SHOWS OFF THE NEXT GENERATION

Sordo agrees with that, but adds that the way the new technical regulations have worked – with the 36 rather than 33mm restricted engine offering around 80bhp more than this year’s cars, but nothing like the same hike in torque – there won’t be such a difference in the slower, technical sections.

“In places like Sardinia,” says the Spaniard, “we could have a lot of wheelspin coming out of the slower corners, but when the speed is high we can really enjoy this car.”

As the development of the 2017 cars has progressed, there’s been increased concern about the potential performance and compromised safety from what will be the fastest rally cars ever to turn a wheel on planet earth.

“I don’t think the corner speed will be that much higher,” says Sordo. “Don’t forget, we have the same tyre next season and it’s the tyre that is really dictating how much speed we can make. The problem we have is if we have to run the harder tyre – if we have to do this somewhere like Finland then it will be quite difficult. Putting a harder tyre on a car with more power means we will have less grip and going off the road in Finland at that speed…”

Sordo’s voice trails away and he smiles at my attempts to placate him with the major steps which have been taken in the side-impact zones of these new cars. The wider sills have more protection than ever, the crews are further away than ever from a potential point of impact and vast quantities of impact-resisting foam have been moulded into the door space.

“Ah, the mousse,” says Sordo. “Have you seen it? It’s a lot, but what is it if you are really going to the trees? What is this mousse? Is it lemon mousse? Chocolate mousse? I’m not sure…”

There’s no denying the extra width has given the car significantly more presence. Not only will that width bring more stability in the high-speed, Paddon points to the road section potential as well.

“When we’re going through the little villages in the mountains between stages, passing between the houses, these cars will really stop people in their tracks,” says Paddon. “There’s no doubt about the fact that they’re going to make people look. That’s something we haven’t really had for a while. And that’s good, we need that. We need people to wonder what these cars are, we need to attract people – younger people to the sport and these cars will certainly do that.”

The i20 Coupe WRC certainly makes this year’s New Generation i20 WRC’S moniker seem a touch outmoded. Visibly, the shift from 2016 to ’17 is significant in its difference, not least the move from five to three doors, but under the skin the cars are much closer than you would expect.

There’s been significant carry-over from last year’s car – the 2016 i20’s launch was delayed, partly because it was being built with an eye to 2017 and the new technical regulations.

Don’t forget, the earliest incarnation of the New Generation i20 WRC was based on a three-door coupe shell, which means Nandan’s design and engineering team already had solid data on what such a configuration meant for the chassis dynamic.

Beyond the engine work, one of the major changes this season is the re-introduction of an active centre differential, which allows the team and driver to fine tune the car to the conditions. Sordo has experience of this technology from his days at Citroen and Paddon says his time in a Group N Mitsubishi has helped.

“The system is a bit different, but there’s definitely some crossover from my time in a Group N car,” he says. “I have a good idea of how the car’s going to feel and react and, from what we’ve found, the main advantage in terms of speed will come on the Tarmac, but on the gravel it’ll help us look after the tyres a little bit more.”

Post-modernist, Thierry Neuville is new to this level of handling assistance on the way in to a corner and that level of traction on the way out.

“I like it,” he says. “There’s quite a difference with the car, but I feel I have been able to adapt very quickly: it’s about bringing the car to you rather than changing your driving to suit the car. I think we have it working very well on the gravel, but maybe there’s still a bit more work to do on the asphalt.”

It would be wrong to call the Coupe a bitsa, but there’s no doubt a clean sheet of paper and ground-up new car for 2017 would likely have been beyond even Nandan’s miracleworking abilities. In the last three years, Hyundai has built and run four new rally cars, including the launch of the i20 R5 in the middle of this season.

Discussing his team’s workload since the doors opened on an empty factory in the Frankfurt suburbs in June, 2013, Choi takes a moment.

“Four cars in three years and 39 rounds of the world championship,” he says. “Really, this makes us busy. And really this…”

There’s a pause as he searches for precisely the right expression. “… this has been challenging.” Typically, they have risen to the challenge and delivered in fairly emphatic fashion. How emphatic, we’ll have to wait another month and a bit before the start of Monte Carlo to find out.

