I guess yes since they used those at rally Germany last year.
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When I was watching the stage they interviewed Ogier at the end and he said something like "I did not cut aggressively on this stage because I don't want to get puncture". A few minutes later, the commentator said "I'm hearing that Meeke is stopped on the stage" and my heart sank. Well, I thought, there is the difference between Ogier and Meeke in a nutshell. Both are blistering fast, but Ogier is wise.
But I watched the onboard where Meeke got his broken rim. He didn't seem to do anything terribly unusual, a cut with a 10-15cm drop off the side of the asphalt. He made cuts like it before and after, and other people made similar cuts in their onboards. Perhaps he was persistently cutting a little more than the others and he weakened the rim gradually, getting the failure the others didn't. Or perhaps it was just luck.
When it comes to this situation when Ogier has been cautious with the cuts, the most significant case I remember in short terms is Germany '17 when Neuville broke his suspension. In the same corner Ogier did the full turn on the asphalt despite there was clear sign many drivers take this deep cut some even with all 4 wheels off the road, which probably cost him no less than 2 seconds. There must be some "insurance" in his notes for more risky corner cutting, more than other drivers.
Plenty of times those farther behind are forced to cut more by those front runners who bring the dirt on the road. Those at the back often don't have the luxury of choice like the first one has.
Watching the cuts these drivers are often taking, it's surprising there aren't more punctures and more occasions where things get damaged. It's better to have as little unsprung mass as possible, so lighter wheels are faster. But for 300gr/wheel, maybe it's more interesting to have the stronger wheels, even if it's only for giving the drivers more confidence.
How does this wheel selection work? Does a team have a variety of choices of weight, etc. How many wheel manufacturers are there? I checked the O.Z. website, and I think I saw something in the neighborhood of that manufacturer supplying 90% of the WRC field. Is this correct? ....and why are the wheel specs not standard? Are they not in other forms of motorsport?
Like your normal roadcar, cars need different ET etc. Otherwise they are all similar, exactly the same height and width, all need to have the same tires mounted on the rims At the moment i think all 4 use OZ. Like Mäkinen said, they have and have used reinforced tarmac wheels in ADAC, prmised to start using them in the future.
https://www.rallit.fi/tommi-makinen-...usi-ralliauto/
Was this here somewhere already? Tommi confirming that the R5 is coming, but everything about the schedule is so Mäkinen-esque that you can't really tell whether the car is ready to race tomorrow or still on the drawing board. My two cents would be on the first option. I think the car is more ready than what has been believed.
https://www.motor1.com/news/316346/2...chback-debuts/
And whenever he is ready to release the car to the public I do believe it will be this body shape, the new Yaris for 2020. Also to note, ignore the date stamp on that article as this looks like the real deal!