Well yes, we all know that; whoever shows the money, gets the rounds.....But abandoning events like NZ is brainless.....
One hopes they haven't looked at F1 & MotoGP with 20+ races....and started to get ideas. DON'T even think about it.....
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Well yes, we all know that; whoever shows the money, gets the rounds.....But abandoning events like NZ is brainless.....
One hopes they haven't looked at F1 & MotoGP with 20+ races....and started to get ideas. DON'T even think about it.....
Don't worry, there would be need to demand by teams, drivers, sponsors, viewers, etc.. And well, this is WRC we are talking about.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
Miami was run by Liberty at a loss wasn't it? I keep wondering how long it'll be before Promoter tries something of their own vision.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kenneth
24 rounds is absurd though when one guy is running away with the driver's championship and there's 1.5 constructors.
https://www.autohebdo.fr/actualites/...ur-le-wrc.html
Seems it's all but confirmed, just like the rumours said, Saudi Arabia, Central Europe, Mexico & Chile in; Catalunya, NZ & Belgium out.
acropolis at the end of september coulnd be very muddy to the point that it might have issues... plus i am not going to be able to attend which is a far more important reason not to have it there.
so no winter break ? seems retarded to have a season starting so close to the end of the previous one.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
Well they hardly even have a summer break, wouldn't be the first time they make these decisions...hopefully they'll sober up before 2024 but I wouldn't hold my breath.Quote:
Originally Posted by NOT
https://www.rallit.fi/mm-ralli-vieda...lee-ratkaisua/
I know this was posted before (via a different website), but here it goes a little into details while also adding that the 2024 calendar will (most likely) remain the same with the addition of the rally in Tennessee, USA.
Rally Estonia seems to have secured 1,5M € funding for 2023
Kultuuriminister: Rally Estonia on taas MM-sarja etapp, riik annab 1,5 miljonit - Delfi Sport
https://sport.delfi.ee/artikkel/1200...b-1-5-miljonit
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The FIA and the new president seem to be getting themselves in a bit of a mess with their halo product so think the WRC wont be their main focus just now.
With the way the WRC is being treated it seems (from the outside) the WRC has never been their main focus.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sal yet again
No it isn't. I recall Honda pulling out of F1 at the end of 2008, and Max Mosley stating he would try his best to salvage the situation.....When within a matter of days Suzuki, then Subaru pulled their WRC effort.....and nothing from the FiA. So 2009 started in Ireland with only Ford & Citroen.....Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
And I wouldn't be surprised if the same would happen in 2024 with only Toyota & M-Sport keeping the light, hell I'd go as far as saying the championship could die altogether, and everyone would be quietly about their business.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1398...57719274545248
Apparently this is the WRC calendar for 2023 that will be presented officially next week in the WMSC meeting, know this was a long time coming but still annoyed by the fact we have Saudi Arabia as the season finale and not have NZ instead (in the calendar, not as season finale), or even Australia for that matter (again doesn't have to be season finale).
Money talks ... At the same time, a WRC in the middle east in general and in Saudi Arabia in particular is not a bad idea - definitely not as bad as the (asian) winter olympics to be held over there (!).Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
I buy the idea of WRC being truly "W", with events on each continents. So binning one EU event (Estonia - sorry estonain friends - as so similar to Finland ? Sardinia as lacking its own character/history ?) in favor of NZ would have been almost perfect ...
The risk here, just as it is in F1, is that running after the money may lead to a loss of all iconic events - hence the WRC heritage which cannot be dismissed from the marketing standpoint. At least we got Acropolis and Safari (albeit a shadow of it former self) back in ...
I just dont get it why there cant be two fast gravel rallies in calendar. Right now we have a lot more slow to medium gravel rallies. Pre-Covid was even worse, only Finland and 5-6 slower gravel events. Two fast gravel rallies is absolutely fine. Rather ditch Sardegna for San Remo.
San Remo can unfortunately never return due to crowds. However I agree, Sardinia really lacks a lot compared to other events we could have - Australia, NZ, GB, Argentina, Spain, an Italian tarmac event on the mainland, or a new event in the US/Canada/Brazil/China/India etc
Then its time to skip rally1, and have rally2 as top class.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
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I'm for it ! When privateers can fight against manus with same machinery (of course in the end the manus always win because of the best drivers, the best set up, etc ...) . But at least it's a fair field and if you make a mistake, you're down the pecking order, not just losing 2 spots...Quote:
Originally Posted by skarderud
Lately i was lookiong at the entrey list for SanRemo 2001 - the day where "everyone" could afford an Impreza, Escort, or Corolla. In addition to the 20 works cars, there were close to another 20 other WRC cars, dealers or privateers, some with pretty good drivers (Rovanpera, Jean-Joseph, Hagsstrom, Lundgaard, Carlsson, Longhi ...) - Somehow very similar with today's WRC2 !
But how many were allowed to beat the manufacturer teams?Quote:
Originally Posted by djip
No manufacturers means no Promoter, which could be great, but with even only Toyota we'd see Promoter backing a second entry first. It would be shit but more likely than Rally2 as Toyota don't look like going anywhere.Quote:
Originally Posted by skarderud
WRC gets a lot of money from Sardinia. The event is backed by the Sardinian tourism authority with almost 1 million euro, plus 200k euros from Alghero City council and about the same money by Alghero's tourism authority. If we consider the private sponsors, you can peek also Qatar's hotels (Smeralda Holding) and you can easily understand why Sardinia can't be actually touched. Don't forget that Italian ASN's President is Angelo Sticchi Damiani, a man that has a great lobby power within the FIA. All that said to underline how Sardinia is strongly backed both on a commercial and sporting pov.
