OffRoad Motor Sports *spoiler*

[1nsane]

I just wish there was more depth in the teams. Now the 2,5 teams are not quite enough. Luckily this should change a bit for next year.

Somehow I also think this will be a less interesting year regarding the championship. Unless Solberg gets beck to his old form and is competitive with Loeb. Hirvonen will stay as 2nd driver since he is simply slower than Loeb and then the team rules will come into play. Latvala haven't got that level of reliability. Ok, last year even the car seemed to break down every kilometer.

But overall I hope the news during the season will be about the actual series rather than the court fight that's going on.

[Mad Dan]

I will disagree partially. It is truth that this year there will be again only 2,5 teams. But about Latvala, I think he was very unlucky last year and he would have won few more rallies, for example Sardegna where his codriver did mistake, then suspension broke down in Argentina, his car had problems with both turbo and front differential in Greece ,yes he made driving mistakes too but his speed is very good. Hirvonen is most likely to be number 2 in Citroen, that is almost sure (he might be allowed to go full speed at sweden and finland but that would be all he can expect). Solberg had not the same DS3 as Loeb and Ogier so we could be suprised by his actual pace .

Situation in SWRC and PWRC is way more bad. So few drivers...

We can only hope that rallying will have its better days in future, now its a bit sad comparing wrc years between 97-05...

[Lukeno94]

WRC needs to go back to basics. Switching to 1.6 litre cars was a bad mistake - at once, a whole host of drivers were knocked out as they ALL had to buy new equipment. We need a far simpler formula, like a tighter Group A formula, to cut prices dramatically and bring cars closer to the road cars again. Also, having multiple engine categories, like Group A, wouldn't be a bad idea, even if they weren't used.

A hypothetical example:

RAL-1: Cars of 3 litres turbocharged or 4 litres N/A or higher. Restricted to 350 hp with a 1300 kg minimum weight limit.
RAL-2: Cars of 2.5 litres turbocharged or 3 litres N/A up to RAL-1 limits.. Restricted to 300 hp with a 1225 kg minimum weight limit.
RAL-3: Cars of 1.8 litres turbocharged or 2.5 litres N/A up to RAL-2 limits.. Restricted to 275 hp with a 1175 kg minimum weight limit.
RAL-4: Cars of 1.4 litres turbocharged or 2 litres N/A up to RAL-3 limits.. Restricted to 225 hp with a 1100 kg weight limit.
RAL-5: Any car below RAL-4. Restricted to 150 hp with a 900 kg weight limit.

All cars must use a standardized gearbox - 7 speed sequential for RAL-1, 6-speed for RAL-2 to RAL-4, and 5-speed for RAL-5, with AWD on all but RAL-5, where we would have a FWD configuration. A car must have undergone production to the tune of 25,000 units of the same engine configuration. There are no minimum or maximum size limits, alterable aerodynamic aids such as spoilers are prohibited, they may only be stationary, and they must be below a maximum size value.

The full WRC would contain the first 3 categories, the SWRC would contain RAL-4, and the JWRC some RAL-4 vehicles and RAL-5, with events held at the same time. Obviously, this is a very rough example, but you get the idea.

[Trigger Happy]

IMHO 1.6 engines are common average-size engines in European hatchbacks. Also amount of WRC cars on rallyes seemed to be slowly growing lately, I'd wait with conclusions about the new formula few more seasons - we already know about VW plans, also FIAT allegedly considers entry of Punto in its next generation, which is now under development (also seasons about 2013-14). And if Mini will find finally solid basis for a budget it can be really interesting half-decade. Even more if Japanese car market will settle down a bit (no tsunami/earthquake disasters or wider economical recession there), I believe at least one company from there will be interested in WRC again. Only problem seems to be, that WRC needs its Mr. Ecclestone.

[Mad Dan]

Actually these days Subaru confirmed that official team (it said to be Stohl Racing from Austria, not Prodrive anymore) will compete with 3 drivers in selected events of IRC. Drivers are Andreas Aigner, big talent Jarkko Nikara from finland and Arai. And Chris Atkinson is negotiating about signing up to SWRC with Impreza R4 so he might be entered by official Subaru team.
Next year with new Impreza generation there are rumours about 1.6T engine being developed.

[Lukeno94]

I'm not debating the fact that 1.6 Turbos are indeed common, however, the fact that everyone had to, in one fell swoop, replace their machinery was a bad mistake. What should've happened is that people could continue using the existing 2 litre WRC cars, with some weight ballasting, for a couple of seasons.

[Trigger Happy]

That are great news, Dan.

[Reh]

Gotta love that too!

[1nsane]

It's actually quite funny, how they have started to complain that the rallyes these days are "too long" in the WRC series. I mean... How can you make it any shorter? There's already too few kilometers.

Yes, if the event is 5 days long as it is now, it does take too much time. But that just means there's currently too much of air in the schedules.

[Lukeno94]

Rallies should be 3 days long IMO, and 15 or 16 rallies in the calendar.

[The Noose]

Welp... Ford has announced that it will retire from WRC after end of this season.

[Doorslammer]

Welp... Ford has announced that it will retire from WRC after end of this season.

