Route announced for Rally GB 2020!

[cali]

Well, I guess time to get ready and testing for 2021 now

Only 3 events remaining now with original dates.

I think we don't have to wait for a long time until the remaining rallies will also cancel their events

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[Kaps]

And with all that done, I believe we can pretty safely say now there will be no more WRC at all this year.

So, what about those 3 events that we did have?
I think they shouldn't be taken into account as world championship rallies and this season should be declared null and void.

Let's just hope 2021 would bring the proper championship back!

[doubled1978]

And with all that done, I believe we can pretty safely say now there will be no more WRC at all this year.

So, what about those 3 events that we did have?
I think they shouldn't be taken into account as world championship rallies and this season should be declared null and void.

Let's just hope 2021 would bring the proper championship back!

Yep, difficult to imagine they can salvage it now... if they can’t run enough events to constitute a championship then why run any of them. Let’s hope they can come up with something, but it looks very difficult.

[tc10a]

If it is a special year then every single event which is able to run should be run. No matter if we have four, five or six events at the end.
It makes absolutely no sense to cancel all just as there wont be more than a certain number.

One or two more is always a lot better than zero. Zero is a major damage to the series for long term.

They have to rethink. If the planned events are not able to run for some reasons, maybe some other 2 day events at remote locations like an island are able to host a wrc event.
If for example ERC is able to run some of their island events, make it also a WRC event. This year is special, nothing has to be like in "normal" years.

[[RMC]Pip]

The whole point of the championship is to crown a champion. I don't think there's any value for the teams and the WRC brand to go ahead with some events just for the sake of it, especially without spectators. WRC is not like F1 - events rely heavily on the income from ticket sales.

But I agree, they should think outside of the box, this is not a normal year. Eastern-Europe wasn't hit as hard by COVID, maybe Croatia can jump in a year early. Maybe other countries are willing to step-up.

Hopefully, they can get the needed number of rallies to run to qualify as a world championship. Otherwise, they should concentrate their efforts on 2021.

[AnttiL]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/the-b...2020-revealed/

Here we have information on the now-disposed routes for Wales Rally GB 2020

[the sniper]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/wrc/the-b...2020-revealed/

Here we have information on the now-disposed routes for Wales Rally GB 2020

Somewhat underwhelming, though I did set the bar pretty high with my opening post! Going back to this article, to be fair, Iain Campbell did only say "we’d come up with something a bit more radical". Should have realised the emphasis should have been on 'a bit'. I'm not not sure what to make of it. It would have been very useful as a basic proof of concept, to set a precedent. If they could have introduced a remote night stop into this event, you've essentially got the framework to allow a modern 'RAC' style event. But it seems a bit odd that they wouldn't have made more of it for this year. All that effort for Myherin, Sweet Lamb Hafren and Dyfi, the usual suspects. Come on, not even Taliesin?! Seemingly it might have been a Newtown base, so why not have given Radnor a shot instead Dyfi, at least?

The Sunday is another case of what could have been. If nothing else, it shows how short of money the organisers are, abandoning the forests entirely. But why just Oulton? I've wondered whether bringing back a day of 'Sunday Stages' would be possible. Maybe as a pre-Rally GB event, as I wouldn't personally willingly sacrifice a Sunday in the forests on a three day Rally GB. But, given they've gone down this road and made that sacrifice, why not be more ambitious?

SS14 Oulton Park
SS15 Trentham Gardens
SS16 Sutton Park
Finish Birmingham

Think of the impact that'd make! That could get noticed. That could attract the attention of sponsors. They've already taken the brave step out of Wales years ago now, last year particularly, so would it hurt to be a little more adventurous?

The only great loss from that route for me is the 25km in Clocaenog. I'd have loved to have seen the stage in there. Some of the new roads in there around the wind farm, which surely would have had to have been used, are Finland like, fast and wide. Combined with the more traditional narrow Cloc tracks, it could have been interesting. Something new-ish. Shakedown in Cloc would have been better too.

Sadly, all this became irrelevant courtesy of Covid 19. I suppose the upside to them having played it conservatively is that there's nothing too special to lament losing... At least it isn't hard to imagine what we'll be missing...

[AnttiL]

Somewhat underwhelming, though I did set the bar pretty high with my opening post! Going back to this article, to be fair, Iain Campbell did only say "we’d come up with something a bit more radical". Should have realised the emphasis should have been on 'a bit'. I'm not not sure what to make of it. It would have been very useful as a basic proof of concept, to set a precedent. If they could have introduced a remote night stop into this event, you've essentially got the framework to allow a modern 'RAC' style event. But it seems a bit odd that they wouldn't have made more of it for this year. All that effort for Myherin, Sweet Lamb Hafren and Dyfi, the usual suspects. Come on, not even Taliesin?! Seemingly it might have been a Newtown base, so why not have given Radnor a shot instead Dyfi, at least?

The Sunday is another case of what could have been. If nothing else, it shows how short of money the organisers are, abandoning the forests entirely. But why just Oulton? I've wondered whether bringing back a day of 'Sunday Stages' would be possible. Maybe as a pre-Rally GB event, as I wouldn't personally willingly sacrifice a Sunday in the forests on a three day Rally GB. But, given they've gone down this road and made that sacrifice, why not be more ambitious?

SS14 Oulton Park
SS15 Trentham Gardens
SS16 Sutton Park
Finish Birmingham

Good points. However, like I've said earlier, it's hard to argue against Myherin, Dyfi and Sweet Lamb Hafren since they are just so damn great stages, even if it means having unchanged route. I wouldn't trade any of them for Taliesin or even Radnor.

The Sunday park stages sound suddenly like a good idea. It would have some retro edge to it, and as we know those park stages are demanding. However, nowadays Sundays aren't that big with spectators so implementing it is maybe not sensible. In this time (sans COVID) it would have to be a Saturday evening of park stages with big party tents so you can drink beer and listen to a rock'n'roll band while a WRC driver does donuts on a parking lot.

[the sniper]

Good points. However, like I've said earlier, it's hard to argue against Myherin, Dyfi and Sweet Lamb Hafren since they are just so damn great stages, even if it means having unchanged route. I wouldn't trade any of them for Taliesin or even Radnor.

With Taliesin I'd only consider it as an additional stage on that loop.

The Sunday park stages sound suddenly like a good idea. It would have some retro edge to it, and as we know those park stages are demanding. However, nowadays Sundays aren't that big with spectators so implementing it is maybe not sensible. In this time (sans COVID) it would have to be a Saturday evening of park stages with big party tents so you can drink beer and listen to a rock'n'roll band while a WRC driver does donuts on a parking lot.

I honestly don't think the Sunday morning/early afternoon would be an issue spectator wise here. I think the novelty of having such a event locally in the likes of Trentham Gardens or particularly Sutton Park would be enough to draw people in, with some publicity. Alwen and Brenig struggle to handle the number of spectators, many of whom you can hear on the ground have English accents, particularly from the likes of the Liverpool and Manchester area. If they're not staying in the area, which I doubt many of them are, they'll have had to set out from their homes at 4am or 5am latest to be able to get into the stage. Even if you're staying locally you need to head out to the stages at that time if you want to be sure of having a decent day! So the likes of Oulton Park, Tatton Park, Trentham Gardens and Sutton Park would be comparatively much easier to reach from large population centres.

Rally GB is quite different from my experiences of Rally Finland. Rally GB isn't an easy event to spectate on, but that is part of its appeal. Rally Finland is (to its credit) a much more leisurely affair, I can 100% agree that having a park stage on Rally Finland (or many other events) in August would make far more sense on a Saturday afternoon, with the music and beer tents, than a Sunday morning. But in November, on a wet weekend in the UK, you're not going to get a party atmosphere either way. I don't know if it's a curiously British thing, but I think there's something which appeals to people here about taking enjoyment from doing things which sensible people would consider madness, incomprehensible, or a bit sh*t! The Sunday stages could be great again!

[AndyRAC]

https://dirtfish.com/rally/why-the-p...-has-a-future/

Interesting thoughts - but, and it's a major but; surely the teams & WRC Promoter would want to keep the current 'event format'? However, in my view, the event and the sport in the UK would be better served by an event that is less restrictive.