Wales Rally GB Under Threat....

[AndyRAC]

Originally Posted by Welsh Assembly Goverment
The Wales Rally GB has gone from strength to strength in terms of organisation and is acknowledged as one of the best rounds of the Rally Championship and is estimated to be worth up to £40m to the Welsh economy.

The economic impact study revealed that the 2004 Rally generated £7m in additional Welsh output from short term expenditure alone.

Between 2000 and 2005 the rally is estimated to have contributed at least £28-£30m to regional output through event receipts and spending alone.

Every pound of public sector support generates an additional £2 to the Welsh economy, providing a return of 200%, while the branding and marketing opportunities gives Wales


....dont know how true it is though?lol

Gone from strength to strength? Really, so is the sport and event better for it?

[Bazza2541]

I've said it many many times before and I'll say it again now.
Rally is a marathon not a sprint, and until it goes back to the marathon format it will not do all that it can.

[MJW]

Its interesting that the politians and WAG have steadfastly refused to comment on the story.
I know people who have attempted to get comment and they have been met with a resolute "no comment" others have expressed shock that the story is out in the public domain, especially so soon before WAG could comment. My personal feeling is that I hope that a compromise is reached allowing the 2009 event to run, and allow time for IMS / ISC or whoever to get a viable sponsor for when Rally GB is back in the championship, whether that is 2010, (as at present Rally GB is NOT on the 2010 calendar) or 2011. Another facet to this story I heared was the year out in 2010 is what was causing WAG concern, but I believe that as far as WAG is concerned the main event in 2010 is the Ryder cup, the so called return on investment from WRGB is mega insignificant compared to Ryder Cup.

[AndyRAC]

Mega insignificant is putting it mildly. The Ryder Cup is the main event, sorry, IMS - you must be living in cloud cuckoo land if you don't think it is.

[muscrae]

No Corsica!!!! Turkey,NZ,a gravel Swedish rally are better alternatives!!

Rally of Turkey would bring perfect competition at this time of the year due to slightly deterioting weather conditions around the city of Antalya.
I don't mean the conditions we had in 2006 of course.

[MJW]

I understand that things are not too sweet in Norway after another financial loss for Rally Norway 2009. Someone, somewhere has been very greedy about making money from rallying. I wonder what will happen with Rally Ireland, Republic of Ireland has been stripped from its AAA financial status to AA (economist speak for you are not such a good place as you were) and the old tensions are sadly making a return in Northern Ireland. Western Australia Government were the first to pull the plug on Rally Oz and that took a while to come back. It is inot exactly easy to get commercial sponsorship these days as I dont suppsose any of the banks, insurance companies,airlines, motor manufactureres, property development companies, etc would be rushing in with a 2.2 M GBP / 2.5M€ investment. WRC is in trouble................

[AndyRAC]

Agree that somebody/some people got very greedy, or at least tried to make a fast buck out of WRC, and look what has happened. The interesting thing is the amount of money they were making - that is the main point of the press release, not anything about the sporting side of it. I think that says it all!! We all knew we were being fleeced, but still kept going, fools that we are/were.
Years ago the aim was to put on a fantastic Nationwide event, and if it made money, well that is an added bonus - now it's the opposite.
Just as a comparison, I've dug out a Rally spectator pack from 1995 and one from last year - no surprises the one from 1995 is far thicker and more in it, posters, stickers, pen, rally timetable charts - all in a plastic folder. Last year's was a programme in a plastic bag with a poster.

[Viridian Black]

Last year's was a programme in a plastic bag with a poster

i got a castrol ice scrape as well :P

[AndiG]

.....and where does our ticket money go, cos i'm pretty sure it doesn't all go to charity (i've never seen any info on where our hard earned £20 per stage is spent!)

I´ve never seen another WRC event with similar high ticket charges (about 150€ for the rally pass!!!). How do other events without charges (like greece, france, monte carlo, turkey, spain,...) get paid?

[MJW]

A snapshot of some events in WRC.
1. Rally Ireland struggled with entries this year, similar to WRGB it is sponsored by Governments in the Republic and Northern Ireland. The credit ratinf for the country of Ireland has been downgraded from AAA to AA recently, Northern Ireland is part of UK and is also suffering financially - like WAG, public money has to be well spent.
2. Monte - probably the most significant name in WRC cant be bothred whether its in WRC anymore having had success with IRC.
3. Sweden - made most of its permamnet organising team redundant recently, leaving 1 man as a salaried permamnet member of the team, will rely on volunteers.
4. Rally Norway - after 2 runnings big financial losses, read the Norwegian press, lots going on in the background and questions being asked, and thats in a rich country like Norway.
5.Rally Japan - had a 'near miss' a few years ago with sponsors leading to a change in location and new sponsor. This years Rally Japan (year out of WRC) has been cancelled due to the financial crisis in Japan.
Not a very bright picture is it?