Super 2000

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Super 2000
Motor racing formula
Category	Touring cars Rally cars
Country or region	International
Championships	Various
Inaugural season	2000
Status	Active

Super 2000, also known as S2000, is an FIA specification and classification for production based race cars. The specification is split to cover both rally and touring car racing. Super 2000 rally cars are also permitted to compete in Production World Rally Championship events alongside Group N cars.^[1] The goal of the Super 2000 classification is to allow more manufacturers and privateers to race by reducing the cost of a competitive car. The World Rally Championship currently has three manufacturers currently fielding teams, while private teams rely on older cars from current manufacturers or from "works" teams that have left the WRC, such as Škoda or Mitsubishi. The World Touring Car Championship currently has four manufacturers competing, these being BMW, Seat, Honda & Chevrolet with independent teams generally using older cars from previous seasons

In order to cut costs & shorten development time, the Super 2000 rally cars originally used a common control gearbox & drivetrain made by a French company, Sadev. The FIA has since announced that Xtrac^[2] and Ricardo Consulting Engineers will be allowed to also manufacture S2000 gearboxes to FIA spefication. This is to further cut costs by introducing competition into gearbox supply.

In effect these new rules allowed Ford to build from scratch their S2000 Fiesta vehicles in Australia, in as little as 14 weeks, starting out with a Super 1600 chassis & rollcage.

1 Manufacturers
2 Specifications
3 Series
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Manufacturers

Fiat Grande Punto Abarth S2000, one of the most popular Super 2000 cars.

The following manufacturers have a Super 2000 rally car currently in production, or slated for production in the near future:

Fiat Super 2000 Grande Punto Abarth
Ford Fiesta ^[3]
Peugeot 207 RCup
Skoda Fabia^[4]
Toyota Corolla / RunX (South African version of Corolla)
Volkswagen Polo S2000
MG ZR
Proton Satria^[5]

There was development & testing of a Dacia Logan S2000 car in 2005 but it was not brought into competition.^[6]

The new technical regulations for the future World Rally Car will become effective from 2011.^[7] The WRC Car will be based on the current Super 2000 and Group N cars, fitted with a supplementary kit, which includes turbo and rear-wing additions.^[7] The kit must be able to be fitted or removed within a defined time limit, to be determined.^[7]

The current World Rally Car regulations will be extended to include the 2010 World Rally Championship, subject to technical controls.^[7] The new World Rally Car will be permitted to compete from 2009 and score points in the Championship from 2010.^[7]

The following manufacturers currently have S2000 Touring Cars competing in championships:

[edit] Specifications

FIA specifications include the following:^[8] ^[9]

Derived from production model, of which 2500 have been produced in the past year
Maximum of 2 liter (2000 cc) displacement
Maximum of 280 bhp^{[citation needed]}
Normal Aspiration
All wheel drive is permitted in rally cars, but not in touring cars.
6-speed sequential gearbox (Control specification made by Sadev, Xtrac or Ricardo. No electronics allowed in differentials)
Front and rear McPherson suspension
No electronic driver aids
Must be for sale at a maximum price of €168,000.^[10]

[edit] Series

Super 2000 spec cars are currently run in:

South Africa was the first country in the world to run Super 2000 cars in rallying. Toyota South Africa and Volkswagen South Africa build 2 cars each to compete in the South African Rally Championship in 2005.^{[citation needed]}