Today I heard a rumor that there would be three M-Sport WRC cars. But I don't believe it's Paddon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
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Today I heard a rumor that there would be three M-Sport WRC cars. But I don't believe it's Paddon.Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
Just my two cents, but it's either Tidemand or Greensmith.
It's Paddon.
It seems maybe he's taken the rejection by Hyundai quite badly and decided he can't sit around waiting for the phone to ring....
So as long as it's on the mainland and you don't have to get on a ferry or plane your happy. Your proud enough to claim Meeke as being from GB why not his roads?Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Itīs not Tidemand.Quote:
Originally Posted by Allez Andruet
and I donīt believe that itīs Greensmith or Paddon.
My two cents goes to Estonian driver ;)
So maybe it's Raido Rüütel with number 620.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
Me too. After all, he's doing the Estonia Rally.Quote:
Originally Posted by pantealex
from some sources he is/was testing Fiesta WRC in Germany..
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/1...vote-this-week
& apart from that, Rally Australia organizers are planning an event in Gold Coast as opposed to NZ's, Auckland based event for 2020. Besides that, Germany will be a reserve rally next year. Decision to be made this Friday or early next week at the latest.
Mintex has travelled to many of rallies overseas. It's not much more expensive to do an overseas rally than Rally GB...Quote:
Originally Posted by wia5958
Personally I can see the value in a rally in Northern Ireland (& Ireland) for that market. As much as I'd miss Rally GB for a year, every few years, as part of a rotation system, hopefully with a Wales Rally GB and (hopefully a) Scottish Rally (GB), I think it's worth doing. I'd be going over to NI for it anyway. But it shouldn't be considered a continuation of Rally GB. A rally in Northern Ireland would mean nothing to the public in GB. It'd logistically be another overseas rally, like any of those in Europe. It should be a MSUK Circuit of Ireland. Rally GB is not a tarmac rally in Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland is not in Great Britain...
Sad fact is that no region in England or Scotland has enough interest in rallying to organise a WRC event.
Like Wales, N.Ireland has that interest as its people are big rally fans. Plus it has a great rally scene and WRC drivers Meeke (& Breen).
They also seem confident it can be funded even without a functioning Stormont.
I think it would be brilliant. Not the same as Wales of course but still brilliant.
I wonder what is going on at Citroen and Hyundai in terms of upgrades.
Citroen was spotted testing aero upgrades multiple times at the start of the year, notably before Mexico. Comments were made from drivers and leaders that "they won't have time to introduce them for Portugal/Sardinia", implying they should make it to Finland.
Hyundai said around Corsica that they were aiming for big gravel updates before Finland supposedly including (front) aero.
....now there are no new testing vids from any of them and no announced upgrades yet.
The first big question is related to rally Estonia, they could try to introduce upgrades before that so that they can test them and find setup for Finland, but that gives them two weeks less time.
On the other hand I think especially Ogier is really not eager to go to Finland with new aero upgrades without a lot of testing beforehand after he struggled bigtime last year. (even though that could have as much to do with damper change as with aero change).
Interesting what comes up at both teams. The success (or not) of upgrades will likely be crucial for both Ogier's and Neuville's championship as well as Hyundai's manu charge.
Didn't hear anything from Toyota but they typically don't announce upgrades much beforehand. For them sorting reliability (including suspension + rim related issues on tarmac) and preparing for Turkey where they struggled last year is likely the biggest priority.
We have had this geography lesson before. Northern Ireland (aka Ulster) is part of the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is a short form of the country - United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Great Britain is the largest island in the group called the British Isles and comprises Wales, Scotland and England. So glad as I am that Kris Meeke is from the UK he is not from GB. Nor would a rally held in NI ever be one that should be called Rally GB (as my learned friend, The Sniper, has already said.)
It should also be noted that the 2 editions of WRC Ireland were not universally acclaimed successes. The same issues that applied to those events still exist. As for the ‘Task Force’ anyone with the slightest understanding of the nature of NI politics can see the problems that no amount of PR can hide
So in equal measure rally italia sardegna shouldn't be run on sardenia because it's not on the mainland? If they change the name to UK rally Northern Ireland would that be satisfactory
Yeah, name change would be appropriate. Maybe WRC Circuit of Ireland? But the main point of this switch is to get a new tarmac rally to replace Corsica and/or Germany.Quote:
Originally Posted by wia5958
It's also weird that teams disliked Corsica and Sardegna because of the difficult island logistics and now they're making the UK rally similarly difficult. Well, at least Sardegna got three more years...
Sardegna is part of the Republic of Italy. The Isle of Mull is part of Scotland and so part of GB. Northern Ireland is a special case among EU countries and this attempt to hi-Jack the GB forest rally to a different location smells of 5day dead rodentQuote:
Originally Posted by wia5958
Rally GB should be a tough, ideally wet, forest rally.
England, Scotland, Wales, or all three.
End of.
'Rally GB' was a new name given to the Network Q Rally when it moved to be based in Wales. It has never been a 'GB rally' since, but in reality a Welsh one. No-one complained about this.
N.I. is part of the UK and I see no reason why it shouldnt be allowed to run Britain's round of the WRC if they are willing and able to so..
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fast Eddie WRC
I don't understand the point you're making in your first sentence.
