World Rallycross R7 - Trois Rivieres, Canada

[tbtstt]

Entry list for Canada now up:

http://media.rallycrossrx.com/docs/C...5-Entries1.pdf

21 Supercars entered. Nice to see a few non World Championship drivers, Rustad in a Munnich S3 could be interesting. Shame to see that Subaru haven't entered a car this year.

[1975DCS]

I hope they've changed the motor cross style jumps...

[chunder]

Who is the token Canadian then this weekend?

In your motorsport event brought to yout in association with monster, Red Bull, blarney watches, biffo travel sponsor

And the sodding ION spooters tower! I am seriously going to blow the damn thing up, its about as relevant as poiting out a spectatoir in the car park.

[maranello48]

Carpentier and Dumoulin in the JRM Minis are both canadians

I'm afraid sponsorship is a part of modern motorsport. Yes we seem to get a lot of it in rallycross on little things. But at least its not like for example sauber f1 team who for at least one year had a 'promotional' race suit supplier who supplied race suits for photoshoots, but who's race suits werent eligible for racing....

I'd rather have a world championship with sponsors than no championship without sponsors cos there's no way anyone could afford it....

[chunder]

Sorry chap but a lot of people could afford rallycross long before WRX came in and made it into a giant advertising salon.

All they have done is take the sport away from the real drivers and fans to make money.

And left no legacy whatsoever for the future when they disappear back from whence they came.

[Hickey]

It's always been sponsored not just the flaming World RX. Can you see out of those damn rose tinted glasses. The Shell Oils Classic. The MotoQuip British Grand Prix. And so on. Silkolene, Sachs, STP - all brands I heard for the first time due to rallycross in the 80s.

Fully appreciate that it's rammed down our throats much more now but to act like this is an IMG initiative misses the point much it makes a ridicule of it.

[chunder]

Well of course events have always been sponsored, and that is to be welcomed. I do not think I mentioned anything about past events, only current ones. You did that nicely.

I do realise this is the nature of modern tv orientated sport, and that is, sadly, what rallycross is now, not a proper motorsport, it is a mix of motorsport and extreme event. That is where my antipathy comes from.

Oh, and it was Motaquip, and most of those sponsors were in it sponsoring teams and drivers, not a stupid tower full of people no one is interested in hearing from and who say nothing of note anyway.

[rallycrossnl]

Funny thing is, I didn't know the watch company that is sponsoring now and thought that it was the 1001th version of a Swatch el cheapo brand. Till I did google it, they even have a 150.000euro model! Still only tells time tho, like my 2,50 no brand.
Yeah branding everything and anything sounds awfully daft in our ears, still it pays the rent. For the time being. All the branding dosn't get 40 supercars in Canada tho.

[chunder]

Why would it to be honest.

I would imagine the top teams HAVE to go, it will be in their contract, but you are not going to get many local teams or drivers, unlrss they or the promotere are paying for a raade with one of these top teams.

From being a championship literally anyone could win only a few years ago, it has now been given to 3 or 4 teams with massive budgets.

I guess some call it progress. I call it garbage sorry.

[crossfades]

For the WRX teams I've heard that IMG sets up monitors for the live coverage and live timing, access to WiFi and sign with name and number for about 9 500 euros.

[chunder]

Cheap eh

What a great way to ensure all that stuff is paid for, and I will bet IMG make a profit seling them on the next year. Surely that could be included in the no doubt preposterous registration fee for running the series?

Pathetic stuff really for such a small championship. But I guess why not if these teams are prepared to pay for it

Am watching the BSB races at the moment and saw a trail for Canada, 11pm! Lol, great time to get some viewers eh!

[thlbtcc]

Originally Posted by chunder

I do realise this is the nature of modern tv orientated sport, and that is, sadly, what rallycross is now, not a proper motorsport, it is a mix of motorsport and extreme event. That is where my antipathy comes from.

Fun Fact:

Rallycross was invented purely for TV. It filled a gap in the ITV schedule. That's the origins of the RX. Entertainment. For TV. On a commercial ad-supported channel.

End of Fun Fact.

[thlbtcc]

Rustad in for just this round, will be interesting indeed. I'm a fan of Alx, he'll be back in the car for Norway. Tommy will surely give the team some context on the competitiveness of the car.

http://audi-motorsport-blog.blogspot...l?spref=fb&m=1

[USRallycross]

"A Championship literally anyone could win"

I am not sure that this is true. Since 2000 until last year (intro of WRX) only 3 men won the SuperCar title and I woudl argue there are more potential winners each week than there were in those years.

I know that for many the halycon days were the 80's but even then the numbers of winners were pretty limited and there has always been a small group who have the money and the majority that don't. Once again I would argue that with WRX and some serious sponsors that there are more teams with money than there has been for a long while.

Yes, there are some issues for purists with WRX but I believe it to be much better than the path ERC was on.


Mark

[ebby]

Shame no Isaachsen in Canada with WorldRX drivers. Would have thought more Olsbergs drivers could have entered from GRC too. There's a short turn around between Canada and Norway, are GAC flying the cars back to Europe?

