1, euros can have a real MG5 XPOWER TCR car.

The popularity of the original TCR race is getting higher and higher in China, and more and more manufacturers and even individuals are willing to participate in this race. Today, our protagonist MG5 XPOWER TCR car is built on the basis of MG5 Scorpio, and this new car has won three championships in TCR ASIA and CTCC Super Cup not long ago, which can be called outstanding strength.

why is TCR popular?

Before introducing today's protagonist MG5 XPOWER TCR car, I think it is necessary to give you a brief introduction of the differences between TCR car and previous WTCC car. In fact, the biggest difference between the two is two words-cost. The traditional WTCC racing car cost is too high, and the teams participating in the competition must spend real money to build the racing car if they want to make achievements. Under such circumstances, some teams that have been unable to achieve good results naturally choose to quit, which is of course unwilling to see for the organizers of the event. Therefore, in 218, the declining WTCC event also merged with the thriving TCR event, which is the WTCR RV World Cup we are seeing now.

MG6 XPOWER TCR racing car

and the cost is the most critical factor for TCR events to have many participants. The cost of a TCR racing car is about several hundred thousand yuan, and TCR racing car also has strict modification standards. First, the vehicle must be a mass-produced model produced by the manufacturer, and a mass-produced turbocharged engine with a displacement of no more than 2.L must be used. The maximum horsepower after modification should not exceed 35Ps, and there are strict restrictions on suspension, tire size, vehicle weight and even body size. More importantly, the BOP(Balance of performance) performance balance mechanism is introduced, and by increasing or decreasing the counterweight of the participating vehicles or adjusting the ground clearance of the vehicles, each vehicle can have similar performance. Such a fairer and less expensive event will certainly be welcomed by many manufacturers.

A racing car with a price of 1, euros

We know that the MG brand has always had racing genes since its birth, and so does this MG5 XPOWER TCR racing car. Although it has been completely transformed into a racing car, the basic shape of the MG5 Scorpio can still be seen. Moreover, this car can be sold to the outside world, and the price is about 1, euros. Of course, the customers who buy it mainly want to participate in TCR-level competitions. After all, this car cannot legally drive on the road.

As for the specific transformation, firstly, the engine compartment cover has been lightened, and it is provided with heat dissipation openings and quick release locks. The front enclosure also closes some air ducts that affect aerodynamics, leaving only the middle cooling air inlet opening. In addition, the new car is equipped with a large carbon fiber front lip to increase the downforce of the vehicle. In addition, it should be mentioned that for the sake of fairness, this front lip is actually designed by the government, and each team can only make some fine adjustments to it, and the size of the front lip has also been strictly required, the width must be between 1944 and 195 mm, and the length must be between 565 and 571 mm. As for the weight of the vehicle, the engineer introduced that it would be about 114kg.

The vehicle also obviously adopts a wide-body design, with the front and rear fenders widened and the opposite front and rear wheel tracks widened, which can make the car have better driving stability. Wide-body modification is actually quite common in modified cars now, and there are various styles. However, as a TCR car, even if it is designed with a wide body, the shape of the front and rear fenders must be similar to that of the original factory, and the width of the vehicle body should not exceed 195 mm.

Michelin PILOT SPORT S9L series tires are 1% bald tires designed for racetracks. The front brake caliper has also been replaced by Alcon's CAR89 six-piston caliper, which has a lightweight design and strong stability, and is suitable for most racing cars to upgrade. Moreover, this caliper has been used in CTCC for many years, which is considered to be time-tested. Of course, the strength of braking depends not only on the number of pistons, but also on more flexible adjustment and efficient release of braking force before and after distribution.

The rear of the vehicle is equipped with a huge rear spoiler, which can bring strong downforce to the whole rear of the vehicle. Like the front lip, the rear spoiler is also "officially customized", and it must be a single-piece structure, with a maximum width of not more than 138mm and a unified chord of 25 mm. It can be said that in terms of aerodynamics, the official restrictions of the event are relatively strict. However, engineers also admit that although the restrictions are strict, they can still rely on the adjustment of details to improve the overall performance of the vehicle, which is what they have been working hard for.

In fact, all unnecessary interior accessories, including the whole rear row, have been removed to reduce the weight of the car, and the roll cage has been welded. At the same time, it can be seen that the car is equipped with an integrated racing seat, a six-point seat belt and a fire extinguisher, and all the arrangements need to meet the competition standards of TCR.

There are many adjustment knobs at the far right of the center console, such as PEDAL mode adjustment, which makes the car in different modes according to different track characteristics and different weather. As for the rightmost power adjustment knob, it has 6 gears adjustable, mainly to cope with the power restriction or release under the BOP mechanism, and basically each gear will have a power difference of about 5%. The reason why it is placed in the far right position is because the rules stipulate that racers can't operate these knobs during the competition, and they can only enter the maintenance area for technicians to adjust.

the mg5 xpower TCR car has been refitted with the latest SAIC third-generation blue-core 2.T turbocharged engine, that is, the new MG7 engine, and the engine has been readjusted. Under the limitation of BOP mechanism, the maximum horsepower is 35Ps and the maximum torque is 445N·m；; If there is no BOP limit, the maximum horsepower can exceed 37Ps and the maximum torque can exceed 48 n m. The engine of TCR racing car must not only be mass-produced, but also can't be modified. Even if parts that can improve power, such as fuel nozzles and high-pressure oil pumps, can only be replaced with OEM parts that are the same as the original ones. As for raising the power to the maximum limit of 35Ps, we can only adjust the calibration of the engine, and it is quite routine to brush the program and change the electronic valve. In other words, this may also be a hard power test for the mass production engines of the participating manufacturers.

MG5 XPOWER TCR racing car adopts sequential gearbox, which has high transmission efficiency and fast gear shifting speed. It can be said that sequential gearbox is the first choice for racing. However, there are also TCR teams that do not use sequential gearboxes, such as Audi, and they still use the original 7-speed dual-clutch gearbox. In addition to the gearbox difference, the difference actually lies in the weight of the car. With the sequential gearbox, the total weight of the driver+car should not be less than 1265kg. If the original gearbox is used, the data should not be less than 123kg. Although it is only 35kg, it is really not a small amount for racing cars.

In terms of suspension, the original car used the suspension of the former McPherson plus the rear torsion beam, but the MG5 XPOWER TCR changed the form of the rear suspension, adopted the multi-link independent suspension, and made some modifications and optimizations to the suspension.

Editor's comment: In fact, there are still many restrictions on the transformation of a TCR car. Of course, it is precisely because of such strict restrictions that the cost of the car can be reduced and the racing strength of each team can be balanced. Moreover, TCR cars with relatively low threshold will attract more teams and even individuals who are willing to participate in motorsport, which is definitely a good thing for the promotion of motorsport. As for the MG5 XPOWER TCR car, it has actually shown outstanding strength on the track, so let's wait and see what other surprises it can bring!

According to the data of Easy Car App "Hot Ranking of Self-owned Brand Compact Cars", the daily average attention of MG5 Scorpio is 12,, ranking 3th. For more data, please go to the Easy Car App to check it out.