Can you be a petrolhead without liking motorsport? I reckon so – I love cars, always have done. I grab any opportunity to drive something new, especially if it’s something a little more PH-worthy, but here’s where I put my head in the stocks: motorsport, however, hasn’t thus far lit the fire within.
Hyundai believes in WRC as a marketing tool
I think it comes down to finding arguably
most talked about form of motorsport, F1, so incredibly dull. I’ve tried to watch it. The races are tedious and it only gets interesting when it goes wrong, but I find spending a Sunday afternoon staring at a TV screen hoping there’s a crash is a little bit morbid. Rallying, on the other hand, has always intrigued me. I’ve never closely followed the World Rally Championship, but as a 90s kid I wasted many hours perfecting my slides in an Impreza on Colin McRae Rally.
So, when the World Rally Championship’s Rally GB round moved to my old stomping ground last year, I was determined to give it a chance. Last weekend I had my views on motorsport flipped in a muddy forest in deepest damp Wales.
Rally GB’s kind of a big deal
For the local area, Rally GB is huge. It pumps around £10 million into the economy, and it’s refreshing to find that locals largely approve of rally cars tearing through their forests at three-figure speeds.
And so does VW, with considerable success
For some manufacturers it’s
also a big deal
. Hyundai put me up over the weekend so I could follow the progress of its i20 WRCs, and along with the big three (VW, Citroen and Ford – Toyota expected to return in 2017), motorsport is a killer marketing tool.
While F1 might be good for the brand image of manufacturers like Ferrari – well, dubious going by this year’s performance – how much does it actually help sales? Does Mercedes-Benz sell many C-Classes off the back of Lewis Hamilton and the W05 Hybrid? In comparison, how many young spectators at this weekend’s Rally GB will now be tempted by an i20, Fiesta or Polo, especially a hot one with a link to what Neuville, Meeke or Ogier drive? So why won’t more manufacturers put a team in for this gruelling motorsport?
Hyundai’s presence as main sponsor last weekend was clear. Its cars were everywhere, providing hundreds of support vehicles. As one spectator commented walking past our Santa Fe, “They look great covered in mud, don’t they? I should’ve considered one when I got my Freelander…”
Sunshine and glamour not part of Rally GB
It won’t just be him who suddenly became aware of Hyundai last weekend, either. And even more will when
the N sub-brand
comes online, meaning the rally programme will make a touch more sense. Hyundai’s still keeping quiet about the likelihood of a hot i20 in the future, but watch this space.
Muddy good fun
As guests of Hyundai, we didn’t have to do a lot in the way of organisation. Racing the lead cars between stages in a chopper is a wonderful way of experiencing the rally, but it’s arguably not the best way. To really get a feel for it as a newbie, you need to go stage-side – and herein lies the problem.
Chatting to a friend and casual WRC fan that lives nearby, he tells me that knowing where to go to see the rally is really confusing. There’s a real appetite for it – a visit to the service park at Deeside shows that and it’s packed with spectators.
This kind of action makes up for it though
Why aren’t there more folk out on Welsh hillsides, up close to the action, then? Even in the depths of Wales they’re all reachable by road. It all comes down to the WRC’s failing in recent years and a lack of promotion. Organisers told me of big plans to attract more spectators, including deals on train fares from central London – Chester is, after all, just two hours away from the capital by train, and what a brilliant weekend away Rally GB makes.
Even as a newbie rally spectator it’s obvious to me that the WRC would gain a lot of traction in the UK with some decent TV coverage. If only a mainstream channel would give it some well-deserved airtime it could surely spark the fire in the McRae Rally PlayStation generation.
If that happens, surely more manufacturers would stop fooling around on race tracks, and invest some money into this much more accessible motorsport.
Meeke one of two UK hopefuls in event
As the sun set on Dyfnant, the likes of local lad Elfyn Evans and Kris Meeke passing sideways just metres away (six, if any marshals are reading), blinding spectators with their lights and showing off their glowing brake discs, it’s very easy to make claims for the WRC being the coolest sporting event in the world.
With four manufacturers in the top four (VW with Ogier taking his eighth win of the season, Hirvonen finding some form in second, Ostberg in the Citroen in third and Hyundai just narrowly missing out on a podium with Neuville in fourth), there’s some evidence, showing exactly how diverse the series can be.
The sound of the heavily tweaked 1.6-litre turbocharged engines bouncing off the valley walls, mud and stones flying towards spectators , just adds to the excitement. It’s just not the same watching from your living room, but I can’t help thinking a highlights package on a ‘proper’ TV channel would help its popularity.
I’ve certainly been converted from a casual observer to a full-on fan, and I won’t be missing it next year.
Additional action photography: LAT Photo