[chunder]

It was not really invented for tv, it was invented as a way of filling a gap between betting based sport. The cars were already there really, initially just rally cars.

And that was a very long time ago. I developed on its own into a serious motorsport very quickly, not an entertainment series, so that does not wash with me I am afraid.

I do not think at all that the 80's were amazing, I was there, and the grids were no bigger especially at club events, but there were a few more tracks perhaps and a more regional base to rallycross.

Money in such a tiny sport is not a good thing. It has always been there, but totally taking away the spot from even rich clubmen is a risk. Guys like Scott, Jansen, Pauwels who were in it for the love as much as the racing have been largely squeezed out.

As I have said before, you might call it progress, and I guess it is. But there is no legacy, no real building blocks, just profit, pay to race, pay to host and let's race anywhere that will pay us.

ERC was established, doing well in various countries, and now they will struggle as they could not afford the WRX fees. Hard luck you might say, but where would rather go? Argentina, Turkey? Or Hungary or Poland where there is money (ave you seen teh money spent here on rallies and the like), a massive audience and an already existing history.

A few years down the line fair enough, but straight away? We all know why, money, no other reason. Not one single one.

[thlbtcc]

Originally Posted by chunder

It was not really invented for tv, it was invented as a way of filling a gap between betting based sport. The cars were already there really, initially just rally cars.

And that was a very long time ago.

It was purely for TV. It's irrelevant what the cars were in the location for or how long ago it was. Your rants are undermined completely because the genesis is one of the reasons you are opposed.

Anyway, back to Canada. I hope the jump is scaled back and learning's from last years event are put in place. Should be a cracker!

[chunder]

You make one point and that is that it was created for entertainment.

It was created for television, not entertainment. They are slightly different. The generation game is entertainment! Not sport. This was sport.

If you want to watch WWE that is entertainment, let's hope rallycross does not go too far.

[WJM]

Originally Posted by USRallycross

"A Championship literally anyone could win"

I am not sure that this is true. Since 2000 until last year (intro of WRX) only 3 men won the SuperCar title and I woudl argue there are more potential winners each week than there were in those years.

I know that for many the halycon days were the 80's but even then the numbers of winners were pretty limited and there has always been a small group who have the money and the majority that don't. Once again I would argue that with WRX and some serious sponsors that there are more teams with money than there has been for a long while.

Okay I am going to be pedantic here but first off there were 4 different champions in that time period: Hansen, Larsson, Isachsen and Timurzyanov.

Second point: here is the amount of different winners for the time period 1997-2014. First number is the amount of different winners, second number the amount of races. As you see the WRX is still right on average with the rest of this century.

1997: 4/10
6/10
5/9
5/9
6/10
3/10
5/10
6/10
4/10
5/10
4/10
7/10
6/10
4/10
5/10
4/10
5/9
2014: 7/12

And as far as "a championship that anyone can win"... well Petter Solberg is dominating the WRX like Kenneth Hansen did the ERX in his prime.

To me it seems like the WRX is just a continuation of the ERX as far as competiveness and unpredictability is concerned.

Only difference is that the Max Puchers and Jacques Villeneuves, who are basically the Marcel Beerden of today, are now also driving a supercar worth 500.000.

[chunder]

To be fair in the last few years of ERC there were not many privateers in cheap cars.

A lot of them were ex Jerberg, LArsson, Hansen, Eriksson or something.

The 2000's yes maybe, a lot of home brewed cars, but the latter years saw all those early cars streaming down the grids, but still being sold for ailly money, some of the price tags on really old cars even in the UK were insane, 70 or 80 grand for 10 year old cars.

Cost of cars has always been high, but now with some manufacturer backing it will go higher I guess. But privateers are not welcome really, they want TEAMS, they want to create some sort of rivalry that really isnt there between teams. and the loaded rich guy is sort of squezzed out.

Lets face it Sverre was that, as was Larsson to some extent. Only Kenny, Per, Martin and one or two others had anything like works backing, same as now.

[crossfades]

Anton Marklund will take PGs car in Canada. Marklund will drive for EKS (the Audi was not fixed in time before shipping) and Foust will drive for Marklund Motorsport along with Heikkinen.

http://www.vf.se/sport/bilsport/hemmajobb-i-stallet-vm

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by crossfades

Anton Marklund will take PGs car in Canada. Marklund will drive for EKS (the Audi was not fixed in time before shipping) and Foust will drive for Marklund Motorsport along with Heikkinen.

http://www.vf.se/sport/bilsport/hemmajobb-i-stallet-vm

Ah, I wonder if that was the "mystery driver" in the testing video Marklund Motorsport posted on Facebook then?

[crossfades]

Originally Posted by tbtstt

Ah, I wonder if that was the "mystery driver" in the testing video Marklund Motorsport posted on Facebook then?

Not very much of a mystery driver but i believe it was him

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by crossfades

Not very much of a mystery driver but i believe it was him

Yeah, was hoping that would turn out to be someone a bit more exciting!

[tbtstt]

Impressive drive from Rustad in the Audi S3, looks like there is some pace in that car in the right hands. Not a great start for Petter, though I note that, despite claiming there are still issues with his car, his heat 2 time is still 3 seconds faster than everyone else!