yes he might be.... but in RallyX he did that and even more.... without a full season.
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Dear mate! You have to have the whole history before saying what you say. Did you know Mattias has been rallying a WRC car in an WRC event? Have you seen him live (back then in 2002 or something dancing with his Evo IV GrN) only with a couple of rallies behind him?
You might think you can prove anything but donīt say what type of driver Mattias Ekström is before you know the big picture.
I know, I looked up his record before posting, but unfortunately never got to see him live nor I followed his career ever closely. I don't doubt that he had potential as a rally driver, but restarting his rally (not rallycross) career in his late 30s and be successful is bit overoptimistic I think.
Maybe it helps that is your compatriot ;)
I suppose Ekstrom is attending some races also because he has an own team, maybe he is testing :) or more over attracting sponsor
I know what you were saying. But Ekstrom and Solberg are not the only two who have won races this season...ergo Bakkerud, Nitiss, Foust and Heikkinen have all beaten Solberg and, IMO are all pretty decent drivers. Are they of the class of someone like Ogier? No, but then very few people are or ever have been.
To put it simply... a sport is legitimate when the main participants are the best at that sport and no "outlander" can just visit their turf and ridicule them.
You keep saying 'ridicule' and the like, but Ekstrom just hooked it up on one event but has been mediocre at other times despite having a superior car.
I do understand the point though- but RX is a very different sport to most. It doesn't undermine the lead drivers' quality if wildcards can compete at the top, but just shows how unpredictable the sport is. For example, when Loeb entered in Loheac last year he was nowhere, despite being possibly the greatest motorsport driver ever! Yet a joker like Block came in and fluked his way to a podium!
+1
For me rallycross is mostly a show. The result is mostly decided by what happens in the first corner, and a lot is based on pure luck. There are too many factors where the driver has no influence on (for example being hit by an idiot or being held up by somebody in front of you). I don't know any proper "sport" where your opponents can accidentally ruin your results so much as in rallycross.
And on the other hand we can say it's very spectacular to watch. I've been to the European rounds in Maasmechelen a few times in the past. And last weekend I watched Mettet online. Also what the promotor is doing is simply great, the live-stream is fantastic. Let's hope Red Bull Media House learns from this, in a positive way...
You can't compare rallycross to rally, its dumb, they are two completely different sports with different skill sets entirely.
But with the live streaming, its proves that what could have been achieved with some descent marketing and footage in WRC.
Yes there is an element of luck, but most sports have this, I think its just great having Live streaming, and sideways action in a racing format!
Livestreaming only works in countries were they did not sell their tv rights. For example in my country a pay per view soccer channel has bought the rights. Now I can't watch rallycross legally unless I shell out 15 euro per month. Not really a sign of great promoting in my opinion.
Peter won the Rx Canada, he now extends his lead over Nitiss who finished 4th in the Final...
Really starting to like RX. Petter was obviously the best today, nobody could get close.
It is a really fun sport... worth staying up to watch it and the live coverage was very good.
I still think they need to work out the points allocation system it is complicated as it is...
Petter was a head above the rest in Canada.
Nitiss was lucky, he did not qualify for the final, but a paying teammate suddenly had a carissue or something, and there he was!!
The support classes need a bit more airtime in the TV show, but other than that it is exiting.
2nd successive win for Solberg in France, the failure of Heikinen to go through the semis means that Neitis is now 2nd overall. the races were nice Hansens performance was very good up until the Final winning every hit but then Solberg had the last word. next event in 2 weeks in Germany.
It really was a fantastic event in Loheac. I can not believe how well the fans are treated with an open paddock easy access to drivers and the cars. Action was flat out, the competition was brilliant, and the cars - wow, so much technology.
I know there are things wrong with WRC, but believe me WRX is definitely on the up, lots of ex WRC personnel in the paddock, and serious manufacturer interest.
I am a huge fan of both WRC and WRX, and believe both can offer different things and reasons for interest. However the paddock, prices, accessibility, TV coverage and entry lists for WRX are really starting to put the WRC to shame. The raw sport of rallying is still superior in my mind, but at the moment the people behind rallycross have nailed it while the WRC is being held back in my view.
it is nice that WRX is popular with the little kids which fail miserably to understand how different and not connected these two sports are.
