[BlackPearl]

Now that the production of Baleno has stopped, has anybody on this forum any idea about the future of the car in INRC. Anyway they are not doing very good against the onslaught of the newer cars.. :-(

[memo45_m]

Ya as long as the spares are avilable they will be running, and now that the fiestas are there for the run they will see there end soon but thats only when the get atleast settled with the r&d with the ford's and most of the parts come cheap for the all to use them for rallying..... Till the the baleno will be the poor man's fast car.

[GTO]

Well, the Baleno's time was up anyways in the wake of newer competition. The Cedia and Fiesta seem to have good manufacturer support and are the way to go.

How about Maruti preparing the Swift? Its got potential.

[kaushik_s]

Suzuki will be launching Swift in WRC, isn't it ?

[chetan]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

Suzuki will be launching Swift in WRC, isn't it ?

yes they are launching the sx 4 wrc.... we may also see our indian sx4 in the inrc also....the baleno is a real fun car to drive in the inrc it will surely be running in the inrc for many years to to come......a privateer cant afford a fiesta or a cedia

@ gto we might also see the swift in the inrc....only if homologated

[khaadu75]

Originally Posted by GTO

Well, the Baleno's time was up anyways in the wake of newer competition. The Cedia and Fiesta seem to have good manufacturer support and are the way to go.

How about Maruti preparing the Swift? Its got potential.

The Swift does have potential but Maruti top honchos ain't bothere to get teh homologation done any time soon and thats the reason we might not see it in the immidiate future though it will happen in a year or so .

Also there were talks about letting guys run 4WD cars from next season but dunno whats happening on that front --- would be great to see the SUbarus and the Evos run in the INRC though the big question is wether the tracks can handle these cars ??

Im sure 2008 will be interesting but how interesting is to be seen ... !!

[mclaren1885]

Until the M-sport Fiesta's & Cedia's are affordable to the privateers the Esteem's & Baleno's will continue to run.

[killjoy]

the carb esteem is still running - years after its production has stopped

[1100D]

Was there any specific reason for the Maruti monopoly in INRC. What was the real reason behind competitors like Ford (who are generally much more involved with anything motorsport) not even being bothered. Ikon did not get a run, is quite a shame, as that car had potential even in stock form (Bad road package on Fiesta Mark V/Puma). Rally prepped Lancers were the best in the business, but HM too stayed away and their rallyprepped JK cars did not do anything. Tata's lovely double zero cars stayed as double zero cars and went into oblivion. Legend has it that they were very fast and quite capable. Honda got involved and with the advent of NHC they even did not bother getting any future homologations done.

Why was it only Maruti. I remember the initial few days of the Baleno, there were enough talks of the Baleno being too fragile in stock form and took a decent pounding to get upto speed. But that was only because of Maruti's support for motorsport even if they had the most unsuited cars for the purpose of rallying. Question is, why was it only Maruti?

Is there something that I am missing here.

[bruce]

I would like to check if SX4 is homologated to run in the INRC?

[Rtech]

Was there any specific reason for the Maruti monopoly in INRC.

Yes there is. It is the cheapest car you can buy and run a rally and get good reliability and cheap parts.

Also, Maruti is one of the few manufacturers to homologate their cars. The only others homologated are the Lancer & Cedia, OHC 1.3, 1.5 & Vtec and the Fiesta.

The cedia and Fiesta are far to expensive to run for most expect the well funded at this point.

The Ikon was close to getting in, but Ford backed out. Hyundai showed really encouraging signs of entering, then they realised that their accent would get beat by a 1.3L Esteem, so they backed out. The Palio was close to running as a one make series. Then we all know what happened to Fiat India.

The Honda's were an excellent rally car. Even though Honda India did not give any support whatsoever, their cars were so reliable that it didn't matter!

Then Maruti came in with some support, so the OHC was dropped and the Baleno taken up. Since 2006, HM & Ford have shown small signs of support with the Cedia and Fiesta. But still very very limited.

So for a privateer, the cheapest would be a MPFI Esteem or Baleno if they want to graduate to the 1600cc class. Hence, by default, 98% of the cars are Maruti's.

[GTO]

I remember the Lancer winning on debut. But it was then discontinued from service. What gives? It would have been one of the most appropriate for rallying at the time.

[Rtech]

The Lancer never ran in an INRC. It was made to Grp. A specs and the INRC shifted to Grp. N at that time.

And again, the costs involved meant it would only be used by the top 2 teams. Just like the Cedia is now.

[sushrutha]

By the way why don't we see any Skoda's in INRC ? ... WRC they do run Skoda Octavia hatchback right ?

[khaadu75]

Originally Posted by sushrutha

By the way why don't we see any Skoda's in INRC ? ... WRC they do run Skoda Octavia hatchback right ?

For the manufacturers there is still a huge difference between the INRC and the WRC ...