Money, money, money!

[Mitch555]

Future WRC champion Conrad Rautencrash's dad owns a diamond mine i think....

Yeah you're sort of on the right track. He does some mining...

Billy Rautenbach, also known as Muller Conrad Rautenbach (born 23 September 1959), is a multimillionaire Zimbabwean businessman. He is known for his aggressive business tactics and is known to have close links to ZANU-PF and the regime of Robert Mugabe. Before he was 40, Rautenbach's business empire had spread in more than a dozen African countries even as far afield as Australia and Europe earning him the nickname "Napoleon of Africa". Rautenbach is currently on a travel ban list in both the European Union and United States. He was added to the EU blacklist in January 2008, and the US blacklist towards the end of 2008 for his alleged involvement with the Mugabe regime. It is alleged he has aided Robert Mugabe’s regime financially, regardless of current international sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe to limit Robert Mugabe’s grip of power. A noticeable proportion of the funds made available to Robert Mugabe were used to pay his security forces help keep him in power. Mugabe, grateful for financial support often returned the favour to Rautenbach and similar financiers in exchange for dubious and lucrative drilling and mining deals with companies based in countries such as the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands and so on, both of which could be seen as having a lack of regulation in place therefore making it easier to transfer funds to Zimbabwe. He currently owns the Volvo franchise in Zimbabwe, the country's largest freight company and vast tracts of agricultural land, which includes land used for crocodile rearing. Rautenbach was wanted in South Africa where he faced hundreds of charges of alleged fraud, corruption and other crimes including his connection with his own South African company named Wheels of Africa Group in the 1990s. The group, which was the distributor for Korean car firm Hyundai in South Africa and Botswana, was liquidated in December 1999. At that time, he had property worth millions seized from him. These include a farm in the Western Cape worth more than R30 million, hunting safaris, a falcon executive jet, a bell 407 helicopter and a yacht, which have since been returned to him. The charges against Rautenbach include the theft of 1,300 cars from Hyundai, bribing customs officials and fraudulently reducing the tax liability of Wheels of Africa's subsidiaries. He fled South Africa in 1999 after justice department investigators raided his office and home. In 2009, he reached a bargain plea with the South African authorities to pay a fine of 40 million rand.

Of course this is Wikipedia, thus it isn't a totally reliable source. Especially considering he is claimed to have stolen 1,300 Hyundais. Ok Hyundai is getting better, but 1,300 of them!

Toshi Arai has been a Subaru stalwart for a long time, we might have seen similar by Possum Bourne perhaps if he was still alive. Though most seem to have some major sponsor on their cars. And a lot of it would be self funded.

Where do the Netherlands guys get their money from? Kuipers etc. and the Irish? As they run (or ran in Irelands case) a lot of top WRC cars in their national championships

[Daniel]

Yeah you're sort of on the right track. He does some mining...



Of course this is Wikipedia, thus it isn't a totally reliable source. Especially considering he is claimed to have stolen 1,300 Hyundais. Ok Hyundai is getting better, but 1,300 of them!

Toshi Arai has been a Subaru stalwart for a long time, we might have seen similar by Possum Bourne perhaps if he was still alive. Though most seem to have some major sponsor on their cars. And a lot of it would be self funded.

Where do the Netherlands guys get their money from? Kuipers etc. and the Irish? As they run (or ran in Irelands case) a lot of top WRC cars in their national championships

There are PLENTY of reliable sources for ALL of that information.

Sadly some of the cold hearted people on this forum simply don't care where the money comes from as long as some talentless hack has the funds to clumsily thread their car through (and sometimes into) the scenery

[janvanvurpa]

There are PLENTY of reliable sources for ALL of that information.

Sadly some of the cold hearted people on this forum simply don't care where the money comes from as long as some talentless hack has the funds to clumsily thread their car through (and sometimes into) the scenery

So you don't love Blockie?
Didn't you bother to read his "Press release" when the deal for him buying his ride was announced?
If you'd bothered to read it he said right there "This is one of the most significant deals in WRC History"

And all you need to do is look at http://www.specialstage.com/forums and there you'll see that Kenny and Travesty Pastrami are "rally Gods" and "Rally Superstars".
Says so right there.
I think you just don't undertand....

(wink wink, nudge nudge)

Truth is I really don't what to do about the "World rally car" rules which allows these 99.8% hand built specials which cost so much vs the straight GpA rules which,of course insane expensive in their day for works cars STILL were at least AVAILABLE enough that even a schmuck like me---a one man shop making rally suspension and building motors, can afford to have a OK spec motor making all the power I need reliably...

If the costs are that high as they are (like GBP1800 for a PAIR of halfshafts, or 320 squids for a alloy brake hat---come on I make those, they don't cost 320 squids---) then somebody has to pay and so the ability to raise money to throw away for nothing becomes paramount.

It's a shame...

[Daniel]

So you don't love Blockie?
Didn't you bother to read his "Press release" when the deal for him buying his ride was announced?
If you'd bothered to read it he said right there "This is one of the most significant deals in WRC History"

And all you need to do is look at http://www.specialstage.com/forums and there you'll see that Kenny and Travesty Pastrami are "rally Gods" and "Rally Superstars".
Says so right there.
I think you just don't undertand....

