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It's a truly terrible decline right now and it doesn't look like it is going to get better for a while. With the combination of the manufacturers pulling out and the double driver rules change in 2003....it has just excluded a lot of people.
Take McRae. He should never have been out of work at the end of 2003 but the FIA, indirectly, made sure of it.
I am awaiting some DVD's of a load of Top gear rally reports from 1997-2001. I can't wait to watch it because when I think of the names involved in that period it reminds me what WRC was all about. Makinen, McRae, Sainz, Auriol, Kankkunen, Burns, Gronholm, Eriksson, Liatti, Vatanen, Thiry, Rovanpera, some occasional cameos from the likes of Delecour, Gardemeister, Panizzi, Loix, Scwharz, Radstrom, Bugalski (Mr Kit Car himself!) as well as the young upcomers like Solberg, Martin and the like. Awesome stuff and we still had some proper rallies like Safari too.
I know all about rose tints and that, but that was truly a great era for me and rallying was right up their with my other favourite series.
The moving on of Marcus is the end of an era.
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