World Rallycross Championship a.k.a RALLYX

[tbtstt]

Why is he an "actual rallycross driver"? Before he came to Rallycross he raced touring cars and Porsches on asphalt. He has won the Superstars Series (touring cars), won the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship and the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia.

I wasn't aware of that, I only knew he did a couple of rallies in Sweden for fun. I'll rephrase then: I wonder if this year the driver championship will be won by a former WRC, DTM or touring car driver.

I actually think you both have a point here: Johan Kristoffersson has appeared in other National Championships, but he a young driver attempting to "make his name" and launch his racing career via the World Rallycross Championship (plus his family has been involved with rallycross for a lot of years).

Loeb and Ekstrom have made their name (and arguably reached the peak of their career) elsewhere, so I can see why some people are critical of them. You could perhaps say the same of Solberg but, as he began his career in rallycross many years ago (and the family of his wife have roots in rallycross), I daresay he has more connection to the sport than the other aforementioned Champions.

Before he I followed the WRC religiously for many many years, probably since around 2001. But after 9 years of watching a french guy called Sebastian say "for sure I am happii" without even a hint of a smile and walking away with the trophy on every single race it gets a bit boring. When he was out another guy called Sebastian picked up where he left and kept it boring.

I have been following WRC for the best part of 25 years now and there have been times when I have struggled to get excited about it (most notably in the height of Loeb dominance) but, in my personal opinion, the last two years have been the best seasons in at least 15 years...

I tried hard, for years, but come on, it really isn't exciting any more. I haven't really paid much attention this year, but a quick glance shows Sebastian winning three out of five races, is in the lead of course, and only four cars are in it.

...the outright results only really tell half the story. If someone were to look at the WRX results from 2018 thus far, they might assume that Kristoffersson had won two of the three rounds and was walking away with it again, but that clearly isn't true.

Yeah, Ogier is winning rallies but he is having to fight this year. You have a field of very competitive cars and some great talent emerging in WRC (Tanak is my personal pick of the bunch at the moment). Plus the new cars are stupidly fast and (much to my surprise) deserving of all the hype around them. If you have enjoyed WRC in the past then I would suggest you give it another look this year.

You should have followed Gr. B days then. The difference was much bigger back then, and drivers could gain much more on single stage. But those were the times, and oh well - when Gr. B cars were banned from rally, guess what - they formed the rally cross as it is now. Funny, isn't it?

There seem to be a lot of rose-tinted spectacles worn when people look back at Group B-era rally. The cars were absolute weapons, but events were won by huge margins. Admittedly many events were a lot longer back then, but there was a much higher rate of attrition.

[JUF]

As long as drivers like Loeb, Solberg and Ekström are competitive, I don´t see a reason why they shouldn´t participate in World RX. What I don´t like is when someone like Villeneuve gets a seat. Obviously he wasn't really motivated and even had difficulties to reach the Semi-Finals... Luckily these times seem to be over now.

[Fast Eddie WRC]

I followed the WRC religiously for many many years, probably since around 2001. But after 9 years of watching a french guy called Sebastian say "for sure I am happii" without even a hint of a smile and walking away with the trophy on every single race it gets a bit boring. When he was out another guy called Sebastian picked up where he left and kept it boring.
I picked a random race, Corsica 2016. Sebastian won, Thierry was second, 46 seconds behind. Then Andreas Mikkelsen came in over a minute after. Then the rest followed minutes after. Yey.. Minutes, how exciting.. Sebastian could stop for coffee on his way to the podium.

I tried hard, for years, but come on, it really isn't exciting any more. I haven't really paid much attention this year, but a quick glance shows Sebastian winning three out of five races, is in the lead of course, and only four cars are in it.

Ironic... the current WRC is closer and more competitive than its ever been with similar cars & sprint events.

[dupanton]

WRC 2017: 7 different winners in 4 different cars on 13 events
WRX 2017: 3 different winners in 2 different cars on 12 events

I don't get your point Alpha

[Rally Power]

I followed the WRC religiously for many many years, probably since around 2001. But after 9 years of watching a french guy called Sebastian say "for sure I am happii" without even a hint of a smile and walking away with the trophy on every single race it gets a bit boring. When he was out another guy called Sebastian picked up where he left and kept it boring.

No straight answer, so I’ll assume you’ve never been to a WRC rally or even to a major national series one. That’s a shame, as you can only enjoy the thrill of rallying after being on a couple of top events.

