World Rallycross Championship 2021

[MissClarrpz]

34 Supercars at Holjes! Amazing turnout with strong Super 1600 numbers as well (well rx3 if we're being nitpicky).

Just a shame it's only 10 in WRX.

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by MissClarrpz

Just a shame it's only 10 in WRX.

Yeah, similar Supercar total to last year, but class numbers have reversed.

Despite the low numbers I am hoping for some close racing in the WRX semis and finals.

[hoffman66]

Managed about 2 minutes, sae the dirt section was black with adhesive and tyre rubber an switched off, this is not rallycross, it is a farce. End of

[chasing cars]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

Managed about 2 minutes, sae the dirt section was black with adhesive and tyre rubber an switched off, this is not rallycross, it is a farce. End of

So you keep telling us. Why do you still watch it after so many times saying your done with it. Use to be a guy called Chunder on here,spent years telling us rallycross was finished. You 2 would have got on well,shame as he stopped posting here just before you started...

[MissClarrpz]

I'm not a fan of the Barcelona circuit but not because it gets rubbered in. Some circuits are just dirt on top of tarmac which sucks but I think Barcelona is pretty good for that. Just the layout prevents racing except out of the joker lap.

For you it may not be rallycross, but I can confirm that this is in fact rallycross. I'm still hooked on it

[tbtstt]

Originally Posted by chasing cars

So you keep telling us. Why do you still watch it after so many times saying your done with it. Use to be a guy called Chunder on here,spent years telling us rallycross was finished. You 2 would have got on well,shame as he stopped posting here just before you started...

Fun fact: Chunder still frequently pops up in the Retrocrosser group on Facebook...

...rallycross is still finished there as well.

[chasing cars]

Originally Posted by MissClarrpz

I'm not a fan of the Barcelona circuit but not because it gets rubbered in. Some circuits are just dirt on top of tarmac which sucks but I think Barcelona is pretty good for that. Just the layout prevents racing except out of the joker lap.

Been to Catalunya 4 times, first 2 the startline was in its old place and gave much better racing with none of the silly first corner incidents we now get.Like a lot of the GP circuits they have never got the non tarmac sections quite right (Spa being the obvious exception)and never quite worked out why they make them so tight and twisty.Shame they dont get some driver input when it comes to designing these circuits.

[hoffman66]

It hardly matters, modern rallyvcross has been dead for some times.

The Nitro stuff looks to have potential, but WRX is not great, most of the tracks are terrible, even places people wail about like Holjes, yes it's busy etc but cmon Loheac (is that were they go I dont even know tbh) is an awful track, the only decent track is Spa perhaps, Lydden has been ruined beyind recognition.

Yes some of the older tracks were awful tool, but this IMG stuff still around is not great, the loose at Catalunya was totally black, that is NOT off road, it is tarmacked sticky gravel.

You can say its great, but you are fooling yourself I am afraid, this is not what it should and could be.

[crossfades]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

It hardly matters, modern rallyvcross has been dead for some times.

The Nitro stuff looks to have potential, but WRX is not great, most of the tracks are terrible, even places people wail about like Holjes, yes it's busy etc but cmon Loheac (is that were they go I dont even know tbh) is an awful track, the only decent track is Spa perhaps, Lydden has been ruined beyind recognition.

Yes some of the older tracks were awful tool, but this IMG stuff still around is not great, the loose at Catalunya was totally black, that is NOT off road, it is tarmacked sticky gravel.

You can say its great, but you are fooling yourself I am afraid, this is not what it should and could be.

I don't think any rallycross regulars before 2014 would think of these tracks as great. And if anything the locations were the supposed attraction, not the "purpose-built" tracks themselves.

[S griffin]

It would probably be better if they had a mix of purpose built tracks, with the shorter so called 'stadium' tracks as I see them

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Originally Posted by crossfades

I don't think any rallycross regulars before 2014 would think of these tracks as great.

I'm not in that category sadly but have never really loved Loheac, however it is better than a lot of the newer tracks. Spa I think was really good and promoted good racing, Catalunya becomes a follow fest, Abu Dhabi was kind of okay but too tight in most places. Estering would probably be my favourite of places World RX has visited though, still not a lot of chances for passing but the kind of track it's good even if it's one car lapping on it's own.

