WRC: Service & Repairs

Steve · Aug 31, 2011

Looks like MINI have decided many of their WRC fans are new to the series and could use a little help understanding how things work. I think they're right. This is supposedly the first in a series of educational/informational articles designed to get us up to speed, so to speak.

Top Service for Top Results (minimotorsport.com)

Much is new for the MINI WRC Team in the 2011 season. For you as well? Our new series explains the finer points of WRC events. Todayâ€™s topic: Service and repairs.

During the course of each leg of an event, crews contesting the FIA World Rally Championship complete a series of special stages divided into â€˜loopsâ€™ or â€˜sectionsâ€™, returning to the service park or the remote service point, a sort of mobile repair station, between them. In addition, crews are afforded the opportunity of refuelling between stages.

Each rally has a main service park, which is comparable to the paddock area in circuit racing. This is where the MINI WRC Team and its competitors erect their working and hospitality units. The organisers are also permitted to include remote service points where stages are located some distance from the service park in the rally schedule. Either way: Every aspect is perfectly prepared.

Before the start of each leg, teams are permitted 15 minutes in the service park to prepare each car for the dayâ€™s stages. A 30-minute midday service halt is scheduled between loops, with the teams being allocated a 45-minute flexi-service â€˜windowâ€™ for repairs each evening before the cars are booked into the overnight parc fermÃ©. Between the last special stage and the podium ceremony crews are allocated a further 10 minutes, while they may not exceed a time limit of 15 minutes per car at remote service points. Crews are penalised via time penalties should they exceed the prescribed time windows.

A routine stop includes a complete change of wheels and tyres, set-up changes and â€˜spanner checksâ€™, whereby accessible nuts and bolts are checked for tightness to ensure none have vibrated loose. Data contained in the â€˜Silver Boxâ€™ (the WRC car equivalent of a black box) is downloaded for rapid analysis, while the MINI WRC Team also checks the dampers, ground clearance and the wear of all four disc brakes.

Should the cars have suffered damage, the team will attempt repairs in the available time. Regulations prescribe that only eight team members â€“ all wearing armbands for identification purposes â€“ and the carâ€™s crew may work on the car at any one time. In addition, a medical specialist may attend to drivers and co-drivers.

At remote service parks only four mechanics may work on the car in addition to its crew, while only those parts carried within the car may be exchanged. Therefore, where remote service is included in the schedule, it is vital that drivers carefully select the correct spare parts to carry in the car prior to heading out for the dayâ€™s stages.

In the event that the car does not make it to the service point repairs are permitted, but these need to be carried out solely by the driver and his co-driver. Wheel changes after tyre damage are the norm, while crash and mechanical repairs are also regularly on the schedule. Again, though, only tools and spare parts carried by the crew in the car may be used. Here ingenuity and improvisation are regularly demanded â€“ at times manifesting themselves in the most curious of ways.
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quikmni · Aug 31, 2011

Thanks for the article. Please post future articles.
I enjoy watching the rallies on TV when I happen to find them.
There was a good story on the Mini Team on the Preview show for the Finland rallye.

Justa Jim · Aug 31, 2011

Good stuff as always Steve.

Jim

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