Hmm, I don’t really disagree with you – it would be sensible & cut costs. However, the stakeholders (teams, FiA, etc) would never go for it. Plus, under the FiA statutes, a World Championship must visit 3/4 continents.
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Hmm, I don’t really disagree with you – it would be sensible & cut costs. However, the stakeholders (teams, FiA, etc) would never go for it. Plus, under the FiA statutes, a World Championship must visit 3/4 continents.
Ooooops, that ended up in the wrong thread. Wonder how that happened.
Consani will stop his WRC 3 program. He will focus on French 208 Cup. For the Rallye de France, he has contact with people from Qatar to drive Fiesta R5 ! (AutoHebdo)
Bouffier will skeep Finland and Germany too. No money.
About rallies in the world, I would prefer 7-8 events in Europe. Other in the rest of the world.
What want manufacturer by doing competition ?
Sell cars. Do they need a strong promotion in Europe ? No, not really ... all of us here know the brands, the cars, etc ... and moreover, rally isn't anymore popular now.
Do they need a strong promotion in new emerging market ? Yes, clearly. What is the best way to promote your car ? Motorsport.
Of course, rally has less tradition there than in Europe. but as there is no big media promotion for WRC, if you don't organize a big event in these countries, they will never know rally. But if you can organize something extraordinry, yes clearly, it will work. And moreover, motorsport is developing really fast in Asia for example (China is building strong competition in circuits and rally).
Two examples :
- WEC in China. When it comes, Peugeot and Audi did really good promotion for the race. Now it's the second most important win that you can have after Le Mans.
- WTCC. Why do you think Citroën choose to invest there instead of rally ? only Loeb ? For sure no ... the fact they choose the C-Elysée, car sold only in emerging market, is the key. Yves Matton said this championship is the best for them, as coasts are controlled and the championship is really worldwide (from South America to Asia through Maroc), with good media promotion.
Does he still drive Finland?Quote:
Originally Posted by vino_93
My opinion is different...
I disagree. Yes, they need a strong promotion in Europe. It's not because the car isn't emerging anymore, that they don't have to do any advertising (and that's what rallying is). Yes, everyone knows the manufacturers and the cars, thanks to marketing. Rally is a way of marketing. Car manufacturers are advertising with their rally-programme in magazines, newspapers and on billboards, so it must be effective. Also the marketing strategy of VW, Peugeot and Skoda in particular for me, show how they use rallying in their advertising. I also strongly disagree that rallying is not popular anymore (maybe you are someone who believes everything was better many years ago?). There still is a huge base of people who are crazy of rallying. We still see enormous amounts of spectators on stages (be it in Monte Carlo, Sweden, Portugal, Greece, Finland, Germany, France, Spain), and actually I believe that the "status" of rallying now is much better than it was 5 years ago (at least it is in Belgium). Only the work of the promotor should be better, to bring rallying to a broader audience. Actually at this moment you can leave "broader" away.Quote:
Originally Posted by vino_93
Here you say the best way to promote your car is motorsport, but in Europe that "law" does not count? :)Quote:
Do they need a strong promotion in new emerging market ? Yes, clearly. What is the best way to promote your car ? Motorsport.
Of course, rally has less tradition there than in Europe. but as there is no big media promotion for WRC, if you don't organize a big event in these countries, they will never know rally. But if you can organize something extraordinry, yes clearly, it will work. And moreover, motorsport is developing really fast in Asia for example (China is building strong competition in circuits and rally).
Two examples :
- WEC in China. When it comes, Peugeot and Audi did really good promotion for the race. Now it's the second most important win that you can have after Le Mans.
- WTCC. Why do you think Citroën choose to invest there instead of rally ? only Loeb ? For sure no ... the fact they choose the C-Elysée, car sold only in emerging market, is the key. Yves Matton said this championship is the best for them, as coasts are controlled and the championship is really worldwide (from South America to Asia through Maroc), with good media promotion.
Also here I disagree that the manufacturers can take some advantage from going to these "new markets". It will pull the price tag of competing in the WRC even much higher than it already is now. Also I don't understand VW for example. Why have an event on a big market when rallying has no impact on it?? We learned that it takes many years for an event to become popular. For example Sardinia and Mexico, how many years have they been in the WRC before they got popular? I was in Sardinia in 2009, it was their 5th year in the WRC, right? In a country where rally is very popular (it's not on main land but still travel costs are not crazy for people coming from main land). In 2009 there were almost no people. There were even easily accessible places where we were completely alone, that doesn't even happen in regional events... In 2011 the number of spectators was at least doubled, in 2012 again much more, despite of the less attractive entry list. So we see it takes let's say 6 years on the calendar before it pays off. And that exactly is where I lose the current manufacturers. Why should they pay more for less return in the first few years? It's most likely they will stop their project after some years, then their competitors from the car market can jump into the sport to take advantage of that "development", paid by...
Yes, some event on a new area would be good. But 4-5 events on another continent than Europe (where ALL teams are based) is crazy. That way you really kill the sport from the bottom out (by making it impossible for smaller teams to participate in WRC). But ok, that is what they are doing already. They kill the sport from bottom out by making everything crazy expensive. In WRC and WRC2 we see you need rather a bag of money than talent to compete. Doing more intercontinental events would make the difference just greater. Like it is going now, soon we will have more "Al-"names on the list than others (no offence to those people).
Seb Loeb testing his new toy. It looks so lame and boring, hope he change his mind and come back soon
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q08Evdhcxw
What for?! To destroy WRC little bit more? Must be different winners as much as possible...
well Seb Ogier is doing a perfect job replacing him...
how many different winners we had this year? and the one that SebO didn't won was due to mechanical issues. at least Loeb can provide a consistent opposition to SebO, unlike the rest (with possible exception JML, time will tell)Quote:
Originally Posted by Barreis
Have you a link to this ?Quote:
Originally Posted by vino_93