Only RWD cars in WTCC 2009?

The World Touring Car Championship could go all rear wheel drive from 2009. According to Autosport the organizers are planning to ban all other drive trains other than rear wheel drive to equalise the field. Recently a lot of attention has been brought to the differences between BMW and the rest of the field that uses front wheel drive cars.

Weights, tyre wear and starts are the main focus of the debate between RWD and FWD. BMW are forced to carry more weight due to RWD but on the other hand are the only cars using H-patternd gearboxes and can because of that run lighter. The main reason for RWD cars being heavier is, mainly, that the RWD cars are lighter on tyre wear compared to FWD cars that steer, brake and accelerate on the same wheel pair compared to RWD cars.

Previously in the WTCC all starts were standing, another thing that RWD takes advantage of – something BMW consistantly showed by gaining places in the starts. For this season rolling starts in one of the races were introduced, but BMW got a weight break for this.

If the WTCC goes all RWD a lot of these difficult equalisations would be gone. The German series DTM has since the introduction of the current rules only been allowing RWD cars – successfully.

Other proposed changes in the rules are 35 mm intake / 29 mm exhaust values, freeing up the suspension regulation and suggestions to introduce small capacity turbo engines.

Stay tuned for more news on the subject.