Ultimate Peugeot 206 WRC

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Conditions over the 14 rounds of the World Rally Championship varies from snow and ice to dust, rocks, gravel, asphalt, and mud, hardly ideal for what looks like a normal fourseater roadcar. It takes an extraordinary piece of machinery to compete, let alone be successful, in a competition such as the WRC.

In the 206 WRC, Peugeot has such a car. Although it might have a strong resemblance to a standard 206, the 206 World Rally Car is a thoroughbred competition machine.

Basic regulations for WRC cars include four-wheel-drive, and a front-mounted engine with turbocharged power.

As all the cars competing in the WRC are ruled to have equal power, the trick is to work on electronic and active systems to transfer that power to the various road conditions the most effectively.

Like all the other WRC machines, Peugeot's 206 WRC has a 2-litre turbocharged engine developing around 200 kW, but the challenge with the 206 WRC is to fit everything from heat exchangers, radiators, and the turbo into the engine bay of a 206, and to then concentrate on aspects such as post-combustion and throttle response.

A host of active differentials, including an electronically controlled center diff and mechanical systems for the front and rear, transmit the power to the road in conjunction with a sequential gearbox.

This means that the driver simply has to pull on the lever to shift up or push it away to shift down.

Michelin supplies the wide variety of tyres that makes the Peugeot 206 WRC stick to all the different types of surfaces on which they compete.

There are three basic types of tyres, narrow tungsten-studded tyres for snow, a wide range of wide asphalt tyres designed for wet or dry, cool normal or hot conditions, and a large range of gravel tyres for different terrains.

Bodyshell

All the carefully designed elements of a WRC car needs to be fitted into a torsionally-stiff bodyshell that enhance road-holding and ensures maximum protection against the natural hazards of a WRC Special Stage.

The process starts with a standard Peugeot 206 shell that is stripped down and partially disassembled to allow fitment of larger wheel arches, a transmission tunnel between the engine and rear wheels, the roll-cage and various reinforcement bars.

Peugeot Sport takes about six to seven weeks to create the monocoque and an additional two weeks to fit all the parts.

And to top it all off, the 206 WRC features an advanced electronic control unit, which was developed in close co-operation with Magneti Marelli.

Its main purpose is to monitor engine and chassis performance while also serving as a data-capturing device through a multitude of sensors constantly measuring pressures, temperatures, operating speeds and other factors.

Achievements

Its achievements include driver's titles in 2000 and 2002 with Fin Marcus Gronholm behind the wheel, as well as the manufacturer's crown for the past three years.

But this can hardly be called overnight success. The French manufacturer has a strong pedigree in the competitive world of championship rallying.

Peugeot won two championships in the mid-eighties with the successful Peugeot 205 Turbo 16, a car that was widely regarded as the best Group B supercar, before the era of supercars was cut short because of safety concerns.

Peugeot's twelve-year absence from world rallying ended with an announcement in 1998 that the Belfort Lion will return to the rally scene in 1999 at the French round of the championship in Corsica.

It was almost a dream debut, as the 206 WRC led the rally after just two stages, but a debut victory was not to be.

In this year's championship, Peugeot will have its work cut out to stay on top. Keep an eye on the World Rally Championship, and expect to see some fierce battles between Peugeot, Citroen, Subaru, Ford, Skoda and Hyundai in what has to be one of the greatest motor sport spectacles on earth.

ENGINE:

Maximum torque: 535 Nm at 3 500 r/min