(wink wink, nudge nudge)

Truth is I really don't what to do about the "World rally car" rules which allows these 99.8% hand built specials which cost so much vs the straight GpA rules which,of course insane expensive in their day for works cars STILL were at least AVAILABLE enough that even a schmuck like me---a one man shop making rally suspension and building motors, can afford to have a OK spec motor making all the power I need reliably...

If the costs are that high as they are (like GBP1800 for a PAIR of halfshafts, or 320 squids for a alloy brake hat---come on I make those, they don't cost 320 squids---) then somebody has to pay and so the ability to raise money to throw away for nothing becomes paramount.

It's a shame...

At least Block has to the best of my knowledge earnt his money legitimately. I may not respect Block as a driver but at least as a businessman he's not neck and neck with Hitler in terms of morals.

[janvanvurpa]

At least Block has to the best of my knowledge earnt his money legitimately. I may not respect Block as a driver but at least as a businessman he's not neck and neck with Hitler in terms of morals.

Well if we start thinking about "morals" I can suggest that making millions on what are really insanely cheap shoes made GAWD KNOWS WHERE bu who knows what getting paid we have no idea and then sold for absurd inflated prices to gets too stupid to NOT BUY THE HYPE is the essence of the moral dilemma of the modern consumer capitalist world economy.
Hype hype hype a cheap thing costing pennies and sell it for LOTS to weak minded kids and make millions...


I dunno.

Of course it's not as repulsive and disgusting as the dealings of Rautenbach's daddy, but man everything down that part of the world seems to be drenched in blood and lies and just power....but I find modern ultra hype junk (where the central thing is not the product---skate board shoes or the man himself selling his "persona") repugnant.

I imagine its somewhat confusing for him himself but seesm the solution is to not to think about morals...just make a You-tube video...

[Daniel]

Well if we start thinking about "morals" I can suggest that making millions on what are really insanely cheap shoes made GAWD KNOWS WHERE bu who knows what getting paid we have no idea and then sold for absurd inflated prices to gets too stupid to NOT BUY THE HYPE is the essence of the moral dilemma of the modern consumer capitalist world economy.
Hype hype hype a cheap thing costing pennies and sell it for LOTS to weak minded kids and make millions...


I dunno.

Of course it's not as repulsive and disgusting as the dealings of Rautenbach's daddy, but man everything down that part of the world seems to be drenched in blood and lies and just power....but I find modern ultra hype junk (where the central thing is not the product---skate board shoes or the man himself selling his "persona") repugnant.

I imagine its somewhat confusing for him himself but seesm the solution is to not to think about morals...just make a You-tube video...

Given a choice between Ken or Billy as a backer I know who I'd take.....

Renting a car from M-Sport for a WRC round will cost you around 150.000Euros all included, for that you get a customer car. If you want a factory spec car then you need to be someone "special" and then it will cost you over 200.000Euro. "Special someones" in the past have included all Jouhki drivers, Wilslow, Tuohino, duval when privately entered.

The difference between the factory specification car and the customer car can vary depending on a number of factors. Top spec cars will have all the titanium parts which can easily add up to being 100kg lighter than customer spec which use steel. We are mainly talking about suspension parts, cross members etc.. Also thinner windscreens and aluminum bonnets will make a difference. people who doubt this should check the difference in weights between the 2 during scrutineering when the cars are empty. a difference of 100kg can have an impact of 1 sec/km on average.

Next thing is power. Top cars have in reality around 360 HP and customer cars will lack anything up to 40HP. It is very hard to see or hear the difference in power on turbochaged cars because the initial kick is always there. The difference is at the high end of the RPM's when some will run out of breath as they get to the REV limiter and others keep going to REV limiter much faster.

After this comes shock absorbers and setups but its another long story....

Hope this gives a little insight to the very intricate world of WRC.

[Daniel]

Renting a car from M-Sport for a WRC round will cost you around 150.000Euros all included, for that you get a customer car. If you want a factory spec car then you need to be someone "special" and then it will cost you over 200.000Euro. "Special someones" in the past have included all Jouhki drivers, Wilslow, Tuohino, duval when privately entered.

The difference between the factory specification car and the customer car can vary depending on a number of factors. Top spec cars will have all the titanium parts which can easily add up to being 100kg lighter than customer spec which use steel. We are mainly talking about suspension parts, cross members etc.. Also thinner windscreens and aluminum bonnets will make a difference. people who doubt this should check the difference in weights between the 2 during scrutineering when the cars are empty. a difference of 100kg can have an impact of 1 sec/km on average.

Next thing is power. Top cars have in reality around 360 HP and customer cars will lack anything up to 40HP. It is very hard to see or hear the difference in power on turbochaged cars because the initial kick is always there. The difference is at the high end of the RPM's when some will run out of breath as they get to the REV limiter and others keep going to REV limiter much faster.

After this comes shock absorbers and setups but its another long story....

Hope this gives a little insight to the very intricate world of WRC.

The only people who wouldn't agree with you are either stupid or just plain ignorant Most people here are generally quite aware of the differences between a top car and a car which is being run for a privateer

[AndyRAC]

The only people who wouldn't agree with you are either stupid or just plain ignorant Most people here are generally quite aware of the differences between a top car and a car which is being run for a privateer

And don't forget testing! Pretty important, something Privateers don't get a lot of.

[Josti]

Where do the Netherlands guys get their money from? Kuipers etc.

Van Merksteijn Sr. owns a big steel company. I know that Kuipers sold his company for many many millions some years ago. Van Eldik is also a successful businessman.