Interest in the AP4 regulations continues to grow, with another new car and a new make of vehicle set to make its debut in the Australian Rally Championship in 2018.
New South Wales competitor, Chris Higgs, and his High Country Motorsport team are well down the track building a brand new Volkswagen Polo to AP4 specifications.
Currently campaigning a Subaru Impreza WRX, Higgs’ new VW is currently in Sydney at a design warehouse where it is being engineered using 3D scanning and CAD design programs.
“The AP4 route is certainly the way to go, and allows a lot more freedoms with a new car,” Higgs told RallySport Magazine.
“The Polo will run a 1600cc turbocharged VW Golf engine, but with a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution gearbox and diffs.
“We considered fitting Sadev transmission to the car, but by running the Evo gear we can save around $25,000, which is quite significant.”
Higgs said the money saved would be put towards other parts of the car.
“We have a design team working on the subframe at the moment, including a custom suspension upright.
“And while this development will be a little more expensive in the short term, we hope that we’ll be able to hit the ground running with the car in the ‘window’ of performance straight away, which should save us money down the track.”
The team hope to have the car built from the ground up for around $200,000, and then aim to build customer cars if the demand warrants it.
“It’ll be a fully stand-alone AP4 design, and we expect to have at least one car ready for the first round of the 2018 ARC.”
The new Polo will be the third new AP4 car to debut in the ARC since the start of 2017, following Eli Evans’ Mini Cooper, and Harry Bates’ Toyota Yaris.
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