World Rallycross Championship 2018

[S griffin]

Seems a good way to go racing the WRX and you can see why, it has lots of close entertaining racing. Certainly the it’s easy to understand to anyone IMHO

[chunder]

It used to be.

Sadly the concept of rallycross has been changed quite a lot in the last few years.

it is now run on much tighter, narrower tracks in smaller areas. And a lot of them are temporary lined with plastic barriers and such.

It was not that way until quite recently

[S griffin]

Yeah, I agree, the old ERX is probably the closest to the old format.

WRX is just a different concept to me. But at least it's bringing the sport to the people. That's just the way it is

[chunder]

It is doing that yes.

But it has totally ignored what happened before ad what the older fans want.

Hence I simply dont watch it anymore, whereas in the past I would have jumped at rallycross being on tv and a decent company running it.

IMG are not a decent company

[S griffin]

Well to be fair we’ve never had a World Rallycross championship till recently. I watch it, just because it’s a decent concept and they’ve got some good names in the series.

[rallycrossnl]

It never needed that. At all.

[S griffin]

I agree, but here we are now. At least we still have the ERX

[dougcross70's]

Originally Posted by chunder

It used to be.

Sadly the concept of rallycross has been changed quite a lot in the last few years.

it is now run on much tighter, narrower tracks in smaller areas. And a lot of them are temporary lined with plastic barriers and such.

It was not that way until quite recently

I'm a oldie that has watch the birth of Rallycross from the start to now, lived a spit from croft rallycross track and grew up with Hillman Imps, DAF's, Mini's and Ford Capri's, sadly as you state its now a shadow of its former self, I know things change with time but the modern USA angle of a glorified Hot wheels tracks is not for me and once the USA TV market finds a fresh branch of motor sport to cannibalise it will sadly vanish from its current TV high spot. Look back to UK rallycross at the start and judge what Terrestrial TV did to that, which as they invented the sport in the first place was a lovely kick in the shins by dropping it like a lead balloon. Like a dog with a bone TV company's move on to the next big deal. Internet led streaming of Rallycross in the future could be the saviour of the sport, but hot wheels tracks with jumps and stuff staged in glorified supermarket-casino car parks is not a Rallycross future.

[S griffin]

Rallycross in the pioneering days was something. But WRX is something else. But you don’t have to watch it. At the end of the day I just take is as a variation of Rallycross

[chunder]

That is just it, it doesn't have to be.

WRX is not something else, it is ridiculous. Vasdtly expensive cars and teams, pushing out a vast number of rich or even not rich amateues in favour of a few, pro team that quickjly realise as Ford did that the exposure they get is not wirth it.

So there are often quick turnarounds of teams. VW are only here as they had money left over from WRC, and a budget. You only really have Ekstrom, Hansen and Eriksson running teams.

Ane when it goes electric, that will change even more

[S griffin]

WRX is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but it has some big names and plenty of teams willing to run in it. I still prefer the ERX and I don't really care if WRX goes electric

[chunder]

ou dl realise IMG own ERX don't you?:

[feewaybill]

I am also an oldie who witnessed the birth of Rallycross and I am a huge fan of WRC. The cars and drivers are ridiculously spectacular, and to me it is the most exciting form of motorsport currently available.

As someone once said the only constant is change, and in every walk of life some like the changes and some hate them.

However I have no plans to attend the Silverstone event as the concept doesn't appeal to me. I have zero interest in the music acts or the street food, and I am not motivated to pay extra for them. It could just be the push to take in a European round instead.

Interestingly Rockingham tried a similar concept with ASCAR at the turn of the century, subsidising and giving away tickets, and bringing in popular music acts to boost the crowd. Slightly different as it was a single circuit promotion, but the joint promotion of music and racing never seemed a good fit then.

It will be interesting to see the numbers at Silverstone as I am sure these will dictate the structure of the 2019 event. In business you sell what people actually buy.

[S griffin]

It’s always interesting to hear the birth of rallycross. Off road racing is usually among the best and I can see why WRX is so popular. But I can also see why some people are put off by it, as it’s not pure rallycross.

