'FIXING' THE WRC? Opinions on the FIA's Proposed Rally1 Changes
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- Опубликовано: 7 апр 2024
- The modern Rally1 cars are impressive, but there seems to be something missing. Maybe I'm used to seeing cars going sideways, and cars resembling more what you could actually buy in a showroom. But while these new aero cars look the part and grip up so well on tarmac, it just seems that it's a bit far removed from what rally should be, for me.
Expensive, heavy, not attractive to other makes... Maybe it's time for the WRC to do something to help get that reset button hit.
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Between 2004 and 2018, 23 WDC's have been won by a Seb, in WRC, F1 and Champ Car. That's crazy
And in Formula E with Sebastien Buemi
@@thekauders567 WEC as well
@@thekauders567 Wasn't technically a WDC back then
the thing i like the most about older rallies is that the cars they use are actually attainable. Subaru with the WRX, mitsubishi lancer evo, peugot 206, etc. the cars you see are things you can actually go out and buy - definitely not the exact same
i like the idea of Group N and "showroom spec" rally, keeping a lot stock but still safe and rally capable
One thing they need to fix is to have better coverage of the events. If you use the Red Bull app you can watch the highlights of each rally, but it's not the easiest app to navigate through. They need to have the coverage of the events on the FIA WRC RUclips channel. For the diehard fans of rally I think it's fine to pay for live coverage, but for the average viewer the highlights are fine, but the need to make it easier to find.
yea. I was hoping to follow it this year but I hear nothing about it and then one day in my subscrptions I see the highlights of the first event, same then goes for the next.
and I cant pay for it, at least not at this point in my life, so then what? even if I could, what are the chances that most people will pay to watch a sport theyve never seen before? especially as a subscription and not ppv.
@@garchompy_1561 dirtfish have very good coverage that's a bit more elaborate compared to what you just get from the WRC channel itself.
And ITV need to advertise better, they throw up the dates at the start of each Rally and expect us to remember? I'm nearly 40, I can barely remember when Leeds are playing and I've got a tab open showing our fixtures! I'd forgot Wrestlemania XL has jus been and gone! I know when I went to the cinema in recent years, it looked as though they show Rallying, hey, that'd be great, watching the WRC on that massive screen with their sound system!
Gilles Panizzi's 360 antics at 2002 Catalunya lives rent free in my head. He's one of my favourite asphalt specialist. So fast, full of flair and just fun to watch especially in the 206WRC.
Just a few notes from a hardcore rally fan:
Last year, more than 4 drivers did the whole season. Rovanpera, Evans, Katsuta, Neuville, Lappi and Tanak did all the rounds. Loubet did 12/13 before being dropped for the last rally. So that's 6 and a half, let's say. Part time drivers also play a big part. They are either specialists at some events (as for example Craig Breen was at fast gravel rallies such as Estonia and Finland), helping the team bring in good points at those events, or they are drivers who just want to drive part time (for example Seb Ogier, who is semi-retired and only drives his favorite events, or Kalle Rovanpera this year, who's obviously the current best driver, but wants to take a bit of a break this year after rallying almost non stop for close to 10 years). At every round, M-Sport had at least 2 cars, Hyundai had 3 (except Croatia for obvious reasons) and Toyota had 3 or 4.
Monte Carlo Rally is traditionally held already in January (just after the Dakar, let's say around the 20th of January). It's necessary to start the season this early to have a chance at catching snow in Monte Carlo and more importantly, having snow on the second round in Sweden. So in reality, the teams would only have 6 months to prepare the "new" cars. This is further hampered by the ban on testing outside of Europe, meaning the teams won't be able to do much dry tarmac and gravel running later on in the process. The teams are also limited in testing outside their team testing base (they basically have only a certain amount of test days allowed). They can test as much as they want at their own test place, but for Toyota and Hyundai, that's in Finland, so I'm not sure if there will be gravel available later in the year.
Another problem with the change of direction is the current situation of the 3 teams:
Toyota currently have the best car, very fast and almost flawless in terms of reliability, so they surely want to keep racing it.
Hyundai have a car that's very fast, but has a bunch of flaws that undermine the reliability, flaws that they can't fix due to development being limited by the rules. That's why they were designing a brand new car for 2025, but will have to can that project if the change goes through. Hyundai are the biggest critics of this, and FIA should worry about possibly losing them.
