RE: PH Blog: whence the next McRae?

[cavebloke]

TNH said:

Great documentary and Sir Chris Hoy is even more of a legend now in my books

I might be the only one; but I'd disagree. Chris Hoy is a legend and he clearly loves cars but I didn't feel he communicated a sense of passion about the sport or Colin's driving style.

Also why was Alister so notably absent?

As to where the next McRae will come from - I don't know. But I think we should be more fearful about whether international rallying has a future at all. It costs a lot for companies to compete and so far as I can tell not enough people are interested. As has been said above the sport is struggling to convince people of its relevance and a lack of TV coverage means you currently have to work hard to see any of it.

[MrKipling43]

Twincam16 said:

The era of the bellowing 4WD special may be over, but what about the new generation of hot hatches? I'd love to see things like the Abarth 500 Esseesse, Renault Clio Cup, Ford Fiesta Zetec S, Peugeot 208 GTi and so on being driven hard by Ostberg, Lattvala, Meeke et al. Tweak the cars to take on the landscape, sure, mild tuning on the engines, but crucially, keep it production-based as it was in the Seventies.

I still maintain the richest seam for WRC is the current crop of small, rear-wheel drive coupes.

Desirable, (relatively) affordable, all the manufacturers have a 'sporting intent' (unlike bloody Ford and sodding Citroen - who CARES?!) and they would be spectacular on stage.

Exige
Alfa 4C
Toyobaru
Audi TT (they only do FWD and 4WD but a modification concesion could be made)
BMW 1 Series Coupe

Rallying needs to go back to what rally always was before these stupid WRC-spec machines. Apart from the post 2001-ish era and the Group B 'blip', that's what rallying was all about. It's lost sight of what made it so great in trying to falsely recapture it.

[tomoleeds]

The McRae tv programme was excellent,from Colin stsrting rallying in a Nova at age 17, Through to the subaru impreza and Focus,and he"s determination to win, but for me i was pleased to see Jimmy being involved in the programme so much,I have not seen Jimmy on tv for a long time.I remember him doing the circuit of Ireland in his 3 door cosworth,the theme tune was,The final countdown by Europe,i still have the Videos somewhere taped off the tv.I would give anything to see the cossie and Colins cars in the family garage.At the end of the programme it had you so absorbed,when telling the story of Colin"s untimely death,i had a tear in my eye. Colin Mcrae,gone but not forgotten,!

[Birzzles]

fairly unflinching documentary too. Wish the BBC would do more quality stuff like this. shame i missed parts 1 and 2.

[MrKipling43]

Also, come on PH, sort out the inaccuracy regarding MSA Academy.

[Vocal Minority]

Personally what I took out of the program was how much I enjoyed the mid-late 90s, when cars looked basically the same as there road going counterparts.




Whereas now...




It's all flared arched bewinged monsters.

I know it isn't for everyone and there are sound reasons for manufacturers to do what they do.

It's just my personal preference.

[Ecosseven]

Not sure where the next McRae will come from or when but my thoughts on increasing the popularity of rallying in the UK would be as follows.

1. Make the cars RWD or 4WD and based on road cars the majority of the public can actually afford or aspire to own one day. Scandinavian flicks and power oversteer in a brightly coloured great sounding car look fantastic. I would also like to go back to manual gearboxes and ban actve diffs but I know this won't happen.
2. Make the rally longer. The old Lombard RAC used to cover Scotland, England and Wales.
Advertise on local radio, TV and in the press.
3. Improve the TV coverage and include live spectator stages.

[B10]

There is so little motor racing on Freeview. Sport is dominated by football and unless you are into football or mainstream sport and pay for the likes of Sky sport your will rarely see any non mainstream sport.
In the good old days of 'World of sport' one would a mixture of sport on a Saturday afternoon, ranging form banger racing, speedway, saloon, rallying, water skiing, UK wrestling etc.
As a result I watch no sport (except F1), since I only have freeview and I don't do football etc. Shame.

[Andy ap]

elvisburger said:

I think rallying in general is in decline.

Rallying has always had the problem of difficult to broadcast and also a general intrest to broadcast. Back in the day, I remember the RAC rally was fully televised with special stages shown live. Now, the rally just comes and goes and nobody even notices. Same can be said for Dakar, zero mainstream TV coverage.

Without TV rights, there is no sport, and no new 'McRae' or 'Burns' getting inspired by the wonderful skill and spectacle of a car doing 100+ in forests!!

Car manufactures are loosing intrest since they get nothing from it. They are not allowed to advertise the fact that they have great winning car, e.g. Citroen, so what is the point when they are not seen on TV. Same with sponsorship.

I miss the Group B cars of olde, but I also miss watching a great sport on TV. TV only shows overpaid w%^&kers kicking a ball and overpaid bores going around and around an F1 circuit. Thank god there is MotoGP on TV!!

+ 1 well Said!

You could also argue the greatest rally driver to date has blood on his hands. In my eyes he has pretty much single handedly killed off the Wrc (he makes schumacher look like a bus driver) its boring and predictable and both manufacturers, the media and most importantly the fans lost interest. The only really exciting bit was watching Mikko Hirvonen snapping at his heels.

But at the same time you could also argue that the competition was pure. No one was able to 'slow' the flying frenchman down in order to level the playing field and competition maintining interest and investment. I remember the days of team politics with the likes of mcrae and Sainz sticking middle fingers up at orders to slow down. of course as has allready been said the ASA are also killing off the competition from the cars consumer point of view. Its all a ticking clock!

