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I don't want to die without seeing the WRC back to Kielder...Quote:
Originally Posted by Prisoner Monkeys
Next year, I'm sure it will be back in Kielder with a Sunderland start. Unless of course Rally GB is the casualty when manufactureres want 8 European rounds if 4 flyaways are included in the calendar. Apparently the reason for the delay in announcing the calendar this week was that FIA want 13 rounds, 4 flyaways and 9 European rounds and manufacturers insist on cost that if they have to go to 4 flyaways then another European round is dropped to 8 rounds - assuming it's definate that Acropolis is out for next year, I can't see MC, Sweden (only snow round) Finland, Germany (VW year) France (Cit& Loeb) out, maybe Portugal or GB is the "weaker" European round, Portugal because this year's event was disrupted by weather (last time in 2001, they used that as an excuse) and GB if the Welsh funding stops, and as we heared before Yorkshire was supposed to come in, in the end they had no money, and it was back to Wales but with the sponsor getting away with paying less money.Quote:
Originally Posted by Kielder
I reckon Italy would be dropped before Portugal. That seems to be a very well run event with things like the Lisbon SSS and good support from sponsors like Vodafone.Quote:
Originally Posted by MJW
Wasn't Italy only a last minute inclusion for this year after Abu Dhabi was dumped? Surely an indication that it is very much out of favour anyway?
Portugal is going to be in the calendar in 2013 & 2014.
We've to wait for the entire new calendar until 15th of June.
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I think they'll gradually work towards it. Jean Todt has been pushing for extended routes on the rallies, and given the reception that Argentina received, I think we'll see a lot more rallies at least experimenting with it. I think that 2013 will see more rallies expanding their routes, and Wales would be a prime candidate since the cars are already crossing the country from Great Orme to Cardiff just in the liasion routes. If we're looking at rallies that cover 500 or 600 competitive kilometres, a return to Kielder and Sunderland is a definite possibility for the event.Quote:
Originally Posted by MJW
And a concept that goes hand-in-hand with Todt's preference is a more-diverse range of events. He's already pointed out that there isn't a whole lot of difference between France and Germany, least of all because Strasbourg and Trier are so close together geographically. Like I said, as pointless as the Rally of Jordan was, it also had one of the most unique surfaces of any rally on the calendar, and that, I think, merits consideration. Given the challenging surface of many of the Welsh stages, I think the rally fits this definition of a unique surface, and that might be enough for the FIA to protect it.
This is all well and good, but who's going to fund it? Rally GB is already suffering from a drop in income from the Welsh Government, so who's going to fund a more expensive version of the event that crosses in to 'enemy' territory?Quote:
Originally Posted by Prisoner Monkeys
This is the same with multi-country territory rallies, the costs go up, but the potential return to any one country goes down as the exposure is split across two of more countries.