[WRC] News & rumours (part III)

[mousti]

And his WRC-2 program as a WRC Academy winner..?

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[COD]

I think the FIA, teams etc can make all the changes they like and the WRC will still never be a very popular sport. The masses want glamour, if Ogier was dating Jennifer Laurence, Neuville playing the field with supermodels, Hirvonen married to Cheryl Cole and Latvala seeing a bikini model, you can bet your bottom dollar that the WRC would become popular. Its sad, but in the late 90s and early 2000s driver salaries were higher and this created more buzz, more news coverage, and thus more followers. Example of this was McRae signing for Ford, loads of media attention, Focus tv adverts, more computer games etc etc. Apart from Loeb in France ive not seen a WRC driver promoting a branded product, for years.

This is true, rally drivers are not stars anymore. I think Grönholm was the last really carismatic driver there. His flamboyant comments and personality made him a star. Ok Petter for sure was also like that. But after them, these current ones look like accountants.

But I agree also that loosing events like Safari and with the current format, the sport has lost the endurance and adventure aspects.

But we must also note that the world has changed, so many things around us are so much different than in 1970's-1990's, many new extrme sports to compete from the attention of the young generation. And let's face it, rallying is a difficult and expensive sport to get into, many of the new extreme ones are much easier and cheaper.

[AdvEvo]

Best years of rally was for me the E30 M3 prodrive/subaru 555/Evo 5 and 6. It was awesome you saw subaru s and evo s line up next to rally stages. Rally cars were spectacular in group a. Now the rally cars are more like buggy s if you see how much wheel travel they have. In the early days they need a scandinavian flick to turn the car into a corner. Now they drive on rails and lost attention from the spectators. The same happens to F1 right now and it will also happen to DTM were they change to 4 cilinder engines in 2 years time.

The future of autosport is not looking good. Fia organization kills autosport with all this fuel saving programs and smaller engines. When the spectators stay away the sponsors will go away for sure and then eventually the sport is killed.

If you just look at some youtube movies people screaming and cheering when a RWD Escort / E30 M3 / Cossie is driving sideways on the stages. Even in rally s today it s more a head turner then 4wd fiesta s and ds3 s all together. And the most boring rallycar is a fwd for spectators.

Something has to change!!!

[Mirek]

I don't think FWD must be so boring. On asphalt if I shall choose whether Evo VI or 306 Maxi I take the Maxi any day. S1600 cars were pretty great on asphalt too.

[A FONDO]

fwd in rally is a parody. actually, fwd in any motorsport is a parody.

[Mirek]

An FWD parody...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEi3PLeEARs

How much ignorance a man needs to write some BS like that...

[janvanvurpa]

An FWD parody...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEi3PLeEARs

How much ignorance a man needs to write some BS like that...

Pretty unbelievable...

I guess these guys have never seen Jeanno Ragnotti, or Pavel Silbera on a good day in the old Favorits.

Boring is boring regardless of drive configuration..
Come to USA and see 80% boringly driven Subarus in turbo 4wd.

[mousti]

Remembering Thiry in the Xsara Kitcar in Ypres. Was a great force then against stronger cars!

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[A FONDO]

An FWD parody...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEi3PLeEARs

How much ignorance a man needs to write some BS like that...

What I see is a car that sounds loud, has a powerful engine and is driven by a capable driver. Nothing that can't be achieved by RWD or AWD. What is the specific advantage the FWD gives - the struggle in the hairpins or the lift-up of the operating axle when you hit the trottle, the understeer that you get when exiting a corner?

[Rallyper]

What I see is a car that sounds loud, has a powerful engine and is driven by a capable driver. Nothing that can't be achieved by RWD or AWD. What is the specific advantage the FWD gives - the struggle in the hairpins or the lift-up of the operating axle when you hit the trottle, the understeer that you get when exiting a corner?

I kind of understand what you mean. They have a very ugly way of sliding...