[crossfades]

Originally Posted by SnoodyMcFlude

I'm not in that category sadly but have never really loved Loheac, however it is better than a lot of the newer tracks. Spa I think was really good and promoted good racing, Catalunya becomes a follow fest, Abu Dhabi was kind of okay but too tight in most places. Estering would probably be my favourite of places World RX has visited though, still not a lot of chances for passing but the kind of track it's good even if it's one car lapping on it's own.

Loheac hadn't been on the ERC calendar for several years but was brought back because of the sheer number of spectators. Loheac is a typical French rallycross track though with long corners, soft transitions and "gravel" which is not really gravel as we know it but some hardened dirt or concrete like surface with some loose stuff on it.

Estering is also a real track, but regular rallycross tracks were neither well known for the most part or could not accommodate the wicked ideas of IMG and FIA. Höljes and Hell has stayed alive thanks for great organisations, while Höljes of course got its golden ticket of being the Magic weekend with all that comes with it.

[hoffman66]

Most of the old tracks were priced out of the market in favour of F1 venues and places with funding from local government, it was the best and easiest way for IMG to make money, they made a series, and then flogged it to death, packaged it, branded it, and then tried to get fans to pay for it, and they often didn't, especially in places with no interest like Turkey (I mean FFS), Spain, Argentina, South Africa, Canada, USA. Italy and many others, it was and is typical of companies like these looking to make a fast buck without really doing much to look after the sport before or after. They destroyed speedway regionally aswell, although other factors were at play there also.

The sport was starting to pick up in popularity in places like Poland, Czecho, Hungary with ERC rounds and a few decent tracks, and it has really dropped off in existing power areas like Belgium and Holland where rally continues to really thrive. Somehow the old tracks have survived, mainly by NOT handing over tens of thousands to the daylight robbery merchants IMG, whereas countless IMG tracks are now derelict or unused, so the experiment failed.

Yet what happens? New people come in and follow the same, dull, tired, unworkable model, great drivers are now in ERC as they can't get drives in the top series due to pay drivers being favoured, it is an embarrassment really.

And they have the cheek to try and charge you to watch it, have some balls and say no for goodness sake and let it die quickly so we can go back to what rallycross is, a European based sport, thriving in Scandinavia and having strong roots also in Benelux, Eastern Europe, France and Britain. That is ALWAYS going to be it's base and nowhere else, it is not big enough, no matter how many t-shirt's you sell, how many manufacturers you pull, how many millions you try and squeeze, it will never be a world wide sport. And these people just won't admit it, they just want to squeeze every penny, you really think they give a toss when they are so heavily invested in WRC? Have a word guys.

[chasing cars]

And on this occasion I have to just about agree with all of the above post, particually concerning the comments about rallycross in eastern europe. The drivers didnt all have the biggest budgets but they really knew how to get everything out of what they had.
Roman Castoral was always one of the most entertaining drivers to watch (and quickest) and use to compete and win in the european championship old style with just a van and trailor. Apart from a small handful in 1600s theyve now all disappeared.

[hoffman66]

It is a shame, they were starting tog et a few decent cars aswell in Supercar, the Czechs especially where always good in lower classes and Koutny always over achieved in his cars, I see now that a lot of Poles do very quick cars in hillclimbs etc, some of those could have been into RX but have now been lost.

I get why these people do these things, but to just do it with ZERO appreciation of the past and price existing venues out of the game is wrong. I recall teh guys from Belgium and Dutch tracks posting somewhere that they woud ahve to raise their tickets prices by half again to even come close to making money first year, and they knew that doing this would lose perhaps 40% of their crowd.

Rallycross is an amateur sport, it is never going to be professional, or you get what you have now, pro teams using pay drivers and dumping good ones to exist, it is shameful management from those at the top but they are just trying to continue to make money instead of doing something more interesting and taking rallycross into a new age. They will just obsess with electric and manufacturers, something no true fan is really even lightly interested in watching live.

