Indeed.
It's one thing to throw an extra car on a plane to an event, it's a different matter to have enough parts in the seafreight to service it...
Printable View
I sort of figured it was sensationalist headlines in Motorsport News yesterday but it seems that this FIA stage snub could have a knock-on effect with the Welsh government when it comes to renewing their contract for Rally GB. Bad timing to anger the people putting the £££s in. Would be a bit short-sighted to throw away the rally over one shot down plan. But let's see.
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/1...over-gb-future
https://www.autosport.com/wrc/news/1...over-gb-future
"The event has moved right to the front of October for this season, which means real potential for great weather, big crowds and some amazing shots from the helicopter".
Ok! Now let's move rally Monte Carlo and Sweden to August so that I don't have to freeze my ass off in the cold!!! Who cares about the peculiarities that made of RAC an event (foggy and muddy weather)... we could have "some amazing shots from the helicopter" at the expense of this ever concerning sport... (sarcasm)
Playing Devil's advocate, here's a slightly controversial view; would the WRC be worse if there was no RallyGB? What does it offer the sport nowadays?
The sport of rallying is at a low ebb in the UK; with a BRC which is a shadow of it's former self, a WRC round centred on a small part of North Wales which receives poor national media coverage, and while in recent years we've seen healthy-ish crowds, the interest from the general motorsport fans is limited (going by the popular motorsport websites/ forums). I still think it's living on it's history - and as much as I enjoy going, it's become just another gravel event, rather than the epic challenge it was in the RAC days.
The organisers have relied on the Welsh money for far too long, it's not going to go on forever - maybe they should be more proactive trying to obtain backing from other sources - and dare one say, actually move the event somewhere else. Kielder & Yorkshire haven't had it for the best part of 20 years.......a crying shame.
The UK is still a big market to all the manufacturers involved, plus I would say WRGB is considered a 'legacy' event very much the same as RMC and Finland. I agree with what your saying about the event itself, looking at the route for the 1985, a 5 day event with more stage mileage in one day than the entire rally these days. The rally is very much a reflection of the modern wrc. The same stages used year in and year out with very little change.