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  1. #1
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    The future of rallying.......?

    What would be the rallysport in 2008 and further?
    Bad news with the OMV withdrawn, and I'm sure they are not the only one.It's bad that all the cars went too much expensive again with the new S2000 class. More development = more money. Too much different classes / cars. S2000, gr.N, S1600, R3, WRC..... Why there was the release of the R3 cars when there is no such class yet? Does anybody knows when FIA will make the R classes official? I heard that in 2009 - maybe! The S2000 cars are pretty much expensive in comparison to gr.N. There are too many gr.N cars on the market that soon will cost nothing and to be competitive you must buy a S2000 car. In one moment the gr.N was a good option but again there are changes. And I see the battle between the french/italian companies agaist the japanese (with the support of FIA). Now with the S2000 they want to stop Subaru and Mitsubishi and get their clients. With the S2000 FIA completely gave a green light to FIAT/Peugeot in the battle for the european teams and the new IRC challange.

  2. #2
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    Expenses always need to be contained somewhat.

    But dont forget we are dealing with global manufactuers, Subaru, Ford, Citroen, Suzuki... these guys each spend $100's and $100's of millions of dollars every year developing road cars. Their budget, for example, €40m to do WRC, without any sponsor input, is, or should be peanuts to any of these teams. Remember, it is marketing budget, which would otherwise be spent on Google click thru ads, or your national tabloid.

    The current situation has improved marginaly, but the problem is feeding young talent from various nationality is soo expensive to do it indepenantly. Thus not generating diverse interest across a broader market.

    WRC can well afford to runs 3 cars, all 3 of which are points scoring, and it would maybe only be an extra ~ 10% on a teams budget. It would expand the works seats by 50% overnight, and make a proper drivers market, and ditch this M2 setup.

    M2 sponsors budget would be far better spent subsidising the additional cost of running a 3rd car with the bigger teams, rather than trying to run a private customer team.

    Also give young drivers an extra passage over stages, for the first two years, to give them some sort of help towards closing the gap to the top 3 or 4 drivers.
    ------------------------------------
    But you can call me Buzz
    email: buzz@pixar.com

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buzz Lightyear
    M2 sponsors budget would be far better spent subsidising the additional cost of running a 3rd car with the bigger teams, rather than trying to run a private customer team.
    From a commercial perspective, I think the M2 teams are the better option. Everytime you see the Manufacturer Championship standings you will see names like OMW, Stobart, VK and Munchis being a part of the team name. You wouldn't see these names if it was "just" the third car in a M1 team.

    I really like the whole M2 idea. I think it's great that you can chose only 10 rallies and then compete against other M2 entries.
    Supporting Ogier in the WRC & Ferrari in F1 & Ducati in MotoGP.

  4. #4
    Senior Member SubaruNorway's Avatar
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    I tried to watch the broadcast from IRC in san remo but found it very boring to watch to be honest
    "Die with memories, not with dreams" Scott McIsaac
    http://www.motorsportfilmer.net

  5. #5
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    eurosport coverage from IRC includes too much bla bla bla and sightseeing in service park - there is not enough action
    also before the rally, they were talking about "clearer vision" and ‘SuperLoupe’ camera, but unfortunatelly i found only one shot with this technique

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by Buzz Lightyear
    The current situation has improved marginaly, but the problem is feeding young talent from various nationality is soo expensive to do it indepenantly. Thus not generating diverse interest across a broader market.
    I think this is key to the whole thing. National championships are no longer a decent breeding ground to an up-and-coming driver. All the top British drivers of the last 30 years, up to Colin McRae and Burns, learned their trade in a strong British championship, in which it was possible to compete in a non-works car against some of the best drivers in the world. Is it only a coincidence that no-one has really come through the ranks since then? I know there was a brief British championship renaissance with the F2 cars, but this doesn't really count as those drivers were also able to be competitive on appearances in the F2 world championship. Only Mark Higgins and Alister McRae came through the ranks from that period.

  7. #7
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    Pretty much the problem here too. Though, it's mainly the rallies itself who are the problem. Straight lines and 90 degrees corners don't really make up the challenge (not that there aren't tricky stages). That's why foreign rallies are important for development and experience to get to a higher level, which you can understand isn't always afordable.

    Besides small private entries, there never was much coming out of our country. Luckily, serious effort came this year, with our national motorsport federation sponsoring a Group N team for several WRC events (KNAF Talent First), with two young talented drivers (take for instance Jasper van de Heuvel who won Group N in Germany). I'm glad this happens, but there wasn't much perspective until a few years ago.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by Josti
    Pretty much the problem here too. Though, it's mainly the rallies itself who are the problem. Straight lines and 90 degrees corners don't really make up the challenge (not that there aren't tricky stages). That's why foreign rallies are important for development and experience to get to a higher level, which you can understand isn't always afordable.

    Besides small private entries, there never was much coming out of our country. Luckily, serious effort came this year, with our national motorsport federation sponsoring a Group N team for several WRC events (KNAF Talent First), with two young talented drivers (take for instance Jasper van de Heuvel who won Group N in Germany). I'm glad this happens, but there wasn't much perspective until a few years ago.
    So the Dutch Federation support their drivers, as well as Belgium, France and Spain. What do the MSA do?? Mmm, interesting; on another Forum there were arguments to whether it was the job of the MSA to support young drivers, personally in my view it is?
    As for S2000, at the moment it's just Fiat, VW and Peugeot, where are the rest of the manufacturers?

    Is there a better sound than that of Porsche engined Flat-6 ???

  9. #9
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    I honestly cannot believe that something so spectacular as the WRC can cease to exist. Surely there must be some solution to keep WRC alive?
    In anticipation of the next corner...

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Fischer
    I honestly cannot believe that something so spectacular as the WRC can cease to exist. Surely there must be some solution to keep WRC alive?

    Ban manufacturer involvement would be a start
    Deep down I'm a sound bloke!

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