WRC main class in 2025

[doubled1978]

It’s very evident that even we, the supposed ‘real’ rally fans that are more than casual observers, can’t even come close to agreeing a way forward for WRC, so why would the FIA/Promoter listen to us, survey or not?
Like others have said, I think that some decisions have probably already been made in principal, and if the desire is to get much higher number of cars competing in the ‘main’ class there is only one way to achieve that in the short term.

[typhoon]

Use road car based engines, use cheaper material for body panel, for suspension and stuff use only parts that everybody can buy instead of purpose built parts... it's not that hard.

Again, with the budgets the WRC teams have (think about Hyundai's 80M), in less than 2 years you'll be at the start point: almost the same costs. They'll spend them over useless small wings and aero around the mirrors or on the roof.

And btw things like panels are just 1-2% of the whole budget needed for building the car.

With some adjustments, Rally2 will be more than fun.

[Mirek]

Use road car based engines, use cheaper material for body panel, for suspension and stuff use only parts that everybody can buy instead of purpose built parts... it's not that hard.

All what you present woud safe a fraction of a seaon cost and it would not bring any new manufacturers.

I know I keep repeating it all the time but the way to attract wealthy customers is to offer them more value (in this case obviously marketing one) not to give them a discount on old rusty goods.

[Steve Boyd]

If they really want to make the WRC less expensive to compete in they need to reduce the number of events. Minor reductions to the cost of each car won't make that much difference, neither will making the events shorter. They're already spending the best part of a week on site at each event for 2½ days rallying. Reducing the competition by ½ day isn't going to make any difference. Ten rallies of 5 days is much cheaper than 25 rallies of 2 days.

I'm also not sure that "roadside" service is practical in the modern world but more remote service should be possible as long as the service crews have to check in and out over a limited time frame either side of the time that the competing car is there. You won't need as much space as a full service area. It can be done that way - I've experienced it as a service crew on events in the past.

[RS]

All what you present woud safe a fraction of a seaon cost and it would not bring any new manufacturers.

I know I keep repeating it all the time but the way to attract wealthy customers is to offer them more value (in this case obviously marketing one) not to give them a discount on old rusty goods.

In lieu of an answer to that what do we do? Nothing? Cost cap?

BTW, anyone know what the costs are for a privateer to rent a Rally2 car for a WRC event vs a Rally1 car?

[TypeR]

If I remember correctly, then couple of years ago the difference was roughly 3x. Around 70k vs 200k eur per wrc event + the price also depends how much PET you want to do.

[Mirek]

In lieu of an answer to that what do we do? Nothing? Cost cap?

That's a million Dollar question. Anyway reducing cost works as a measure to keep those already in the sport from leaving but it will not help bringing new ones. What you need is to give them a reason to join and they wil never join anything just because it's cheap. On one hand it's quite obvious what reason they need and want - exposure and a story to sell. That's the simple part of the answer. On the other hand the difficult part is how to bring it. What to sell to global audience of 21st century 20' and 30'? I think that large part of the problem is in the common uncertainty of the car market future. Will it go full electric? Will there be a CE ban? Will everything change again because the plans turn out to be unrealistic? Will the car owners turn to be only passangers? What percentage of car buyers will seek driving excitement and will that even be a thing in the future? What if different continents opt for a completely different way? Will there be a global marketing possible? Plenty of questions, few answers.

[seb_sh]

That's a million Dollar question. Anyway reducing cost works as a measure to keep those already in the sport from leaving but it will not help bringing new ones. What you need is to give them a reason to join and they wil never join anything just because it's cheap. On one hand it's quite obvious what reason they need and want - exposure and a story to sell. That's the simple part of the answer. On the other hand the difficult part is how to bring it. What to sell to global audience of 21st century 20' and 30'? I think that large part of the problem is in the common uncertainty of the car market future. Will it go full electric? Will there be a CE ban? Will everything change again because the plans turn out to be unrealistic? Will the car owners turn to be only passangers? What percentage of car buyers will seek driving excitement and will that even be a thing in the future? What if different continents opt for a completely different way? Will there be a global marketing possible? Plenty of questions, few answers.

What I see is that all succesfull series have some sort of cap, be it financial or performance, to ensure an interesting championship. I think that the "old" fully open model of development is dead because the current technologies are at a point of diminishing returns (big spend for small gain). Either you embrace new technologies or you put some cap and aim for entartainment. WRC is as usual behind the times so it's a big question what they will do in the future.

Will some UFO going 200kmh flying above my head in the forest make me buy the car, personally probably not, but it will raise awareness of the brand.

An option, go the WEC route: put any car in the windtunnel and put a maximum limit on downforce/drag, put the engine on the dyno and put a maximum limit on power and torque, allow any bodywork and any engine configuration. Set a target maximum limit, this helps any new manufacturer analyse costs/return and know that it won't end up in a spending war. Then it's a business case, otherwise the budget is always open, Hyundai probably spends 10x or 20x to advertise in footbal compared to WRC so if the value rises costs can easily rise too with the current setup. The future of motorsport does not lie in formulas that worked in the past.

[COD]

I have not read the thread, but my suggestion:

Plus kit for current Wrc2 cars: larger restrictor, and other means to create more noise, maybe some bodykit and that is it. Possibility for national/erc drivers to buy the kit if they want to participate in main class WRC on some events

[seb_sh]

I have not read the thread, but my suggestion:

Plus kit for current Wrc2 cars: larger restrictor, and other means to create more noise, maybe some bodykit and that is it. Possibility for national/erc drivers to buy the kit if they want to participate in main class WRC on some events

you should read the thread