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That's a good question. PSA should already should have some calculations on how WTCC/Loeb influence has on the market. China is important for VW/Ford as well, but I guess they don't fight for survival as PSA do. Or they believe WRC will make more influence on the market than WTCC?Quote:
Originally Posted by ZoomanSP206
Matton commented for Belgian Auto-news that according to their marketing studies WRC is a lot more popular than WTCC. Only F1 is above WRC in terms of global popularity. PSA is disappointed with the WTCC.Quote:
Originally Posted by stefanvv
I really can't understand what's the problem with China. Is it far? Far from where? Europe? We have 10 rounds here, and we are a dying continent. I think it is more than enough. Don't we want more attention to the sport? How about 1 billion and a half people that don't have a clue of what rally is and maybe if only the 0,01% of them will appreciate it they will attract more manufacturers, drivers and therefore more challenge?
Of course, hosting a round there is not enough, you need good promotion, good organization, better concept of the sport in general, but that's a start.
You want to come back to 90's? Find a time machine or move on to other solutions. Asia and Chine are, or at least can be, on of them in my opinion.
Here it is another puzzle - would a Japan round will make it more attractive to more Japan manufacturers to return to WRC? At least Mitsubishi & Subaru....
Japan is a crazy state, Tokyo is a metropolis and they have not house numbers. It's impossible to make a prevision when it comes to Japan.
Just kidding. :D
yes it is, but wrc had good times with themQuote:
Originally Posted by AL14
I don't have problem for China round, just not on the expense of Wales GB, no matter how pale shadow it is of the "old" RAC rally. There should be more rounds, or just let Corsica goQuote:
Originally Posted by AL14
So there are 1.5 billion, or thereabouts, people in China, spread over the 3rd largest country by area. Agreed, if even a small percentage of that population has interest in motorsport that's still a large number, but how does that translate to a potential event in one small pocket of a huge country?
And what's better for the manufactuers to sell cars? Look, we won this event in your country.... buy our VW Lavida, which has very little tangible link with our Polo R WRC. Or would it be better to have the best rallies available (providing there was promotor interest and sufficient funding for such events) so they could say we won the toughest rally of the year while the others didn't get close to us.
I find it hard to imagine and event with an eager promotor and plenty of local and national funding like Wales would drop off the calendar anyway, more likely Tour de Corse won't have FFSA backing after this year to continue as a WRC level event.
Hang on a second.. I have been going to China since 03 since i married my cutie pie wife and we go back cause her family loves me and the the 2 cutie pie girls so we go as often as we can. I happened to meet a guy who runs a tuning shop who it turned out was sponsoring 3-4 cars in the Chinese Rally Championship...So I asked more people and was really surprised how many guys under 35 have a reasonable clue of what the WRC isQuote:
Originally Posted by AL14
Now generally some might come from the a guy described as "probably the world's most poplular blogger --popular on Wi-chat----just happens to be doing Chinese Rally Championship, some Asian Pacific rounds and in 09 WRC Australia
His name is Han Han or 韩寒 and i was reading some of his really quite sharp and thoughtful and critical books on life in China now and flipped the page to a hilarious faux-complaint about how pooor they must be in Australian when he went to drive WRC.
talk about surprise!
From wiki:
IQuote:
In May 2010, Han Han was named one of the most influential people in the world by Time magazine.[5] In September 2010, British magazine New Statesman listed Han Han at 48th place in the list of "The World's 50 Most Influential Figures 2010".[6] In June 2010, Han Han was interviewed by CNN as China's rebel writer who has become the unofficial voice for his generation.[7]
After his experiences at the WRC Rally Australia in 2009, he wrote a blog post entitled Report on supervision and guidance work in preparation for the WRC in Australia (赴澳大利亚监督指导世界拉力锦标赛的工作报告), using irony to express dissatisfaction with China's standards of race management, economic conditions, political consciousness of the population, etc. in comparison with Australia.[45]
The guy is very funny and very popular and I wish could find an English translation on-line so you could see his criticism..one of which is "not enough naughty girls"...
So instead of a Billion and a 1/2, maybe its more like only a billion....but boy do they read and watch TV, ideal for media.
They cannot just replace Tour de Corse with Rally China which I presume would be another gravel rally. And with 1,5 tarmac rallies out of 13 I wouldn't even dare to call the series World Rally Championship but more like World Gravel Rally Championship.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack4688`
China will be concrete, like parts of Panzerplatte in Germany is.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mariusz
Agree, Yesterday I was diving around Nara and mountains, today around Kyoto and day before yesterday I was on in Nagoya. Tomorrow between Kyoto and Tokyo. There are no people left otside cities. There are some nice tarmac roads indeed but young people do not go out form the big cities and spectate rallies. However I saw many Chiineses people wlaking around our research plots and see that they are very active.. at least here in Japan. Promoter must do it in a correct way and I say that it will be perfect place for WRC to be. Chinese youngstres look to be on the spot where the car you drive is really important and it is like the cituation in Europe when WRC had its high time. So, do it in a right way and it will be great event in China! Japan, no, they have to work with Japanese around 10 years before they are ready enough to proudly organize WRC eventQuote:
Originally Posted by AL14
If WRC returns to Japan, they should goes to Hakone region (Initial D settings) or back to Safari instead.
