What would YOU do to change rallying?

[PhillipM]

WRT the no pace notes thing, here's a few people tip toeing around at walking pace because they've got no pace notes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfLrU9ONGNw

http://youtu.be/cugqqp0k5fg


Or not.

[E-B]

Twincam16 said:

Not quite:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/cars/ford-ending-wrc...

Ford are ending the works sponsorship of the Ford WRC cars, leaving it in the hands of MSport, which have run the team since 2007 anyway. Ford has reiterated its commitment to supply rallying Fiestas, which under the new Group R regulations will have to be runs of road cars anyway, so it really just reflects the new changes.

Same goes for Mini: http://www.motorauthority.com/news/1079797_mini-en...

The factory won't be sponsoring the team, but Prodrive will still run it. Again, it reflects the homologation changes.

Thanks for the clarification TC. Read it/heard it somewhere earlier today.

[hairyben]

Twincam16 said:

To be fair, Citroen finally gave us a limited-edition roadgoing DS3R, but it was a stupidly long time coming.

Wasn't that just a mild tweaked/factory barry'ed DS3?

To be fair, it's about as relevant to WRC as this is to GT3:

[SystemParanoia]

would be awesome if they all had to run factory stock cars like back in the days of old

[100SRV]

E-B said:

I heard that they (the welsh Assembly) had been tied into a contract for X years hence the continued return and due to internal welsh pressure the ceremonial start/PR launch day/s in morth wales.

There used to be a Welsh Baja which IIRC last ran in 2007 (http://www.forestry.gov.uk/forestry/INFD-76SL8X)
"This year’s Baja GB has the full backing of the Welsh Assembly Motor sport Initiative, the Motor Sports Association and FC Wales. With a huge investment of £100,000 to improve forestry roads and upgrade tracks, the Baja Rally will benefit from a superb 55km special stage through the heart of the upper reaches of the Wye Valley as well as a near-60km special stage through the mid-Wales forest of Hafren. "

There was a change of minister and never another Welsh Baja, sad because it was an FIA international event which attracted Nasser al Attiyah amongst others as well as clubman entries.

I can't understand why Wales doesn't promote itself more as an adventure / motor sports destination as most of the land mass is only good for growing sheep, coniferous trees and moss...

[ArnageWRC]

I actually went to that Welsh Baja event, rained all day on the Saturday, but really enjoyed it. I have to say, that is the type of event the WelshAssembly should have been backing - not RallyGB.

As for the future; regarding the cars, you get people complaining that they have nothing in common with the road version. Alas, you get people saying they're not 'mad' enough. Which way do the rule makers go?
Sticking a roll cage, and forest tyres on a Fiesta Zetec-S or a DS3 Racing isn't going to bring the spectacle back....

[velocemitch]

Might do from the inside of it though, it would bring a lot more competitors in.

[PhillipM]

velocemitch said:

Might do from the inside of it though, it would bring a lot more competitors in.

Would it? You generally find the more regulations a sport has to keep things close to standard the more expensive it becomes as soon as there are proffesional teams involved, because they spend absolute fortunes on R+D for iterative design that the rest of the field can't hope to match.

[davepoth]

ArnageWRC said:

As for the future; regarding the cars, you get people complaining that they have nothing in common with the road version. Alas, you get people saying they're not 'mad' enough. Which way do the rule makers go?
Sticking a roll cage, and forest tyres on a Fiesta Zetec-S or a DS3 Racing isn't going to bring the spectacle back....

You would be surprised.

http://www.wrc.com/about-wrc/the-cars/

http://www.jaxquickfit.com.au/blog/2012/01/types-a...

So these cars are roughly as powerful as a BMW 535d (not mapped), but run four wheel drive on wide tyres.

The way to make racing exciting has almost always revolved around increasing the power:grip ratio. F1 in 1967 when they went to V8s? Awesome. Group B? Awesome.

So there are two ways of doing that. Increase the power, or decrease the grip. More power will make the cars like group B, which really is a bit dangerous. Much better to reduce the grip and make everyone go slower, but sideways all of the time. I think the R-GT class will go a long way towards that; I mean, who doesn't want to see things like this?

[ArnageWRC]

I'd actually like to see the R-GT category promoted more. However, it has to appeal to more Manufacturers....however, if Lotus, Nissan, Toyota & Subaru all showed interest in a RWD R-GT class, what would the FiA do?

[Ranger 6]

ArnageWRC said:

...Sticking a roll cage, and forest tyres on a Fiesta Zetec-S or a DS3 Racing isn't going to bring the spectacle back....

I don't know, a Fiesta came second on Mull last weekend - a WRC Subaru was third and a look at the results will show a lot of 'fast' cars well beaten by this chap....

[ArnageWRC]

Ha ha, I did wonder if someone would bring the R2 cars up. When pedalled by John Macrone as last weekend on Mull, or Elfyn Evans, etc then they are pretty spectacular.

[anonymous-user]

ArnageWRC said:

Ha ha, I did wonder if someone would bring the R2 cars up. When pedalled by John Macrone as last weekend on Mull, or Elfyn Evans, etc then they are pretty spectacular.

I went to watch BRC Yorkshire few weeks back and the FWD drivers were really on it. Great to watch.
They are all mentalists.

[RacingBlue]

Actually televise it.

[E-B]

Yup. a decent televising of the Tour of Mull would be great!

[Ranger 6]

ArnageWRC said:

Ha ha, I did wonder if someone would bring the R2 cars up. When pedalled by John Macrone as last weekend on Mull, or Elfyn Evans, etc then they are pretty spectacular.

For logistical reasons I didn't actually see him in action on Mull but by all accounts he was awesome - a couple of fastest stage times

PSBuckshot said:

I went to watch BRC Yorkshire few weeks back and the FWD drivers were really on it. Great to watch.
They are all mentalists.

What about the 4wd drivers.....?

Edited by Ranger 6 on Wednesday 17th October 13:33

[E-B]

Don't get me started. I just learned toady that i can't even do a night Road rally in my Range Rover. because it needs all its trim that i painstakingly spent a day ripping out for stage rallying........

[Pwig]

Surely for road rallying you need to be 4cyl and no turbos too?

[E-B]

Pwig said:

Surely for road rallying you need to be 4cyl and no turbos too?

Yup!

[SystemParanoia]

rallying should have free engine choice.

just use inlet restrictors to level the playing field