The Seat Cordoba WRC part 2

Seat, a Spanish manufacturer, has changed hands many times during the last decades. Initially independent, manufacturing cars under license from Fiat, the company was bought by the Italian giant which sold it to the Volkswagen group in the early 90s. The company lacks the prestigious past of some of the other major contenders in the WRC but has recently proven its determination to make a name for itself in the, now heartless and mercantile, world of rallying.

Seat's first serious attempt at a World Rallying title was burdened on the small Ibiza, a 1,6lt normally aspirated front wheel drive car with its roots in the Volkswagen Golf. The Ibiza allowed the company to start building its rallying experience and was officially engaged in some European national championships. The years went by and little success followed until a 2lt version of the Ibiza (picture here) was homologated as a kit-car and extra large tracks, wheels, brakes, everything, were fitted to it as the FIA kit-car regulations allow. With these attributes the car made it to be the three times the 2lt World Champion ('96, '97, '98) proving its maker had accumulated enough experience, and budgets, to take a chance at the reign category, the WRC class of rallying cars. By that time the Seat group had tightly integrated the VAG group of companies and, although some creative liberty was given to it by its powerful owner, most mechanical parts fitted in Seat cars were direct descendents of VAG parts. Management policies within the group were also "Germanized" and the once "oh well..." Spanish team was replaced by rigorous German administration and precision. The VAG group invested a lot of money after its take over of the small Spanish manufacturer and clearly intended to make this a fruitful investment.

Seat's three conquests of the 2lt FIA title and the sport's popularity in Spain probably convinced VAG management to go further and allocate sufficient budgets to the Seat Sport department so as to allow it a chance to reach its goal. This situation came to a sad ending in September 2000 when the company's, German, upper management revoked its decision, and budgets, forcing Seat Sport to retire from the World Rally Championship. The absence of convincing results must have certainly helped the management's decision.

Seat's project to build a WRC car was officially announced during the 1997 San Remo rally. It was in 1998 that the Cordoba WRC was first enrolled by the company to compete at the highest level of WRC racing. The Cordoba was based on the family sedan of the same name but was, naturally, a WRC class car. It had a 4 cylinder turbocharged engine, full time 4 wheel drive and active differentials were involved in its transmission. Unlike other WRC cars however the Cordoba is not an example of equilibrium. The car's wheelbase was too short compared to its length and this resulted in important overhangs front and rear that were inducing a significant amount of inertia. To make things worst the Cordoba engine was placed too high and too in front of the front wheel's axle resulting in important understeer and a heavy front that was putting out of balance the rest of the car. Seat applied FIA WRC regulations to the maximum regarding the engine position in the Cordoba WRC compared to the base Cordoba model, these regulations allow moving the engine by a maximum of 20mm, but even that proved insufficient to allow the car to handle with less understeer. Such shortcomings in a car's behavior can, usually, be blanked by applying the appropriate suspension settings. A fine balance between damper/spring/anti-roll bar stiffness, differential settings and suspension angles has to be found. During the 1999 season Seat Sport tried to sort the car out but, although the team and its drivers, the Finns Harri Rovanperä and young Toni Gardemeister, were talented and very motivated, they lacked the experience and references to other cars necessary to accomplish this fine balance. The Cordoba WRC did achieve some remarkable results during that season but they were mainly due to other competitor's troubles. By August 1999 a new evolution of the Cordoba WRC appeared. It was dictated by the commercial version's uplift and changes compared to the initial car were minute. The Cordoba WRC Evo 2 had a new turbocharger, different fascia design, reworked suspension settings, improved engine bay air flow and remapped injection settings amongst other evolutions but, unfortunately, all these were insufficient to cure the car's tendency for understeer.

Things were to change for the team and car by late 1999 when one of the most experienced WRC drivers around signed a 2 year contract with the Spanish manufacturer. Didier Auriol 1994 World Champion with more than 18 victories on his account was exactly the person Seat needed to allow the Cordoba to enter the top contenders for the WRC title.

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