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30-542: Rally de Catalunya was first held in 1957; in 1988 it was merged with the Rally Costa Brava and renamed as Rally Catalunya – Costa Brava . † — The 1994 rally only counted for the 2-Litre World Cup . This article related to Catalonia is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This rallying -related article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup The FIA 2-Litre World Rally Cup

60-535: A turbodiesel . However, the 1.1 petrol engine was never sold in Britain. The car won the Paris-Dakar Rally four times — in 1991 with Ari Vatanen and in 1994 , 1995 , 1996 with Pierre Lartigue , claiming a total 59 stage wins. It also won five FIA World Cup for Cross-Country Rallies titles, four by Pierre Lartigue between 1993-1996 and one by Ari Vatanen in 1997. In terms of rallycross,

90-614: A few weeks later. New Zealand's unleaded petrol was of a low octane rating, meaning that initially only uncatalyzed cars were on offer. In January 1994, the estate of the ZX debuted, and went on sale in May, shortly thereafter followed by a mid-cycle facelift. The first examples of the ZX had been produced in 1990, with the three door Rally Raid model being the winner of the Paris-Dakar , which started just after Christmas. The first prototypes of

120-467: A launching pad into World championship careers, led by Gilles Panizzi and Philippe Bugalski and later emerging French talent Sébastien Loeb . The series started in 1993, then named the FIA Cup for Manufacturers of Touring Cars (2-Litre) with the series following Group A rules for front wheel drive vehicles, a maximum engine capacity of 2 litres and a single driven axle. General Motors Europe were

150-474: A single event. 1995 saw the series begin to take off with manufacturers building or upgrading their cars to Kit Car spec. Reigning champions Skoda replaced the Favorit with the new Felicia KC , and initially entered it in both 1300 and 1500cc form. Citroën entered a ZX 16v Kit Car , whilst their French rivals Peugeot and Renault entered their 306 Maxi and Clio Maxi cars respectively. SEAT completed

180-486: A smaller model, and then adding a larger model (the Xantia ) to its range. The ZX's interior space and value received praise from critics and consumers. Of particular note was the unusual rear seat arrangement: the rear bench was mounted on a sliding platform that allowed it to be moved rearwards to increase rear legroom, or forwards to increase cargo space or to allow the seat back to be tilted backwards. Unfortunately, only

210-614: The 1998 Rally of Great Britain , with a second-place finish for Jarmo Kytolehto . The Peugeot 306 Maxi inched closer to an outright WRC victory, running competitive times all through the Monte Carlo Rally , Rallye Catalunya and Rallye Sanremo with Francois Delecour finishing second on the Tour de Corse only beaten by Colin McRae's Subaru. In 1999, Renault won the title by seven points from Hyundai, but with only three teams left in

240-787: The Dongfeng Peugeot-Citroën Automobile , a joint venture with the Dongfeng Motor Corporation . The Citroën GS had been a ground breaking and radical new model in the small family car market on its launch in 1970, scooping the European Car of the Year award, and was facelifted in 1979 and gained a hatchback which saw it transformed into the GSA. However, such was the success of the larger BX after its 1982 launch, that PSA decided to delay

270-572: The GSA in 1986. The BX had tried to address the small family car market and the large family car market by being "between sizes" but well packaged. For 1993, the Citroën ZX chassis was also used for the Peugeot 306 which, with its attractive Peugeot 205 derived styling, was an even more successful car than its twin. The Citroën Berlingo and Peugeot Partner were also built on the front half of

300-561: The Super 1600 class, which formed the basis of the Junior World Rally Championship in 2001. The most successful manufacturer was SEAT , who won the title three times in a row with their SEAT Ibiza Kit Car. As the 1990s progressed the 2 litre cars proved to be exceptional tarmac rally cars. With more engine freedoms and lighter weights they could match, even beat the turbo 4WD Group A and WRC cars. In particular

330-674: The Tour de Corse beating all the WRC cars. Citro%C3%ABn ZX The Citroën ZX is a small family car produced by the French manufacturer Citroën between 1991 and 1998. At the beginning of the 1990s, the ZX was Citroën's entry in the class traditionally dominated in Europe by the Ford Escort and Vauxhall / Opel Astra , a market segment Citroën had briefly abandoned with the demise of

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360-405: The "Furio", a cheaper model with a sporting tone combined with the lesser engines, a 16-valve engined high performance derivative, and many special editions. The ZX was initially available as a three- or five-door hatchback , while a five-door estate was added to the range in 1994. It was offered with petrol engines from 1.1 L to 2.0 L, as well as three 1.9 L diesel engines including

390-551: The 1600cc Saxo Kit Car and 106 Maxi respectively. Gilles Panizzi caused a major upset when he finished third outright on the all-tarmac Rallye Catalunya in his Peugeot 306 Maxi, defeating all bar two of the World Championship cars. To prove it was not a fluke Panizzi did the same on the Tour de Corse just weeks later with team mate François Delecour finishing fourth. This emphasised a split in W2L car production with

420-524: The Escort with the Escort Maxi Kit Car . In 1997, SEAT won the title by 70 points, ahead of Skoda in second place, with the latter company debuting their Skoda Octavia Kit Car . Also building kit cars for the first time in 1997 were Hyundai , with their Hyundai Coupe Kit Car , whilst Nissan entered a 1300cc Micra Kit Car and a 2000cc Almera GTI Kit Car , with Citroën and Peugeot entering

450-420: The French manufacturers building tarmac specialised cars that could win outright at the cost of making them uncompetitive on gravel events. With several national championships in western Europe running all-tarmac series it became a viable option. In 1998, SEAT won the title, making it three back-to-back titles, whilst runners-up Peugeot finished 12 points behind. Vauxhall / Opel debuted their Astra Kit Car at

