How do you see the future of rally?

[tfp]

wrc.com is so pity that Fred Flintstone will mock on it! Every time when there's a rally in the end of the world I have to go through several other sites with timezones, daylight saving/no saving winter/summer etc. In the meantime when I open formula1.com I look right and just click on the button "convert to my time" and everything is sorted up! Such small things are very important and very simple to make, but the staff prefer to moan for the money they lost from the arabs! You suck!

^^^This.

And do they really have to have the videos using flash player? That means anyone with apple devices cant watch the videos. That is making their market much smaller considering how popular tablet computers and apple smart phones are nowadays.

I think following rallys live with wireless technology like this is the future, I have no idea why the FIA havent picked up on this.

PS I am british and I'm allowed to moan

[tfp]

The future? What future?

I must say I'd consider following them, the IRC looks to be on the way up thanks to Eurosport.

Maybe this idea with weight balast for last winner isn't that bad.

Hmmm not too sure about that. They had it in BTCC, "success ballast" or something.

Loeb would be carrying so much weight he wouldnt make it to the end of the stage without running out of petrol, and if Jari matti won the previous event, by the time he has rolled and lost all of the panels off the car the weight disadvantage would even itself out mokin:

[Cacatua]

The future of rallying and so the motorsport SHOULD start putting the foundation stones to begin to be useful in this energy revolution (silent) in which we have just entered. The times of cheap energy waste are running out and the world of transport will be severely affected. As a university professor of mine used to say, people in 40 years will speak of us as the damn *******s who left them without resources, and they will put us as an example of what not to do.
The automotive world has always had a key role in technological breakthroughs, and the world of motorsport is a great scenario to develop. Hybrid systems in the WRC should be already bound, such as Ultracaps (KERS) are in the F1.

[Barreis]

This way Loeb will have 100 wins very soon.

[Arganil]

Hi to all.
Reading this thread made me a little confused, because it seems that almost everybody is forgetting the past years decisions on WRC.

If I remember correctly, before Todt step in, it was Mosley who, in a not very transparent move, renew the WRC promoter contract with ICS/NOS, declining Eurosport offer to the job.

Back then British manus didn't seem to be upset with Mosley polemic choice, even if IRC was already a major success.

It was also under Mosley late leadership that the FIA and the Manus spent more than two years on unsuccesuful technical discussions about WRC regulations, providing some of the most uncompetitive seasons of the WRC history by the delay of replacement of the costly WRC 2.0L cars.

S2000 cars where then already highly competitive but manus never showed insterest to promote them to the top level of the sport.

When Todt and the new FIA team step in it was finaly possible to sort out the WRC 1.6L rules, essential to get new manus interest (as verified with Mini and VW) because WRC 1.6L is less expensive and less technical demanding than 2.0L WRC.

It was a fast and well managed process that gave rally fans the perception of a new aproach from FIA towards WRC, confirmed by Todt and Mouton desire to perserve WRC heritage.

Today's WRC promoter crises has not been so fastly managed, but Todt and his mates deserves everyone confidence that a good solution will be sorted. Let's be a little more pacient!

[makinen_fan]

Today's WRC promoter crises has not been so fastly managed, but Todt and his mates deserves everyone confidence that a good solution will be sorted. Let's be a little more pacient!

i started loosing my confidence and belief in Todt and FIA, because they were full of b******t from the beginning. They promised sorting out the situation in short time, then extended it a bit until May, and then that day passed without any news. And only then we get news about the radical change to be introduced for events paying much more, and then after a week these plans are scrapped. And just yesterday the posted an ad that the timing and mapping systems contracts are up for sale.... and at the start of the year they praised so much the effort by S1T...

so these radical moves cannot gain them any confidence. only more and more people start stopping believing in them and get frustrated

[F1boat]

If Ford leaves the series it'd likely be Citroen vs VW, not so bad, although I prefer a variety of different cars.

[Sulland]

Rally is a strange animal in the motorsport family. It is taking place over a large area, and it is hard to follow who is winning and loosing, compared to track racing where you see them at least one time a lap. In rally you have to plan your rally day as a spectator.

So as it is today, you have to do a lot yourself tô follow a whole rally, and stay updated.

For a driver Rally has to be the ulimate challenge. We see that is easier to swap from rally to racing than the other way around. So the top rally drivers are among the best drivers on the planet.

Yet FIA has made WRC into being a car and manufacturer championship seen from their point of view. This compared to focus on the driver.

If you as a sponsor have money to spend, but do not know where to go.
I do not think I would bring my money to a sport where there are 4 guys that has the tools to win, and where many talented drivers have lost before the start even with the biggest talent and budget in the world.
These things are hard to explain to sponsors and also promotors.
Also the fact that one guy is winning almost every time, does not help to brin exitememt to sponsors and build bigger audiences.

WRCar need to be simplified, and cars blueprinted as formula Ford, so That a team can buy a winning car, build a winning team and have a fair chance of winning a round, and also the championshi
These are success factors that has worked for IRC.
The balance btw manufacturers and drivers need to shift towards the drivers, oterwise WRC will die.

If FIA hits bullseye with R5, that could be the turnaround for Rally. If the price is right, the car is a drivers car, and it is so tech simple so that a private team can manage it over time.
they also need to start using opportunities in internet tecnologies to spread it out live to the world!

If that happens, WRC will grow, and the job for a promotor will be easy - but there has to be a conductor in this process, otherwise it will fail (again) !

FIA need to act soon when one of the big ones plans to go to IRC !!!!!!!

[Barreis]

They can go.

[rallyfiend]

This sounds like a big beat up anyway.

I reckon the more important question is whether Ford will be there in 2013. I wonder if there is a performance related clause in the Ford - MSport contract?