What would YOU do to change rallying?

What would YOU do to change rallying?

Author
Discussion

arollingstone

Original Poster:

107 posts

147 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
quotequote all
been thinking about this for a while, and yesterdays time for tea has brought it back to me.

EVERYONE agrees rallying needs to change. Its boring, there isn't much tv coverage, and for the manufacturers its just another pr event. BUT what would you do to make it better?

If tomorrow you were going to be in charge of the whole shabang, how would you bring back the glory days? if you can bring them back at all...

SpeckledJim

31,608 posts

252 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
quotequote all
Make them drink 3 pints within 30 minutes of the start.

Stella for the leader. Biere de France from Aldi for the guy at the back.

Time penalties for anyone taking a pee.

GroundEffect

13,819 posts

155 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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The sport hasn't changed since its hayday, really, but there's one big problem with it:

Sebastien Loeb. He's too good.

Bisonhead

1,567 posts

188 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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More power, less regulation. Corden off potentially dangerous areas for spectators and finally, promote lower costs to encourage privateers. Easy!

ikarl

3,730 posts

198 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
quotequote all
try and get more manufacturers involved!


Macd355

320 posts

173 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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Return to group A, stop charging the best part of £100 to spectate, get some tv people with personality and send loeb to F1

LotusOmega375D

7,580 posts

152 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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Put it out of its misery.

The FIA aren't interested anymore and neither are the manufacturers. Sadly it's not up to the fans.

Same goes for the BTCC.

LaurasOtherHalf

21,429 posts

195 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
quotequote all
que many posts saying they need to be road homologated so we can buy them.

unfortunately not realising that the manufacturers could afford to do that & the sport would completely die frown

Willeh85

760 posts

142 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
quotequote all
LotusOmega375D said:
Put it out of its misery.

The FIA aren't interested anymore and neither are the manufacturers. Sadly it's not up to the fans.

Same goes for the BTCC.
Much as I dont want to, I'm inclined to agree with you LotusOmega which is such a shame as they're both great series.

unpc

2,831 posts

212 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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Bring back proper full length rallies such as the East African and bring back proper RWD cars with no electronics.

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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They only need to promote it, nothing wrong with the cars.
They're faster than group B and the drivers are highly talented. With VW coming in 2013 and Toyota and Hyandai considering it things could get good. This with the new influence from Red Bull and I'm looking forward to the next few years.
But I don't think Ogier will be Loeb next year in his Polo.

Captain Muppet

8,540 posts

264 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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1) Run San Francisco as a special stage. Look how much more coverage Block got for doing that compared to rallying. More drama, less standing in the woods wearing a bobble hat. Pander to the audience a little.

2) I kept watching F1 even when it was boring because you could at least see who was winning. With rallying you can't, so maybe less time between drivers so gaining or losing time is more obvious.

Fire99

9,844 posts

228 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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Maybe go back to the start. Look at why it was successful and compare with what we have now.

Needs to be cheap to spectate and dramatic to participate / watch.

unpc

2,831 posts

212 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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PSBuckshot said:
They only need to promote it, nothing wrong with the cars.
Disagree completely. The cars are too good and too boring to watch. Spectators probably wouldn't care if the cars were considerably slower if they were more spectacular to watch.

Reardy Mister

13,757 posts

221 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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Stop giving the rights to hold the events to countries with no interest in it?

Insist on RWD or AWD (that's Subaru and Toyota straight back in with an easy marketing opp on a cheap platform), improve the TV coverage(chicken or egg issue?).

When Rally Australia was held in Perth, it was epic. And the biggest threat to sales for big V8 taxis was suddenly from WRX and Evos, every bd had them. Sadly, the Oz market doesnt count for enough world wide, so I doubt the effect was properly noticed or exploited. But the Bunnigs and Langley Park special stages were awesome. The most iconic images of McRae are from Rally Australia in Perth.

Then the WA Govt fked that up and let it go interstate, they did away with a decent special stage, the stages became inaccessible etc etc

Its hard to know where to start, now I think about it.

mjb1

2,552 posts

158 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
quotequote all
LaurasOtherHalf said:
que many posts saying they need to be road homologated so we can buy them.

unfortunately not realising that the manufacturers could afford to do that & the sport would completely die frown
Is that a typo, or am I misunderstanding? Why could they not afford to do it (like they used to be able to)? The main attraction used to be that they were 'real' cars that bore a similarity to models on sale. Now they are just out and out race cars that have a vaguely similar body shape.

