Global Rallycross Championship 2012

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by chasing cars

There could be a few disappointed people if things are not made more clear

Could be a few disappointed drivers if they don't make things a bit clearer!

Ford preview video for Foust & Deegan now up. Not a lot of information in it, but a couple of good clips of the Fiestas in action:

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

I still can't put my finger on exactly why, but I just cannot warm to Deegan at all. I wasn't a fan when he was doing Supercross and I'm still not a fan now. He seems fairly handy behind the wheel, he just doesn't come across well at all.

Wheres Gronholm and Binks?...

[schanche]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

I still can't put my finger on exactly why, but I just cannot warm to Deegan at all. I wasn't a fan when he was doing Supercross and I'm still not a fan now. He seems fairly handy behind the wheel, he just doesn't come across well at all.

Wheres Gronholm and Binks?...

My point exactly I mentioned the same on FB! Listen to Binksy and Andreas on Tech House And Speed with Bill Woods they both came across really great for Rallycross but Listen to Deegen's Interview and judge for yourself? I know what my thoughts are. Can't find the link just yet but maybe Steve has it.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by schanche

Can't find the link just yet but maybe Steve has it.

The Tech, House & Speed interview? Its here:

http://www.bybillwood.com/online/ind...dio&Itemid=106



I've seen Deegan interviewed on camera on numerous occasions over the years, during Supercross, LORRS and at X-Games and each time I've thought the same thing. I'm aware that sometimes people don't always come across that well on live TV though, so I've cut him some slack...

...he seems to have the same attitude on these promo videos as well.

[NaBUru38]

I guess that a sizable market like Deegan's attitude.

Teams should tell drivers to talk in these videos like it's a 3-minute final race, not a 6-hour test session.

[Stephen H]

Looking at the UK tv schedule, looks like those of us who subscribe to ESPN on FREEVIEW top up TV, won't be getting to see the opening round of this years Global Rallycross, as it's being shown on ESPN america, rather than the main channel.

[tbtstt]

Guess you've already seen this Stephen, but for everyone else here is the schedule:

Originally Posted by ESPN

The Global RallyCross Championship airs live on ESPN3 and on tape delay on ESPN and ESPN2.

May 26

• Charlotte Motor Speedway
• TV: May 26, 7 p.m. (ESPN3); 8 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

June 9

• Texas Motor Speedway
• TV: June 9: 3 p.m. (ESPN3); June 10, 1 a.m. ET (ESPN2)

June 30 - July 1

• Los Angeles
• TV: July 1, 6:30 p.m. ET (ESPN)

July 14

• New Hampshire Motor Speedway
• TV: July 14, 6 p.m. (ESPN3); 7 p.m. ET (ESPN)

Sept. 29

• Las Vegas Motor Speedway
• TV: Sept. 29, 11 p.m. ET (ESPN3); Sept. 30, 6 p.m. ET (ESPN2)

This was taken from the GRC portion of the ESPN site:

http://espn.go.com/action/global_ral...pionship/2012/

So I assume its accurate!

[NaBUru38]

It seems that neither ESPN, ESPN+ or ESPN3 will broadcast the Charlotte race in South America

[Stephen H]

Those who get espn via sky in the uk, will get GRC as they get espn America, but those watching via top up tv or bt vision are the losers.

Any chance motors tv will pick it up? As ALMS and Grand Am are shown on both ESPN and Motors TV in the UK

[USRallycross]

If you want to follow the Best Buy Rallycross team and the GRC in general then go to the App Store and install Best Buy Racing Global Rallycross App. This is the first phase of the first App in rallycross and we will give live behind the scenes access, driver interviews, sneak peeks as well as exclusive proprietary content.

In the future we are adding real-time telemetry and live picture feeds. And of course you can follow the action wherever you are in the world!

Hope you enjoy!


Mark

[chunder]

I would love to enjoy rallycross

But this is nothing more than a time trial as there is no dirt is there!

