TECHNICAL EXHIBITION
In all forms of motorsport, finding a technical advantage is crucial. The FIA World Rally Championship is now so competitive that, to keep ahead of the game, engineers work tirelessly to find innovative ways of extracting the most from the strict regulations to make their car the most technically advanced in the world.

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart is no different, but keeping one step in front of the competition is a full-time job that rarely, if ever, reaches a conclusion. "Development work never finishes," commented Bernard Lindauer, the team’s chief engineer. "When you reach a certain level, any evolution or revolution creates a requirement for modifications in other areas. Then, when we have done this, Michelin will also come up with something new and everything changes again. It is constant, but technically challenging."

In the world of rallying, there are fewer challenges as great as those posed in the forthcoming Acropolis Rally (8-11 June). Searing summer temperatures mixed with very rough road conditions make it one of the toughest events in the series and a legendary car-breaker. Aside from monitoring engine temperatures, the engineers are rarely more focused on suspension and tyre wear. Between them, the driver and engineer must find a compromise that is hard enough to withstand the rigours of rough terrain, yet still provide good handling and grip for car performance.

In circuit racing, a driver can learn the asphalt characteristics with repeated practice. Rallying’s road surfaces are unpredictable and infinitely variable; even on asphalt, the characteristics can constantly change and therefore the driver’s input is much greater, being that there has to be compensation for a lack of knowledge of the road conditions. The Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution’s on-board data logging equipment monitors suspension movement, travel and spin through each individual wheel, giving a true indication of traction. Combined with vertical, longitudinal and lateral G-force measurements, and the drivers’ comments, explanations and solutions can be found.

"It is very difficult to analyse 14 kilometres of data," adds Lindauer. "We need the driver to say ‘look at this corner, check it on the computer because the car behaved this way or that’, and that is why their input will always be much greater than a racing drivers."

Argentina and Greece produce similar suspension set-ups on the Lancer Evolution/Carisma GT, and hence the experience gained in South America is a real bonus. "Each year speeds are higher and higher and finding suitable settings that will protect the car from heavy impacts is a lot more difficult," comments Lindauer. "Sure, we can start with base suspension settings from the previous year but, because the car has evolved during that time, so we have to reassess the effectiveness of the suspension, amongst other things. Greece is a slower rally than Argentina, although it’s still fast enough to do a lot of damage, but the roads are much rougher and rockier so one ‘benefit’ cancels out the other."

Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart does however hold one ace up its sleeve. Pekka Siltanen, the damper engineer, used to work for team partner and suspension specialist Ohlins and there is very little the Finn doesn’t know about the inner workings.

"The settings are infinite and variable," adds Lindauer. "Even when we find something we like, we still try to develop it further. There is also a very wide variety of springs - in excess of 50 different options when you take into account the different terrains, like snow, ice, gravel and asphalt."

Tyres are another big issue in Greece and this is one of only two events where crews are allowed to carry two spares, the same as in the Safari Rally. Because of the high ambient temperature, tyre wear is very high and it is important to combat this on the most abrasive stages. "It is tempting to use a harder wearing rubber, but running a harder compound detracts from grip," comments Aime Chatard, manager of Michelin’s rallies programme. "This generates more wheel spin….and consequently more wear. Our work is to produce durable products that offer a sufficiently high level of grip to prevent the wheels spinning on the hard surface."

Following the recent rule change by the FIA, the sport’s governing body, each team is allowed hard, medium and soft compound options, however it has to nominate just two tread patterns in advance. And, because of shipping timetables, these decisions have to be made by the drivers and engineers up to two months in advance of each event!

For each leg of a rally, the Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart team carry 240 wheels in the trucks, a figure that increases to nearer 300 for Rallye Monte Carlo, one of the most variable events in the calendar. And, with approximately 550 tyres, in different compounds and treads, available to each driver the statistics stack up to a mind-boggling variety of options.

The Acropolis Rally starts on Friday 9 June in Athens and covers 403.71 competitive kilometres in a total distance of 1,407.56 kilometres. The route takes the crews to the northwest of Athens for 19 special stages before returning to the finish in Itea on Sunday 11 June. Marlboro Mitsubishi Ralliart’s four-times World Champion Tommi Makinen has finished on the podium on three of his five outings and will be all-out to secure his second victory of the season in the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution.