[WRC] News & Rumours (part V) 2017

[AnttiL]

This discussion about NORF (NRF, Thousand Lakes, Jyväskylän Suurajot) route would be better in Rally Finland thread, wouldn´t it?

True. I just happened to see someone suspecting chicanes so I quoted that. But if an administrator can move the posts, I'm happy to continue the discussion in the correct thread

[Arnold Triyudho Wardono]

I wonder if Qatar's diplomatic conflict would affecting Nasser..?

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[Mirek]

Most likely so since Al Attiyah family is part of the rulling establishment in Qatar. Only time will show how the conflict evolves but everything is possible.

[AL14]

Yeah, I thought the same, let's see...

[AndyRAC]

Wales Rally GB eyeing the use of closed roads for 2018 as a way of refreshing the event's competitive route. https://t.co/R8u0EFXRVG https://t.co/sm3RcHvChE

They don't need to use 'closed roads' to refresh the event. There's plenty of decent forests they can use; Halfway, Crychan, et al....and make it really tough!!

[the sniper]

They don't need to use 'closed roads' to refresh the event. There's plenty of decent forests they can use; Halfway, Crychan, et al....and make it really tough!!

Event co-ordinator Andrew Kellitt said that Hayden Paddon suggested using Crychan and Halfway, but said himself they were too far south (https://www.motorsport-news.co.uk/ne...oads-for-2018/). I don't know why they can't use a remote service to reach further south... They talk up it being a great challenge, and it's not a bad route for what it is, but 306km, two unique full length stages on the Friday... It might not be unusual for the modern WRC, but going by the history of this sport, it is really pathetic!

Rallying, especially in the UK, has its organisational challenges event wise, but by comparison look at cycling as a sport. In the UK it's bigger than it has ever been, yet it isn't a sport that has watered down its events or sold its soul for convenience. Cycling still has mammoth endurance events, real EVENTS, that reach out to people, cover huge areas, draw people in and attract huge crowds. Rallying by contrast has spent nearly 20 years chasing its own tail around in ever decreasing circles! Colin Heppenstall and the RAC Rally have shown that there are still people in this sport who have the balls to think outside of the shoe box sized box that rallying's powers that be have trapped themselves inside, but the likes of the MSA and FIA need to wake up and stop playing it safe...

Sorry for the rather UK-centric post... Plus I know I'm preaching to the choir!

[Fast Eddie WRC]

It's clear we need to grow rallying in the UK and get the sport back in the sight of the general public. Sports like cycling have done this and had great success. But the changes proposed about using closed roads is pathetic and a far greater shake-up is needed.

The old RAC Rally had a many stages in the grounds of stately homes, circuits, even safari parks, that brought rallying to the people.

IMO they need to bring this idea back for a while to get the general public interested again. Once that is established many people become real rally fans and will go to watch in the forests.

My thought would be for more stages nearer to the English border where there are large areas of population. These fans would then be drawn to going to the main stages in Wales.

[MrJan]

It's clear we need to grow rallying in the UK and get the sport back in the sight of the general public.

Organisers would probably argue that arranging the event round something like Chirk Castle is doing exactly that. I'm not sure that I fully agree though.

[dimviii]

Kalle took his driving licence successfully.(lol)

KalleRovanperaRacing‏*@KalleRovanpera
Driving Permit application successful. Biggest thanks to Trafi for flexibility and understanding this will be a big help.

[pantealex]

Not sure if you have additional information, but in the interview he says "varmaan ihan joka pätkälle" which translates roughly to "probably to each and every stage". So at the same time he's diminishing ("varmaan") and emphasizing ("ihan") his comment.

Harju will be same as last year, all others not.