Who is going to drive for Subie next year?

[Hell Patrol]

i'm so itchi to know..

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Subaru have stated that they're in no hurry to make a decision.

 

[TS1AWD]

Yea right! Subaru has been callin me non stop like every single night to try out the car. I keep tellin them Im busy...

 

[-Fred-]

Mr.McRae (i call him McWreck ) is supposedly talking with David Lapworth and the Subaru bunch, trying to get a deal on for next year, even though he's planning on doing the Dakar.

 

[Sleek Stratos]

Originally posted by PunkRock
...even though he's planning on doing the Dakar.

Which wouldn't leave him a great deal of time to get accustomed to the Impreza.

 

[Hell Patrol]

I don't like the way McWreck treat his car when he was with ford

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Apparently he's asking for the same amount of cash that Subaru were due to pay Burns. I would think that the deal is more likely to happen than not.

Hell Patrol, if you did an analysis of McRae's crashes with Ford, you'd see that the vast majority of them were frustration-induced, and generally caused by over-driving a car that wasn't good enough to do the job.

 

[Hell Patrol]

Exactly

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
I would think that the deal is more likely to happen than not.

... And I would be wrong!

 

[Roo]

Finn Miko Hirvonen apparantly is now current favourite.

 

[-Fred-]

Originally posted by Roo
Finn Miko Hirvonen apparantly is now current favourite.

He's signed.

http://www.motorsport.com/news/article.asp?ID=143222

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I heard Richard Burn's is going to race for subaru.

 

[DRIFT4EVA]

Originally posted by radicool02
I heard Richard Burn's is going to race for subaru.

He's taking a years sebaticle to get over his brain tumour and heal properly

 

[vat_man]

Originally posted by DRIFT4EVA
He's taking a years sebaticle to get over his brain tumour and heal properly

Sabbatical - and it should be year's (to indicate the possessive).

I try not correct errors (seeing as I'm prone to them myself), but you've obviously learned the word phonetically. No intention to embarrass you. Cheers.

 

[DRIFT4EVA]

WHOOPS. I'll remember for next time.

 

[jizzmirk]

I was wondering about Subaru's Japanese driver. Something Arai (that's all I can remember from the Tamiya RC car). I can't find him on the Subaru 555 rally site or on WRC.com. I could have sworn he was a factory driver.

Anyone got the dirt on this guy?

 

[-Fred-]

He's STi's factory driver, i believe, like Takuma Sato is Honda's factory F1 driver. I believe he's campaigning a Prodrive built Group N Impreza this year, rather than the full blown WRC cars of previous years.

 

[jizzmirk]

Group N...does that mean his car is prepared by privateers or is it similar to the cars that the Subaru US Rally Team use (I am assuming that they do not use the same Pro-Drive cars that the WRC guys run)?

BTW, thanks for the info.

 

[GilesGuthrie]

Originally posted by jizzmirk
I was wondering about Subaru's Japanese driver. Something Arai (that's all I can remember from the Tamiya RC car). I can't find him on the Subaru 555 rally site or on WRC.com. I could have sworn he was a factory driver.

Anyone got the dirt on this guy?

Toshihio Aria. Often just referred to as Toshi.

Group N is often referred to as "showroom class". There are extra restrictions, and a lot of standard parts, such as brakes, engines, wheels etc, have to be used. The idea is to keep costs as low as possible, but you're still looking at $150,000 for a full-spec Group N car.