{"id":17458,"date":"2024-09-06T07:55:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/?page_id=17458"},"modified":"2024-09-06T07:37:39","modified_gmt":"2024-09-06T10:37:39","slug":"citroen-xsara-wrc-3-autoart","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/citroen-xsara-wrc-3-autoart\/","title":{"rendered":"Citro\u00ebn Xsara WRC #3 – AUTOart"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Xsara<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
2004 Citro\u00ebn Xsara WRC #3<\/strong>
Pilots: S. Loeb \/ D. Elena
Team: Citro\u00ebn Total WRT<\/em>
Race: 1st overall (WRC1 class) at the Monte Carlo Rally 2004<\/strong>
AUTOart - 60438 (diecast)<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Published 09\/06\/24<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Born in Haguenau, France, in 1974, S\u00e9bastien Loeb<\/a> started his sports career as a gymnast (four-time Alsatian champion). Later on, in 1994, he started working as an electrical engineer. Soon after he turned his focus to cars and motorsports, particularly rally racing. He won his first amateur rally in 1997. The following year he entered the French Citro\u00ebn Saxo Trophy series, winning the title in 1999. Loeb\u2019s innate talent drew the attention of Guy Fr\u00e9quelin, Citro\u00ebn Sport’s team principal. Fr\u00e9quelin signed him to compete in Citro\u00ebn\u2019s team for the 2001 Junior World Rally Championship<\/a>. Of the championship\u2019s six races, Loeb won five. In the Rally Sanremo Citro\u00ebn assigned him to their main WRC team, where he finished second. With that, Citro\u00ebn boosted him to the major leagues: in 2002 he raced in the Citro\u00ebn Total World Rally Team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Xsara
From the outside the Xsara WRC looks exactly like a civilian Xsara. The similarities are only skin-deep, however.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
When Loeb officially joined Citro\u00ebn, their WRC rally team used the Xsara Kit Car<\/a>. Introduced in 1998 for the French Rally Championship, the Kit Car was front-wheel drive. Since it did not have four-wheel drive, Citro\u00ebn only entered it in the asphalt races of the WRC. In that element the Xsara Kit Car was very efficient because of its low weight. However, in 2000 FIA changed the rules, increasing the minimum weight of the cars. Consequently, losing its biggest advantage, the Kit Car would struggle against the 4WD cars. And of course, since it was only FWD, it naturally suffered in dirt and\/or snow races. It became obvious to Citro\u00ebn that they needed something new: the Xsara WRC<\/strong>. Still molded in the lines of the 1998 road-going Citro\u00ebn Xsara Coup\u00e9<\/a>, the Xsara WRC debuted in 2001. Though almost identical to the Xsara Kit Car, Citro\u00ebn built the WRC from scratch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Xsara
Stopping power came from 380 mm brake disks (water-cooled) at the front and 304 mm at the rear.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
To power the Xsara WRC Citro\u00ebn chose PSA\u2019s XU7JP4<\/a> engine, the same unit same used in the street Xsara. The XU7JP4 was a DOHC 16 valves 1998 cm\u00b3 inline-4 rated for only 81 kW (108 hp). However, for racing, Citro\u00ebn added a turbo-charger, boosting the output to 228 kW (310 hp) with 570 Nm of torque. With an aluminum block and head, Citro\u00ebn placed the engine transversely mounted at the front. The power was then sent to the ground through a six-speed sequential non synchronized X-Trac gearbox. The Xsara WRC had a full-time four-wheel drive, with electronically controlled differentials, splitting power 50\/50. The chassis was a steel monocoque and the suspension used independent McPherson struts front and back. As per FIA\u2019s rules, the Xsara WRC weighed the minimum 1230 kg. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"Xsara
S\u00e9bastien Loeb’s dominance in the WRC started with the Xsara WRC.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
S\u00e9bastien Loeb\u2019s first race in a Xsara WRC was in 2001. On loan from the Junior WRC team, in the Sanremo Rally of 2001 he came in second. In 2002, now in the Citro\u00ebn Total WRT WRC team, his first win was at the ADAC Rallye Deutschland. In the following year he lost the WRC championship by just one point. Therefore, for 2004 he was the favorite, and did not disappoint. In the first race of the season, piloting the Xsara WRC #3, he won the Monte Carlo Rally<\/a>. Five more victories followed, and he won the 2004 WRC Drivers\u2019 Championship. In total, he would win the championship a record nine (!!!) times consecutively, retiring from full-time rallying in 2012. He eventually came back for a few races after that, earning a total of 80 rally wins to his name. It will be VERY hard to beat his record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"\"\/
Except AUTOart, I can’t think of another brand that offers a good 1:43 model with steerable wheels.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
I doubt that we\u2019ll ever see someone more successful than Loeb in the WRC. S\u00e9bastien Ogier<\/a>, perhaps? He does have nine wins in Monte Carlo against Loeb\u2019s eight\u2026 Nonetheless, I find it very hard to conceive that a dominant brand will come together with a dominant pilot in the same way as Citro\u00ebn + Loeb. With that, S\u00e9bastien Loeb will always be the GOAT of the WRC. And to me, if I think of Loeb, I think of the Xsara. In fact, in the early 2000s I had a Xsara, and loved it. So, in other words, I needed<\/em> a Xsara WRC in the W-143 Garage. And if you want one, you have two options: AUTOart or a shitty pw. Fortunately I found an AUTOart, and once again I\u2019m sad that they left the 1:43 scale. Not as fancy as Spark, yet a great model.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
2004 Citro\u00ebn Xsara WRC #3Pilots: S. Loeb \/ D. ElenaTeam: Citro\u00ebn Total WRTRace: 1st overall (WRC1 class) at the Monte Carlo Rally 2004AUTOart – 60438 (diecast) Published 09\/06\/24 Born in Haguenau, France, in 1974, S\u00e9bastien Loeb started his sports career as a gymnast (four-time Alsatian champion). Later on, in 1994, he started working as an … Continue reading “Citro\u00ebn Xsara WRC #3 – AUTOart”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-17458","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17458"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17504,"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/17458\/revisions\/17504"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.w-143.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}