[WRC] News & Rumours 2019

[Eli]

From today’s FIA WMSC

Doesn't show me anything...if you could re-post it would be nice

[Rallyper]

Maybe the problem is indeed that this is a traditional motorsports forum. I know one guy from work who follows Formula E but doesn't care about other motorsports. He's a gaming/programming/electronics enthusiast.

For sure rallyfans in future could very well be only gamers...

[AnttiL]

Doesn't show me anything...if you could re-post it would be nice

The main thing is that the current WRC cars will be used for 2020 and 2021 with added homologation jokers. If I remember correctly the previous intention was to make new regulations for 2020-2022.

[Marcco]

What you are saying is that rallying with electric cars just change audience from pure rallyists to just common people liking competiton. Fine.

But I´m out...

Aren't we all "just common people liking competiton"? "pure rallyist" is just fancy words... which mean nothing.

There will always be people who complain when things change, especially if these thing has been like that for all of their lifetime. I'm almost sure there was plenty of people saying "That's it. I'm out" when Group B was banned. But then time has passed... new people came... and here we are today!
You like it or not, things will change, new generations will grow and there will always be people who passionately follows their beloved sport.

[flykas]

For sure rallyfans in future could very well be only gamers...

Because electricity is very related to gaming I don't understand why there is so much emphasis on the sound. I mean it is really awesome, but it is just like a side-effect for me, the main thing is the art of driving. If they would be thinking about adding some kind of self driving cars or helpers for driver that would be way worse than no nice sound.

[Francis44]

This thing with WRC is that no matter what, you have to keep enticing spectators to go on scene and watch the races live, worldwide audience via streams and highlights is valuable ofcourse but this is no longer 2010 or 2011 and theres much more efficient ways to spend your money if you're looking to promote tourism in a specific region.

And for that, the sport must be as spectatcular as possible, because if not then how are you supposed to gather the crowds?!

We always talk about manufacteurs and promoters but what about the organizers?! It has also got much more expensive to host a round and working on Tourism promotion I can tell you, it has started to become very difficult to justify a 1-1.5 million budget to sponsor a round, specially if you are in Tourism board.

[Rallyper]

Don´t take me seriously. I´m just a grumpy retired old man... But pure rallyfan, you bet I am.

[Rally Power]

Let's say they would incorporate an electric anti-lag system and maybe something that gathers energy back from braking. Not saying this is viable or possible but let's keep that as an example. Now they have hybrid technology but the cars are still quite a lot like they are now. The manufacturers can now label their cars hybrid like "Toyota Yaris Hybrid WRC" etc. Everyone's happy?

Spot on. Mild hybrids are the only reasonable way to go as they provide an eco label to the series without affecting the fans perception of the sport and manus development costs. High tech hybrid rally cars would be wildely expensive and fully electric cars aren’t yet ready for a proper rally use.

[Rally Power]

It seems that manufacturers are actually the only people interested in Formula E. (...)

Like Helmut Marko (Red Bull motorsport chief) says: Formula E it’s not about racing, it’s about marketing; manus are using it to save their faces after Diesel scandal.

So people want to go electric because it is clean and green and saves the earth etc. What about the 58 nuclear power stations located in France that are providing the charging power for these save the world electric vehicles all around Europe. Just remind me how clean all this is. (…)

Don’t forget coal plants: they’re, by far, the largest electricity source in the world. Politics and car manus always try to hide the obvious: a larger global production of electricity (to cope with EV’s expansion) can only be ensured by burning more coal; eventually we’ll have even more CO2 emissions than today...

[AL14]

So people want to go electric because it is clean and green and saves the earth etc.

I disagree. People wants to go electric because oil will finish. If people cared about earth we would have not exterminating marine fauna with plastic or breathing co2 in the city centers.