This makes for interesting viewing https://youtu.be/hFvx9xKunJs BBC's coverage of the China Rally in 1999
lol, Sainz just says flat out right at the start of the video: "This is a nice country to visit, but this is not the place for a rally." Wow. I'm not used to such brutal honesty from drivers anymore.Quote:
Originally Posted by Jack4688`
Meeke replies Matton's words...
Nobody will take Argentina away from me, no matter what," he told presenter Becs Williams. "It was a high - albeit on a rally where VW had their worst week since they started. I remained realistic afterwards, and the following event in Portugal showed that. I believe in Portugal we nearly had a stronger rally than Argentina and we ended up fourth behind the three VWs. That showed the reality of where we were."
"Sardinia was a big, big disappointment, and I think Yves' disappointment was evident," he said. "In Poland I had a good event, although the fact that we didn't do a pre-event test really handicapped us. We made a wrong tyre call, but without that we'd have been fighting with Hayden [Paddon], for what turned out to be fourth place. From my end, we had one blip in Sardinia, and that's that."
Back in the position of needing some decent results to secure his seat next year, Meeke denied he was feeling the pressure.
"To be honest, I've driven most of my career never having a secure future and it seems like that's the case again at the moment. So really it's no different - it's pretty much the norm. I'm always under pressure to get to the next rally and to do well, to get results to get another season. I've been through a lot harder times than this. At least I have a seat and a steering wheel to do a good job this year to prove that we can continue next year."
Well said Kris.
some Photos from today at visit Peugeot Museum Sochaux in France
http://planetemarcus.com/visite-du-m...psa-a-sochaux/
Maybe some day will be there a Peugeot 208 WRC ;)
Do Meeke and Matton talk only via press? Interesting... Some kind of PR?
maybe, who knows..Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Oliveira
That could be a win-win solution for PSA (Citroen can focuses at FE & WTCC while Pug returns to RC1 class)Quote:
Originally Posted by Andre Oliveira
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/120145 wales rally gb on the line...
I think China must host an event for many reasons next year but Wales would be a very big loss.Quote:
Originally Posted by Eli
Wales, Finland and Monte should be the safest rounds in WRC.
True, them and the Safari..... :-(Quote:
Originally Posted by AL14
And New Zealand... Nothing stays the same, the only constant is change.Quote:
Originally Posted by Nornbugger
The Rally in wales doesn't really have much that is special - other than mud I guess. Another location in GB perhaps? Scotland?
At the very least it will make the organisers at these rallies try harder.
Reasons? This should be good.Quote:
Originally Posted by AL14
Again ?Quote:
Originally Posted by AL14
Look at this map:
Attachment 727
That is a sad looking "World Rally Championship".
Look back to what it was in 2008:
Round Dates Race
1 24–27 January / Monte Carlo Rally
2 8–10 February Swedish Rally
3 28 February-2 March Rally Mexico
4 27–30 March Rally Argentina
5 24–27 April Jordan Rally
6 16–18 May Rally d'Italia Sardegna
7 29 May-1 June Acropolis Rally
8 13–15 June Rally of Turkey
9 31 July-3 August Rally Finland
10 15–17 August Rallye Deutschland
11 28–31 August Rally New Zealand
12 2–5 October Rally Catalunya
13 10–12 October Tour de Corse
14 31 October-2 November Rally Japan
15 5–7 December Wales Rally GB
Jordan, Japan, New Zealand, Acropolis, Turkey. It seemed to be a bit more rounded than it is now. They also managed 15 rounds back then.
Also, take a look back in time to the thread that was started on "which rally would you like to see in the WRC?" Many people were then saying Rally GB is boring, lets go to the US or back to Asia...
yes i am sad as well... but i have an idea.
Bring the financial situation of the world back in 2008 and i will give you back your 15 rounds... deal ?
Yes you are right, using your logic it really does makes sense to now have almost all of the rallies in one of the most sluggish economic regions of the world - Europe. If global economic stability and growth were a factor then most rallies of recent years should have been based in Asia/Pacific - including the US.Quote:
Originally Posted by N.O.T
Last I read there were still more countries wanting to host an event than available slots - which again doesn't make sense, whose budget is it that dictates there are only 13 rounds?
