The Basque rallying championship started at the last weekend

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

Hi folks

Although two months is very little time for checking, improving, updating, testing, whatever...a rallying car (for instance it lasted two months from the last 2005 rallying race to the first 2006 event), actually the basque country championship looks really good considering that we are talking about a regional championship and some rallying cars werent presented because they arent ready to be driven

Nonetheless lets mention the most relevant cars

First of all, the new Santi Artetxe´s adquisition; a 2005 ex-Marcus Gronholm´s pug 307 WRC





An ex-works, upgrated and inmaculate Ford Escort WRC (its wouldnt be strange if the car has the focus WRC´s spare parts); IMO its the most beautiful car from the basque rallying champioship







Another Ford Escort WRC although its not as accurately assembled as the previous one, but a WRC car at the end of the day





A full grA specs 2005 Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII





A full grA specs Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI





A five month old full grN specs Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII



An ex-TTE and World Rallying Championship Toyota Celica Gt-4 grA



An awesome Renault Maxi 5 Turbo look Renault 5 Tour de Corse 1600cc (although the owner is waiting for even better spare parts)



A BMW M3 E36 grA (the engine is prepared by Delage Sport)





A couple of good and powerful grA specs Ford Sierra Cosworth





An ex-works Renault Maxi Megane Evo II



An ex-works Fiat Punto S1600



Another ex-works S1600 (Citroen Saxo)



and then here we go some cars in order to get some great fun such as the rear wheel drive BMW 325i





Followed by the hot hatches

Lets begin with the efficient C2 VTS





Or the grN Renault clio RS



The Citroen Saxo VTS



The Citroen AX GTI



The pug 205



The Renault Clio Williams



A grA specs Seat Ibiza GTI 16v



Naturally we cant understimate the Renault 5 Gt Turbo, can we dani?



As the final pics, here we go the classic cars which took part in the rally as well








However, as I said earlier, not every car was available this weekend, and in the next race well have the chance to see the next cars:

- A totally new full grN specs subaru Impreza STI(the five month old mitsubishi Lancer VIII driver has sold the car to the codriver and he has bought the subaru instead)

- A Evo 3 Hyundai Accent WRC 2003

- Another ex-works Ford Escort WRC

- The current spanish grN champion (a Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VIII)

- An ex-works Seat Ibiza Kit Car Evo II

- Another full specs Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI

[psykonesz83]

any hi-res pictures?

[ARMAN]

nice pics Ford Capri 2.8i m3e36, Maxi Megane, EVO VI are beautiful No m3e30 anymore?

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

I wish if there was a grA M3 E30 taking part, or a grA Ford Sierra RS Cosworth; however, there is a Basque driver who owns the following M3 (an ex-works M3 and updated by DELAGE)



and he would take part as long as the work lets him drive

In addition, here we go some pics about other drivers who take part in the Basque Championship but in a non regular way







Finally, there is another Basque driver who still owns the following M3, and see if he is able to come back to the hillclimb championship as a few years ago



By the way, I didnt say which engine the red grA M3 E36 (Im talking about the first pic gallery shown in this topic) has; it has the 3200 engine

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

The white isnt the ex-Olle´s one since he bought it in Italy and the car is newer (as far as I know the Olle´s one is a 1997 version (the year when the escort made it debut in the WRC) whereas the white one is a 1998´s one (the Ford escort WRC last year in the rallying world championship); furthermore, he went to Italy instead of Spain or France just in order to buy the escort with the latest electronical features such as the active differentials, sequential gearbox

Although the red Escort is running under WRC specifications, actually its a handmade Escort with many grA parts; in fact its a grA Escort transformed to the WRC one (id bet that the only WRC part is just the rear suspension), and It doesnt have any electronical device such as the gearbox or any active differential

And the third candidate is the escort which was driven in the spanish gravel championship some years ago, and the car is going to be transformed into the tarmac specifications; Moreover, this escort, alongside the Olle´s one, was driven in the WRC in 1996 under the Malcolm Wilson Motorsport support

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

Oh, sorry...we are not expecting just an ex-works Ibiza Evo II kit-Car just a couple of Ibiza Evo II Kit-Cars

[psykonesz83]

so i'm guessing the answer is no high res pics

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

Not Im afraid Im sorry

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

Hi Psykonesz83

Actually Ive found out some high-res pics of the rally, see if the guy is getting more pics, specially the M3 and the escort ones; nonetheless this is the selection of pics for the moment

























Lets see if Ive got a bit of luck and Im able to get more high-res pics

[redbaron]

Nice entry list. It is good to see there are a lot of WRCs.

