Motorsports | Subaru Global

David Lapworth Questions

Letter from SWRT
10 December 2004

With rallying's 'off-season' running from mid-November to mid-January, the lack of WRC rallies means it's often regarded as a rest period. It's thought to be a time when teams can take a break, look back over the last year and get ready for Christmas ahead of the new season, but is there more to it than that? We speak to Subaru World Rally Team Principal, David Lapworth to find out.

Throughout the year, the team's focus seems to be from rally to rally, so is the team's focus now just on Monte Carlo?

No, it's not that simple. Firstly, while it's fair to say that the focus of the drivers and on-event team staff tends to be rally to rally, there's a continuous process behind it. People working on the design and development of the rally car and on the test programme are almost unaware of which rally is next as they're working so far ahead. For the rally-focused people, such as the drivers, this time of year means working on two or three different rallies all at the same time, as well as concentrating on the introduction of the new car. As a team, we're testing for Monte Carlo as well as Sweden, while also trying to squeeze in the first gravel test of the year before next year. In some ways it's the busiest time, not the slackest!

There seems to be lots of activity and announcements from all the WRC teams at this time.

Yes, it's normally the time of year when teams start to dot all the i's and cross all the t's on important aspects such as driver contracts, sponsorship agreements and budget issues for the following year. It's also the time to finalise all the details and plans for the amount of testing we'll do next season and firm up our development plans for the year ahead. As we like everything to be sorted by Christmas, it can be a very busy time.

What projects is the Subaru World Rally Team working on at the moment?

In terms of development, the new car is the biggest single development project we're working on at the moment. The plan is to launch it in Mexico and we're already well into its test plan. As well as completing a second endurance test this week, we're undertaking a series of performance appraisals before the start of the season. For the current car, any new developments will be fairly conservative for the first two events of the season (Monte Carlo and Sweden) as they're rallies where the focus is very much on tyres and tactics. They're not events where we feel we have to push for one tenth of a second per kilometre and, as both offer a massive variety of conditions, the best plan is to concentrate on preparation. In the longer term we've got lots of new developments to follow the introduction of the new car in Mexico. We've got two or three more major developments to drop in as the year goes on to keep moving ahead, but I'm not going to tell you what those are!

Are you having a holiday?

Once all the loose ends are tidied up, I plan to finish take a few well-earned days off over Christmas, I'm looking forward to it!

David Lapworth Questions Letter from SWRT 10 December 2004 With rallying's 'off-season' running from mid-November to mid-January, the lack of WRC rallies means it's often regarded as a rest period. It's thought to be a time when teams can take a break, look back over the last year and get ready for Christmas ahead of the new season, but is there more to it than that? We speak to Subaru World Rally Team Principal, David Lapworth to find out. Throughout the year, the team's focus seems to be from rally to rally, so is the team's focus now just on Monte Carlo? No, it's not that simple. Firstly, while it's fair to say that the focus of the drivers and on-event team staff tends to be rally to rally, there's a continuous process behind it. People working on the design and development of the rally car and on the test programme are almost unaware of which rally is next as they're working so far ahead. For the rally-focused people, such as the drivers, this time of year means working on two or three different rallies all at the same time, as well as concentrating on the introduction of the new car. As a team, we're testing for Monte Carlo as well as Sweden, while also trying to squeeze in the first gravel test of the year before next year. In some ways it's the busiest time, not the slackest! There seems to be lots of activity and announcements from all the WRC teams at this time. Yes, it's normally the time of year when teams start to dot all the i's and cross all the t's on important aspects such as driver contracts, sponsorship agreements and budget issues for the following year. It's also the time to finalise all the details and plans for the amount of testing we'll do next season and firm up our development plans for the year ahead. As we like everything to be sorted by Christmas, it can be a very busy time. What projects is the Subaru World Rally Team working on at the moment? In terms of development, the new car is the biggest single development project we're working on at the moment. The plan is to launch it in Mexico and we're already well into its test plan. As well as completing a second endurance test this week, we're undertaking a series of performance appraisals before the start of the season. For the current car, any new developments will be fairly conservative for the first two events of the season (Monte Carlo and Sweden) as they're rallies where the focus is very much on tyres and tactics. They're not events where we feel we have to push for one tenth of a second per kilometre and, as both offer a massive variety of conditions, the best plan is to concentrate on preparation. In the longer term we've got lots of new developments to follow the introduction of the new car in Mexico. We've got two or three more major developments to drop in as the year goes on to keep moving ahead, but I'm not going to tell you what those are! Are you having a holiday? Once all the loose ends are tidied up, I plan to finish take a few well-earned days off over Christmas, I'm looking forward to it!