Can someone explain to me just what makes rally cars so ridiculously fast? Like HP, Grip and weight reduction only get you so far right? Or is it technology and/or tuning?
A combination of all of them. Making the cars light is better for loose surfaces, where maximum downforce isn’t necessarily a good thing. Since rally stages often involve a lot more braking and acceleration than road tracks, rally cars are built to accelerate quickly - like most race cars, rally cars have a close ratio gearbox, although they tend to differ from track cars in that they have lower ratio final gears, as a high top speed is relatively unimportant.
Why rally cars are fast? Drivers with big b**ls.
Suspension, gearing and wheels do a lot of the work, also the peak power is tiny, but the drives keep the car in the little rev-area.
All of the above. I would know they are fast I’ve been hit in the face by a rock that flew off a rally car as it went around a corner.
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A combination of all of them. Making the cars light is better for loose surfaces, where maximum downforce isn’t necessarily a good thing. Since rally stages often involve a lot more braking and acceleration than road tracks, rally cars are built to accelerate quickly - like most race cars, rally cars have a close ratio gearbox, although they tend to differ from track cars in that they have lower ratio final gears, as a high top speed is relatively unimportant.
Why rally cars are fast?
Drivers with big b**ls.
Suspension, gearing and wheels do a lot of the work, also the peak power is tiny, but the drives keep the car in the little rev-area.
All of the above.
I would know they are fast I’ve been hit in the face by a rock that flew off a rally car as it went around a corner.