Test Drive Five Rally Legends: Downhill
Excursion to the VW “Turtle”, Ford RS200, Opel Commodore, BMW 2002 ti Toyota Corolla
Let's once again feel the dry asphalt under the wheels. Let's smell the hot oil one more time, let's listen to the engines work one more time - on the last flight of the season with five real daredevils. We don't mean drivers.
The outstretched hand with the thumb appeared still expresses confidence in victory and stubbornly continues to be perceived as a gesture of triumph. It is used by euphoric professional athletes, triumphant politicians and unprepared TV stars - despite the fact that it has already become almost painfully commonplace. And now he drives a car, and it is completely unnecessary.
Just like a thumbs up, the electric shift switch protrudes from the steering column of the Toyota Corolla WRC. Carlos Sainz and Didier Auriol also changed the six gears of the X Trac transmission with short bursts of the right hand. And now I will do it. I hope. Coming soon. Judging by the acoustics, the pistons, connecting rods and valves in the block and cylinder head of a four-cylinder engine with forced filling - of course, at 299 hp, allowed by the then regulations - move completely chaotically. The racing machine makes restless noises, the two pumps whine trying to keep the pressure in the hydraulic system at a level of about 100 bar. How did you get here? Looking back, I can no longer say for sure.
Parked next to the racing Corolla are four more retired rally champion heroes who want to tell their stories from different eras. And since even slow driving on gravel forest roads is no longer socially acceptable, only public roads remain - if possible paved with heads from the history of motorsport, for example, the site to the top of Schauinsland in the Black Forest. Here, from 1925 to 1984, more or less regularly, international virtuosos at the helm raced along a 12-kilometer route with a vertical drop of 780 meters.
Turtle with a Porsche heart
Almost stunned with awe, Frank Lentfer walks around the VW Turtle that competed in Mile Mile. This should not surprise us - the editorial test pilot spends his free time smeared up to his elbows in the oil of his personal car "Economic Miracle". “Just look at the muffler!” And adjustable front axle! "Okay, I'll see them.
But even if the whole VW turtles are not overly admired, the fact that Paul Ernst Strele drove the entire team crazy while training at the Mile Mile in 1954. Fiat, as a result of which it was forcibly transferred to prototypes in order to win its class, will be forced to look at this car with a slightly different eyes. Even then, a Porsche 356 transmission with about 60 hp was boiling in the rear compartment. However, with the participation of an ideological successor participating in today's meeting, the documents record 51 kilowatts, that is, 70 hp, some of which the four-cylinder engine is already taking from the combustion chambers with boxing blows. The so-called seats were used in the Porsche 550 Spyder and consist of an aluminum body covered with thin upholstery.
There is nothing more to say about belonging to motorsport - the steering wheel is still thin and, as before, there is no rollover frame. There are also no racing belts on the replica as they would have been historically unreliable. Thus, it relies on conventional lap belts for passive safety, and driver skill for active safety. He should know that the accuracy of the transmission and steering is about the same as in a three-year weather forecast. Suppose this does not sound very tempting, but, firstly, it is true, and secondly, only half. Because when the sporty Volkswagen launches into its characteristic raspy voice, the mood quickly picks up under its soft top – perhaps because the VW's power figures are probably pure lies.
"Turtle" rushes into the attack with deep, warm intonations, as if to instill confidence again in a nation traumatized by a devastating war, and wants to prove that 160 and maybe more kilometers per hour is not an impossible task. Colleague Jorn Thomas sits hunched over next to the driver, and his appearance doesn't mean he wants to experience it - and frankly, I don't. It is enough for a person to check the intermediate thrust of a 1,5-liter engine and answer the call by engaging the correct gear and finding the optimal stopping point. The more tediously flashing a VW model with six-volt headlights, the more it is carried around corners where the driver often loses support, lighter than the Porsche-improved chassis.
Commodore Call
Jorn is also amazed by the power of the "turtle", but suggests that it "weighs only 730 kilograms". This draws him to the Opel Commodore. This is both understandable and predictable. Understandably, because the coupe exposes the false prejudice that elegant cars have to come from Italy (or at least not from Germany). And this is quite predictable, because Jorn has a reputation in the newsroom as a staunch supporter of Opel.
