WRC - What is to be done?

[leonidas]

Another predictable event. Got to say I am increasingly worried for the future of the sport. There are only four competitive drivers, maybe only half a dozen professionals. Size of wallet determines the ability to participate. The best British drivers are completely absent. There is almost no media profile for the sport. There is no worthwhile TV coverage.

What can be done? There are so many diverse suggestions...
- Limit it to Group N or Super 2000 or Group 2/2wd
- Bring back the classic events - safari, san remo
- Run fewer events - but bring back classics like the marathons
- Run longer events
- Run night stages
- Abolish servicing beyond basic consumerables / running repairs
- Run a historic class at every round

Just wonder what people think? The funny thing is that rallying as an amateur and historic sport seems still to be thriving. The historic Monte had over 330 cars. So what's going wrong with the WRC?

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by leonidas

...... So what's going wrong with the WRC?

It's been hijacked by somebody who thought he could change it from a sport into a business and get rich.

[WJM]

I take it you never heard of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge that started this year? This weekend the first rally was driven. Guess which rally it was... the Safari. The calendar further includes Sanremo, Turkey, Ypres, Madeira, Valais, Barum Russia and China. Pretty interesting I'd say.

Cars are N4 or S2000 and registred teams so far are Fiat, Peugeot en Mitsubishi with Skoda joining in later. There are no driver nominees, which means every car can score manu points, including theoraticly a privateer in a standard Peugeot 205.

TV-coverage is pretty interesting with 15 minute bulletins on prime time after each rally day, plus a half hour highlights after the rally, all on Eurosport. This Tuesday 23.30 I think the Safari is scheduled on Eurosport1 with reruns on Eurosport2. You should really try to catch this. Suddenly you'll realize why the WRC coverage is such a total boring drab to look at.

Link to FREE TV-footage:
Day 1
http://www.eurosport.com/rally/mcpla...vid36196.shtml

Day 2
http://www.eurosport.com/rally/mcpla...vid36267.shtml

[Knowlesy]

The championship is getting to the stage where it is a bit of a joke.

Too many changes, be they political, unfortunate events etc...

What I find most hard to stomach is not the lack of depth of driving talent, nor even the complete absence of manufacturers. It's these ruddy service, stage formats etc....and dreadful rules and ideas.

Why are stages being run that are ten seconds long? Why are there a maximum of something like 18 (short) stages per rally? Why have we abandoned the classic events and stages? Why are we gearing this thing towards gaining new fans by running preposterous Super Specials?

What is the Superally thing about? Why are there such silly rulings and restrictions in place? Why did they introduce rulings that froze out the likes of Colin McRae a few years back?

It's all completely horrible. I will follow it until the day I die but it's not where it should be right now, not anywhere near!

[leonidas]

Originally Posted by WJM

I take it you never heard of the Intercontinental Rally Challenge that started this year? This weekend the first rally was driven. Guess which rally it was... the Safari. The calendar further includes Sanremo, Turkey, Ypres, Madeira, Valais, Barum Russia and China. Pretty interesting I'd say.

Cars are N4 or S2000 and registred teams so far are Fiat, Peugeot en Mitsubishi with Skoda joining in later.

Yes I 'm intregued by the politics behind this. I heard that the ACM and a well-known British rally organiser had been canvassed about being involved in the future. My guess is that if the Monte found some way of switching to the IRC and a British organiser were to run an IRC round the WRC would be dead very quickly.

[WJM]

Originally Posted by leonidas

Yes I 'm intregued by the politics behind this. I heard that the ACM and a well-known British rally organiser had been canvassed about being involved in the future. My guess is that if the Monte found some way of switching to the IRC and a British organiser were to run an IRC round the WRC would be dead very quickly.

Yes, they really want to go back to rallies of 10 years (and more) ago. That means less repeated stages and more milage. This Safari had almost 300 competive kilometers but it was driven in 2 days, while a WRC is 320-340km but lasts three days. The organisers are also quoted with being very interested in organising an RAC-type event.

The problems they have is that they basicly run alongside ERC rallies. So they have to follow those very strict FIA regulations regarding milage, timing etc. I guess for a first year they are not yet aiming too high.