[WRC] News & rumours (part III)

[Franky]

I am not saying that hotel cost is the biggest problem but consider its €200 per room per night, based on a team on 80 staff, say 10 on single room status, with 30 twin rooms, include the pre event test and recce, WRC rallies are 10 days long for the professionals. Do the maths.

If the person responsible for all the travels only manages to get average room price of 200 Euros/night with 80 people, he or she should be fired.

And as Mirek already wrote a few posts ago, they should start with bringing less stuff and staff.

[tommeke_B]

A privateer entering a WRC event has something like maximum 10x10m space for service, while manufacturer teams claim a space big enough to build a factory on... Of course it's a difficult question, as teams claim they need space to invite their guests, and without those guests there wouldn't be any rally either (something many people tend to forget).

But what Mirek said is a very good point. Letting all cars drive on normal (98-100 octane) fuel would make it cheaper. Giving the cars a bigger restrictor to give the "lost power" back (or even a bit more) would be good...
Making a short calculation, for example for Sardinia:
365km SS x (let's say) 65l/100km (or can anyone correct on what a modern WRC car's fuel consumption is?)
1050km RS x (let's say) 20l/100km
Would make a fuel consumption of +- 450 liters. With current fuel price, 5,5 euro/l for WRC fuel, against something like 1,6 euro/l for commercial fuel in most countries, it would make a difference of +-1750 euros for an event like Sardinia, which is probably close to the average WRC event in terms of length. For a team of 2 cars this would save already roughly 50 000 euros/season, without even calculating shakedown and the countless testing kilometers.

Most important is that this would save a lot of money for smaller teams and local drivers, because that's what we are missing most in WRC events. Last year I was in Sweden, I think there was one (1!) Swedish driver entering, is this normal?! FIA should not only look after the big manufacturer teams, but should work on making the sport more attractive and affordable on a lower level too, by lowering entry fees in WRC events for example. If they want to, they can do this for sure.

[Mirek]

WRC cars sure consume around 100l/100km maybe even more. Naturally aspirated S2000 take around 50-60 litres, gr.N turbo cars take 70-90 litres on stages I think.

[rallyfiend]

A privateer entering a WRC event has something like maximum 10x10m space for service, while manufacturer teams claim a space big enough to build a factory on... Of course it's a difficult question, as teams claim they need space to invite their guests, and without those guests there wouldn't be any rally either (something many people tend to forget).

! FIA should not only look after the big manufacturer teams, but should work on making the sport more attractive and affordable on a lower level too, by lowering entry fees in WRC events for example. If they want to, they can do this for sure.

I'm sure if a privateer offered to pay the 32,000 per event that a manufacturer pays, they could get the same amount of space in a service park!

Entry fees are set in a maximum by the FIA - it's up to each individual Event Organiser to set what to charge. So really, it's up to the Organisers to decide the entry fee. Perhaps there needs to be a bit of competition amongst the organisers to compete for the number of 'customers' they can get. Because that's how they should be considered by Organisers - customers.

[Allyc85]

Costs - as always is the biggest issue. Well keep to a sensible budget regarding cars....and spend less on 'other things' - but we all know that will not happen. It's a World Championship - it is going to cost. However, it has to give value for money - and a return on investment.

As for the routes - they have to be different; a WRC event has to be an 'EVENT'...it has to be special. 40km on a Sunday is almost a waste of time.

No it is a waste of time for both teams and the fans who fork out their hard earned money to actually go watch these events! I would rather 2 days packed full of stages starting early morning to late at night, rather than a short limp finish on a sunday.

Seriously how hard can it be to sort out the WRC?

[OldF]

It has been some discussion about this on this forum but I don’t remember the thread.

FIA Institute to probe spinal injuries

http://www.irallylive.com/ir_news.htm?00006789&10

[OldF]

In this article it says that the consumption for the 2.0 litre WRC engine was on a typical stage 70 l / 100km.

http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1wv...sources/19.htm (page 31, left column)

“Armfield reports that on a typical rally stage, fuel consumption is about 0,7 litres per kilometer. There has been a slight reduction in consumption from that of the previous 2.0-litre port-injected engine, primarily due to the reduction in restrictor air restrictor area. With the 6% reduction of restrictor area, the air flow has fallen from 748 kg/h to 720 kg/h – a drop of 4% - and the fuel consumption is commensurate with that. At peak power speed, fuel consumption is 51 kg/h.”

[Mirek]

It has been some discussion about this on this forum but I don’t remember the thread.

FIA Institute to probe spinal injuries

http://www.irallylive.com/ir_news.htm?00006789&10

Our driver's association has been working on this issue for several years. I hope they can get in contact with FIA institute and give them the results of investigation which was done with co-operation with medical authorities.

[rallyfun]

I am not saying that hotel cost is the biggest problem but consider its per €200 room per night, based on a team on 80 staff, say 10 on single room status, with 30 twin rooms, include the pre event test and recce, WRC rallies are 10 days long for the professionals. Do the maths.

Believe me you need to try hard to find €200 per night hotel. I never spent that much on hotel for the whole event.

[bluuford]

When you have a team of 80 and you book a hotel for a half a week then 50€ is mostly the maximum limit for twin room. So, max 40 rooms for the team, it is approximately 2000 per night. and 10 000-12 000 per rally. Whole season cost approximately 150 000 eur for accomodation. Take one day from eaxh rally, it is approximately 25 000 saved per season...
The point is that if you save something from everywhere, you get a bigger number by the end of year.