British Rally Championship 2012

[ArnageWRC]

http://www.rallybrc.co.uk/

Haven’t seen anybody mention anything about this. It is the Premier Rally series in the UK, and the Rallying equivalent of the BTCC, but attracts no were near the interest. Shame, this year looks good, lots of good young drivers fighting at the front – I know the cars might not be the ‘big bangers’ but thsee FWD cars are a lot more affordable – meaning we’ve got plenty of competition – and a few overseas drivers as well.
We’ve had 2 rounds so far; the Sunseeker, and the weekend gone with the Bulldog – which was unseasonably dusty.

[Mark A S]

I went and marshalled on SS1 of the sunseeker rally, fortunately on a fast right left kink, and a lot of the young men in the FWD BRC cars were most impressive, some not even lifting, albeit a dab of the brake with the left foot.
The cars are somewhat clumsy in the slow bends, especially the way the roads cut up in that part of the world, but are much more impressive to watch in the flesh than I expected.

Cant beat a well driven Mk 2 though

[Defcon5]

I note they are sposored by SKY, will it be on TV? Never noticed it before.

I think Ill go watch the Yorkshire one - is it a park up, walk into a forest and pick a spot where you wont get run over type affair?

[timbo48]

I went to the Sunseeker as well. A good day out in pleasant weather and a large crowd. I can see the point of running the BRC for these cars as there isn't a lot of sponsorship money around at the moment I guess, but they aren't very inspiring, and I wasn't the only one to think this judging by other spectators comments on the day. I don't think it's the performance, they're fast enough and sound ok, for me it's the fact that they're small hatchbacks of the type that you can see in their thousands on our roads every day. A bit more variety in shape and size might not come amiss but I'm not sure that we've ever had that in rallying, with the possible exception of Group B. It seems that rallying goes in phases, one minute it's all Mk2 Escorts, then it's Imprezzas and so on and you stand there hoping that something different will come along. As long as the "support" classes contain some variety eg 6r4s, WRC cars etc plus some historics the current BRC may be the right way to go. IMHO of course.....

[BEP]

Sky Sports next Monday I believe...

[EDLT]

I watched some of the first rally, I wasn't impressed tbh. They've attempted to make the sport cheaper and more competitive in the most expensive way possible. What is the point of reducing costs by having everyone drive Fiestas then split it into to three different sub-classes (R1, R2, R3) allowing the richer drivers to buy a fastest car?

Right at the start of the show there was a guy making excuses about his performance because he was in the slower car, why not just make everyone use the cheapest to level the playing field, I genuinely can't think of a good reason to have different classes that look/sound the same from the outside but have enough of a performance difference to hide a driver's ability.

Also that cockney st head from wheeler dealers was presenting it.

[Allyc85]

For those who dont like the BRC this is what I wrote on Motorsports forum...

"You need to look at the bigger picture!

The BRC has been dead for years, even when it had WRC cars towards the end and drivers havnt been able to move on despite being champions! Now it gives young drivers the chance to learn the cars and progress into the junior world championships at a lower cost than before.

Just go watch the BTRDA if you want fast cars... simple"

[EDLT]

I don't see how the current rules will change that, to get into the higher championships all you need is money (or a parent who owns one of the teams). Winning the BRC won't bring that.

[TXWRX]

I'm not sure its that much more affordable, at the front end the cars are still the thick end of 100K but they do work out a bit cheaper than a new group N machine would be.

I'll be interested to see how they get on, has anyone seen them in the metal this year? saw one of the DS3's with an irish guy at the Pirelli last year and wasn't that impressed tbh, that said i suspect they will be a better watch on tarmac than gravel so may try and get up to the Jim Clark this year.

edit, i see some of you have and sounds much as i expected

[interloper]

Allyc85 said:

Just go watch the BTRDA if you want fast cars... simple"

This, absolutely this! I am trying to work out what, if any rally stages I will get to spectate this year and no way in hell will I waste my time watching under powered fwd only event. BTRDA events or possibly a classic rally are the only ones under consideration but certainly not the BRC.

[BEP]

TBH the british Historics weren't that inspiring on the Bulldog, endless mk2 Escorts get very boring!!...sad to say but a BTRDA round gives much more variety although i actually do like the DS3's etc..

[IainW]

TXWRX said:

han a new group N machine would be.

I'll be interested to see how they get on, has anyone seen them in the metal this year? saw one of the DS3's with an irish guy at the Pirelli last year and wasn't that impressed tbh, that said i suspect they will be a better watch on tarmac than gravel so may try and get up to the Jim Clark this year.