Otherwise, he doesn't really like old cars, but he says he would buy a car with the number GG-CO 72 without hesitation. “What a design, what a sound, what a piece of equipment – great job,” Jorn says as he adjusts his four-point harness. It remains only to raise the winning thumb. Indeed, in 1973, Walter Röhl drove a Commodore B through countless corners of the Monte Carlo Rally and finished twelve kilometers from the final and placed 18th overall due to a broken suspension element. A fuel-injected 2,8-liter engine is already running under the long hood, and our copy, which reproduces the 1972 model, has the then top-of-the-line unit. It replaces two Zenith variable-valve carburetors with Opel's classic automotive division with three Weber twin-barrel units, jumping the 2,5-liter engine's output from 130 to 157 hp. with., almost to the level of the injection motor. Despite its imposing appearance with a roll-over protection cage, racing seats, front cover latches and a battery of extra lights, the 9:1 compression ratio inline-six gives its own definition of temperament.
In the Commodore, the driver experiences acoustic rather than physical dynamics, and is driven by an ambitious drive to change that ratio. In practice, this means gentle gear shifting, preventing unnecessary pressure on the engine when further pressing the accelerator pedal. Third and fourth gears are somehow out of place - one often feels too short, the other always too long. And what? There comes a time when Commodore manages to retrain you enough to give you peace of mind - shifting the focus to the convenience of a front suspension with rocket arms and a rigid rear axle with trailers.
This Opel dates back to an era when the brand's cars were not required to lead a lifestyle, because they were just a way of life. The position behind the huge sports steering wheel is free of tension, the hand rests calmly on the long elbow gear lever with a bend in the bar. At wide open throttle, the CIH engine (used in Opel models with overhead camshaft) works like an elephant without any restrictions, and the boost itself is quite useful because otherwise the carburetor sometimes chokes. With the ZF steering, which has a 16: 1 servo ratio, any change in the direction of the 14-inch wheels must be announced in advance so that the 4,61-meter coupe can reach its destination clearly and clearly.
Merged with BMW
After all, Commodore is more like hot milk with honey, but served in a bright red glass. And if you prefer a cocktail of vodka and Red Bull, a BMW 2002 ti rally version is available. In a two-seater model with wide fenders, Achim Wormbold and co-driver John Davenport ended the 72nd season with a win at Rally Portugal. Today, automotive engine and sports testing engineer Otto Rupp looks like he's turned into a 1969 Rauno Altonen chair. And not because it is too wide for her. “It hardly matters what era the BMW comes from – the harmony between chassis, transmission and brakes is always close to perfect,” Rupp said.
So much the better - sports tires with rare tread grooves do not want to heat up normally on roads partially covered with early frost. Again and again, the rear part serves, from which the drive unit with a power of about 190 hp works. registers the desire of the pilot to accelerate. If we call the engine change an overhaul, it would be an inappropriate understatement - it is better to talk about a completely new design. Because in the past, Alpina rebalanced the crankshaft, lightened the connecting rods, increased the compression ratio, increased the diameter of the valves and installed a camshaft with an opening angle of 300 degrees - and all this, as we already mentioned, with the rest. Even at 3000 rpm, the four-cylinder engine starts rattling and rattling like a behaving chainsaw, and at 6000 rpm it looks like the whole logging crew is involved.
By this point, the driver had already forgotten that first gear shifted to the left and forward, as it should be in a real sports transmission. At that time, the definition of "sport" also referred to leverage work, which requires great strength to get on the desired path. What about his move? In short, just like the word itself. Colleague Rupp is right that this BMW is a perfect fit. Along with the temperature of the asphalt, tires and engine increases the courage to move the stop points and steering wheel closer to the corners. The pedals are conveniently located in an upright position and allow for noisy volleys of intermediate gas, from which the surrounding trees lose some of their needles.
With a slight lateral tilt, the sporty BMW protrudes from the corner, first with a battery of auxiliary headlights, and then with the rest of the 4,23-meter-long body. The chassis, which was equipped with independent suspension from the factory, did not require any major engine modifications. Everything is made a little denser, more resistant to deformation, wider - and you're done. As a result, contact with the road becomes more intense, and the lack of power steering and - an often overlooked advantage of older cars - thin roof pillars also help in fast and accurate antics with a classic BMW.
From the light - in the darkness of the Ford
However, there is no such aquarium decoupling in the Ford RS200. In fact, there is no all-round view here, although a gap in the rear wing indicates some effort on the part of the engineers. But wait, we are already in the early eighties - the time of the intimidating Group B. Back then, pilots should have rejoiced if they could even look ahead through a full windshield (in the RS200 it comes from the Sierra model) - this is how manufacturers of the degree have honed their sports equipment to achieve minimum weight and at the same time maximum power.
In addition, the reversible transmission principle invented by the then chief engineer of the Ford sports department led to extra pounds, since two driveshafts were required. One leads from the centrally located engine to the transmission next to the front axle, and the other leads back to the rear wheels. Why all this? Almost perfect weight balance. In contrast, torque distribution in a dual transmission system with three clutch-activated differentials has a strong emphasis on the rear axle: 63 to 47 percent. In this first brief description, the location of the power path seems small, but in the interior it is quite extensive. My feet have to press three pedals in a well that would make the gutter look spacious compared to what would I do if I was wearing number 46 shoes? And it's not every day that your left foot falls on such a ceramic-metal connector that requires preheating of each muscle.