Regarding the event itself, moving the Service Park to Alghero brought a lot of people and tourists to the service park, which was a complaint from the teams in the years back in Olbia. Another "past issue" was the ferry boat cost, which is now 100% free of charge for all the teams and the spectators got advantage of it with the discounts offered by the sponsor (Grimaldi Lines) both from Genoa, Livorno and Barcelona. And Alghero-Olbia are 2 airports with plenty of EasyJet-Ryanair low-cost flights.
Generally Sardinia is a powerhouse in getting worldwide events: other than WRC they got Extreme E, Motocross MXGP, F1H2O and the Aquabike world cup.
Having events like NZ or Australia doesn't give any return for investment for the Manufacturers and for the WRC itself.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
They are limited markets for the Manufacturers, the companies doesn't invest in funding neither drivers programmes nor the championship itself, and it's quite expensive travel to justify it at the Board meetings.
The difference with rallies like NZ/AU and Japan for example, it's just that. Japan brings you a Manufacturer and two global partners. I'm quite sure that Saudi Arabia will pay the bill to bring the teams for free down there and if the Promoter is smart enough, can get a global partner for the championship as well (like Aramco or their new brand "Sabic").
For 2024 I would ditch easily Croatia to bring back Catalunya and then Estonia in favour of the US-based event between Atlanta and Nashville.
Have to mention that having 3 events in about the same timezone would boost a lot the tv-rights sales in North and South America. This would bring a lot of visibility for the manufacturers as well and boost their stay in the series (plus it might attract new ones).
Near enough there: https://www.p1fuels.com/aramco-and-p...ainable-fuels/Quote:
Originally Posted by typhoon
Australia is one of the biggest markets for Toyota, Hyundai and Ford....Quote:
Originally Posted by typhoon
australia is a 25 million country... there are villages in asia with larger markets than that 3rd world prison colonyQuote:
Originally Posted by rallyfiend
Not many of those villages buy over 1 million new cars a year.Quote:
Originally Posted by NOT
Usually second per capita car sales markets in the world.
If you're going purely on population size, and/ or car buying then you'd never go to Finland.......
Fortunately, that isn't how events are chosen.....Well not yet......
still not enough... a village with 3 people each having 3 cars will be the per capita car sales market in the world.Quote:
Originally Posted by rallyfiend
irrelevant country.
yes you do because rally finland is an attractive event that gets publicity everywhere... winning rally finland or acropolis or other benchmark events is an advertisement by itself for a company.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
plus that person from some irrelevant country used market size as an advantage, i did not
nobody cares about australia and nobody ever will.
Until the marketing people from the manufacturers see that Australians buy 10 times as many cars as Greeks!Quote:
Originally Posted by NOT
Acropolis rally has historical value which is far bigger value for a manufacturer to win it from a promotion of the brand.. like finalnd sweden monaco corsica ects... you are a 25million country... you can buy 10 cars each and still none will care... so trying to sell the car market point is retarded.Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Boyd
australia is an irrelevant country, nobody cares about australia or australians.
the only value australians have is entertainment value for your accent.... you are like zoo animals offering entertainment to the rest of the world, except i feel bad about zoo animals.
NOT I guess you had an Australian girlfriend in the past and it didn’t work out :rolleyes:
I’m off to visit Australia in a few weeks and it’s a fabulous place, I wish I could live over there, much better than the UK. Unfortunately I’m a week late for the local rally and then leave when the Coffs Coast rally is on, so miss out as usual.
Who gives a crap about Greece as well, you give it enough put downs so why would anyone else like it? :confused:
Don’t pay attention to him, he’s being an a**hole, I’m Greek and I’d love Australia back in the calendarQuote:
Originally Posted by J4MIE
Finishing the championship in a dry (no alcohol) Muslim country it will be interesting how the WRC PR machine is going to polish that particular turd when it comes to talking up a "party to end all parties season ending finale" like they normally do. Its going to be a bit of a damp squib
All the top drivers seem to run to the airport / airfield and get on their jets as soon as possible on a Sunday anyway. Not sure it'll affect the party too muchQuote:
Originally Posted by Sal yet again
party lol.
Has this Sulayem boy done anything else to WRC apart from pushing his agenda for Saudi event? Haven't heard anything since 'WRC needs superstars, not just winners" and "Two and a half manufacturers in WRC is not enough". It's almost a year now since he became THE boss.
Quote:
Originally Posted by typhoon
In the first part you are mentioning ''marketing/financial'' aspect but then you ''would easily ditch Croatia'' which was 2 years in a row most attended European event + probably most entertaining event in 2022 season.
2 years on calendar, 2 winners decided practicaly on the last corners of powerstage.
If you ask me Croatia is perfect in every aspect, geographical very accessible, it's completely different tarmac rally compared what we are used to in past years ( Monte, Spain, Belgium, Italy...)
Drivers are completely loving it, huge crowds on the stages, plus it is basically in the capital city which opens alot of other possibilities for fans.
Maybe I'm delusional because tarmac is my preference, but I've visited quite some tarmac rallies and this one is special.
Yes. He pushed for Central European Rally to be part of calendar...Quote:
Originally Posted by flat_right