World Rally Championship's future

[bil588]

WRC: Meetings to Decide the Series' Fate

6-24-08

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...e-series-fate/

[BertMk2]

Essentially it's make or break time for the WRC then - get it wrong and it's goodbye Ford and Citroen (and without them would Suzuki and Subaru stay?). The key points are based around promotion and the regulations from 2010 - teams want to know that the WRC will be promoted better and also exactly what regs they'll be working with.

[cptkablamo]

wow...they whipped out words like "corporate negligence" That's big boy stuff right there...you know exactly where they (Ford and Citroen) are coming from and can't blame them one little bit if they decide to bolt

When they know the stakes are so high, you would think they will come to a resolution but I just have a baaaddd feeling...

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by FIA

"The WMSC has directed the FIA to finalise negotiations for the appointment of a central promoter for the World Rally Championship.

From 2010, Group N and S2000 cars will be renamed Superproduction cars. Group R cars will become known as Production cars.

The Cyprus Rally and Rally Poland have been approved for the 2009 calendar following the observers' reports."

So the promotion aspect had been covered here but there is no mention of the regulaions for 2010 and beyond - these are to be discussed in another meeting. Looks to me like the hard work is still to be done.

I don't know why Cyprus has been approved either - I already think that Greece and Turkey are too similar, is Cyprus going to add anything that the other two don't already have?

[andy97]

The vast majority of cars sold in the world are 2WD - The WRC should reflect this and ban 4WD (& I say that as a Audi quattro owner). It would be more entertaining and probably more accesiible to all, including the privateer.

4WD can be the province of the Paris-Dakar type events. The WRC regs should also allow in cars such as the 911 GT3 & AM N24, with a suitable equivalence formula - we need some variety, similar to the days when Escorts took on the Stratos etc.

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by andy97

The vast majority of cars sold in the world are 2WD - The WRC should reflect this and ban 4WD (& I say that as a Audi quattro owner).

I agree 4wd is a problem but getting rid of it is a big risk - ban 4wd and you lose Subaru immediately (all their cars are 4wd). Also if you ban 4wd from WRC then you'd have to ban it from group N (PWRC) as well - immediately wiping out the whole field (Imprezas and Evos). Of course the PWRC is dominted by Imprezas and Evos purely because they are 4wd and removing them would open up the options significantly.

For what it's worth I'd like to see something along the lines of:

2wd
Rwd (fwd cars could be converted to rwd)
Mechanical diffs
Similar engine regs to now (keep the power and torque nice and high)

Also the cars need to look better - big snorty flame spitting beasts with fat arches sticking out and big fat wings (sort of group B crossed with DTM for appearance )

The PWRC could run pretty much S2000 and the JWRC S1600.

[zac510]

Originally Posted by andy97

The vast majority of cars sold in the world are 2WD - The WRC should reflect this and ban 4WD (& I say that as a Audi quattro owner). It would be more entertaining and probably more accesiible to all, including the privateer.

Care to provide some evidence as to how it would instantly be more entertaining?

[bil588]

FIA Moves to Safeguard WRC Future

6-25-08

http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/artic...rd-wrc-future/

[mountainstar]

I don't think anything is wrong with having AWD. The IRC is an example of what the WRC would look like without it and while a decent series, it can't compete with the WRC.

Probably the biggest thing to save money would be for the FIA to stop tinkering with rule changes.

I think most of the fundamentals for success are there, it just needs consistent marketing and promotion.

[BertMk2]

The promotion certanly needs looking at but the cars themselves are also n need of an overhaul. They're quick but they don't look quick, they just have too much grip - keeping the same power levels but going rwd would hopefully solve that. They also need to reduce costs - not quite sure how you do that though (same problem as F1).