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There's a rally in January in upper lower Michigan (you need a map to appreciate the location) that would fit the bill nicely. Even the paved roads are usually under a few inches of hard packed snow and there are plenty of snowmobile riders to help push you back on the road.
I went to Rally de Portugal for the first time this year and enjoyed it very much.
Some rumours about a 2 million euro deficit.
E agora?
Is the situation really that bad?
It would be a huge disappointment to see Portugal being dropped out of the WRC :( (
Events such as Portugal, Finland, Greece, GB & Sweden are real classics/monuments of the sport and should be in the WRC every single year.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Francis44
Makes you wonder Rally Norway, Ireland and IRC Scotland all losing huge amounts of money, what is going on? Lots of questions at FIA and North One Sport's door......Too many people trying to make money out of a (weak) sport?Quote:
Originally Posted by millbrook
I'd guess that you are right.Quote:
Originally Posted by MJW
Personally, I think that it goes back to when the WRC tried to turn itself into F1's dirty cousin - so everything from F1 was aped; generic formats, and obviously a similar business plan; pay big sanctioning fees for WRC events.
However, there was one slight drawback - WRC never was, never has been & never will be anything like as big as F1 - and there's nothing wrong with that. Knowing your market is pretty important - sadly, the powers that be over estimated the sports popularity. Whatever the sanctioning fee is, it's far too much!! The commercial side of the sport needs a whole rethink - Ģ2Million in the modern sporting world isn't a lot of money, however, for World Rallying, it's probably a big deal.
I agree with this.Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel
Also, I am not sure if Prodrive or M-Sport would ever make a car for Paddon for maybe rally NZ alone when they could make one for someone like Oliveria who would be able to pay for the whole season (but do much worse than Paddon on average). I don't think that Citroen or VW would consider him either as they do not sell a HUGE volume of cars down here.
I havent driven either of the Sebs cars unfortunately :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Ucci
But, nah, Petters car is definetly dog slow compared to the citroen total cars :D
I don't think that it's impossible for the WRC to become F1's dirty sister.Quote:
Originally Posted by AndyRAC
But to try and do that when the cars were becoming less and less exciting to watch and manufacturers were dropping like flies was a stupid stupid move. I signed up here in 2001 and back then people were saying "active diffs and semi-auto boxes have to go" and how long did it take for that to happen?
The trouble is, the manufacturers have far too much power over the privateers. Mr Warmbolds blog has opened my eyes to this!Quote:
Originally Posted by Rallyper
And I'm not just referring to citroen, not mentioning any names or anything ;)
The strength in Europe is amazing, which has been shown with the success of the IRC. Perhaps ERC and IRC need to come together, and drop the events outside Europe, which would make a more successful second tier championship.
Eurosport has definately been doing the right thing with rallying, as has the crew at Rally Radio / iRally. If these guys took over the media for WRC, I think we'd have much better coverage. Eurosport's market power in comparison to North One is much greater. Their coverage is also far superior. North One coverage just doesn't do it for me, and a lot of other people on this forum. I now just stay up and listen to Rally Radio, as I know I'm getting a more accurate representation of the rally.
Is the Sno* Drift rally a viable option for WRC? It isn't really close to much in the way of towns. Then again, what rally in the US is? Olympus is good as it is next to Seattle. Plus international airport. Again, we are heading back to the 'commercialised' format of rallying, however that is the way USA would have to start I think in order to get the people. Though California has some magnificent tarmac road as well.
I agree with dropping Jordan and Sardinia, there really isn't enough character in these events. Also, if USA went ahead, I think Mexico would probably have to go. We talk about the Czech Republic getting Zlin in the WRC calendar. In terms of classics, why is Ypres, Ireland and Sanremo in the mix?
New Monte format is sort of in the right direction we need to head for some events. Rallying is an adventure, and I think that is what we've forgotten. So the Argentina endurance event is great, as would the return of a proper Safari rally. Even possibly run them on a more informative road book as recce is going to be a nightmare :P.
FIA also needs a rethink on regional series. Middle East is working well, ERC/IRC overlap needs to be addressed, North America has regulations and such forth all over the place, Asia Pacific needs to split in two in order to be cost effective (Asia and Pacific championships), South America... what is happening down there? These regional areas are supposed to be feeder series, but clearly they aren't working, a obvious case is Cody Crocker who has won everything, but got stuck because he didn't go to Europe, Simon Evans & Richard Mason are two others who come to mind. Atkinson was lucky, yet others like young USA kid Kyle Sarasin and the super depth of talent in Argentina over the past decade didn't go anywhere.
My calendar for WRC and IRC/ERC would be...
World Rally Championship
Monte Carlo (the only 'French' round)
Sweden
Portugal
Safari Rally
Argentina
USA
Greece
Finland
Germany
Japan/China (China has a strong series as well now), Japan could well be run on tarmac
New Zealand (Australia needs to stop kidding itself at the moment, they have no idea)
Spain
United Kingdom
*Another tarmac event should go in there, be it Ypres, Zlin, Ireland, Netherlands, or Sanremo.
Waiting in the wings are a more unique Middle East style event, they obviously have the money. A more sandy, longer rally would be better instead of Jordan. Plus another of the tarmac rallies. I think 14 events is probably the limit at the moment.
Intercontinental Rally Challenge or ERC under my idea
Norway
Ireland
Turkey
France
Belgium
Estonia or Russia or both
Czech Republic
Poland
Hungary/Bulgaria/Ukraine.
Netherlands
A gravel event
Switzerland
It's evident that a lot needs to be done, and I think the 'revolution' needs to start in everyones' own homes by getting involved with local rally series and improving rallies and such forth there. Especially outside of Europe, as most people are stuck in ways of organising things. If we as fans don't contribute, we aren't really doing a good job for our sport. The solution isn't going to come out of the air sadly.
I think a good step would be to have a longer calendar and allow 3 car teams. Need to forget about 3rd world destinations like Africa until they get their countries sorted out.