The WRC really need to sort themselves out. 10 years now since it was last relevant to me...

[Otto Wilson]

What the...? WRC is very bad nowdays, Ford will be gone, now what? Citroen x Volkswagen/Skoda? Fortunately, there's the IRC, yet it doesn't have some classic rallies, like Wales Rally GB, Neste Oil Rally Finland (1000 Lakes)...

[1nsane]

Well, I think the Ford will still be there in one form or another, it just won't be a "manufacturer" team. The same goes with Mini, as BMW pulled the backing from that team. And Hyundai is going to participate in some of the rallies next year already.
And if the deal for Red Bull to become the promoter gets signed, I'd say everything is going much better for the series next year already. Especially since there won't be just one driver winning everything. Next they will just have to figure out how to capture the feeling of the moment better for TV. Right now the state of the broadcasting seems pretty horrible and hasn't developed at all in the last ~10 years at least.

[Mad Dan]

There will be no IRC next year, it will merge with European Championship instead . Ford/M-Sport is going to race there, Peugeot is making new R5 car, Škoda as well.

About TV coverage, have you seen Monte Carlo live coverage at Eurosport in few last years? That looked very good..

[Trigger Happy]

I agree, shame that Eurosport was refused as promoter, they were doing great work on IRC, on much higher level that WRC had. RB will be doing great work too certainly (they are excellent in promoting sport no matter on what sort it is), but I fear they'll turn it from great sport events into some silly pseudo-sport shows like US rallycross.

[Otto Wilson]

Talking about rallycross, the British Rallycross Championship is great to watch, but unfortunately, the whole championship is very short
I just hope, as Ivo, that rallying don't be changed to something like those american racing shows, they just suck IMO

[Trigger Happy]

You're right, Otto. Brittons know, how to do these things, similarly wtcc and btcc is quite a difference.

... Especially since there won't be just one driver winning everything. ...

BTW I'd not be so optimistic, it may turn quickly into beginning of dominance of the another Seb driving only really works car under serious development (due fresh motivation to fulfil goals from VW Group managers ASAP).

BTW2 we were sightly offtopic, so whole the latest WRC conversation moved to correct topic.

[1nsane]

About TV coverage, have you seen Monte Carlo live coverage at Eurosport in few last years? That looked very good..

Nah, we don't get Eurosport here (well at the area where I live). I'm not completely sure on what MTV Max shows here. But live is something they should do more, especially if it is good. The official half an hour collection of day's action is just so outdated. Especially on the times like these, when the series itself doesn't have the same kind of magic feeling as it had during the B-class era, or the early 2000's, it just needs an overall better coverage for the people to get interested in it again. At least have an online feed where some onboards are streamed or something.

I've heard that the IRC broadcasting has been better. I have to admit I haven't seen it myself, but if it's better then WRC broadcasters should blatantly steal some of the ideas!

BTW I'd not be so optimistic, it may turn quickly into beginning of dominance of the another Seb driving only really works car under serious development (due fresh motivation to fulfil goals from VW Group managers ASAP).

BTW2 we were sightly offtopic, so whole the latest WRC conversation moved to correct topic.

BTW1: Could be, but if it's a certain finnish driver, I'm okay with it. Although yeah, it would be bad to get the similar sort of dominance rightaway.

BTW2: Yeah, I was waiting for it.

[Trigger Happy]

As far as I know about VW, I'm far way from thinking the drivers will have equal status, Finnish driver isn't the most attractive pick for marketing at markets, which they are aiming by entering WRC , also the Oiger's ambitions and contract may count with some pre-set order as reward for giving up whole WRC season on top level in favour of PoloR. But we shall see.

BTW2: Yeah, I was waiting for it.

Next time don't hesitate to use report button to help us, if you'll notice an issue like this.

[Lukeno94]

Well, I think rallying itself seems to be dying then, with the disappearance of the IRC, and Ford + Mini withdrawing from WRC... maybe Loeb realized this was happening, and that's why he cut back? Either way, it is a real shame for the WRC to become a parody of what it was in the 1990s.

[Mad Dan]

@Lukeno94: IRC is not going to disappear, it's going to be more accepted by FIA. The champion didn't even get a priority which is kinda big thing... I'd say it's completely different, this is going to help IRC. Yes this season was by far less interesting than others but I have hope that the waiting for 2013 and R5 cars will prove worthy.

[Otto Wilson]

I'm really starting to think that the maFiA is the main problem of all racing series, maybe it was their fault to, very slowly, destroy WTCC and WRC... But, unfortunately, there's nothing we can do, and money has more power than revolutionary words...
BTW, it's a start of a new era, things could change to better, or it can be a total disgrace...

[1nsane]

It's great to see that WRC seem to have got the act back together regarding the TV stuff. Or well, I can't say much about the actual TV productions, as I don't watch TV, but the Youtube material is back to where it was in 2011 or 2012 before the meltdown. This time they also give a nice couple stage recap, which is enough to tell the important stuff.
So there was this from stage 3 when the surprise snow attacked.

[FRUKIScze]

Thanks for the info 1nsane. Gonna subcribe this channel.