RE: Mini misses 2012 WRC deadline
Discussion
Reardy Mister said:
I'd like to see the LR Evoque opposite the Countryman. Between the Mini being surprisingly large and the Evoque being surprisingly small, we now have an odd situation where Mini are in direct competition with Land Rover.
My place does the seats for the Evoque and we had a (3dr) development mule parked outside last week...it was a lot smaller than I remembered from a nose around one last year. IMHO smaller inside than a Focus, certainly no longer.
Oh...and the benchmarked competition includes the (regular) Mini, A3 and the TT! Sounds weird, but not when you think about who the cars are actually aimed at.
havoc said:
PSBuckshot said:
Better change my wallpaper again.
That's a really bad photoshop, trying to make the Countryman NOT look twice the size of the original.
There's a bit in this weeks Motorsport news about the Countryman, according to the article it was an advantage having a larger body shell to work with as it was easier to package the suspension modifications. The hard points are in better positions than the three door car as that car was compromised by having to consider other factors when locating things like A/C pumps etc.
Still the Countryman looks frankly ugly and certainly doesn't inspire me to think of the current WRC effort as bearing any relationship what so ever to the original works Mini's run by Abingdon. I wish it well though and hope Kris Meeke gets some Podiums and maybe even a Win, he deserves it and UK Rallying needs the publicity it would bring.
Still the Countryman looks frankly ugly and certainly doesn't inspire me to think of the current WRC effort as bearing any relationship what so ever to the original works Mini's run by Abingdon. I wish it well though and hope Kris Meeke gets some Podiums and maybe even a Win, he deserves it and UK Rallying needs the publicity it would bring.
havent read all the way through this post but from what i understand, the commercial rights for wrc is owned by the guy that owns portsmouth fc and he is in jail which made the company he ran go into liquidation, this means there is no tv rights or advertising set in place for next year, as prodrive funded the mini project themselves at a loss for a year they wanted to get mini (BMW) on board to help fund it but bmw doesnt want to be in a sport thats not shown anywhere as it wont help them shift cars so until the FIA can sort out the commercial rights then theres no point in investing a small fortune into a failing sport. but DR did run the commercial rights and wrc was watched a lot more than in recent years, who really watched it this year on espn, it died when it went to channel 4 and dave went mad with shows about it, maybe DR can get the commercial side back and bring the sport back into the limelight as everyone knows there is now a nice spot on a sunday afternoon where the f1 used to be on the bbc, or even if they just did a match of the day kind of program on a sunday night they would probably be able to bring more people back to rallying like they brought new people to formula 1.
ks is duller than the spelling police. It's a thread about a 2012 WRC entry, do you really think anyone is confused as to which car is (or isn't) entering?Quacker said:
Prodrive all over.
Is this connected to/affected by their relocation planning blackmail?Prodrive have been singing from the roof tops how they will employ more people with a move to new premises in Banbury and there will employment at a retail park to be built on their existing site if the Council give permission.
This seems a very tenuous basis for change of use, the main benefit of which is a huge financial windfall IMO.
Surely almost every business could expand if given favorable change of use on their sites?
heard a rumour today that Meeke has lost his 2012 drive with MINI.
http://twitter.com/#!/voiceofrally
http://twitter.com/#!/voiceofrally
Jerry Can said:
heard a rumour today that Meeke has lost his 2012 drive with MINI.
http://twitter.com/#!/voiceofrally
http://twitter.com/#!/voiceofrally
Why!?
Prodrive don’t have enough budget for a full WRC campaign – however Sordo is bringing enough £$£$£$ for 10 rounds. The other car will be filled by ‘pay drivers’ as Kris can’t bring money. Remember, Kris is British, just where is he going to get sponsorship from? The WRC is in a media vacuum in the UK.....
Really is sickening......really feel for him and Paul.
Really is sickening......really feel for him and Paul.
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