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Stop the press !!!
According to MTV3, Toyota F1 team has two years time to succeed. This is what their team manager Tadashi Yamashima has told. http://www.mtv3.fi/urheilu/f1/uutise...2007/12/595701
So, apparently there is a bottom in their bucket too. Jolly good, come back WRc when you've done not succeeding ;)
When we talk about media coverage, besides day reviews which are actually quite good (we have to consider that cause of the nature of nowadays rallies, with few exceptions there is not much action in last 2 days). For me one thing that really shows that world of rallying lost their compass are so called TV stages, or spectator stages being run on stupid stadiums...that are really boring, shows nothing what rally is about, and even in cases when they can make better stages (this years Ireland) they insist on stupid head to head battle. The only real SS that were fun for watch were this years rally Norway TV stage and last year Cyprus TV stage, although it was dangerous for spectators because organizers put them on wrong places. On that part of media promotion I thing rally made big step backwards, I really miss old TV stages from 80s and 90s, like MC86 SS1 TV stage, many RAC rally TV stages, or even in Finland when they made in 99 fantastic Ruuhimakki SS TV stage not to mention Harju SS on streets of Jyvaskyla...and similar stages...I hope you understand what I mean.
And apart of all said to now about new rally classes, they are only one aspect that need to be changed...there are perhaps even more vital elements needed to be reconsidered...like length of SS, night rallying, repeating of stages!!! (honestly I would rather banned repeating the stages, especially nowadays with so limited number of different SS being driven), servicing the cars, tyre rules,...
And for the last, about rally being broadcasted in different countries meant that it is becoming more popular...honestly when you look at old rally reviews with all that huge crowd standing even on the road, with nowadays almost no spectators stages... I really don`t believe everything FIA said. Even in my country when we have this year first year of WRC coverages (in our national language), I didn`t watch them because they were boring and so badly made (they only made slovenian translation of english version, which was also heard in back...so stupid, and person who translated it have no idea what he is translating, so there were lots of stupid translations). It really turn me off watching it rather than made me spent an hour of my day watching interesting racing...And on internet there are quite lot of websites that offers much better and exciting (although being amateur) WRC clips...sadly that rallying can`t benefit from them cause perhaps rallying could be better promoted by them...
It is just my point of view...
That timeframe pretty well matches FIA's timeframe on the new WRC format as well.......Quote:
Originally Posted by A.F.F.
It also matches the timeframe on the new definite Le Mans regulations. Although they could probably do both with the money they are now spending on F1.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sulland
Not only yours, for much it is mine as wellQuote:
Originally Posted by matSLO
That was what I thought also when I read about it. Toyota's return to WRC would be very welcome.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sulland
It certainly would be, and while it may be wrong to wish mis-fortune on hard working people, lets hope the next 2 years aren't successful for Toyota. Maybe they'll realise their mistake, and return to their natural home - WRC!!Quote:
Originally Posted by MJW
Looks nice for me! :up:
http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f2...f/news_m10.jpg
Brother John: This only repainted blue car concept from Geneve. None of us probably (maybe someone from Skoda motorsport is here too) knows how Fabia S2000 looks in real.
As the S2000 is nowadays (2 litre normal aspirated engine) I don’t think it’s the solution. To get to the minimum weight, 1150 kg for gravel, the car can’t be big. The Pug 207 is about 4-meter car and has a weight of 1170 kg. The S2000 regulations say that the minimum length of a car is 3,90 m. For example Citroen doesn’t have a suitable car for this minimum length, the C2 is to short (3,66 m) and the C4 is too big to get down to the minimum with of 1150 kg. Toyota has the same problem although it’s smaller than the C4. The only solution IMO is a 2 litre turbo or a 2,5 litre N/A engine or maybe even a 3 l N/A engine with a restrictor to keep the power not getting to high but with a lot of torque. I would prefer N/A engines because of the sound. I think it’s quite easy to get from a 2,5 l N/A engines about 350 hp, which would be quite close to the power from a WRC car.
Ford Europe’s chief executive John Fleming said last summer in an interview when he was visiting at NORF that:
“Rallying supports well Ford’s sales and marketing. Rallying suites better the building of Ford’s image than F1.”
“When Ford decided to enter WRC a big weight was giving to that, that many of Ford’s customers like rally.”
Here are at least two reasons for why Ford is in WRC. So it isn’t always the money that counts. IMO the manufacturers make choices between different marketing channels and rally is one of them. One common factor is the visibility and the manufacturers ponder if the WRC gives enough visibility vs. required money and that’s why the car shouldn’t be too expensive to keep the overall costs down to attract more manufacturers. I think the sponsors are also important in rallying because they invite their customer to the events and then it would be good if they see spectacular cars (noisy, sliding).