Manfred Stohl’s STARD, the official developer of KIA’s TCR-specification Cee’d, has released further details on the car ahead of its October 2016 unveil.
“Since the first official preview of the project and already before, we have worked very intensively and with full focus on the technical solutions,” explained Michael Sakowicz, CEO STARD. “We are extremely pleased about the progress over the last months and are very confident that the first brand new developed 2017 specification car will be highly competitive in all various TCR leagues and beyond.”
Preceeded by countless dyno hours and basic system track tests, the strict testing programme will continue until the 2017 season start. The revised regulations emanating from July’s ‘TCR Manufacturer’s Meeting’ have already been incorporated in to the new car.
“The testing programme is going very well and the results even excel our expectations,” continued Sakowicz. “We are developing a customer motorsport car, for a client with very clear and strict guidelines, which makes it a big job to have all successfully signed off according to the laid down specification sheet. Therefore we are even more satisfied, that we are perfectly on schedule of our project plan until now.”
“To ensure that we pick the best suppliers on the market, and that´s what our client and our customers demand, we have decided to test a number of different suppliers especially for the performance deciding assemblies, also having in mind the new tasks for TCR like endurance and 24 hour races,” added Philipp Thonet, CTO STARD. “To give an example, we are currently testing 4 different damper suppliers. The same approach applies to gearbox, brakes, engine auxilliaries etc. This process is time consuming, but ensures that only the best package will find its way into the car’!”
