Super 1600, also known as S1600, is a rally car formula that was primarily used in the Junior World Rally Championship between 2001 and 2010, as well as international

rallycross Rallycross is a form of sprint style motorsport held on a mixed-surface circuit (racing), racing circuit using modified production touring automobile, cars or prototype racing cars. It began in the 1960s as a cross between rallying and autocross ...

championships and various national rally championships. Any automobile manufacturer that had a suitable road-going production model in its range could develop a specification for use in this formula. It was devised by the

Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; ) is an international organisation with two primary functions surrounding use of the automobile. Its mobility division advocacy, advocates the interests of motoring organisations, the automot ...

(the international governing body of motorsport) in 2000 and first saw competitive use in 2001. Super 1600 was intended to provide a young driver's entry point into international rallying, and could only be used by entrants in the JWRC in particular at world level. From 2011 the formulae was not accepted in JWRC as

Group R In relation to motorsport governed by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, Group R refers to a set of regulations providing production-derived vehicles for Rallying, rally competition. The Group R regulations were gradually introduce ...

cars took prominence.

Technical details

Eligibility

Most FIA-approved rally car formulae are in some way production-based, from Super 1600 to World Rally car specification. This necessitates a process of

homologation Homologation (Greek language, Greek ''homologeo'', ὁμολογέω, "to agree") is the granting of approval by an official authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or professional body, any of which would n ...

in Group A or N, before being modified within the limits of a formula's technical regulations. Such changes may include modified or entirely new parts in the engine, gearbox, suspension, bodywork and so on. In the Super 1600 formula, "suitable" is defined as a passenger car that has one driven axle (

two-wheel drive Two-wheel-drive (2WD) denotes vehicles with a drivetrain that allows two wheels to be driven, and receive power and torque from the engine, simultaneously. Four-wheeled vehicles For four-wheeled vehicles (and by extension, vehicles with six, ...

) and a 4-

cylinder A cylinder () has traditionally been a three-dimensional solid, one of the most basic of curvilinear geometric shapes. In elementary geometry, it is considered a prism with a circle as its base. A cylinder may also be defined as an infinite ...

engine that is of

naturally aspirated A naturally aspirated engine, also known as a normally aspirated engine, and abbreviated to N/A or NA, is an internal combustion engine in which air intake depends solely on atmospheric pressure and does not have forced induction through a turboc ...

configuration with a maximum volume of 1640cc. At the time of homologation, the car must currently or have previously been in serial production with a minimum production number of 2500 vehicles. Though some manufacturers will operate their own motorsport programmes either directly or through a contractor, in many forms of production-based motorsport it is quite common for cars to be developed by

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

constructors and specialist teams. In this case manufacturer approval is still required to homologate a new car. The Citroën C2 is an example of in-house development; the

Ford Fiesta The Ford Fiesta is a supermini car that was marketed by Ford from 1976 to 2023 over seven generations. Over the years, the Fiesta has mainly been developed and manufactured by Ford's European operations, and had been positioned below the ...

was developed by a contracted specialist ( M-Sport); and the

Opel Corsa The Opel Corsa is a supermini car manufactured and marketed by Opel since 1982 — as well as other brands, namely Vauxhall Motors, Vauxhall, Chevrolet, and Holden. At its height of popularity, the Corsa became the best-selling car in the ...

was developed independently without technical assistance from GM.

Modifications

The production car's standard gearbox is replaced by a sequential manual gearbox with a maximum of six forward ratios. The engine may be modified to produce a maximum power output of 230 hp and the exhaust is subject to a noise restriction of 100 dB at 4500

rpm Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or r⋅min−1) is a unit of rotational speed (or rotational frequency) for rotating machines. One revolution per minute is equivalent to hertz. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 def ...

. As with the

World Rally Car A World Rally Car is a racing automobile built to the specific regulations set by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and designed for competition in the World Rally Championship (WRC). The cars were introduced in 1997 as a repl ...

specification, Super 1600 requires a production-standard bodyshell that is made safe for competition with the addition of a

roll cage A roll cage is a specially engineered and constructed frame built in (or sometimes around, in which case it is known as an exo cage) the passenger compartment of a vehicle to protect its occupants from being injured or killed in an accident, pa ...

. Certain other modifications can be made to increase the width of the bodywork and improve its

aerodynamic Aerodynamics () is the study of the motion of atmosphere of Earth, air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dynamics and its subfield of gas dynamics, and is an ...

efficiency. The weight of the competition car is reduced to a minimum of 980 kg, with a lower minimum weight of 920 kg if an engine with only two valves per cylinder is employed. In most cases, this is approximately 50 to 100 kg less than the weight of the production car version; the 1.6L Citroën C2, for example, weighs 1084 kg.C2 Technical Specifications
''citroen.co.uk''. Retrieved on April 22, 2007.

Homologations

The following table shows the most notable S1600 cars that have competed at international level:

References

{{Class of Auto racing *Super 1600 Rally groups World Rally Championship

Technical details

Eligibility

Modifications

Homologations

See also

References