Any kind of motor racing can look better on a TV than rally does, especially when racing series are designed to entertain the audience, like WRX. Rally is not about beating a direct rival on an artificial track; it’s about challenging your own limits in common roads, under nature’s random elements.

There’s nothing like Rally in terms of pure driving and every driver/crew managing to brightly perform on this sport deserves fans respect and admiration, no matter if they eventually win a title or not.

Btw, during the next days I’ll be able, just like thousands and thousands of Portuguese rally fans, to go to my country finest forest roads and enjoy some first class ‘paint drying’…somehow, those are always the best days of the year! Long live the WRC!

[tbtstt]

As long as drivers like Loeb, Solberg and Ekström are competitive, I don´t see a reason why they shouldn´t participate in World RX. What I don´t like is when someone like Villeneuve gets a seat. Obviously he wasn't really motivated and even had difficulties to reach the Semi-Finals... Luckily these times seem to be over now.

Yeah, fully agree with regards to Villeneuve. I am really not sure what purpose his foray into rallycross was supposed to serve: was he hoping to reignite his racing career or did he think it was going to easy racing?

Admittedly the Albatec Peugeot wasn't the most reliable platform at the time but, even so, he didn't that motivated when interviewed on the subject (especially when compared with the reaction of drivers like Ekstrom when they first arrived in rallycross).

There’s nothing like Rally in terms of pure driving and every driver/crew managing to brightly perform on this sport deserves fans respect and admiration, no matter if they eventually win a title or not.

I love rallycross and would probably favour watching a major rallycross event over a major rally these days...

...but your statement is spot on: nothing compares to the sensation of seeing a well-driven rally car (regardless of the class) flying through a forest on maximum attack.

[pettersolberg29]

My guess would be that, overall, the VW has had the most money put into it. However the majority of that would have been from VW motorsport themselves prior to pulling out of the WRC. Hyundai must be fairly close behind too, that car was developed for a few years as WRC car.

In terms of being made specifically for WRX then GCK must be the biggest single outlay, most of the other cars have started from a base from someone else but the Megane is built from the ground up.

If we're talking money spent on RX, I can say with huge confidence that Peugeot have spent the most money and resource, closely followed by Audi and GCK. PSRX are a distant 4th. The VW and Hyundai had a lot of money spent on them in WRC but far less than competitors in RX - in terms of testing alone, Peugeot, GCK and Audi have done more test days each than PSRX, GRX and OMSE combined!

[MrJan]

If we're talking money spent on RX, I can say with huge confidence that Peugeot have spent the most money and resource, closely followed by Audi and GCK. PSRX are a distant 4th. The VW and Hyundai had a lot of money spent on them in WRC but far less than competitors in RX - in terms of testing alone, Peugeot, GCK and Audi have done more test days each than PSRX, GRX and OMSE combined!

I was referring to the cars from start to end, rather than what each RX team has put into it. VW were developing their car for so long, and with so many tests, that it must have had a fortune put into it when the WRC programme was shelved. Obviously what PSRX have put in is then going to be less than the likes of GCK and EKS have had to spend on building their cars. The reason I thought GCK would be ahead of the others is because they've had to pay someone else for all the work, whereas Pug and Audi have done a bit more 'in house' With the Prodrive mark-up I'd have thought costs can go up pretty quickly.

[N.O.T]

reminder that without my superior intellectual level and superbly witty comments about the race you would not even bother with the event...

that's how popular and exciting the nobody circus parade is..

you can continue now.

[pettersolberg29]

I was referring to the cars from start to end, rather than what each RX team has put into it. VW were developing their car for so long, and with so many tests, that it must have had a fortune put into it when the WRC programme was shelved. Obviously what PSRX have put in is then going to be less than the likes of GCK and EKS have had to spend on building their cars. The reason I thought GCK would be ahead of the others is because they've had to pay someone else for all the work, whereas Pug and Audi have done a bit more 'in house' With the Prodrive mark-up I'd have thought costs can go up pretty quickly.

Ahh apologies, then you're spot on! Though the money spent on the VW and Hyundai for WRC is mainly irrelevant when it comes to RX as so much has to be changed. VW's main resource they passed on to PSRX was their knowledge and engineering skill on the car rather than money, which is arguably more valuable - Peugeot and Audi have pumped money in yet still trail VW this year!