I get that you and others are happy for this round to be ran in Ireland, but for me, I can travel around and watch it without having to get a ferry or a flight, if it stays on UK mainland and most importantly, it's traditionally been a gravel rally, not tarmac.
There's something special about Rally GB / the RAC/ Network Q, or whatever you want to call it and that something pulls a lot from the surface and the time of year the event is ran.
I just think moving it to Ireland will take away it's soul completely and it's as good as dropping the round for a different event.
You make a great point, Irish rallying is a grass roots event and hugely difficult to marshal. With so many points of access crowd control is a major issue and certainly not amenable to getting spectators to pay for the privilege of watching.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sal the 2nd
The facilities for teams outside of Belfast and Dublin are slim to non-existent, while accommodation for fans during the 2007 and 2009 editions of Rally Ireland (both of which I attended) was extremely problematic.
This is the quote that is complete bull from the original article:
"Paisley believes that the WRC coming to Northern Ireland "is a real prospect" despite the lack of a local government at Stormont.
"Technically it can happen without Stormont in place, but it makes sense that the political drive is from our government," said the DUP MP."
There is no money from 'government' without Stormont in place, hence no underwriting of costs. Paisley is perhaps hoping for a massive bribe for the DUP from the Conservatives but I wouldn't be backing plans that relied on Boris Johnson being able to control his own bladder let alone the UK government!
I have no issue with N.Ireland having the opportunity to host what is nominally Rally GB, but I do think if it becomes a tarmac rally its taking away an essential element of the WRC complete package. The WRC is the challenge it is because of the variety of conditions encountered, and Rally GB provides an outlier in that it is fast and wet/muddy.
It would like holding Rally Finland on tarmac...
I hasten to add that if it does end up being on tarmac in N.Ireland I will almost certainly still go and watch.
Hyundai joins the race to sign Ott Tanak for the 2020 #WRC season as team boss Andrea Adamo outlines his 'superteam' stance
https://t.co/1C7gKW1YOa
Tanak has already been linked with a possible return to M-Sport, but Autosport's sources indicate Hyundai is fast-becoming the most likely option if Tanak does move next
That is made up from Evans. But I can confirm that Hyundai has made an offer to him.
Oh well, in that case, I'm glad I've heard it from you and not a measly journalist...Quote:
Originally Posted by EstWRC
There's no smoke without fire.
What would Toyota do without Tanak and with Ogier and Neuville already signed for next year?
Meeke-(Latvala)-Rovanpera-Katsuta atm doesn't sound like a lineup capable of charging for any title.
If this does go ahead their won't be any charges to see a stage, it's not the same as running the stages through private land. Certain access roads will be closed to the stages and spectator area's will be allocated... But rallying is run very well in this country with a lot of experienced marshals and organisers.... We tend to focus on the smooth running of an event, not just all the "red tape". And there's plenty of experienced people all over the country that will give up their time to make sure it goes well. Yes we had our problems in 07 and 09 but they were both good events, the time of year they were ran at did'nt help either. Ireland has a very different type of terrain all over the country for stages, stages up north tend to be a lot faster, abrasive with less high ditches than say somewhere around the midlands or south. Every county tends to have a different type of tarmac surface/road....Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Yet The British rally championship has 2 events in ireland. Yes that's right the BRITISH rally championship has 2 events of its calender in IrelandQuote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Have you been to many tarmac rally's in NI? i'd say not because there is'nt that many up there! They are only allocated a very small number of road closure orders a year. If this goes ahead you can be sure it will be based in Belfast and stages like Torr head in the Antrim area will be used and in the surrounding county's.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sal the 2nd
I think you've said it all there...... What do you mean by grass roots anyway? I've never met a single crew that travelled from the uk or further afield that did'nt think rallying here was world class, entry, stage or organised as so.
And out of a 6 round BRITISH rally championship only 3 rounds are held in "BRITAIN"
It also has a round in BELGIUM yes that's right BELGIUM - Your point is?Quote:
Originally Posted by wia5958
.... In any case (back to the geography lesson) - 'British' means anywhere in the British Isles, of which the island of Ireland is the second largest after the island of Great Britain.
it's not in Britain is itQuote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
It is a different situation alright spectator wise being closed public roads vs private forestry land, no charge vs ticket prices. It will just take a little more time and homework to get to the decent spots on the stages but there will be plenty of good areas out side the spectator areas.... A little recce would go a long way!
My geography might not be great but I wasn't aware Ypres was in the "British isles". West cork isn't part of the UK either. It is great Britain and Northern Ireland as u said earlierQuote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Isn’t this out of topic here ?
What’s the news and rumors?
Let's not get side tracked here now folks.... but..... Ireland is part of the British Isles geographically, the British isles are made up of two sovereign states.... Anyway back to the topic at hand! :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Rumour is That rally GB will have to change its name to rally UK so as not to offend people cause theres a chance it's not actually gonna be in Britain next year but still in UK so don't worry lol
Haha I agree I'm done now wherever it runs I hope it's an enjoyable safe eventQuote:
Originally Posted by Oops!
Ha ha :) Other way round - always be in Britain but there maybe no UK! Reunification of Ireland and Scots independence is the natural outcome of Brexit goes ahead.Quote:
Originally Posted by wia5958
That I do agree with you on mate only a matter of timeQuote:
Originally Posted by Mintexmemory
Reallyy interesting last pages.. make a brex*hit wrc topic for that