Totally different on tarmac. Marty McCormack (presuming that's the same guy you saw) was brilliant to watch on the Jim Clark last year and even won Ulster outright in the DS3. Saw some of the BRC cars on the Border Counties last weekend and they don't look too spectacular on gravel, but then neither did the whiny Evos and WRXs that used to rule the BRC. At least the R1-R3 cars sound good. I quite like the sound of an N/A engine revving it's nuts off on a rally car. Excluding the DS3s with their turbos obviously!

Quite fancy going down to see the Pirelli, if only for the historics!

Edited by IainW on Monday 26th March 22:53

[rwindmill]

EDLT said:

I don't see how the current rules will change that, to get into the higher championships all you need is money (or a parent who owns one of the teams). Winning the BRC won't bring that.

Having a parent who owns a WRC team might well get you into the WRC, but it doesnt mean you have any talent. Look at Matthew Wilson for example, a perfectly good driver at BRC level, but at WRC level he was woeful. He was dropping on average a minute a stage to the top drivers.

The BRC is no longer a feeder series to the WRC, and hasnt been since the mid 90's. It some how needs to be made appealing to a local audience, and i dont see how watching 20 odd Fiesta's go by is going to do that.

[IainW]

Probably the last really successful BRC graduate was Richard Burns in 1993. And there were some good drivers about in the mid-late 90s as well.

[ArnageWRC]

Recent BRC winners

1993 – Richard Burns - Subaru Legacy
1994 – Malcolm Wilson - Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1995 – Alister McRae – Nissan Sunny GTI
1996 – Gwyndaf Evan – Ford Escort RS2000
1997 – Mark Higgins – Nissan Sunny GTI
1998 – Martin Rowe – Renault Maxi Megane
1999 – Tapio Laukkanen – Renault Maxi Megane
2000 – Markko Ipatti – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI
2001 – No Series (Foot & Mouth) Though Martin Rowe won the Formula Rally replacement series.
2002 – Johnny Milner – Toyota Corolla WRC
2003 – Johnny Milner – Toyota Corolla WRC
2004 – David Higgins – Hyundai Accent WRC
2005 – Mark Higgins – Ford Focus RS WRC
2006 – Mark Higgins – Subaru Impreza N4
2007 – Guy Wilks – Mitsubishi Lancer N4
2008 – Guy Wilks – Mitsubishi Lancer N4
2009 – Keith Cronin – Mitsubishi Lancer N4
2010 – Keith Cronin – Subaru Impreza N4
2011 – David Bogie – Mitsubishi Lancer N4

[rwindmill]

ArnageWRC said:

Recent BRC winners

1993 – Richard Burns - Subaru Legacy
1994 – Malcolm Wilson - Ford Escort RS Cosworth
1995 – Alister McRae – Nissan Sunny GTI
1996 – Gwyndaf Evan – Ford Escort RS2000
1997 – Mark Higgins – Nissan Sunny GTI
1998 – Martin Rowe – Renault Maxi Megane
1999 – Tapio Laukkanen – Renault Maxi Megane
2000 – Markko Ipatti – Mitsubishi Lancer Evo VI
2001 – No Series (Foot & Mouth) Though Martin Rowe won the Formula Rally replacement series.
2002 – Johnny Milner – Toyota Corolla WRC
2003 – Johnny Milner – Toyota Corolla WRC
2004 – David Higgins – Hyundai Accent WRC
2005 – Mark Higgins – Ford Focus RS WRC
2006 – Mark Higgins – Subaru Impreza N4
2007 – Guy Wilks – Mitsubishi Lancer N4
2008 – Guy Wilks – Mitsubishi Lancer N4
2009 – Keith Cronin – Mitsubishi Lancer N4
2010 – Keith Cronin – Subaru Impreza N4
2011 – David Bogie – Mitsubishi Lancer N4

Since the mid 90's nobody has succesfully graduated to the WRC from the BRC. Guy Wilks almost made it, and now does fairly well in the IRC. The Higgins brothers run there Rally school and do some stunt driving for films and TV.

In all fairness, there hasnt been much of a WRC to graduate too. Not since the turn of the millenium. Increasing costs, decreasing manufacturer involvement and a lock out of the podium by the usual suspects has meant that it has been virtually impossible to get anywhere in the WRC.

[IainW]

Having done some thinking, I suppose Latvala counts as a successful graduate, as he did the BRC in 2002 and 2003 to build up experience, as he was too young to drive in Finland.