What a very odd response, and no need to turn offensive. I never said they were similar, but obviously there are some small connections - namely the fact the two drivers on the front row have both won WRC events. You can compare the relative merits of WRC and football even though there's no similarities, so comparing WRC and WRX is possible in spite of the differences. And on that note, surely you agree that things like ticket prices, entry lists and TV Coverage are better in WRX?
Yes, WRC is very different, but there's still lessons to learn from other sports - WRX included. Also you say it's popular with 'little kids', but remember you updated this thread first so you obviously are interested too...
what lessons are to be learned from a sport run on closed circuits ? Rally RX has more things in common with the ladysport of F1 rather than the WRC....
3 years ago RX was a bit of a 'cult' sport, suddenly it's almost reaching the mainstream - much more than WRC does. All of that with some good strategy from the people up top and an exciting TV/online livestream availability. Perhaps nothing directly transferable, but proof that good changes can have impressive impacts in short timescales. The re-branding, the livestreaming, and the exciting entry lists (getting big names in like your favourite Mr Block, Villeneuve, Solberg etc to compliment young talents) are all things which are worth having a look at to see how ideas like this might help promote WRC. Not exactly the same necessarily, but certainly worthy of discussing.
all the things you mention cannot be implemented in the WRC without 10 times the cost, as for the visiting tourists they might have luck in WRX but in WRC they are eaten alive by the real drivers we have many examples over the years from the hamburger boy to kubica.
So as i said, nothing can be learned from the WRX that can affect the WRC or as much can be learned from F1... one thing is for sure both sports attract and excite girls and kids.
I generally agree with you NOT
But I feel terms of promotion on FB, Twitter and there website, it is far superior to WRC and WRC could learn a lot
If they are going to do these live super special shoot out crappy stages then they could do some similar things like they do with the WRX track.
Analyse the stage, do a "former rally driver driver through"
Build more hype in general, and bring back the good stuff about WRC that WRX has, Accessibility and driver openness.
Not to mention the camera positions and engine sound. The engine sound is huge in the WRX footage, surround sound etc, WRC not so much...
The tourists might not compete at the top (e.g. JV in WRX too) but it brings press interest, media interest and more fans to the sport. I know some people are desperate for WRC to stay in the dark ages, including me to a point, but if it's going to 'survive' in modern times then new fans and some changes are needed. Toyoda hits the nail on the head below...
That's exactly what can be learnt from WRX - the buzz built around it, open paddocks etc. All cheap gimmicks, but all help build a sport. Likeweise, NOT you say that TV will cost millions, but why not just have in-board cameras? We often see privateers doing that and streaming on their own website, so why not have each driver with a couple of inboard cams which people can choose to view? So many opportunities currently being missed or misused.
@NOT - You don't like Rally X, we get it. If you're not going to add anything to the thread other than to point out (yet again) that you don't like it or rate it, then don't bother. It's just tedious and only serves to annoy those of us that enjoy Rallycross as a spectacle and for enjoyment. I may prefer to watch rallying, but given the choice over paying to watch a handful of drivers on Rally GB or to watch the World RX at Lydden Hill then it's a no brainer. There are huge differences, but one is affordable and caters well to fans, the other is expensive and doesn't give a toss about fans.
having seen all of the RX events on livestream i doubt i do not like it, what i do not like is when people stupidly think they can compare it to rallying and even more when they say rallying should learn from it. As i said RX has a lot more in common with the ladyboy sport of F1 than rallying but people still think that having cars that look like rally cars is far more important to their eyes than the format of the races to compare it with rallying.
Some nice pictures
1st day with crash: http://www.go4speed.lv/lv/photo/rallijkross/828-foto/
2nd day: http://www.go4speed.lv/lv/photo/rall...posma-2-diena/
Hey, pino. Look who has gone over to the 'dark side'... :p
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115938
another win for Solberg !!! this time by 5 thousands of a second over Ekstrom !!! He now extends his lead over Heikinen and he is a clear favourite for the title with 3 races to go.... not bad.
Gigi Galli will drive a Olsberg Ford Supercar in the WRX round in Italy. Will be cool to have him back, and Rallycross might fit him well!