers Championship in the San Remo
rally which finished yesterday with a Auriol, Biason 1-2.

The battle for the Drivers championship is unchanged as both Carlos and Juha
pulled out.

    re: .47
    
    Carlos was not pulled out, he finished third. Toyota's team told
    Schwartz to take nine minutes penalty so that Carlos could pass him.
    
    Both Kankkunen and Sainz are going to participate the two rallies there
    are left this year. Kankkunen said in today's newspaper that he needs one
    more win to beat Carlos. Results of nine rallies are counted in the
    final results.
    
    - Jyri -

    
    I thought from the results I saw that Lancia were 1st, 2nd 3rd.
    
    Richard
    

    
    Autosport and Ceefax both have Lancia 1-2-3 with Delecour up there in 
    a Ford and Sainz down in 6th.
    
    Mark

    San Remo Result
     1. Auriol-Occelli (Lancia)
     2. Biasion-Siviero (Lancia)
     3. Cerrato-Cerri (Lancia)
     4. Delecour-Pauwels (Ford)
     5. Aghini-Fanocchia (Lancia)
     6. Sainz-Moya (Toyota)
     7. Liatti-Tedeschini (Lancia)
     8. Schwarz-Hertz (Toyota)
     9. Fiorio-Pirollo (Ford)
    10. Wilson-Grist (Ford)
    
    1st group N - Manfrinato-Nicoli (Ford)
    
    Constructors - 1. Lancia     134pts
                   2. Toyota     128