Ah ASCAR, there’s something I haven’t heard for a long time

[chunder]

THe issus is not off road motorsport or anything else.

WRX is a sort of love child of rallycross. All IMG needed to do is market what was already there.

They did initially but that wasn't enough for them apparently, hence they did what all idiotic and greedy organisers do and pursue manufacturers, which is the ONLY reason why they are pushing the electric thing.

We all know that decision has nothing to do with spectators or tv, it is just about attracting money, which is all IMG have ever been about, hence the constant track movements and calendar changes.

I have loved rallycross since the early 80's and been all over Europe and the UK following it, but this series makes my skin crawl. And most older fans will feel the same.

But to some, it's awesome, they just don't really know what awesome really it!

[S griffin]

As I said WRX is different from most Rallycross. But IMG wanted to make their own series. At the end of the day it's not for everyone and some people prefer different series

[crossfades]

Originally Posted by S griffin

As I said WRX is different from most Rallycross. But IMG wanted to make their own series. At the end of the day it's not for everyone and some people prefer different series

Some other championships have been influenced by IMG though, especially RallyX Nordic. They have hired an Ian Davies, never heard of, as a head of the series and for some reason the articles from the series has been in English and not Swedish this season.

RallyX Nordic and the Swedish rallycross championship for example have incorporated the same qualifying system with points awarded after qualifying with semifinals as well (three semifinals this season though).

Even the now defunct European Rallycross Challenge, that was pretty much a protest towards IMG, switched to the same qualifying system.

[S griffin]

I wouldn’t know about the Nordic series. Obviously the quali points is a bit of a strange one. It’s just a shame ERX is now in the shadows

[feewaybill]

Originally Posted by chunder

But to some, it's awesome, they just don't really know what awesome really it!

No.... They just have a different interpretation of awesome to you.

[S griffin]

As I said different series appeal to different people

[chunder]

awesome is 30+ GpB cars, a bunch of Div1 Sierras with Joranli and Hunsbedt.

That level of awesome will never be reached again.

And the stupid thing is, rallycross is not that far removed, but non slick tyres, crap diff rules make the cars handle like turds, they are too quiet most of them and the tracks don't quite work for the cars.

If you think that is awesome then you are welcome to it, as you clearly have little idea of what that word really means

[S griffin]

Group B is in the past. Don’t worry Rallycross is still out there. So what if WRX is not to everyone’s taste. The fact is it has been a very successful formula FWIW

[Silhuette]

Even if they try to make electrics the main show, there is probably plenty of interest for Supercars or whatever comes after them.

Historic racing is doing better than ever and might just make it into the mainstream.

Sent fra min SM-G955F via Tapatalk

[chunder]

The problem is that if electric fails, unless someone buys the rights to ERX, it will still be owned by IMG, they will keep it obviously, as they know full well electric is not going to interest live spectators much, they are ONLY doing it to try and get manufacturers on board, in every other sense it makes absolutely no business sense at all, rallycross is supposed to be loud, explosive, aggressive and fast. Electric cannot easily provide all of that, do you really want to hear horns blaring every few seconds as a live sport!

So IMG will obviously make ERX too pricey to sell coz tracks will quickly fall away if people don't go to events to watch.

AS for historic racing, it is a passing interest for most people a few events a year maybe 1 or 2, it is also a very expensive sport to watch if you attend things like Goodwood MM, revival etc. And if you actually go and watch it, it quickly becomes tiresome. Sorry, just my preference, but the amount of times I have gone to an event like that, wanting to see a certain few cars and watched them being driven around as if they have eggs under the gas pedal, sorry seeing the car is not enough for me, I want to see it driven properly, and that rarely happens with older, valuable cars.

[tbtstt]

Well an interesting result from Belgium with a dramatic semi-final 2 and final. Timmy Hansen denied another win at Mettet, but still a good weekend for Peugeot. The latest iteration of the 208 looked to have speed in rounds one and two, great to see the car deliver. Also good news for the Championship with Johan finishing further down the order and the points all closing up.

I am starting to go off Ekstrom: for a driver who frequently preaches about clean racing that is the second heavy turn one contact he has been involved with this year. I'd have been livid if I was Grosset-Janin.