They need to make it accessible again. If it's really £100 to spectate then that isn't helping. Also, the GB event has been really watered down over the last 10 years or so - it's shorter and doesn't leave wales. If it really wants to be a national event it should go all over. I remember pootling along the motorway and having competitors tearing past me on their way to the next stage/service area. When I pulled off, I stumbled across the service area totally by chance and parked up and had a wander around. Right up to the cars and teams with no ticket/special passes required. I imagine it's not like that any more?

anonymous-user

53 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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unpc said:
Disagree completely. The cars are too good and too boring to watch. Spectators probably wouldn't care if the cars were considerably slower if they were more spectacular to watch.
If that were the case there would be a lot more people going to watch the national rallies in this county.

Mark A S

1,824 posts

187 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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I have said this before, but, IMO this is what it needs:

Body.

Front engined, RWD, manufacturers can use any mass produced body shell, suspension main pick up points [ strut tops ] to be the same + or - 1” [ rear strut tops can be raised up to 4”] , exhaust and gearbox tunnels free, additional front and rear suspension supports allowed, engine bulkhead in the same position, wheels arch extensions up to 4”, non ferrous boot and bonnet, steel doors, current safety rules apply, multi point cage, front a rear spoilers [ similar to current WRC cars] glass front screen, Perspex allowed for other windows.

Engine.

Max 2.5cc, 4cly, 10,000 rpm limit, must run on pump fuel [ v power etc ] Max noise 108 db

G-Box.

Max 6 speeds, sequential, manual shift, i.e a Gear stick, ratios free

Final drive.

Mechanical slip limiting differentials only, ratio’s free

Wheels and tyres.

16” maximum, up to 10” wide overall

Brakes.

Free, will obviously have to fit inside 16” wheels, No ABS.

Minimum weight 900kgs.


Somehow keep a cap of £150k on the price of the cars, this will make if more affordable, and to encourage manufacturers to supply cars to private teams.

This will make the cars look and Sound So much better, you ask many rally fans, what there favourite rally car is, and they will probably say either Andy Burtons Pug, or a big power Escort, why, the Noise, and with RWD a lot more visual car movement.

Probably then the most important thing is get the TV coverage improved, make it more of a show like F1, many more spectator stages , similar to day one of the old RAC rally, what with in car technology now and smaller cameras etc = better coverage. On board timings, stage comparisons, and,,,,,,,,,,, encourage the drivers and co drivers to be more humorous, less PR orientated, show they have a good sense of humour.
These cars would have to run in a 2wd series only, along with any other 2wd car that currently runs all in there relevant class. So long as you have the best drivers in the world in them, they will be the fastest cars smile


Serin

115 posts

200 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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I'd like the cars to be more realistic, it used to be that the car I would see Mcrae hoon about the Welsh hills in, looked a hell of a lot like the car I could go buy at the dealership.

I'm not saying limit them to Grp N style cars, and by all means regulate them, and have the manufacturers have a little leeway in regards to performance but have the cars be able to be related to. At the moment the cars look like spaceships compared to their WRC counterparts.


P-Jay

10,551 posts

190 months

Tuesday 25th September 2012
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In simple terms they need to legislate regs to the point whereby it's cheap enough for manufactures to run a top level team comparable to them for the audience it has NOW.

If you got the costs down to the point where you have 6-12 manufacturer teams in it and many more private teams running customer cars audiences will grow.

Then you have to shorten the stages and make them more audience and TV friendly.

Yes we'd all love to see all the big car companies selling rally based hatches and salons again, but we're living in a world where even Subaru and Mitsubishi can't shift enough rally-reps to make it worthwhile. Grow the sport and the road based rally reps will follow, you won't do the job by somehow asking the big car companies to make low volume versions of car that's made on a massively complex production line and hope they'll find enough people who want a massively thirsty hatch or salon over a often cheaper and faster Coupe or the like.