M-Sport have a car that had its problems, but they finally seem to have ironed the biggest issues out this season. The team doesn't have the resources of Toyota and Hyundai, which is apparent from their results (they have been last in the championship for many years now, probably since 2019) and also from the fact that they're only running two cars at each event since last year. They are not a Ford manufacturer's team, they are just sponsored by Ford (so there are in fact two manufacturer's and one private team), and I guess Ford isn't paying enough for them to do more. Having to once again build a brand new car could be really bad for them financially.
As former Toyota team boss George Donaldson has championed for literal years, the answer is Rally2/R5. All the current OEMs have one plus Skoda and Citroen. Constrain manufacturer spending and allow privateers into the top class.
Thats only one issue though; coverage is poor (over reliance on on-boards in the WRC TV app), rally formats are poor (half of the rally is during the working week - the Test Cricket conundrum), the schedule is overly gravel based (tarmac is relatable more than gravel, so there needs to be a genuine mix beyond the lip service 4 rallies now), the actual rally choices are poor (refusal to go back to San Remo in place of Sardina because tourism board euros leads to another identakit gravel rally with no spectators).
Don’t get me started on the new convoluted points structure. All of the above issues are classic FIA issues and under Ben Sulayem it’s only got worse, with the FIA increasingly out of touch with reality (see TCR/WTCC, sportscars before COVID). It’s sad, growing up as a 10 year old in the UK *everyone* wanted a Subaru Impreza. It was the bedroom wall poster car.
If anyone has taken part in a rally as a competitor/support etc you’ll know the sport is fantastic with story lines and an almost TdF level of twists and turns. Really needs to think about presentation
Rally1 should just go in the bin entirely and go for a rally2 free for all.
Its not how fast the cars but how they are driven.
Rallying is definitely broken. Completely buggered.
1) I believe motoGP is actually having some controversy of its own as aero becomes such a big deal. people complaining its ruining racing, the japanese manufacturers not having access to F1 designers and so being left in the dust, rider weight giving unfair advantage to lighter drivers because theres no ballast, new riders not being able to do anything because the bike auero package is designed so tightly around the rider that if you dont fit the physical dimensions and riding style you just cant use the bike.
2) I think a part of the problem with WEC is downforce as you suggested, but I would go further and say the problem with a lot of these motorsports isnt just downforce but the lack of Horsepower and especially the lack of RPM in the engines. high downforce and high torque mean that you get a lot of accelleration and corner speed for a given gear ratio and not a lot of much else. cars get to the speed they go within a few hundered meters and then keep that speed up as if its GTA 5. Have a low torque low downforce car and all of a sudden the drivers ability to carry speed through a corner is harder and matters more, thats where the difference is made, and if they have insane gear ratios to get the accelleration up then at LEAST the cars are screaming while driving along at full speed. Peopls say that a lot about the older F1 cars, more and more power being made by hybrid systems giving them the acceleration they need while reducing power the cars make and reducing the RPM they are allowed to have - people complain the cars sound bad and the racing is worse.
getting rid of the hybrid is an interesting move but I think I would prefer limitations on aero more, since at least that cuts corner speed and allows for the old flamboyant driving. a wider range of engines would also be great, dont do what F1 has done for the past 30 years almost and limit everything about the power unit down to the angle of the V, variety is what makes these constructor focused championships great, we want the H16 F1 car, we want the 4-Rotor group C car, we want the V5 Motorcycle...
I don't know MotoGP seems like it's going in a good direction. Acosta proving new riders can compete if they're good enough and liberty media saying they're returning to 750cc V4s banning aero and ride height devices and traction control. Tbh I'd keep ride height devices but the other two can go. I actually agree with stoner that traction control is the bigger issue as you should really have to fight the bike coming out of the corner if you want to go hard.
Also last year had 7 different race winners in a not great season
I could be wrong about this but I believe the reason why V engines are the norm in motorsports these days is simply because engines are stressed members of the chassis and V engines are the best for that purpose over inline and flat engine layouts. That would explain why Porsche chose a turbocharged V8 over a turbocharged flat 6 for the 963 despite the flat 6 being their most iconic engine and the 963 itself being a spiritual successor to the legendary 956/962 Group C racers (there's also the fact that this very V8 engine has been with Porsche since the mid 2000s so it was probably cheaper to just use that over a newly designed flat 6 for WEC).
