High Excitement as Rally Guanajuato Hits the Dirt James Thompson - The Checkered Flag
go to original March 8, 2017

WRC - Rally Guanajuato México 2017: Preview Clip (FIA World Rally Championship)

The World Rally Championship (WRC) ventures across the Atlantic as Mexico plays host to the season’s first gravel event, the rough, passionate and unique Rally Guanajuato Mexico.

The first non-European event of the season, Rally Mexico is a world away from the previous event in Sweden.

From the snowbank lined forest roads, with temperatures as low as -20°C, comes the rough, rocky mountain roads of Mexico where air temperatures can linger around 30°C and can reach as high as 50°C in the cockpit.

In addition to the hotter temperatures, the rally features the highest altitude anywhere on the calendar, with some stages being run at nearly 3,000m above sea level.

This results in limited oxygen supplies to the engines, with a potential loose of 20% of their horsepower.

Because of this the teams have been testing in the mountainous Granada region of Spain as well as configuring the dynos to high altitude settings in order to negate the altitude problem.

Despite all this, Rally Mexico is renowned as one of the most colorful and vivacious events on the calendar and that will only be heightened this year with the inclusion of a spectacular opener in Mexico City.

The famous Zócalo square will play host to two 1.57km tests as the classic colonial square, an area more accustomed to receiving foreign heads of state and hosting national celebrations, will echo to the sound of World Rally Cars, with more than 200,000 fans watching on.

Read the rest at The Checkered Flag

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