How to make ERC a real stepping stone?

[Barreis]

Loeb's dominance destroyed sport. Who wants the same winner for nine years?! And now there's another one for three years...

[tommeke_B]

Sorry, but I think this is a ridiculous statement. Rallying exists solely because of spectator interest. On the one hand because the sport is heavily financed by sponsors and on the other hand because city councils only allow permits for rallies because of the public interest. I do not think many rallies would continue if spectators were banned.



It is a big mistake to think the 'general public' is stupid. They can understand rallying perfectly well, it is not that complicated after all. It is not about knowing about it, it is about caring about it. For example, I know of the existence of Volleyball, I know the basic rules, I know it is very popular, but I simply do not care about it so I won't follow it. Ultimately it is the promotors job to get people to start caring about rallying.

I'm not saying spectators should be banned, I'll never write that. Without spectators there wouldn't be any sport, for sure not on the level we have now. I do ask the question if organizers could handle much more spectators... Maybe not a big issue for well organized events like Portugal (nowadays) or Finland, but for events like Monte Carlo and Poland it's a very different story.

The sport being too complex has nothing to do with people being not smart enough for it. It's just a sport that people don't have any feeling with. A sport like football, cycling or tennis is something that almost everybody has once done themselves (mostly for fun or at school etc), they can relate to it more. Practicing anything that comes close to rallying is pretty much illegal everywhere, now more than ever before... Also when you are watching on the stage you can enjoy the spectacle but you don't see who is leading. How many popular sports can you spectate without knowing who is winning the game? Then there are different classes who change every couple of years. Time penalties, Rally2, powerstage, many rules that are changing very often. Just admit that it's a more complex sport to follow than most other popular sports, especially for somebody who is new with it. Oh, and I didn't know volleyball is so popular.

I love rallying, and spend almost all my holidays for it. And it would be nice to see and read more about it in the everyday news, and to see more effort/money being put in the sport from governments and sponsors, but I don't see the potential for it to become one of the most popular sports. And the promotors job... I don't think any promotor (Eurosport or RBMH) is doing a decent job at the moment. Eurosport was doing very well with IRC a few years ago but it seems like they forgot all of it...

[vino_93]

Really? Even with Loeb, Ogier, Citroën, Peugeot, Camili...

Yes really. Of course, people know Loeb and Citroën. I guess, they know Ogier ... but less than Loeb.
With the retirement of Loeb, rally has lost a lot of media attention. Therefore, when you were watching the news, you regularly have the result of Loeb - at least when he won or crashed, and he won a lot
But now, except the sport media who talked a bit - a little bit - of rallying, it came back to zero ground of media attention.

Don't forget that France isn't a motorsport country. There's more and more people who don't like cars - and it has a lot of media attention, so motorsports ...

But fortunately, there's still a lot of people who likes rallying. But it's a bit like motocross : strong community of fan, investing of lot of time in their passion, but with no global attention from the others. And with more and more difficulties to achieve it.

[Jarek Z]

It is a big mistake to think the 'general public' is stupid. They can understand rallying perfectly well, it is not that complicated after all.

No way! In my opinion you are completely wrong. Rallying is probably the most complicated sport that I know. Can you imagine - I have been following this sport for more than 20 years and now, in 2016, I don't understand the rules anymore!

I'll give you an example. In Rally Islas Canarias Polish driver Lukasz Habaj (Peugeot 208 R2) won the classification of ERC3. That should normally mean that he was the fastest driver in a front-wheel-driven car. But was he? I look at the results and see some FWD-cars in front of him! How is that possible? It's a Spanish driver in Honda Civic. Now I'm wondering, what car is it? Is it a group A car or a group N car? No idea. Is it a full R3 car (Honda Civic Type R R3)? No idea. Why was he faster than Habaj, but didn't win ERC3? I'm looking for an answer and what do I find? The Spanish driver was competeing in the ERC round, but WASN'T CLASSIFIED IN THIS ERC ROUND! How is it possible? I'm looking for an answer and what do I find? He was classified in Spanish championship round only! Is that not idiotic? I look further up in the results and what do I see? A Spanish driver in Suzuki Swift Super 1600! He was faster than Habaj, has a FWD car, but didn't win ERC3. How is that possible? I'm looking for an answer and what do I find? This Spanish driver was competeing in the ERC round, but WASN'T CLASSIFIED IN THIS ERC ROUND! I look further up in the results and what do I find? A driver who was competeing in the ERC round, but WASN'T CLASSIFIED IN THIS ERC ROUND! A driver who was competeing in the Spanish championship round, but WASN'T CLASSIFIED IN THIS SPANISH CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND! He was classified in Canarian championship round and he was driving a car that was prepared against the rules of the FIA! And I think he actually won the rally, but is not a winner! Can you even understand it?

