Sainz says rallies are boring....

[jparker]

I agree with him 100%, especially the quantity/quality part, also i dont think it will be better taking events to places where nobady knows what it is about.

Finland will be on rotation, period. Suck it up pal ....

[BDunnell]

But you're right. TV alone isn't enough. Other media should support it as well. That is the one thing lacking our national rallying. They get their TV footage but other media mostly ignore it

In the days long before we all had the internet, when I was a kid and the British Open Championship was virtually as good as the WRC in terms of the entry, I used to be able to check the results of the various events by looking in the sports results bit of my parents' copy of The Guardian. Those days are so long gone now it seems untrue.

[DonJippo]

Finland will be on rotation, period. Suck it up pal ....

Better wait till they confirm the calendar for 2010...

[Shrike]

I agree with Sainz and I hope they make a change sometime soon (dreaming).
but until then, "boogity boogity boogity"

[AndyRAC]

Compare the RAC of 1985 with that of 2007. Yes, there was British interest in 1985 and none in 2007, but the difference between the levels of public attention is still stark. In 1985, the crowds were enormous throughout the whole of a monster route, and there were two nightly TV reports. This was at a time when the WRC as a whole received relatively little coverage in the UK, with 10-15-minute reviews of certain rounds on the BBC, and it generally wasn't all that well marketed. I don't class what we see now as progress.

Too true, what about 1995, McRae came third in Sports Review of the Year; unbelievable - virtually no TV coverage apart from the RAC. I remember then papers and Autosport predicting great things for the WRC in terms of coverage for the sport, TV, Radio, papers. Sadly it was a false dawn, Radio stuck with it for a few years, but now nothing. I may be wrong, but I don't think there was a dedicated WRC correspondent for any of the newspapers, they just used their F1 reporters. Agree, here we are 10-15 years later and in fact things aren't any better - in fact I'm still convinced there is still a market for the WRC in Britain, just needs the right encouragement.

[JAM]

I'm in this forum since 2005 and this subject was discussed a lot of times. About the WRC at the moment i have the same opinion that Sainz, and alreadyl had this opinion in the past with many discussions here, with not so many agreements.

Now Sainz spoke and everybody agree. Very good, at least we are going on the right path, and if people from the forum start to understand that WRC is going down, maybe one of next days FIA will understand too... is my hope.

[AndyRAC]

In the days long before we all had the internet, when I was a kid and the British Open Championship was virtually as good as the WRC in terms of the entry, I used to be able to check the results of the various events by looking in the sports results bit of my parents' copy of The Guardian. Those days are so long gone now it seems untrue.

Yeah, and how sad - some of the entry lists for a British Open round were better than a WRC event. Another Championship which has withered and has virtually died. The media coverage of the BRC is now a joke, though saying that I'm not sure each of the rounds really promotes itself fantastically. Take this weekend, the first round of the Ancro/MSA Gravel Championship - Rallye Sunseeker, now that is how a Rally should be promoted, good Rally Radio,etc

[jonkka]

I have to say that the new girl who makes the interviews on MTV3 Max knows her business very well too, good questions and its easy to see that she has motorsport background, also the other host is Gardemeisters co-driver so the info from the stages is quite updated stuff.

Say what? Either we are watching different show (I see only the free stuff, mind you) or one of has very peculiar taste. That girl is plain decor, she should be fired immediately and Tomi Tuominen should either be co-driver or commentator, it is immensely irritating to see him cross-dressing. Given that he is not much of a commentator, it's better that he's actually co-driving these days.

Anyone who's seen Eurosport coverage and heard Jakke Honkanen there should know that good co-driver doesn't necessarily make a good commentator. As much as it grieves me to say this: Jakke is actually quite bad commentator.

Bring back YLE and Tapio Suominen any day.

[jonkka]

Now Sainz spoke and everybody agree. Very good, at least we are going on the right path, and if people from the forum start to understand that WRC is going down, maybe one of next days FIA will understand too... is my hope.

I do not necessarily agree with everything that Sainz says and thinks but I still haven't given up the hope that one day he will take up a high ranking job at FIA. With his experience, dedication and hard-working attitude he would make an excellent successor to Mehta as a head of WRC Commission.

[L5->R5/CR]

I tried to watch Nascar race the other night but I couldn't. Of course it didn't help that i know nothing about it BUT, if it is so brilliantly marketed indeed, how com I wasn't amazed at once ???

NASCARs genius isn't in winning over people that don't like its formula. It is based on winning over people that don't have a huge loyalty. You are a died in the wool rally fan, racing in a circle for 3 hours is never really going to be all that exciting to you (and it isn't necessarily what motivates a lot of the "NASCAR Nation" either). In a lot of ways NASCAR is like WWE pro wrestling on a race track. People don't really buy in to the formula for the action, they buy into the characters and the stories, the action is just what seals the deal.

I think you would have to see the total domination of NASCAR in your home country up close to appreciate the genius that is behind it...