Gradually, I was able to achieve an exemplary start, and with the nasal, semi-loud sound of an illegally modified production engine, a four-cylinder turbo engine drives a sports car. The Garrett turbocharger squeezes 1,8bhp out of the 250-liter unit, but before that power is even noticeable, the four-valve engine must first crawl out of the deep turbo bore. Below 4000 rpm, the turbocharger pressure needle swings slightly and approaches a maximum value of 0,75 bar just above this limit. Peak torque of 280 Nm is achieved at 4500 rpm, and then it's time to grab the sport steering wheel that the Escort XR3i is doing. Servo amplifier? Nonsense. In this case, ideally, the car is controlled by the accelerator pedal, which, however, on dry asphalt is possible only at speeds that indicate a completely free attitude to the rules of the road.
Aside from the clutch and steering wheel, the five-speed transmission also requires a toned physique, because the Sierra's short ball-arm moves through the grooves like an iron rod through concrete—dried, of course. However, it doesn't take long - for example, just get out of the Stuttgart valley and climb the southern slopes of the Black Forest - and the RS200 will fall on your heart, legs and arms. Even when driving through towns where taverns offer deli meats and speeds are limited to 30 km/h, the Ford model takes things without grumbling. Isn't that how he tries to forget his tragic role in Group B? In 1986, the thumb fell and the series died. By 1988, Ford was selling a few more RS200s as a road version for 140 marks.
Meanwhile, on the world rally tracks, Group A is already trying to maintain interest in the World Championship; in 1997, the WRC appeared, and with it the Toyota Corolla. Its two-liter turbo engine was borrowed from the Celica, and only a few details were changed. For example, a compressed air cooler with an additional water shower moves on top of the engine directly into the airflow path behind the radiator grille. Because of this, the temperature of the intake air had to be reduced by ten percent. However, history is silent about the problem of temperature in the minds of Carlos Sainz and Luis Moya, when at the rally "Britannia" in 1998, the same unit arbitrarily switched off 500 meters before the finish line and refused to work any longer, preventing the title. The outburst of anger on my part is remembered to this day.
Terrible noise in Toyota WRC
However, the constructors' title was won the following season - just before Toyota focused on F1 a year earlier than planned. Maybe the Japanese needed...? You should have, you could - it doesn't matter today. Jochen Ubler, our head tester with experience in motorsports, will be the first to dare to make his way through the jungle with small buttons in this car anyway. True, he does not follow the Iberian knock of Mo (“mas! Mas! Mas!”), but fearlessly descends the slope towards the creeping mists. The sounds of the Bravura pipe are lost somewhere in the forest, and a few minutes later the feverish whistle of the overpressure valve announces the return - and that both the car and the pilot have already warmed up - each separately. “The noise there is terrible - just like when accelerating. At the same time, it only develops normally from 3500-6500 rpm,” announced Jochen and, very impressed, took a hesitant step towards 2002.
Now it's me. I press on the clutch (the humorless three-disc carbon component), release it very carefully and start pulling, but at least not letting the car shut down. I ignore all the controls and switches scattered across the dashboard as if from an explosion. Different configurations of three variable power train differentials? Maybe in some future life.
Jochen is right, of course. Now, with the tachometer needle flashing 3500, the 1,2-ton Toyota seems to explode and smash its wheels into the asphalt. I frantically yank on the shift lever, and there is a crackling noise that indicates the next gear is being engaged. And I have to go straight to the very top. What about the brakes? Like a clutch without any humor, they have not yet reached operating temperature, so they surprise with almost no action. You'll have to try a few more times. At the same time, give another volley from the gearbox, quickly press the gas again - the dual gear will somehow work. The rear end shakes a little, my ears crackle and rumble, the transmission and differentials sing, the engine screams - now I just don't need to be distracted. For reference: we are still in the speed zone allowed by the regulations. How will this hell sound at a much faster pace if you hear the drumming of gravel over bare wing sheets?
I'm starting to feel sorry for the Queen. No other car in the quintet is forced to show such composure, grit and grit – not even a furious Ford. All five participants of the trip parked far beyond the norm - fortunately for us, otherwise here we had to talk about driver assistance systems, infotainment systems and fuel consumption. Instead, in the euphoria of the unequivocal emphasis on a flawless driving experience, we put our fingers up. Only internally, of course, because of the banality of the gesture.
Text: Jens Drale
Photo: Hans-Dieter Zeifert
