Goodbye IRC

**Sulland** · 5th November 2012, 15:57

I also feel that the IRC subforum just should be renamed ERC.
there is so much good info here, that will naturally have bearing on the new ERC.

ERC will become the top regional championship, with TV coverage and hopefully also a field to match.
this is why I mean it deserve its own sub forum, and not just a thread inside the European rally subforum.

ERC will become F2 if you think on WRC as F1, if we taking a racing jargon !

**WRC1** · 5th November 2012, 17:52

Same here, rename the IRC Forum into ERC forum and keep European Forum for national championship events!!

in my opinion IRC was a great thing, eurosport did very good work! i had the pleasure to visit a lot of events in 2009/2010 with franz wittmann an also a few rallyes this year with kogler/andi aigner.

i am sure ERC 2013 will be a good championship, the calender seems to me very good balanced!

i look forward to join as many events as possible starting with my first home erc round in freistadt (60km from my hometown)

**HaCo** · 5th November 2012, 18:26

Awesome period, not only with IRC, but also with S2000 cars. When I first saw Basso in Ypres flying from a very fast right into a sharp left with his Pun to I was sold. Also my first and very wet gravel experience in Scotland and last but least very much victories from Belgian drivers!
Thanks to IRC Ypres came back in international scene properly, the magic was back with a lot of international teams visiting Ypres.

Just rename this one and keep the European topic for national and regional rally's, maybe with a prefix from the country BEL, ... Quite stupid choice to delete/merge the Belgian rally topic, I don't see the use of it.

Verstuurd van mijn ARCHOS 80G9 met Tapatalk

**stefanvv** · 5th November 2012, 20:21

Goodbye IRC, welcome ERC. I think ERC will become even better with more variety of surfaces like the 2 snow events in the beginning of the calendar. Probably Eurosport will learn from some disadvantages in IRC in the coverage and make ERC easier to follow more globally. Great job so far anyway

**pucky54** · 5th November 2012, 21:26

I would rename the IRC part of the forum to ERC and keep the European Rallying part for national events in Europe

**Juha_Koo** · 5th November 2012, 21:55

Originally Posted by pucky54

I would rename the IRC part of the forum to ERC and keep the European Rallying part for national events in Europe

I share this view.

**mousti** · 6th November 2012, 01:22

End of a great era in Rallying alot of good things and most memorable was the battle last year at Corsica with Neuville winning, it gave me goosebumps!

And like anyone else I agree to just change the name to European Rally Championship of this section.

**Plan9** · 6th November 2012, 06:35

Well from half a world away from where most of the IR happened I am only too happy to say I enjoyed following it online. Its Eurosport coverage as way better than WRCs. I really hope Eurosport puts out a commemorative DVD package of the IRC years!

Favorite moment: Meeke winning Ypres in 2009. I am thankful that the IRC gave his career a lifeline during these economically depressed years.

**Sulland** · 6th November 2012, 09:24

IRC is the best thing that has happenend to international rally for many years.

It really got things to happen in an organisation that really just was thinking single seater racing for a long time.

Someone with an idea of a copletely new cartype, a new management that was not tied down by FIA policies, or lack of !

The new guy on the block put together a simple set of rules, took good rallies and formed an ok calendar. They put the driver and not the manufacturer as pri 1. Rallies did not have to be formed according to an A4 pattern, but could stay long, short, mixed surface, night stages and so on. That paid off.

They got a good motorsport Tv organisation as prime partner, they started to produce rally for tv as no one before them, and by that making rally a live sport like never before.

It turned out to be a success. The car class took off, the series took off, and the TV productions improved. - A winner had been born, but it was born outside of marriage, not really part of the family.

This was not going down good with the big shots in Paris. Something had to be done.

First they took away the jewel, the S2000 car. No more homologations. Start of the end.
Not sure if they took the coverage as well, but it changed this year.

A lot of other stuff probably happened behind the scene as well. Read manufacturers.
They were loosing out, and got less press than before.
RRC and R4 were born, but did not get a success as S2000 had been.

Now the 'bastarzzz' has been adopted, and gotten a new identity, and by that part of the good family.

Lets hope his childhood has formed him so much that he will stay on as a son that will challenge the family in a good way, to bring in new thinking, dare to keep thinking new, but develop the new ERC in a way that new tecnology, new TV and promotion' as well as new ways of utilizing the internet to stream, interact with fans and so on.
The team or parts of the teams that developed IRC will hopefully continue in ERC.

Let them keep their momentum and drive to continue to develop ERC, and not become the silent kid onthe front row !

Thanks to the whole IRC fairytale we have been allowed to follow for 7 years. The IRC team has changed international rally for ever. Be proud !!