There is, however, a real confidence about the team now. Previous season launches have been marked by their conservatism; their talk of stage wins, podiums and possible wins.

Not any more. Since Volkswagen walked, Hyundai has become the favourite for next year’s manufacturer championship.

Put this to Nandan, force him out of his comfort zone and he accepts the theory.

“I guess,” he says, “because we were second in this year’s championship and we will be there next year, maybe you can say we are the favourites.”

Almost immediately, he counters his own consideration.

“But don’t forget, Citroen are coming back and I’m sure they are not coming back just to have a look.”

Sensing I might be slightly crestfallen at his determination to validate and rationalise the favourite tag, he adds: “I think we can be considered favourites. Especially if [Sebastien] Ogier’s not in a red [Citroen] car!”

Hyundai is a different team to the one which revealed the New Generation 12 months ago. This time last year, all the talk was of the strife between Neuville and the management of the team. The Alzenau-based squad was apparently full of discord and disharmony.

There’s still talk that Neuville and Paddon struggle to see eye-to-eye, but at least everybody’s talking to everybody else. And Neuville’s man enough to accept his share of the blame.

“I have done well this year,” says Neuville. “I have done well to get back some of the pleasure that was missing in 2015. The difference is that I was able to focus on my driving. I wasn’t trying to engineer the car or manage the team as well…”

When Neuville arrived at Hyundai, he was on the crest of a wave and the edge of greatness. He’d scored six podiums in the last eight rallies for the M-sport team and everything was looking good – he was ready to take on the world with his new team at Hyundai.

When he got to Frankfurt, however, he found a team in its absolute infancy. Yes, there was aspiration and determination to match Neuville’s goals, but at the same time there was a deep realisation of where the team was and what was sensible for the first season or two.

“I wanted to help Hyundai get on the next level,” says Neuville, “and I wanted to do it as quickly as possible. But I realise that with my opinion and mindset, it was not possible to cover too many steps. You can jump over one, but you cannot jump over two or three. I needed to understand that. And then the biggest point for me was when the [New Generation] car was late. We were expecting it for the start of 2015 and it came for the start of the 2016 season. This was a huge disappointment for me. I had a plan with my season and my career based on this new car. I was disappointed and I lost motivation. I couldn’t see light at the end of the tunnel at the time.”

At that time, the series was rife with talk that Neuville was on his way back to M-sport. He admits he did consider getting out. “It was a disaster,” he says, “and at one point you do think that only a change can help you make it better and get the motivation and pleasure back. But I have good management and they helped me realise that not everything is bad and I had to see the positives. When I enjoyed it more, the results started to come back and when the new car came this year, it got better and better. I could see the light then and it was getting bigger and bigger. Personally, I feel a lot stronger now – I learned a lot from that time. A lot that will help me in the future.”

Neuville’s second half of the season was sublime. A couple of fourth places followed his win in Sardinia, but he finished the last five rounds of the championship in a podium place.

It’s that sort of pace that has helped inspire the whole team to believe they really can take on the world with the i20 Coupe WRC in 2017.

“What we’re coming to now,” says Nandan, “is the start of the next generation. Everything is new. Everything is reset to zero and everything is possible. All of the teams, all of us, we are all equal and all starting from scratch now. This year we showed what we are capable of and now we are confident in what we have for next year. We have a great line-up of drivers and we have a great car. “We are ready for the next chapter.” Hyundai’s story is still a relatively small one, with 2017 representing just the fourth chapter.

But the World Rally Championship’s history is immense and full of twists and turns. Next season isn’t just a new chapter, it’s a new book. Given that we’re in the cathedral of speed and talking about a new beginning, maybe it’s the Book of Genesis. ■

Just three years ago there was a straightforward choice for any teenage karter looking to make the switch to car racing. With the Junior Saloon Car Championship still in its infancy from the remains of the 750 Motor Club’s Saxmax series, there was a simple decision to be made between Ginetta Junior and Fiesta Junior.