Also engineers nowadays don't see the point in creating engines that look like the result of a coke binge because they know that those engines aren't worth the trouble thanks to decades of experience, knowledge and modern day CAD software letting them know what would work and what wouldn't work. Plus everything just costs more than it used to back in the day so truly radical new ideas aren't pursued anymore.
Also one interesting thing regarding the sound is that in 2021 the RPM limit for the current turbo-hybrid V6s in F1 was increased to 18k compared to 15k from 2014-2020. This was done to improve the sound (though the engines have supposedly always revved up to around 12-13k RPM anyways so this didn't help much). The turbocharger wastegates also used to have separate pipes from the exhaust pipes (hence why the exhausts used to look like upside down Mickey Mouse heads) but since 2022 they've been routed into one pipe. This did slightly muffle the turbo noises (and some people did complain about it) but it doesn't look like anything more will be done to change it.
afaik there are also riders in Motogp complaning that all that aero makes things more dangerous because of the big difference in performance between dirty and clean air so riders are hitting each other
@@CyanRooper the only reason the V is the norm currently in F1 is because the rules specify it.
back when these regs were being written, it was going to be inline 4s, half of the existing V8s, but with turbos (a bit of a throwback to the turbo inline 4s from the 80s perhaps) and I believe porsche were going to be a supplier until they were changed to V6s.
in an anything goes scenario, very few engines are inherently better than another, inline 6s and V12s are the most balanced, V engines are compact for the cylinder count while allowing the thing to be cooled, 4-bank W engines are extreme in cylinder count:length ratio, flat engines have the lowest centre of mass, etc. but all of them have weaknesses, and all can be used as a structural part. in fact an inline engine would give the lowest width meaning you can design some of the most extreme aerodynamic body parts around it meaning it would probably be better than the V6 in that regard. a VR6 (basically an extremly narrow angle V6) would also work in that regard, but it even that would come at the cost of engine balance to some extent, might sacrifice power for aero.
The cap on redline is also I think one of the leading reason for the boring fight at the front across a season. you can design an engine to be completely reliable if you dont need to push to make it run faster. no more are the teams with the fastest cars having them blow up from pushing to get an extra 10hp, they design them to run to the target and optimise the rest from that point. the only DNFs we have seen recently have been non engine related (brakes, hydrolics, electronics, etc) or from teams we know have been struggling with engine development in all fronts (alpine, lmao, I think ferarri had turbo issues specifically last year?). let the engines run faster, let them break, let teams come through to spa with their engines cranked to 11, if they are faster than redbull they will beat them if they find the balance (and the driver manages the revs) or they will blow up and DNF, same goes for redbull, if they want to guarentee finish every race that tune it back, if they want to ensure they wont be caught out by another team running 50 more hp on them because they are running the engine that stressed then they also have to take the risk of a DNF.
@@CyanRooper they don t make anything new because the fun police keep changing the rules 1 day turbo are ok the next they arent same for ground effect ... improvement are banned to be introduce later as fixes for other rules ( like we half your cylinder count but reintroduce turbo , give you bad wheel but re allow ground effect )
Funny you mention MotoGP, that has recently been bought out by Liberty Media, the company that owns FOM.
That Catalunya spin was such an iconic moment for so many years.
WRC needs to make an impact in North America.
WRC also needs Subaru's involvement.
It's gonna be a matter of time before wrc uses GT3 cars
lol
When the FIA changes GT3 regulations to only allow hatchbacks maybe
It was already tried as a matter of fact... Porsche (having been there in the early days - hence the name 'Porsche Carrera' which is named after a road race / rally) were big supporters and Toyota ran a GT86 as well in the WRC R-GT class. Porsche were pushing to replace the WRC rules with it at one stage - instead of the 2017 Rally1 cars to maintain/increase spectator interest as well as cutting costs.
For some reason Porsche thought that RWD sportscars on a rally stage would be more entertaining and popular than 4WD hatchbacks with massive wings and aero....
@@OsellaSquadraCorse We still get 911s in Rallying all the time here in Belgium, and they are popular with the spectators. There's also the Alpine A110 in the same class, but depending on the regulations used, either the 911 or the A110 is much faster than the other.
