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Thread: WRC Calendar 2018
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11th July 2017, 17:06 #91
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That’s the point I was trying to make; more than the number of competitive days or total stage kms, what keeps puzzling me is the short effort drivers are subjected each rally day. Driving around 140 competitive km’s for a little more than 1 hour in a full day leg is simply too short and looks a bit effortless; obviously it isn’t, especially considering the high performance of today’s cars, but nevertheless there’s room to make each rally day more physically demanding.
Instead of the 9 to 5 we could have a 6 to 12 (am/pm) marathon leg comprising 250 stage kms, with one or two service halts and an inline route replacing the boring ‘morning/afternoon’ identical loops. With this one only big leg on Saturday, plus a proper qualifying stage on Friday and a nice SSS run for Tele purposes (without counting for the classification) before Sunday’s podium ceremony, I honestly believe that we could get a new breed of sprint WRC events, more exciting to see and follow. In addition to those 10 or 12 short events we still would need 4 grand slam iconic events (Monte, GB (RAC inspired), NZ and Argentina), with 3 or 4 competitive days and a 600 stage kms limit.
I know, this is daydreaming as, like many of you already said, it’s not expectable to see big layout changes under the current exciting WRC environment. We’ll probably have to stick with some random event replacements and pray to Rally Gods for keeping manus loyal to the series.
Btw, even if WRC events became shorter after Gr.B, the real revolution was at the beginning of the 00’s, when Mr. Richard took ISC control and imposed the single service park, the clover leaf format, the 9 to 5 schedule and Sunday’s mini leg. All this, allegedly, to bring TV and mass media into WRC; 17 years after we’re still looking for them…Rally addict since 1982
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11th July 2017, 17:28 #92
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Could you please be more detailed about why and how would it make rallying "more exciting to see and follow" if all the stage kilometres were run on one day? More physically demanding so we would see more crashes towards the end of the day or we would see some drivers drive 80% speed because they just want to finish? Henri Toivonen said in one of his last interviews that driving for hours a day in a modern fast car is "too much for the brain". Also, we would have no rally 2 at all in this format?
I would also love to have more inline routes vs repetitions but there's obviously many practical reasons why running a stage twice is easier and cheaper to arrange than two separate stages. Also probably easier for a tourist spectator to stay in the same place for two stages than to switch stage.
Yes, rallying isn't as popular as it was 20 years ago, but you cannot claim it's because we have the single service park regulations and short days etc. Maybe if we would have had the old regulations all along, we wouldn't have WRC rallying at all anymore because no manufacturer could afford it?
Meanwhile, I like your idea about having events of different lengths, like a long GB rally and a long Monte with shorter Sweden and Finland, but the short rallies could stay as they are now.Last edited by AnttiL; 11th July 2017 at 17:32.
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11th July 2017, 19:20 #93
It's funny seeing people calling Portugal & Mexico tough rallies, I mean really? the closest thing today we have to the Acropolis Rally is Rally Italia Sardegna. What the FIA & Promoter should do (but probably won't 'cause they love their bucks) is bring back Italy to Sanremo as a mixed event, first day tarmac & the next 2 days gravel or vice versa, after that make RACC a full proper tarmac event with night stages (as they did back in 2013), when they finish with those 2 events, take away Coffs coat's rally Australia & let NZ join in the fray. After that, since Poland might be leaving us, bring back Acropolis instead (as Poland took it's place since 2014), and if they really want add Cyprus, Japan & Ireland....but hey, why would they do that if it doesn't bring them any money?....
Only you know your true potential.
This year we rally #ForCraig
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11th July 2017, 19:35 #94
I think it's a shame China won't be appearing anytime soon, was a perfect fit with both being an Asian and a tarmac event.
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11th July 2017, 20:33 #95
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From my experience (only Portugal and Spain), and according to what is told about others WRC events, most of the time spectators can only see a SS in the morning and another one at the afternoon (luckily also a SSS, if that’s the case), during a rally day. It’s not hard to believe that in a long marathon leg we could managed to see in one day almost the number of stages that currently can be seen in a whole rally, with no boring loop breaks and getting a bit of the old day’s rush. Those at home (let’s be frank, besides a handful of motorsport forums dedicated members, how many guys actually follow the all 2 and a half days?) would also have the chance to keep up in a more thrilling way, without those huge breaks between loops and legs (sometimes one almost forget there’s still a rally going on).
For sure the clover leaf format still makes sense for rally’s being disputed in several days, but it’s not necessary if we could have sprint rally’s based on a long single leg. Btw, I also believe it wouldn’t be more dangerous to drivers: probably it’d make them develop a different driving approach, a bit like Formula guys do when driving at Le Mans.
Honestly I’m not regretting to have lost the (alleged) glorious old days; I’m just thinking on feasible alternatives to the 9 to 5 rally ‘office’ schedule, believing that actually it’s possible to bring up a more adventurous side of rally, which was present in past eras and hugely helped to forge our sport charisma.Rally addict since 1982
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11th July 2017, 22:03 #96
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11th July 2017, 22:05 #97
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12th July 2017, 00:49 #98
As i said on Cyprus thread: Cyprus and Acropolis only prove one thing, its places are in WRC. Rally use to be brutal to cars and drivers.
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12th July 2017, 11:04 #99
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Exactly! Events were still a proper test - what I'd still define as Rallying; rather than what we have now which is almost Rally-lite. It is the equivalent of turning the Le Mans 24 Hours into the 6 Hours of Le Mans on the Bugatti circuit.
And I remember the uproar from certain writers bemoaning the changes. The teams & manufacturers were pleased as they were promised riches beyond belief; TV & sponsor money would roll in and WRC would threaten F1 in the global market.
Er, it didn't really happen - it was unsustainable. And we're not really any further on 17 years later.
I agree with RallyPower; you can keep most events as they are, fine no issues. However, some can become a short, sharp sprint event; Thursday/ Friday night SSS, followed by maybe 1 day of intense action - you could even repeat the stages in the reverse direction. Drivers are fitter than they've ever been, and if a driver can do a non stop 2-3 hour stint in an Endurance race, then a top WRC driver shouldn't have a problem with an intense day of action broken up between stages. You design the event so there aren't driver tiredness/ health issues.
Is there a better sound than that of Porsche engined Flat-6 ???
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12th July 2017, 11:12 #100
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Last edited by AnttiL; 12th July 2017 at 11:21.
Fourmaux. Btw msport tested also hankook tyres https://youtu.be/DESKqpAqX5o?si=3uxWc8FrCUGMT0Pi https://youtu.be/sHetcbBQwKk?si=M7kq3bf2ar3Slhco
WRC Testing