They are, as IMG were ONLY obsessed with manufacturers, they run WRC after all so why expect anything less, and also look how they destroyed that over the years their record with WRC tv rights is hardly stellar it's been on just about every channel, keeps getting pushed on like the runt of the litter.

I would run WRC for R5 cars, you would get 50 entries every bloody event. but no, gotta have teams spending 50 mill a year or we are not doing our job, retards.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Just watching Holjes, RX2 final looking pretty exciting but completely let down by the coverage. Really close battle at the back on the last lap but cameras concentrated on the leader on his own, then O'Donovan quite clearly loses a wheel and Nick Fellows completely misses that it happened. Patrick looks like a lively racer though.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Also, Nick Fellows, not as bad as I feared but worse than I expected. Bring back Coley.

[Hickey]

Originally Posted by SnoodyMcFlude

Just watching Holjes, RX2 final looking pretty exciting but completely let down by the coverage. Really close battle at the back on the last lap but cameras concentrated on the leader on his own, then O'Donovan quite clearly loses a wheel and Nick Fellows completely misses that it happened. Patrick looks like a lively racer though.

The coverage (particularly the camera work) was rank amateur this weekend. Zoomed in shots missing the action behind, zero understanding of how action unfolds so missed things like joker merges and following a car with a drone acting cool but missing the point. It was almost unwatchable.

[tbtstt]

Disappointed not to be in Loheac this weekend, will be tuning in and keeping my fingers crossed that Johan can have a trouble free weekend.

He has let the Hansens get a head start, now time to start bringing some points in!

[FIRE]

This is not Kristoffersson's season.

Originally Posted by chasing cars

Roman Castoral was always one of the most entertaining drivers to watch (and quickest) and use to compete and win in the european championship old style with just a van and trailor.

Is he still doing rallycross?

[tbtstt]

Absolutely gutted for Johan. TQ and a chance to start gaining on Timmy, then issues in the semi and a missed final.

I hope JK can prove me wrong, but with a relatively short season (and low World entry numbers), I think it is going to be very difficult to stop Timmy now.

Pity they didn't let Kevin (Hansen) joker earlier in the final: I thought he looked quicker than Timmy.

Disappointing weekend for Gronholm as well. Had the early pace, but just didn't have that edge in the second half of the weekend.

Plenty of drama in the Euros. Real shame for JB Dubourg and Bakkerud. Both denied good finishes. Think Munnich is a deserving winner though, so pleasing result there.

[SnoodyMcFlude]

Just catching up again, Nick Fellows calling it the World Rally Championship is a bit poor. I really dislike his commentary style, he just shouts and growls and often doesn't really react to what's going on in the race or reacts late to things.

Gutting for JK, pretty much championship over for him. But it's a bit of a joke championship now anyway, every entrant making it into the semis is just stupid.

[Hickey]

Originally Posted by SnoodyMcFlude

Just catching up again, Nick Fellows calling it the World Rally Championship is a bit poor. I really dislike his commentary style, he just shouts and growls and often doesn't really react to what's going on in the race or reacts late to things.

He is terrible isn't he. The camera work was again poor and you could see a battle or close merge just out of shot while the cameraman focused on a close up of a kerb. And the commentator was so rubbish. Lots of errors and as you say often missing the action. Rallycross is quick. You can't rabbit on about rubbish during the race, you have to react to what you see.

[hoffman66]

As I have said numerous times, if you watch it live, you are paying, or at the least contributing to viewing figures for a company reliant on those numbers.

If you believe the product to be poor stop watching or dont watch it, then it might go back to free to air.

it really is that simple. I have not watched a second of 2021 WRX and will never watch it. if you all do the same it WILL change.

[Hickey]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

As I have said numerous times, if you watch it live, you are paying, or at the least contributing to viewing figures for a company reliant on those numbers.

If you believe the product to be poor stop watching or dont watch it, then it might go back to free to air.

it really is that simple. I have not watched a second of 2021 WRX and will never watch it. if you all do the same it WILL change.

You've made your point and we've chosen to ignore you. Go find another tree to bark up.