Now things are a bit more complicated. For the first time ever, there will be four championships dedicated solely for 14-17 year-olds in Britain next year. Ginetta and Fiesta Juniors remain, while the JSCC has rapidly become a flourishing series. And for 2017 Renault wants a piece of the action too with its new Renault UK Clio Cup Junior category.

Since 2010, the MSA has had a limit on the number of junior racing permits it would hand out, with that number set at four. When Renault applied to take that fourth spot, the governing body had a serious consideration of its proposal before granting it a licence.

“Regulations state that the MSA may permit up to four junior race championships in the UK, so while three have been run in recent years, a fourth has always remained a possibility,” says MSA Race, Speed and Kart executive Cheryl Lynch. “When an application was received that would make this a reality, it was subject to detailed consideration by the MSA Race Committee. The committee did consider whether the market might be diluted but ultimately agreed to welcome this new championship.”

With karting budgets escalating, more and more drivers seem to be making the switch to cars and enter this market at an earlier stage. There appears to be a growing realisation that rather than spending a six-figure sum to compete in a Super One class, they can make the transition to cars for significantly less cost.

Jamsport boss Jamie Going – whose team has won the Fiesta Junior title for the past two years and will also enter the new Clio series – reckons that trend will continue.

“I think in previous years the karting teams have said they should carry on racing karts until they have a driving licence,” he says. “For me if you’re going to race cars, you need to start testing at 13.

“[Fiesta Junior champion] Harry Gooding is our little protege and was the youngest driver to win the championship aged 14. He started testing when he was 13. The more karters that realise, the more the junior series are going to grow.”

Ginetta Junior Winter Series rookie champion Harry Dyson is another example of a driver to star after spending time testing aged 13.

While there may be more drivers interested in competing in junior championships, that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s room for four series competing for the same pool of drivers. Those behind each championship are quick to point out the differences between each series.

Ginetta Junior is the most well established and has the highest profile thanks to its place on the TOCA package. But that comes at a cost, and it therefore has the highest budgets of any of the series.

“People often point out

Organising club: BARC Founded: 2017 Car: Renault Clio 220 Trophy New series so no data from previous seasons Organising club: BRSCC Founded: Car: Biggest 2016 grid: Average 2016 grid: Average 2014 grid: 2016 champion: Harry Gooding Aiden Moffat Organising club: BARC Founded: 2005 Car: Ginetta G40 Biggest 2016 grid: Average 2016 grid: Average 2014 grid: 19 2016 champion: Will Tregurtha Tom Ingram

Organising club: BARC Founded: 2014 Car: Citroen Saxo VTR Biggest 2016 grid: Average 2016 grid: 23 Average 2014 grid: 14 2016 champion: Katie Milner Notable graduate: James Dorlin

TEAM PTS

Double R Racing 493 Carlin 466 Lanan Racing 457 Douglas Motorsport 424 Douglas Motorsport 349 Fortec Motorsports 284 Sean Walkinshaw Racing 265 Carlin 247 Double R Racing 245 HHC Motorsport 232 championship from the beginning of May. But when the pressure was on, he made a misjudgment; a fine one, no doubt, but by such fine margins are heroes made and broken.

Allied to Collard’s woes, a stellar Donington weekend for Sowery meant he finished the season in third, just nine points behind Collard’s final total. With two wins during the finale, including his first nonreversed grid race victory, the Mclaren Autosport Award finalist’s feat was made all the more impressive by the fact that he started the season without a full-time deal, finishing with a points haul nearly four times greater than that of his Lanan teammate, Akhil Rabindra.

Douglas Motorsport pair Randle and Enaam Ahmed completed the top five – Randle having been in contention throughout the year, and Ahmed tailing off having led after round one.

Despite being one of the ‘big three’ teams to join the series for 2016 along with Carlin and Fortec, Double R remarkably claimed only its second title as a result of Leist’s success – its previous achievement having come in the now defunct British F3 International Series with Mike Conway a decade earlier.

Two years after the ‘death’ of the previous British F3 format, it was great to have a championship fight worth of such a title back on home soil.

British F3, it’s good to have you back. ■