About the Escort WRC, the fist Escort WRCs were build in 1997, when the WRC rules started. In those years lots of Gr.A Escorts from 1996 were transformed to WRC specs. I remember something about an upgrade package for privateers in 1999, the year when the Ford works team started with the Focus WRC.

[Wutputt]

Nice to see some rally action pics. Great entry lest, my favourite still is the A110

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

Well see the car in the climbhill championship unless he does have some budget problems

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

Hi guys, Ive had the chance to find out a video about the first rally commented earlier when creating this topic

Although the image of the video could be better, actually its possible to hear the cars very properly, and the overlook from the camera is quite good as well

here we go the link

http://www.youtube.com/user/copaturbo

I wish I was capable for downloading it

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

Hi guys again

As I already said, the first rally (from the Basque Rallying championship) held in 2006 was too early in order to see every single car or get every car ready, and I mentioned earlier that some other relevant cars were going to take part in the coming rallies, and I was right

Lets see the additional cars presented in the second round which was held yesterday, and of course, I was there and I got a really enjoyable afternoon

The rally winner yesterday, the immactulate and good looking Hyundai Accent WRC Evo III (the last ex-works Accent version with the latest updates)





The top grN subaru impreza



The 00 safety car, a grA 2006 Subaru Impreza with its features such as the bang-bang, the waste gate valve, its awesome and peculiar boxer sound (not noise),...





A max grA renault clio williams with the existing latest technological features such as the sequential gearbox, suspension spare parts, electronics....the car is so efficient (despite its old chassis) that the car is actually as fast as the moderns citroen Saxo or C2 S1600



As I said earlier, the current spanish grN champion is here and its going to compete in the Basque rallying championship



The expecting one year old C2 S1600 was presented in the rally as well (prepared by Piedrafita, alongside kronos and PH-Racing, the best citroen tuner in rallying)



The missing second saxo S1600 from the Autogomas team which wasnt ready for the first rally (naturally the best way to distinguish the car from the JW crew is just to glance the numberplates)



And finally....latest PSA(the citroen-peugeot corporation)´s hot hatch presentation thoroughout the world; they decided to present it yesterday in the second rally instead of the Geneve motorshow (is is possible that a basque exhibition center is going to replace the prestigious Geneva motoroshow???, Im sorry TT,.....lol)

The citroen 106 VTS/ pug Saxo GTI





However, if it wasnt enough, it seems that some new and relevant cars are going to be presented in the next rallies since we are waiting to see other modern cars such as another Ford Escort WRC, a couple of ex-works Seat Ibiza Kit Car Evo II, another Kit Car,....naturally, Ill let you know

[Ford Capri 2.8i]

After being held the third race from the Basque Rallying championship, as I commented earlier, some new cars were presented last sunday

Here we go the new cars although there wasnt much news

An almost top grA mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI which was a great pleasure to see it in muddy roads





In addition, weve got the chance to see the third sierra grA



And an ex-works Max GrA (F2) and updated Renault Clio Williams



And !!!! aleluya!!!, weve the opportunity of seeing the renault 5 GT Turbo (Dani have its road version), and actually I was missing this model a lot since a little car with a big turbo, a great sound, and some traction difficulties gives a lot of good spectacles for us, specially the yellow one which has proper suspensions, brakes, and a lot of much power (about 190 turbo bhps)







As a couple of bizarre rallying cars, here we go a couple of regular rallying grA turbo diesel seat ibizas





As the road was in really terrible conditions, some drivers decided to get and offer some great fun and forget the lap time

In fact, instead of getting the usual and wide 18" wheels, the next driver decided to get some 16", narrow and old tyres in order to go sideways as much as he could



Other drivers tried and succeed to imitate him







Whereas the front wheel car drivers tried to use the handbrake as much as they could











If it wasnt enough, we are waiting for some news in the next race(as you can see, the basque rallying championship has many races) such as the couple of Seat Ibiza Kit Car (it seems that they are to be checked and they arent ready), and a rear wheel drive ford sierra cosworth

See what happens anyway