The 2009 season included twelve rallies, which was three fewer than the 2008 season, because the FIA imposed a "Round Rotation" System in order to attract candidate rallies to have a chance to be a WRC event. Monte Carlo, Sweden, Mexico, Jordan, Turkey, Germany, New Zealand, France and Japan were dropped from the calendar for 2009, but returned at the 2010 WRC Season. Ireland, Norway, Cyprus, Portugal, Poland and Australia returned to the 2009 season.
But then that didn't work as Rallies couldn't build infrastructure and a business model around a one off event with no guarantee of returning, so they then introduced in some cases a longer term rotation - NZ and Australia being examples where they would host it in turn 3 years repeating. But now that seems to have gone out of the door.
And all the while Rally GB has been there - stuck in the mud.
No rally should be safe from a review and if it doesn't deliver any value to the sport it should be evaluated.
Don't forget, Australia have also been lobbying hard to be the end rally for the season positioning it as a summer event rather than the slush-fest of rally GB. Don't underestimate the lobbying powers of the Australians...
Manufactures.Quote:
Originally Posted by Grundo Farb
It would be a bit sad to lose RallyGB, but take off the rose tinted glasses; it’s just another WRC event. Its not the ‘RAC’ of old – which was an iconic, huge event, and a massive challenge to all competing, and those of us who spectated.
Is there in GB this year still national rally championship?!
I don't agree that to make a World championship we need many events outside Europe, I don't want to give up on quality for the sake of the rallies being "all around the world", a world championship means also that there should be the best events of the world in the calendar. I would be willing to give a chance to China, but not at the expense of Wales. True that it's not the RAC anymore, but considering we have an event like Mexico that is in the calendar just because it's in North America and that otherwise would have been dropped since those idiots throwing rocks at the cars. Having in the calendar Argentina, Australia, NZ, maybe China and/or Japan if they show they can host an event - great, but that's it. In my opinion, no need for Mexico, Jordan and others...Quote:
Originally Posted by Grundo Farb
Yes national rally once again this year.Quote:
Originally Posted by Barreis
From a selfish perspective I'd like to see GB remain. I'm averaging 3 WRC events a year but it's nice to be able to drive for a couple of hours and be at your home round.
No event has a divine right to be on the championship. Wales GB certainly isn't the challenge it once was. But what event is? You can't really mark the organisers down for neutering the rally, in line with what is mandated by the FIA/Promoter. The rally has certainly picked back up in the last few years comparatively speaking. It seems to have momentum behind it, plus it actually has funding - so in theory it's future is secured for a few more years in the current area - calendar pending. Another spectator fatality could derail that though.
I'd be annoyed to see Wales get the chop when you have a French round clearly in turmoil, lacking funding and seemingly reluctantly held on Corsica this year. That to me seems like a no-brainer, especially given France has two rounds and China sounds like it will be on tarmac.
That said, if a couple of years out of the calendar meant Rally GB could eventually be revamped and rejuvenated in a different part of the country then I might be tempted to take that. But that's obviously a very big IF.
What about if Corsica will not host the rally next year? It could happen, FIA is not happy about islands rally and the itinerary is not what promoter is aiming to.
China would replace Wales anyway but maybe there will be Ireland (geographically close to Great Britain) replacing Corsica.
EDIT: Lol, I realised soon after that Ireland is an island as well :D I need holiday but still, I really like Ireland roads, don't know if manufacturers will agree but it would be great.
I don't see Wales dropping off the calendar in favour of China, or indeed any other rally. The event has a lot of support from Welsh local and national government (we're led to believe) and so it is unlikely WRC promoter will get rid of it unless all of a sudden that healthy support becomes less than the other rallies under threat. But Tour de Corse does not look like being more than a stop-gap for this year and although healthy, Circuit of Ireland probably won't be in a position to oust Wales Rally GB in the near future.
My guess is that Tour de Corse won't return next year, regardless of whether an event in China is ready for next year
BMW in RallyX Scandinavia with a Series 1
https://instagram.com/p/51z6Nowq50/
Can we Hope they are looking into WRC too?
Theres rumors saying they will start to develop a new racing program in December!
Marquardt also said BMW will NOT enter WEC with a LMP1 program cuz its gonna be "too much of this hybrid thing". Same about F1. They keep saying Hybrid cars is just a waste of time and money, cuz "the future will be electric, so we should all improve batteries, not waste time and cash doing hybrids to use them for 5 years then quit cuz of electric engines" (not exactly same words but...)
About FormulaE they've said they will enter the series when batteries can last the whole race. Otherwise it could hurt brand's name. (?? ..Renault, McLaren and Citroen are already there ...??)
THEN.. what else, right? Just hope for some big news till december for both WRC and RallYX
They have try that with Mini, then suddenly "pulling their plugs" since Sweden 2012
BMW in WRC? Do you really believe that's even possible?
as much as AUDI & MercedesQuote:
Originally Posted by EightGear