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The Opel Corsa Super 1600 has been continuing Opel’s long-standing tradition in rallying. The compact power pack successfully showed its muscle by clinching twelve victories in the year of its debut. In addition, the car immediately demonstrated its high potential in the challenges of the Junior World Rally Championship. For the second season, the rally Corsa has been improved within the constraints of the tight regulations, now being fitted with a torque- and power-optimised engine version.
Two teams have signed up to contest the Corsa Super 1600 in the Junior World Rally Championship, which, in 2003, is limited to drivers up to 28 years of age. In addition, the front-wheel-driven Corsa will be fielded in seven different national WRC championships.
“The rally Corsa is an attractive competition car, ideally suited for national and international deployment by private teams and Opel country organisations, “ says Opel motorsport director Volker Strycek. The concept has proved to be successful, after all, twelve cars have thus far been prepared for use in competitions.
Opel continue cooperation with RML
As before, continued development and customer support for this rally project are being handled by Opel’s partner of many years, RML (Ray Mallock Ltd.), based in Wellingborough, UK. Robert Kübel, Opel Performance Center (OPC), continues to be responsible for project management. Experience gained in the Corsa’s debut season, which boasted twelve victories in 68 outings and a second-place finish in the final round in the UK as the top WRC result, primarily led to optimisations of the car’s ability to be serviced as well as adapting it to the new minimum weight, raised to 1,000 kilograms by regulations.
New engine version develops higher torque and power
The major single improvement was achieved through the continued development of the engine by Opel’s partner SRE (Swindon Racing Engines Ltd.), who, like RML, are based in the UK. A new intake system, including the airbox, and a new exhaust manifold result in higher torque development as well as adding nine hp of power. The 1.6-litre four-cylinder ECOTEC engine now delivers 224 hp. “Our aim was to raise the torque and power curve of the engine without changing its excellent characteristics,“ project manager Robert Kübel describes the development objectives. “This has been successfully achieved.” The required additional homologation took place on 1 March 2003.
Broccoli and Meeke to compete in Junior WRC
UK Team Palmer already contested the aspiring and increasingly competitive Junior World Rally Championship last season. This year, Irishman Kris Meeke is piloting the silver-yellow Corsa S1600 fielded by Team Palmer. A newcomer to the Junior WRC is the Italian Team Titancall. Their Corsa with yellow-white livery is driven by Alessandro Broccoli from the Republic of San Marino.
Right at the season opener, the Monte Carlo Rally, Broccoli proved his own as well as the Corsa’s potential by finishing this classic rally with a third-place podium position.
Contender in six national championships
In addition to the Junior WRC, the Opel Corsa Super 1600 is being contested in six national championships: in Italy (Andrea Perego), Greece (Haris Kaltsounis), Poland (Team EFL, two cars), Portugal (Evandro Bernades), in the UK (Kris Meeke) and in Germany.
In the German Rally Championship (DRM), in which Christoph Schleimer (Opel Rallye Team Holzer) became vice-champion in last year’s Junior Championship, Horst Rotter (Germany) will be contesting the Corsa S1600. Horst Rotter, who finished the 2002 DRM in ninth place with an Astra OPC and who was class victor in group N up to 2000 cc in the Rallye Deutschland, will be navigated by co-driver Dieter Hawranke (Germany) in the seven DRM rounds. The Corsa S1600 is being fielded independently by Horst Rotter, however, with support from Opel Performance Center (OPC).
Expanded customer support by RML
For the Corsa S1600, which has a cost limit of 100,000 US dollars imposed on the fully prepared tarmac version by FIA regulations, OPC and RML have expanded their customer supporting services. These comprise comprehensive spare parts supply, including special spare parts packages, online ordering of all parts, a detailed vehicle manual, which is also available online, as well as involvement of RML engineers in specific types of tasks, on-site services and continued development. Focal point of OPC’s and RML’s offering is a website at www.corsasuper1600.com, which also provides information about the various development stages and successes achieved since the roll-out on 17 May 2001.
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