Hilarious

[Cryos]

Originally Posted by chunder

I would love to enjoy rallycross

But this is nothing more than a time trial as there is no dirt is there!

Hilarious

Didnt realise you were at the event, can you post the picture of the lack of dirt sections

[rallycrossnl]

pictures of things that aren't there? that'll be hard

Nice HD vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDaT7cglgZM

[Cryos]

Originally Posted by rallycrossnl

pictures of things that aren't there? that'll be hard

Nice HD vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDaT7cglgZM

Water instead I thought it was good to be honest, I'm sure chunder will disagree of course, why change the habit of a lifetime

[Minicross424]

I enjoyed it, massive crowd even if they were there for the nascar.
Great idea combining meetings.
Well done Mark.

[USRallycross]

Wow what a night! For the first event with SMI this event went really well and laid an awesome foundation. The track told us that they believed that there were 35,000 people at the mid-point of the evening. The most amazing thing is that I was above pit lane for the Nationwide race and was amazed to see people coming into the grandstands as the race neared it's end. You suddenly realized people were coming for GRC!

The crowd went wild when they announced the usual stars and walking around the venue lots people told me that they had come to the event because their kids had insisted on it. That is the goal!

SMI are incredible to work with and the track format will only get better. All the GM's of other tracks weren't just watching but were out with the work teams to learn how to make it better and while all SMI they are very competitive with one another.

Winning always makes the racing great but some the heats were good and the LCQ and finals were awesome

Roll on Texas!!

[chasing cars]

Originally Posted by Cryos

Water instead I thought it was good to be honest, I'm sure chunder will disagree of course, why change the habit of a lifetime

I dont think the argument is whether its good or not, the argument is is it rallycross? If so then why have we spent years trying to work out where new rallycross tracks could be built when all along all we have needed to do is take any track stick in a few temporary obstacles and hey we have a rallycross track! Whos first, Rockingham? Maybe back to Brands without the concern of Mr Palmers precious grass getting cut up.

No doubt if the GRC really takes off then there would be no shortage of promoters wanting to jump on to the bandwagon and calling this rallycross.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by chunder

But this is nothing more than a time trial as there is no dirt is there!

A time trial implies cars racing against the clock (to me anyway). This is still pack racing but I do agree that, by definition, it isn't rallycross.

I post on a handful of US forums and its interesting to see how the US fans on them have taken to the GRC. Like many on here there are a lot of recoccuring comments about a backward step in track design when compared to X-Games last year. I acknowledge Marks comment with regards to the other track organisers watching. From what I've seen the basic circuit layout is OK, it just needs dirt in order to carry the rallycross name.

From the posted video the final does look like it contains some good racing, plus its seems to have drawn a crowd as well, which I guess it what the NASCAR association is all about. I'm hoping to have a copy of the full coverage in the next couple of days so would like to watch it all before I make any sweeping statements about the first round/GRC in general.

[chasing cars]

Not sure about the plastic barriers that divided the track, it looked like if a car went off on one side of the track it could easily go through the barriers and into on coming cars on the other side.

[NaBUru38]

I watched both YouTube videos and it looked great. Putting water worked awesome (I'd pour a bit more). I'd love to hear ESPN's Agulla and Pombo announce it live, like at the 2011 X Games.

[rallycrossnl]

It's great to promote a type of racing to a crowd, perhaps in the future there'll be proper tracks where they can run.

A few things that caught my eye;
To whom was the man with the white flag surrendering? No white flag for last lap in .eu

I only saw a few track marshalls? I'm sure they were there, but not in view. Only saw 1 yellow flag I think? Lost of the track was quite far from the barriers, if anything would have happened, the marshalls would need some time to get to the car(s). Red flag and safety vehicles out on the track was the plan I guess.

http://tracksa.com/Product/LightPost...2/Default.aspx might be a solution for more in view yellow signals.

I think the jump in front of the stands was ace, closed bump, not to high (No different then the jump in Sweden). The angle at which the cars approached it wasn't super due to the chicane in front of it.

