To Jost Capito: Regarding the layout of the WRC

[Lundefaret]

Dear Mr Capito

I have met You only once - at the launch of the Ford Focus ST at Le Catsellet - where You told me that the ST was a dolphin and an RS the shark.
There where a lot of journalists present over a number of days, so I dont expect You to remember me, but I remember being impressed by Your detailed knowledge of motorsports regarding to drivers, classes, different disiplines, etc. Even tough I had read up on Your vey impressive CV, wich You are building on at this very moment.

I understand that there are some challenging times getting to an agreement regarding the set up/lay out of the WRC, especially in context of the TV broadcasts.
I will present an idea to a layout wich I think could please both parties, and make rallying a greater spectacle for the TV audience and the fans in general.

Concept:
Split each rally in two seperate parts.

Part one: Endurance
This is the rally proper. Multiple stages. Hard. Tough. Long. Day. Night. Etc.
Points given out.
On TV: Summary each day/evening.

Part two: SuperStage
One stage run as a seperate event with seperate points.
The SuperStage is run as the only stage on the last day of the rally.
The SuperStage should facilitate for a lot of spectators, and be made in to an event of its own (like the Fafe etc)
On TV: Start with summary of the rally proper with Best Of moments. And then some feature stuff, live from the Service Park, etc. Then Live stage, with split times etc.

Bonus: With the physics engine of the Richard Burns Rally as a starting point, an online rally game is developed called "WRC Superstage" (it must be a simulator, not an arcade). Here the rally fans can compete in real time on the SuperStage, with big prizes etc. (Online competing in real time is an old idea from the times of David Richards, but have never come to fruition.)

[AndyRAC]

That's not actually a bad suggestion - but, you've used that word which brings shivers to WRC top brass. The 'E' word......
Whisper it..... Endurance. And anyway, define Endurance. In my view, any event with 500km+ of special stages is endurance. Surely there is room for 2-3 Endurance events in a 12-13 round series?

I've also seen a suggestion to follow the example of FiS Cross Country ski-ing; I'm not sure that would work. But it would be better than this 'shoot out' concept.

[Lundefaret]

That's not actually a bad suggestion - but, you've used that word which brings shivers to WRC top brass. The 'E' word......
Whisper it..... Endurance. And anyway, define Endurance. In my view, any event with 500km+ of special stages is endurance. Surely there is room for 2-3 Endurance events in a 12-13 round series?

I've also seen a suggestion to follow the example of FiS Cross Country ski-ing; I'm not sure that would work. But it would be better than this 'shoot out' concept.

The "Endurance" part can be done with great flexibility offered to the rally organisers. There would be no problem letting the Automobile Club of Monaco have a Monte Carlo rally as they would like (with night stages etc), and have one SuperStage (the Col de Turini springs to mind.)

For the TV-crew this would simplify the live part of the rally.

[Franky]

I think it's easier to broadcast the rally live as it has been done with Rally France, than to make a full blown live broadcast with several on ground cameras on a stage as long as Col de Turini.

[Rallyper]

Good idea. Much better than the proposed one, which should be in garbage already. Some ifs - which of course can be solved: 1) Same car in both events? (Could be a cost if the teams need to have spare cars for their drivers being able to start if they crash day one. 2) Counting bodyshells and engines for the whole season (rules that was -don´t know if they is still present) in the second section?

If not mentioned: The second section should of course let the drivers do a couple of rounds on stage before the real test. All for the spectators.

[janvanvurpa]

Herregud...Or Garry Hud.

So say Häckki Hälarna drives 500km and wins traditional SSs and gets 15 poäng.

Then Rex Karrs who bought his ride for 6 million euros and flipped on SS2, and SS10 has his skillful mechanics slam it back together and he wins the TV Special....are you suggesting he also gets 15 oöng?

Shirley you cannot be serious.

PS how do you have so much self control? Not one word of swearing! Not even asking if he was passed out drunk, or if he had been bought..

Such self control..

You're a better man than me, Gunga Din.

[Mirek]

Split each rally in two seperate parts.

Part one: Endurance
This is the rally proper. Multiple stages. Hard. Tough. Long. Day. Night. Etc.
Points given out.
On TV: Summary each day/evening.

Part two: SuperStage
One stage run as a seperate event with seperate points.
The SuperStage is run as the only stage on the last day of the rally.
The SuperStage should facilitate for a lot of spectators, and be made in to an event of its own (like the Fafe etc)
On TV: Start with summary of the rally proper with Best Of moments. And then some feature stuff, live from the Service Park, etc. Then Live stage, with split times etc.

This is very similar to IRC Golden stage concept which was successfully used at the end of 2010 and 2011 season (I think). Thanks to Eurosport we know this idea works so why not. Definitely better than the stupid proposal for decisive stage!

I think it's easier to broadcast the rally live as it has been done with Rally France, than to make a full blown live broadcast with several on ground cameras on a stage as long as Col de Turini.

Don't know about RedBull Media but Eurosport way of covering Tour de France and ERC/IRC events (when they are live) is technically done in absolutely same way.

[Rallyper]

Yes points scoring is an issue. But one stage in a parallell rally event together with an ordinary endurance rally is one way to go if WRC should talk to even bigger amounts of spectators.

[tommeke_B]

Why does WRC need any change? For me the sport, as it is, is perfect. The main problem FIA should work on is not the "content", the problem is the "package". Capito wants to make WRC a TV-event, in my opinion this is not possible, it's not F1. It can be a great TV sport, in the way Eurosport did with IRC (remember Monte Carlo). But that requires some effort. In stead of destroying our sport by changing the fundamentals, the promotor should work on its job! I remember the time on this forum where everyone complained there "still" was no promotor for WRC. Now we have a promotor for more than a year, nothing has changed...

[Mirek]

Maybe You are right. One could wonder why such an enormously popular event like Dakar is not held on 9000 one kilometer long spectator stages from which 8999 are qualification rounds for the last decisive battle...