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  1. #21
    Senior Member Sulland's Avatar
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    I understand the background for why, but; The plan would be much better if the R4 class would be top of the pops. You need to give the drivers the option to get 4wd practice, as long as that is the level of P/S/WRC.

  2. #22
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    I would love WRC cars in the BRC, but in reality I think we should go back to proper group N as what we have now must be nothing like it!

    They should be your normal impreza/evo/anything else 4wd, toughened up for rallying and that is all! That way the drivers gain experience and costs would surely be reduced.

  3. #23
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    Let's look back to when the British championship was at its most successful in the past. The category A7/Formula 2 era was very good indeed, I grant, but I would never put it on a pedestal alongside the Open championship circa 1980-85. Of course, no-one can expect any of the WRC works teams to run a full British championship programme as Audi did for much of that period, but there is one important comparison to be made. In that period, and indeed for several years before and after, the British series ran to the same technical regulations as did the world championship. The front-runners in Britain were to be found driving the same sort of Escorts, Ascona and Manta 400s, Quattros and the like as could be found in the world series. There was a ready supply of such cars, and in Britain their drivers could compete against, and beat, the best international drivers. Now, while none of the top British drivers of that era such as Jimmy McRae, Tony Pond and Malcolm Wilson achieved huge success internationally, it could be argued that they didn't need to, because the strength of the British championship and the level of competition was so high. The talent of these drivers and others was not in doubt — they proved it time and again when competing against the likes of Mikkola, Toivonen and Blomqvist on British soil.

    Since that era, sadly, we have seen costs rising to such an extent that it is no longer practical for there to exist that parity between the front-running cars in domestic and world championships. This, I feel, is a huge shame and one of the reasons why domestic rally series such as that in Britain have been in such decline. Is it any coincidence, either, that Britain's world-class rally drivers all competed in the British series during the period when it was contested using the same sort of equipment as was the world championship?

  4. #24
    Senior Member Mirek's Avatar
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    I would be careful with comparison to F2 times. All top F2 cars were very expensive specially built machines.Sometimes even more advanced than WRC cars.
    Stupid is as stupid does. Forrest Gump

  5. #25
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    Fair enough but the concept of 2wd wasn't boring. Certainly they sounded brilliant, especially in the forests. By comparison I think these 4wd N4 cars are seriously boring as they are so quiet and hardly look like they're going quickly. Now along comes a S2000 car that sounds awesome and it looks quicker, meanwhile its setting similar times.

    Also I think it depends on the level of competition in the series. During the F2 era there were a few manufacturers battling it out and stage times were very close so everyone was pushing very hard. Similar thing in our SA championship where we have S2000 and the top 5 in any stage are less than 10sec apart so everyone is pushing to the max. From the bits that I've seen of the BRC these days it doesn't look very interesting at all.
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  6. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bruce D
    Fair enough but the concept of 2wd wasn't boring. Certainly they sounded brilliant, especially in the forests. By comparison I think these 4wd N4 cars are seriously boring as they are so quiet and hardly look like they're going quickly. Now along comes a S2000 car that sounds awesome and it looks quicker, meanwhile its setting similar times.
    I agree. I would suggest that very few people beyond those competing have ever been interested in Group N.

  7. #27
    Senior Member MrJan's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by BDunnell
    I agree. I would suggest that very few people beyond those competing have ever been interested in Group N.
    Indeed. Endless streams of Evos and Imprezas can get very, very tedious unless the driver is really going for it. 2WD just means that you need to work harder to find a decent place to watch, and that's part of the fun IMO.
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  8. #28
    Senior Member Mirek's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Jan Yeo
    2WD just means that you need to work harder to find a decent place to watch, and that's part of the fun IMO.
    For hardcore fans it's true. But it doesn't work in making crowds, media and sponsors interested.
    Stupid is as stupid does. Forrest Gump

  9. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mirek
    For hardcore fans it's true. But it doesn't work in making crowds, media and sponsors interested.
    The two-wheel-drive Sunbeam Lotuses, Escorts, Asconas, Mantas, 037s and so on seemed to manage to do so.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr Jan Yeo
    Indeed. Endless streams of Evos and Imprezas can get very, very tedious unless the driver is really going for it.
    It's always been the case. In 1989, even Pentti Airikkala in a Group N Galant VR-4 and Colin McRae in a Group N Sierra Cosworth never really got the pulse racing. Yet some of the most spectacular drives one could ever hope to see — Per Eklund in a Corolla GT on the 1983 Mintex International, Jean Ragnotti in the R11 Turbo on the 1987 Portuguese Rally, Airikkala in a Kadett GSi on the Manx in 1987, and of course Stig Blomqvist in the Skoda Felicia on the 1996 RAC, have been in underpowered front-wheel-drive machinery.

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