Lancia have recently stated there working on a way back to rallying too
That would be an issue though - the Ypsilon (the only car on offer) is going to be an EV only and wouldn't really make sense to have a rally version of the Ypsilon using petrol engine when they don't intend to offer one. Perhaps (and that's my best guess) Stellantis is waiting on the FIA to allow EV's in the WRC.
@@ivaneurope and I hope they never do allow them in the top tier tbh ! EV’s that is
@@Davidlamb2 What about a rally championship solely for electric vehicles? MotoGP has MotoE.
@@Romit12 I have issues and worries about allowing them tbh , on a circuit there are marshals dotted around the track if u have a thermal event on track and a driver is incapacitated marshals can extract the crew and deal with the fire or at least make it safe while the cells burn off how ever long that takes that is not the case in the middle of a Forrest or country road possible miles from the nearest marshals check points and rescue crews , and I get u can have ICE fires but u stand some chance of extinguishing them u don’t with ev fire imo we are not there yet on the safety of thermals event control on EV’s that’s my personal opinion with to much experience on both types of them ICE and EV’s
@@Davidlamb2 Your not wrong.
Bring back the 2000cc front wheel drive kit cars. It makes sense, they'd be slower, they're closer to real production cars and they'd be lots of fun to watch. Cheap too since you only need half as much drivetrain. Or maybe I've just got nostalgia bubbles in my blood.
What's fun about watching or driving a front wheel drive car on a loose surface? I get it on tarmac, but anywhere else... meh.
@@janbo8331 Watch the 2000 British Rally Championship and you'll see it, I wasn't entirely convinced but Mark Higgins in an Astra will change your mind.
Interesting to see how so many different motor racing series are having issues attracting new viewers.
It’s mad
F1- fake drama through DTS and people are seeing that for what it was
Indycar- can’t handle it’s not 1995 anymore
BTCC- stuck on itv4 so no one outside uk can watch
NASCAR- stage racing and playoff system people can’t understand
Rally- three manufacturers and no standout names.
V8 Supercars- biased towards GM
DTM- another GT3 series.
It's weird how they can't even keep viewers... not talking about attracting new ones. Rallying is in a shite state rn
@@AidanMillward the last time F1 was boring I really got into Formula E and it was really exciting.
Now FE is extremely boring as well, the current gen cars are definitely the worst in terms of excitement. Guess WEC it is
@@AidanMillward Considering that BTCC is a British championship and with primairly British drivers, doubtful it will get huge following outside the UK and Ireland; If it was during its peak years (the SuperTouring years), it could've garnered some following abroad given the international flavour back then, but right now the interest is not there (maybe putting some races from their archive on RUclips could be a starting point though)
@@AidanMillward was a big part of dts not that season 4 brought a lot of non F1 fans in since it was actually really close and exciting and they haven't had a season like that since so there's no real drama bar posh boys being posh boys
One of those Sebastians is racing in endurance now.
I think there are a bunch of reasons why WRC went on a downturn from the mid 2000s, most subjectively nearly all the old guard of well-known drivers had gone by that point - McRae, Kankkunen, Solberg, Gronholm, Makkinen, Sainz, Burns etc. The subsequent domination by the Sebs killed a lot of interest too, certainly for me. Also the commercial rights owners ISC did a lot to get the sport on TV, when that all changed in the mid-late 2000s promotion seemed to take a hit. But also as you mentioned the cars became almost too good - so much grip that the driving style was not sideways or spectacular at all, though to be fair this process had started a lot earlier than this. Finally as either a cause or effect, the big-name manufacturers dropping out certainly didnt help either.
Hot take: i like the hybrids but they(FIA) made no effort to make the cars cheaper. I believe if they do this Rally2 + but with hybrid it would work.
Because the real issue is that the cars are spaceframes and not road based so they are effectively prototypes which is why its expensive, not the hybrid system because its a spec part.
When you really think about it its the same principle being used in WEC and IMSA its a spec hybrid system and then free for all for design.
The road based chassis would be cheaper then the hybrid because its spec would make the costs kinda level out in a sense
You make good points, but the hybrid has only done harm in motorsports. It's only skyrocketed costs and has added nothing.
@@toguapotobo it added a new strategy aspect tbh, the costs are high because its new but as i said they made no effort to reduce them. But its weird because now the imsa and wec are getting into the nuances of the hybrid with deployment and so on
1 word and 1 letter; