IMG say bye

[hoffman66]

For some fans this will be sad, but I think for most long term, true rallycross fans, the fact that IMG are moving away from promoting rallycross is overwhelmingly a good thing.

Apparently their parent company is in 7 billion of debt so no shock there then.

They did a lot of good, improved the presentation, the show aspect, brought in and encouraged manufacturers, better coverage. And mainly brought rallycross to bored normal racing fans in a way it had never been exposed before. So bravo for that.

But look at what they did wrong.

Ignored 50 odd years of history, by forcing old tracks to come up with insane money to host event's, that alone was unforgiveable. Tried to make what is basically a Scandinavian series, into a world championship, it never really was at any stage.

The tracks they wanted and ,made were awful, car park style tracks that encouraged contact had no character or style and they chased GP venues at the expense of all else, so many venues came and went as rallycross never really did pay except maybe in Sweden and France, yet it was sold no doubt as a financial winner, hence loads came and went not giving the sport a chance to grow or expand.

They chased the car makers, fine, but they did it at the expense of the private guys, and the support series that were totally relegated at times to no coverage, also rans.

Not even allowed to be on track together which is pathetic to say the least, elitist rubbish and in no way reflects the normal ways of rallycross.

When they lost electric they basically lost interest, went though the motions and allowed the teams to get on with it, which is honestly when it has been at its best, the past year and a half has been superb, unpredictable, some better tracks and better coverage for supports.

But I think the biggest thing they did to lose fans here was the Silverstone Speed event fiasco, drastically over priced, awful track, treated the home of rallycross like a pawn and got their just deserts by totally misreading existing fans and the general public at large.

I will not be at all sorry to see them go.

But I do hope a proper old style ERC series, starting afresh, using existing venues, (at a much reduced cost to allow them to make money) and current ones, maybe make the cars a bit cheaper, bring in better support series ERC could once again be pretty big.

There is no doubt that at the start IMG got it right, they managed to get rallycross to people that had never seen it, made it exciting the buzz was amazing, that could happen again. But it needs doing carefully, not do it, splash it all over a tshirt, market it, sell it to the highest bidder, make countries bid for tracks, all in one year.

They ran too far too soon and paid the price.

[Juntos]

The question now is... who is coming in? Eurosport Events must be on top of the list.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

They ran too far too soon and paid the price.

I think I generally agree with that but I think part of it was also down to the teams. You only had to walk around the paddock in 2017/2018 to see how much money was being thrown at it, which effectively priced out a lot of the other guys.

[1975DCS]

I don’t see the encouragement to attract manufacturers was a good thing. That is one of the problems, Rallycross cars used to be something you could either build or buy. Now they came and left the sport soon after like in many motorsports.

[schanche]

If this is true then Christmas has come early 👌 been waiting so long.

[Alex Langheck]

Know your market, and cut your cloth accordingly.

RallyCross is a niche motorsport, only followed in a small number of countries. It doesn't really warrant a true World championship - and there's nothing wrong with that.
Make it the ERX and have x number of rounds on mostly historic/traditional tracks were the sport is based.

[FIRE]

With IMG gone, any news about next season?

I hope there will be a promotor with roots in rallycross.
Dump the FIA World Championship title and go back to a FIA European Championship. Maybe a few steps back but on the long term a healthy series.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

I think with current uncertainties about travel etc. that would be the best thing for the championship.

[Hi Low]

THE WAY FORWARD. Back to, A European Championship, Reduced costs, No craze travel costs flying cars all over the world, What did that achieve !. No F1 tracks please, as feature less, only there for the press rooms, and high costs of track hire, Cars much tighter controls 1 engine, 2 gearbox,2 diffs, 2 turbos per year, control tyres 8 per event, The total km used every event no problem. 10 Events per year. And the main change, No pit to car radio contact before and during racing, Drop the flag let's go racing the best driver wins. as of old. The man to run this new show is Pat Doran !!!! his heart is full of rallycross past & present. And could do it very well, what's your thoughts ???????.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

I'd like to see them keep Spa, always thought it would be crap but racing was really good. And I wouldn't get rid of spotters

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[FIRE]

No reason to dump Spa but IMO F1 tracks in general are not the future of rallycross.

Back to basics, lower costs.

[Sarge]

Originally Posted by FIRE

No reason to dump Spa but IMO F1 tracks in general are not the future of rallycross.

Back to basics, lower costs.

100% agree

[krzysiek_aleks]

To be honest I wouldn't be mad if WRX would go back to European Championship with more traditional tracks. Maybe Słomczyn would be back at some point - rallycross layout there is quite nice (although whole circuit is flat) and facilities year after year are improving.

Also it would be quite something to see best drivers in the world with their SuperCars together with 30+ field of Seicentos at one event.

[crossfades]

I guess ERC could work with Supercars. I think WRX will continue though depending on when, or if, the electric cars are ready. Manufacturers would surely prefer WRX with electric cars rather than ERC.