Now try to explain it to someone outside of motorsport. I already have a headache.

[PLuto]

No way! In my opinion you are completely wrong. Rallying is probably the most complicated sport that I know. Can you imagine - I have been following this sport for more than 20 years and now, in 2016, I don't understand the rules anymore!

I'll give you an example. In Rally Islas Canarias Polish driver Lukasz Habaj (Peugeot 208 R2) won the classification of ERC3. That should normally mean that he was the fastest driver in a front-wheel-driven car. But was he? I look at the results and see some FWD-cars in front of him! How is that possible? It's a Spanish driver in Honda Civic. Now I'm wondering, what car is it? Is it a group A car or a group N car? No idea. Is it a full R3 car (Honda Civic Type R R3)? No idea. Why was he faster than Habaj, but didn't win ERC3? I'm looking for an answer and what do I find? The Spanish driver was competeing in the ERC round, but WASN'T CLASSIFIED IN THIS ERC ROUND! How is it possible? I'm looking for an answer and what do I find? He was classified in Spanish championship round only! Is that not idiotic? I look further up in the results and what do I see? A Spanish driver in Suzuki Swift Super 1600! He was faster than Habaj, has a FWD car, but didn't win ERC3. How is that possible? I'm looking for an answer and what do I find? This Spanish driver was competeing in the ERC round, but WASN'T CLASSIFIED IN THIS ERC ROUND! I look further up in the results and what do I find? A driver who was competeing in the ERC round, but WASN'T CLASSIFIED IN THIS ERC ROUND! A driver who was competeing in the Spanish championship round, but WASN'T CLASSIFIED IN THIS SPANISH CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND! He was classified in Canarian championship round and he was driving a car that was prepared against the rules of the FIA! And I think he actually won the rally, but is not a winner! Can you even understand it?

Now try to explain it to someone outside of motorsport. I already have a headache.

I understand your point of view, but small correction. Habaj won ERC3 category, which is not the same as to win in 2WD on the event. Winner of this event in 2WD was not your mentioned spanish driver with Honda, but Surhayen Pernía, Of course he was classified in ERC, he finished 9th overall and he received points into ERC. Of course, he didnt won ERC3 as he was not registered. Your mentioned driver with Swift S1600 was driving ONLY in national field, he was not doing ERC event, so he can be classified only in national championship...

[Jarek Z]

I understand your point of view, but small correction. Habaj won ERC3 category, which is not the same as to win in 2WD on the event. Winner of this event in 2WD was not your mentioned spanish driver with Honda, but Surhayen Pernía, Of course he was classified in ERC, he finished 9th overall and he received points into ERC. Of course, he didnt won ERC3 as he was not registered. Your mentioned driver with Swift S1600 was driving ONLY in national field, he was not doing ERC event, so he can be classified only in national championship...

Yes, you are right. And your post only confirms everything that I said above. Rallying is too complicated to be followed by a normal person.

[PLuto]

Yes, you are right. And your post only confirms everything that I said above. Rallying is too complicated to be followed by a normal person.

Like I wrote in my post, I understand your view and I completely agree. Rallying is in basic too complicated to understand and rules are making it also more difficult...

[sindroms]

Yes, you are right. And your post only confirms everything that I said above. Rallying is too complicated to be followed by a normal person.

As I always say to persons who are not so much in to rally - circuit races is like a pop-music where everybody understand everything. Rally is a classical music. You must learn to understand it.

[Francisco Veloso]

But they don't do much to make it steady and understable, do they?
I believe ERC's main problem is it is lacking a lineup of drivers fighting for it. How many regulars? How many of those are really competitive? ERC rallyes live upon the local drivers. But in order to be classified in ERC table charts they have to pay a substancial higher entrance fee than the one they would pay to enter the national or regional rally. A little bit of a contrasense, isn't it? And sometimes the cars are not elligible because they are built under national specifications which are different from one country to another.
ERC is today, more than a rally championship, a business and it is rulled as one.

[PLuto]

ERC and IRC was always build on local drivers. Also in golden era of IRC, there were only few regulars which were doing all events (and it was mainly because of manufacturers). This is how it is and this will never change. Rally world is different now and WRC championship is much stronger. There are some regulars doing more events in ERC and there are still nice fights on all events...