Edited by Andy ap on Monday 28th January 16:37

[framerateuk]

The current rally format is too short. What happened to all the night stages? The old RAC rally used to go on through the night - not this rubbish of having 3 ten minute stages repeated throughout the day.

I've been to watch Wales Rally GB every year for the last 6 or so, and the best bits the last few years has been the National B Rally! It's far more exciting!

[Blayney]

Elfyn Evans. Fast, winning everything he enters, son of a well known British driver.

[Antj]

i'd rather know where the next Richard Burns is coming from rather than another smash and dash McRae.

[DanielSan]

framerateuk said:

The current rally format is too short. What happened to all the night stages? The old RAC rally used to go on through the night - not this rubbish of having 3 ten minute stages repeated throughout the day.

Exactly this point. I heard it mentioned in the documentary at some point last night the 95 Rally GB was just over 1400miles long! That's what used to make a rally, the distance over rough terrain was a challenge to get the car to the end without making a mistake. And a byproduct of this was that you could get more people onto the stages without closing them because more than 4 people would like to see the cars up close.

Rallying will have it's day again, I don't doubt it, don't forget it wasn't all that long ago that sportscar racing seemed almost dead, little to no manufacturer involvement, no TV coverage etc... Look at it now, numerous series all with decent TV coverage, admittedly via satellite, more manufacturers back in the sport and it's on the rise again...

[Maldini35]

DougieMc said:

100% agree
Every single part of Mr Meeke is McRae through and through
Just shame his talents havent been viewed the same from the large Sponsorship driven drives out there

Completely agree.

It was ironic that Kris Meeke was on in TV earlier last night driving a Bentley on a WRC stage for Top Gear.
The guy has talent to burn - what a waste!

Colin McRae knew how good Kris Meeke is and took him under his wing as a youngster. Kris actually lived with Colin and his family doing odd jobs to pay his way whilst being mentored by Colin. If Colin was here today you can be sure Kris would have a WRC seat and would no doubt be at the sharp end. Such a shame.

[Ranger 6]

EcosseBMW said:

...the MSA have killed rallying...

No, the MSA haven't killed rallying, money has.

When there was lots of money the cars were big and fire spitting - the problem was the young talent couldn't afford it so the 'big boys' were successful businessmen. Now there's little money the cars are still expensive and the young talent still can't afford it, the successful businessmen have headed of for other championships because £100k Mk2s are more fun than a £200k Focus.

Having said that there are some extremely talented youngsters fighting for BRC honours and working their way into the fringes of the WRC it's just a shame that a TOTAL LACK OF RESEARCH from PH couldn't even identify people like Craig Breen, John MacCrone, Osian Price and the rest....

Come on PH - a cheap shot at the MSA on a poorly researched blog is not what we expect.

[descente]

cavebloke said:

I might be the only one; but I'd disagree. Chris Hoy is a legend and he clearly loves cars but I didn't feel he communicated a sense of passion about the sport or Colin's driving style.

Also why was Alister so notably absent?

+1 to that

[RTH]

elvisburger said:

I think rallying in general is in decline.

Rallying has always had the problem of difficult to broadcast and also a general intrest to broadcast. Back in the day, I remember the RAC rally was fully televised with special stages shown live. Now, the rally just comes and goes and nobody even notices. Same can be said for Dakar, zero mainstream TV coverage.

Without TV rights, there is no sport, and no new 'McRae' or 'Burns' getting inspired by the wonderful skill and spectacle of a car doing 100+ in forests!!

Car manufactures are loosing intrest since they get nothing from it. They are not allowed to advertise the fact that they have great winning car, e.g. Citroen, so what is the point when they are not seen on TV. Same with sponsorship.

I miss the Group B cars of olde, but I also miss watching a great sport on TV. TV only shows overpaid w%^&kers kicking a ball and overpaid bores going around and around an F1 circuit. Thank god there is MotoGP on TV!!

spot on.

[RTH]

MrKipling43 said:

I still maintain the richest seam for WRC is the current crop of small, rear-wheel drive coupes.

Desirable, (relatively) affordable, all the manufacturers have a 'sporting intent' (unlike bloody Ford and sodding Citroen - who CARES?!) and they would be spectacular on stage.

Exige
Alfa 4C
Toyobaru
Audi TT (they only do FWD and 4WD but a modification concesion could be made)
BMW 1 Series Coupe

Rallying needs to go back to what rally always was before these stupid WRC-spec machines. Apart from the post 2001-ish era and the Group B 'blip', that's what rallying was all about. It's lost sight of what made it so great in trying to falsely recapture it.

Agree with that

[Twincam16]

RTH said:

MrKipling43 said:

I still maintain the richest seam for WRC is the current crop of small, rear-wheel drive coupes.

Desirable, (relatively) affordable, all the manufacturers have a 'sporting intent' (unlike bloody Ford and sodding Citroen - who CARES?!) and they would be spectacular on stage.

Exige
Alfa 4C
Toyobaru
Audi TT (they only do FWD and 4WD but a modification concesion could be made)
BMW 1 Series Coupe

Rallying needs to go back to what rally always was before these stupid WRC-spec machines. Apart from the post 2001-ish era and the Group B 'blip', that's what rallying was all about. It's lost sight of what made it so great in trying to falsely recapture it.

Agree with that

So does the WRC, hence the new Rally GT category.

[hwajones]

Global Recession probrably has something to do with it.
A sport which is notorioulsy hard to enter at low levels without a lot of funding...

The Irish Tarmac Championship! Once Awesome, is now whittled away to a few 6 yr old WRC cars and group N subarus.