480-606: The Mark III Volkswagen Golf , which was priced at a premium when launched in August 1991. The familiar range of PSA powertrains drove the front wheels of a seemingly conventionally designed chassis. At the front was a standard MacPherson strut layout with anti-roll bar , while the rear used the PSA Peugeot-Citroën fully independent trailing arm / torsion bar set up that was first introduced on

510-514: The ZX had actually debuted at the Baja Aragon on 20 July 1990. Drag resistance ranged from Cds 0.30 to 0.33. The launch of the ZX marked the return of Citroën into the C sector of the car market; it had discontinued the GSA in 1986 with no immediate replacement, largely due to the success of the larger BX. However, Citroën had decided to phase out the BX between 1990 and 1993, by at first launching

540-572: The category (one of whom, Volkswagen, were not classified as they had not homologated their new Golf GTI Kit Car ), it was phased out at the end of the season. The class was eventually replaced by the Super 1600 -spec Junior World Rally Championship , and the Super 2000 -spec Production World Rally Championship . The need for replacement regulations was emphasised when Philippe Bugalski took his tarmac optimised Citroën Xsara Kit Car to victory in Rallye Catalunya and three weeks later

570-423: The estate of the Peugeot 305 . However, PSA's chassis engineers employed some unusual features, including passive rear-wheel steering to induce compliance understeer by means of specially designed bushes in the rear suspension. At high mileages, this is prone to wear off the axle mounting bushes, which is easily fixed. The rear shock absorbers were developed and constructed in house. It is also prone to wear in

600-751: The kit cars built by the French manufacturers Peugeot and Citroën would prove real threats on the Tour de Corse each year as increasingly they become more like circuit racing cars and less like all-terrain rally cars. With the French Rally Championship increasingly being held on tarmac only events the Peugeot 306 Maxis and Citroën Xsara Kit Cars would become optimised for the domestic and European championships leaving them less competition in World Rally events held on snow or gravel events. Their ability to snatch wins away from WRC teams became

630-651: The launch of an immediate replacement for the GSA when it was finally discontinued in 1986. Development work began on a new C segment hatchback, which was originally expected to be launched as the Citroën FX at the beginning of the 1990s. Although the Rally Raid version of the ZX debuted during 1990, the ZX was officially launched on the left hand drive continental markets on 16 March 1991, with British sales beginning in May that year, initially only with petrol engines. The diesel ZX went on sale later in 1991. The ZX

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660-478: The most successful team that year, with Skoda finishing runner-up. The rally victories were spread across several manufacturers; GME took the majority of the victories, with seven, whilst several other manufacturers won a single event; Renault (with a seemingly unsuitable R18 GTX ), Skoda and Lada all achieving this. For late 1994, the rules were changed to allow Kit Cars to compete, essentially these were modified F2 vehicles, permitting more modifications over

690-407: The new entries with their Ibiza Kit Car . Peugeot were the victors at the end of the season, as GME were not classified. In 1996, SEAT won the title by nine points, ahead of Renault in second place, with the latter company debuting their Renault Megane Maxi . Suzuki built a Baleno Kit Car , and entered it in the 1996 Rally Australia , without success, whilst Ford released an updated version of

720-426: The rear axle trailing arm bearings, which then wear the trailing arm axle tubes, requiring an expensive rebuild or a replacement axle assembly. The diesel and larger capacity petrol engines are canted as far back as possible in the engine bay, in an effort to put as much weight as possible behind the front axle line, also reducing the centre of gravity, while improving weight distribution and minimising understeer. At

750-861: The same platform, the rear coming from the 405, an arrangement shared underneath the Xsara Picasso. It was replaced by the Xsara in September 1997, but production in Europe continued until 1998. The ZX was the first Citroën built in China . A saloon derivative, called the Citroën Elysée , along with the China-based ZX known as the Fukang , continued to be produced for the Chinese market by

780-499: The seat backs folded forward on models so fitted; lower specification models had more ultimate cargo capacity as the rear seat cushion folded up, allowing the seat back to be laid down flat. The ZX's specifications were good for its class, with most models getting power steering , electric windows, electric sunroof, a driver's side (and sometimes passenger's side) airbag , and anti-lock braking system as either optional or standard equipment. It remained competitively priced though, unlike

810-515: The standard F2/Group A rules. Ford debuted their Ford Escort RS2000 Kit Car, which made its WRC debut at that year's Network Q RAC Rally. With the series now renamed the FIA 2-Litre World Cup for Manufacturers , Skoda took the title with their Favorit model, despite it only being a 1300cc class car. The event wins were spread much more evenly than they had been the year before; Skoda, GME and Renault all won two events each, whilst Ford and Nissan won

840-462: The time of its launch, the ZX range consisted of a collection of four very individual trim levels; the base model was the "Reflex" aimed at young people, next was the "Avantage" aimed at families, and then there was the luxury "Aura" series. The final series was the relatively sporting "Volcane" series, with lowered (and hard) suspension. The later "Volcane" TD was one of the first diesel hot hatches . Over time, further models were introduced, including

870-586: Was a sub-section of the World Rally Championship from 1993 to 1999. It involved mostly 1,600 cc (97.6 cu in) or 2,000 cc (122.0 cu in), naturally aspirated , front wheel drive cars. The series was discontinued due to high costs, and the new Super 2000 class was amalgamated into the Production World Rally Championship , whilst the 1600cc cars were generally modified for usage in

900-534: Was helped at the time of introduction by having reached the market a few months before the new version of the Opel / Vauxhall Astra . The sales target was about 230,000 vehicles per year, with half of that number going outside of France . It went on sale in New Zealand in the beginning of 1993, as a five door in 1.6 Aura or Turbodiesel trim, with the naturally aspirated diesel and Volcane GTi (1.9) models joining

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