35.000 people on the stands? I really really hope GRX will take of that large. But.. I don't see them in the video of the final.

edit:
In this video is the answer, indeed red flag and rescue cars on the track. And it takes them very long. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pipyj...eature=related

[Cryos]

Originally Posted by chasing cars

I dont think the argument is whether its good or not, the argument is is it rallycross? If so then why have we spent years trying to work out where new rallycross tracks could be built when all along all we have needed to do is take any track stick in a few temporary obstacles and hey we have a rallycross track! Whos first, Rockingham? Maybe back to Brands without the concern of Mr Palmers precious grass getting cut up.

No doubt if the GRC really takes off then there would be no shortage of promoters wanting to jump on to the bandwagon and calling this rallycross.

Well it depends, a computer by aged definition is something that takes up a whole room, we know today it's not.

Rallycross is a mix between sprint racing and rallying. Rallying from time to time runs on entirely tarmac tracks, rallycross by comparison needs to be flexible in a time where it's difficult to get circuits.

Look at the profile of GRC, it's aimed at a younger audience one that drinks the energy drinks etc, The cross from Europe means that things change.

It's time for people to move on accept it, if you feel rallycross is misrepresented go ahead and run your own series, I suspect it was hard enough to get these tracks in the first place.

[WJM]

From the pre-show hype I thought it would be much worse. There wasn't any gravel, but how many European tracks have actual gravel these days? This GRC race was not much different than a race in Maasmechelen would have been.

[WJM]

Originally Posted by rallycrossnl

35.000 people on the stands? I really really hope GRX will take of that large. But.. I don't see them in the video of the final.

Charlotte Motorspeedway has 165.000 seats. Put 35.000 people in there and they disappear.
I bet there were more people at the GRC than at Greinbach this weekend...

[USRallycross]

Exactly, 165k seats and 35k do indeed get lost - also the fact that Charlotte paints all its seats in different colors means people get lost on camera. Trust me they were there and listen to the audio when Binks and Pastrana come together.

Who would have thought that sentence would have been said "Binks and Pastrana"!

I spent a lot of time talking to Marcus Smith (de facto owner of SMI) on Friday night. Re gravel, you can't put it on and clean the track in time for NASCAR or IndyCar. However, in time it is SMI's plan to give GRC and dirt is very much in their plans. They want X Games style rallycross.

Texas will be bigger and better. SMI took a logistical mess from Friday night and made it work efficiently on Saturday. Texas took note and will do better. They also spent time talking to drivers and teams about what they needed on and off the track. Bigger and better with each round.

Finally got to view the tv coverage tonight. Some of the racing was very goood. Topi taking out half the field before being DQ'd; David re-arranging the course and so on.

Re Marshalls - yes there were plenty but they were behind either the pit wall or the catch fencing. SMI are very safe. They asked why we don't throw a caution when a car is out - such as when Mirra was stopped in the grass - and I told them it would kill the show. They are learning we race differently.

Two gratutious quotes from Marcus:
- what goes through your mind when starting from the second row "I don't know (looking very bemused) it has never happened. That would be Plan B"
- Asked his race strategy "I start and then I disappear"

Mark

[chunder]

Guys, really I dont have a problem with GRC, they are not really marketing it as rallycross so for me it isnt really.

Its all about the Xgames really and thats a huge thing where rallycross is a sideshow to skating, BMW and freestyle, motocross has welcomed freestyle and it introduces a new way of riding to motocross, but it clearly isnt motocross.

So for me GRC needs to do more to move away from rallycross, maybe do the time trial stuff that Block has in Dirt3? That would be more interesting but again hgard for fans as its not a race!

Rallycross is moving away from gravel for some reason, God knows why, but if GRC wanna go thatw ay then fine, be like ROC I guess. But I reckon its just coz NASCAR was on and they couldnt possibly have dirt anywhere near the track.

For me be better off running at the short track, using the gravel and using the skills these guys have more to display their ability to drive sideways.