How do you see the future of rally?

[Sulland]

Works in rallycross !

[N.O.T]

Are there any manufacturers officially involved in rallycross ??

[Brother John]

For a manufacturer how can the driver championship be more important than the manufacturer championship?

Each time the driver wins a rally, the factory makes free advertising! :

That is the way to sell cars, so that's cheaper than to have a very expensive manu team with overpaid drivers. mokin:

[focus206]

Each time the driver wins a rally, the factory makes free advertising! :

That is the way to sell cars, so that's cheaper than to have a very expensive manu team with overpaid drivers. mokin:

Well, but if the manufacturer wins the title, they can do all the advertising they want saying, for example, "2011 World Rally Champion"... but they can't do an advertising saying "2011 World Drivers Rally Champion", it just sounds bad for the manufacturer

[Sulland]

Are there any manufacturers officially involved in rallycross ??

No.

But do you think a normal fan (not us petrolheads in here) see the difference if a VW MaxiRally car or a Polo WRC would win a rally. Most people would not see the difference - to them it is a VW.
Same with the other brands in MaxiRally, even if it is same "car" under the body !
RallySport Magazine - Tales from Argentina and their Maxi Rally Cars

[N.O.T]

No.

But do you think a normal fan (not us petrolheads in here) see the difference if a VW MaxiRally car or a Polo WRC would win a rally. Most people would not see the difference - to them it is a VW.
Same with the other brands in MaxiRally, even if it is same "car" under the body !
RallySport Magazine - Tales from Argentina and their Maxi Rally Cars

then why official car manufacturers are involved in motorsport if the fans cannot see the difference ??? maybe they are masochists and want to spend money right ?? maybe....

[Rallyper]

Well, but if the manufacturer wins the title, they can do all the advertising they want saying, for example, "2011 World Rally Champion"... but they can't do an advertising saying "2011 World Drivers Rally Champion", it just sounds bad for the manufacturer

Manutitles win one time each year. Winning a rally is possible almost every fortnight

[Mirek]

No.

But do you think a normal fan (not us petrolheads in here) see the difference if a VW MaxiRally car or a Polo WRC would win a rally. Most people would not see the difference - to them it is a VW.
Same with the other brands in MaxiRally, even if it is same "car" under the body !
RallySport Magazine - Tales from Argentina and their Maxi Rally Cars

Seems that You don't see the point. Manufacturers don't need cheap cars same for everyone. They want to win and use the victory as a marketing tool. That means they need to have thing under full control and the cost is minor issue if it guarantees something. The cost is problem of privateers. And in the end for manufacturer it is important also to defeat its own privateers. It's a question of credit - an ordinary privateer must not defeat the manufacturer. Maybe cynic but it's like that.

Of course I understand Your logic but it's spectators point of view.

[Sulland]

I see the point, but that is of course seen from a manufacturer, I am meerly a fan, and want the show to be as good and exiting as possible. Not as it is today, where the result is a given - which citroen will win.

[OldF]

That is not the way because for manufacturer standard parts useful for competition use are way more expensive than special competition parts. That's how it is - for manufacturer it is much cheaper to build hand-made competition car than to produce thousands of half-competition cars. Also it is much more flexible because development and production planning of stock car takes years before a new one is launched.

The maximum cost for every component is already applied in S2000/WRC rules...

I also don't agree with making all cars using same standard components. That's no longer a manufacturer competition. It can be done for some cup to make numbers of entrants but not more.

For sure the overall cost will be higher when producing several thousands of parts and even higher if road cars are manufactured with half-competition parts which would make the road cars more expensive. Would any manufacturer risk their competitiveness compared to their competitors by manufacturing more expensive cars?

But the unit cost for a hand made part is far more compared to series production parts. These higher unit costs for hand made parts is the reason why the hand made cars are expensive. Some of the R2/R3 cars parts are reinforced or/and modified standard parts.

As Sulland already said there’s manufacturer point of view and a racing car customer point of view.