Pictures, videos, latest, the lowdown on the rundown to Rallye Deutschland...

You can post it all here!

And you can always take a look back at:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2280

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2069

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2164

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=626

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1597

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1297

thanks for the old post links...

we do all need to find some good pics...

GO FABIA GO!!!

It's time for the Skoda Motorsport Team (SMT) to get some credit at last.

Beware Peugeot, Ford, Citroen and the rest... because here come's your nightmare.

Cheers,

FD

Check out www.skoda-auto.com There are some cracking facts and pics about the WRC Fabia.

The Fabia WRC has passed homologation and is now clear to run in the Rally Deutschland on 25-27 July.

This means that there must be at least 2500 Fabia RS cars around somewhere... Can't be much of a waiting list when you order yours!

Wish there were more manufacturers in the WRC, Skoda always looks a bit crap in 5th or 6th place behind Citroen, Ford, Peugeot and Subaru when in fact even in Octavia guise it was a really cracking car ! Good luck to the Fabia, size isn't everything, but it looks like smaller cars are the way it's going. Although the new Focus is based on the American platform and I believe it's 6" longer.

Well, Peugeot are going big again - they will ditch the 206 for the 307 shortly!

Are they the first to start another trend again?

And yes, the Focus is pretty big too...

Any news on Mitsubishi's car for 2004? I had heard they might use the new Colt , but the new Evo 8 could be in the reckoning as well...

I have a very interesting Fabia WRC '03 factfile (Word 97, 310k) compiled by my friend Rainer Nyberg from Sweden.

Any idea how this can find its way onto Briskoda for distribution?

Copy and Paste?

Just post it in a series of messages - max length is 10,000 characters (?).

Or does it contain images, etc?

PM me if you want it converted to HTML and hosted

Yes, it contains images...

But there's a thought - I will convert it to HTML and put it somewhere where you can get to it.

More news on the Fabia WRC...

From this week's Autosport:

Fabia debut will be a test

SKODA team boss Peter Kohoutek has admitted that the Fabia WRC's maiden outing in Germany later this month will be little more than an extended test session.

"Our priority for Germany is to run as many stages and collect as much data as we can," said Kohoutek. "Our participation is a continuation of our development programme. This will be the ultimate test for our car, but we must realise that the car is young and new."

The Fabia was homologated by FIA officials on July 1, and Didier Auriol and Toni Gardemeister have continued to rack up testing mileage on asphalt.

Okay, it's lost most of the Word file's design features - it quick-and-dirty HTML converter sucks big-time - but here is fact file on the Fabia WRC:

http://www.daniil.dds.nl/skoda/fabia-wrc.html

And for old times' sake, here is a similar one on the Octavia WRC Evo 3:

http://www.daniil.dds.nl/skoda/octavia-wrc-evo3.html

Follow the stage action live here and here (inc Skoda article)

From autosport.com:

Auriol anticipates new Skoda challenger

French ace says he can't wait for new car's debut

The new Skoda makes its WRC bow this weekend

Veteran rally star Didier Auriol has said that this weekend's Rallye Deutschland will be one of his most eagerly anticipated rallies in a long time, as he debuts Skoda's new Fabia WRC car.

The 1994 world champion, who has 20 WRC victories to his name, says this weekend's German round will be a step into the unknown.

"This is probably the most exciting time of my long career," he Auriol. "But who knows what is going to happen? It's sure that the Fabia WRC has a lot of potential, but it is also very new. If you look back at all the new cars that every team has launched in the past, it is never a straightforward process.

"We have got a lot to learn, but testing has gone quite well so far. It would have been nice to have more time, bit I think every driver says that."

Team-mate Toni Gardemeister believes the time is right to launch the car, saying the Fabia now needs the heat of competition to develop it further.

"I am really looking forward to seeing what the Fabia WRC can do," said the Finn. "Although it is earlier than most people expected, it was definitely the right decision to bring the car's debut forward to Germany.

"I think we've reached the point now where we will learn more from comparing ourselves with other people than just carrying on testing on our own," he explained. "However, Rallye Deutschland will still be a half-rally, half-test for us."

Rallye Deutschland starts on Friday.

Very obvious, of course, but something I didn't realise until I read it in Autosport this weekend - the Octavia/Fabia WRC 2-litre turbo engine is indeed our trusty 20v 1.8T bored out to 2 litres.

It boasts 300 hp @ 5500 rpm, 600 Nm @ 3500 rpm (some torque!) and is mated to a permanent 4WD system with three active diffs. Wouldn't mind having that in my Octy...

http://www.wrc.com/en_GB/News/2003/012/2003_R_IT_AURIOLBUOYEDBYFABIAPROGRESS.htm

http://www.wrc.com/en_GB/News/2003/012/2003_R_IT_GARDEMEISTERSHAPESUP.htm

So the usual pre-event confidence then...