Motor Sport Developments Limited (MSD) is an automotive engineering and motor sport company based in Milton Keynes in the United Kingdom. The company was responsible for running the

Hyundai World Rally Team The Hyundai World Rally Team is a rally team competing in the World Rally Championship (WRC) as the official Hyundai entrant. Its team principal is Sean Kim, deputised by Julien Moncet and its drivers in 2022 include Thierry Neuville, Ott Tanak ...

on behalf of

Hyundai Motor Company Hyundai Motor Company, often abbreviated to Hyundai Motors ( ) and commonly known as Hyundai (, ; ), is a South Korean multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and founded in 1967. Currently, the company o ...

between the years of 2000 and 2003, before an abrupt end to the program resulted in legal action between the two parties and near collapse of MSD.

History

Rally

Hyundai Motor Sport first approached MSD to compete in the 2-litre Cup (also known as F2 or Formula 2) of the

World Rally Championship The World Rally Championship (abbreviated as WRC) is the highest level of global competition in the motorsport discipline of rallying, owned and governed by the FIA. There are separate championships for drivers, co-drivers, manufacturers and t ...

in 1998 and 1999 using a

Hyundai Coupe The Hyundai Tiburon ( ko, 현대 티뷰론) known in Europe as the Hyundai Coupé (현대 쿠페) is a sports coupe that was produced by the South Korean manufacturer Hyundai from 1996 to 2008. The name "Tiburon", a slight variation of "tiburón ...

. The Group A kit-car was prepared by the company and entered into the cup with owner and managing director David Whitehead also assuming the role of Team Principal.

Kenneth Eriksson Kenneth Eriksson (born 13 May 1956 in Äppelbo, in the kommun of Vansbro) is a now retired World Rally Championship rally driver. He drove for several manufacturer teams, including the Subaru World Rally Team, Mitsubishi, Hyundai and Škoda. He was ...

was recruited to head the challenge, with Australian Wayne Bell also employed to contest 5 events. Bell finished 4th in class in the car's debut at the 1998 Rally Portugal. The team finished 5th and bottom of the cup standings at the end of 1998, and 2nd out of two teams in 1999. Am2 hyundai

From 2000, MSD ran the Hyundai World Rally Team using brand new Hyundai Accent World Rally Cars which were unveiled in 1999.

Alister McRae Alister McRae (born 20 December 1970) is a British rally driver who competed in the World Rally Championship. He is the son of the five-time British Rally Champion Jimmy McRae and the younger brother of the late 1995 World Rally Champion, Col ...

, brother of 1995 world champion Colin, was recruited to front the campaign, with veteran Eriksson retained. Their best result was fourth overall in 2001 Rally of Great Britain. In 2003, the world rally campaign was halted when Hyundai cancelled funding following a season of budget constraints and limited testing and car development. Motor Sport Developments prepared legal action against Hyundai alleging breach of contract, in return Hyundai accused MSD of failing to produce audited accounts. Whitehead commented that 100 members of staff were made redundant as a consequence of the withdrawal.

Other ventures

Besides Hyundai, MSD also ran a rally program for Opel, and circuit racing campaigns for Opel, Honda, Vauxhall and Peugeot in the 1990s.

WRC Results

References

{{reflist British auto racing teams Automotive motorsports and performance companies Privately held companies of the United Kingdom World Rally Championship teams Official motorsports and performance division of automakers British Touring Car Championship teams

History

Rally

Other ventures

WRC Results

See also

References