[WRC] News & rumours (part III)

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Originally Posted by Doon

Are there dutch driver in Dakar?

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Quite a lot, yes, many of them in the Truck category.

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Originally Posted by Doon

Are there dutch driver in Dakar?

I don't think we can compare the Dakar and WRC anyway. For a start the Dakar is not the Dakar, and its only one event like the Fafe Rally Sprint.

Personally I don't think there is anything wrong with the WRC apart from the TV coverage (in the UK). I have been to rally gb for the last 12 years, and the speed and commitment has only grown. The problem is not the sport itself but the people who expect more from it.

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This is the main point. What are they expecting? Are they seriously expecting something approaching F1? C'mon - get real. All non F1 Motorsport has been marginalised in the last 10-15 years.

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Originally Posted by stefanvv

heli cams - boring, has someone actually consider drones - they present such attractive perspective.

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You do understand that you are proposing to use less useful flying camera? Heli cams are great, it's just that landscape sets some boundaries. Drones in rallying are still pretty pointless because you can only use it for hovering. Their fly speeds are too small compared to the speed cars are doing. Also at the moment they've got more of an effect camera role like most action cameras.

Another thing with drones are the safety risks.

More on ground cameras is the way to go.

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Originally Posted by Doon

There isn't, and;

A. I've never seen it on TV
B. It's not in the news (unless someone dies on a motorbike)
C. Not in the national papers
D. Don't know anyone who knows any drivers as a household name
E. Never heard a conversation about Dakar or anyone or it's driver down the pub
F. Never seen a manufacturer promoting their car through the Dakar


Must I go on? Dakar is less visible than the WRC

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Here in CZ the news are full of Dakar. Every day it has a relation on national TV etc. It has way better coverage than WRC in our media. I think that it's similar in quite many countries.

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Originally Posted by Doon

I think the FIA, teams etc can make all the changes they like and the WRC will still never be a very popular sport. The masses want glamour, if Ogier was dating Jennifer Laurence, Neuville playing the field with supermodels, Hirvonen married to Cheryl Cole and Latvala seeing a bikini model, you can bet your bottom dollar that the WRC would become popular. Its sad, but in the late 90s and early 2000s driver salaries were higher and this created more buzz, more news coverage, and thus more followers. Example of this was McRae signing for Ford, loads of media attention, Focus tv adverts, more computer games etc etc. Apart from Loeb in France ive not seen a WRC driver promoting a branded product, for years.

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And for Loeb, that's quite recent.
Citroën never used him a lot to promote their cars ... These last days a bit more.
I remember one for the C4 Picasso, and one for the C4. This one is the only talking directly of rally :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojc5iIiRklY

Then he wasn't used by them, at the exception of a small clip for the Euro 2012 :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ojc5iIiRklY
And something for a limited C4 Picasso, so short term publicity. More to promote Rossignol ski brand too (partner of the car).

Citroën never used him a lot, and rally was more or less a forbidden word.
Now we see Loeb for private partners, who promote more him (and Citroën) than Citroën did ...

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Originally Posted by Doon

There isn't, and;

A. I've never seen it on TV
B. It's not in the news (unless someone dies on a motorbike)
C. Not in the national papers
D. Don't know anyone who knows any drivers as a household name
E. Never heard a conversation about Dakar or anyone or it's driver down the pub
F. Never seen a manufacturer promoting their car through the Dakar


Must I go on? Dakar is less visible than the WRC

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nothing of these points is true. the first one to add to my ignore list after the forum has been renewed.

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Originally Posted by SlowSon

nothing of these points is true. the first one to add to my ignore list after the forum has been renewed.

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So you put anyone on ignore list as soon they have opposite thoughts than you? There´s anyway much truth in what Doon says, here in Sweden.

Hello! I wonder if people are missing the point. It is exciting that people can follow the sport round the world, but rallying is traditionally a sport of active rather than passive participation. It has been like that for 100 years, why now try to change that? MotorsportMonday.com th
is week had a column feature suggesting that TV might not be the holy grail after all.

Chasing TV is old news. It’s 2014 – online streaming is the way to go for ‘Live’ coverage. Use TV for highlights/review programmes.
RedBull have their own online ‘TV station’ – and haven’t used it as they could have; look at the Mountain Biking World Cup as an example. That is what they should have done with the WRC.

Some series even stream on either YouTube or Dailymotion.

I want to say that the best wrc days were when the sport was expensive.group b,the group a with the endless testing,the wrc with the 3 active differentials etc.if the cars are cheap i don't think it will be attractive for the public.we all want a little bit to see <exotic> cars!what i want to say is that high cost have helped the sport in the past.why not know?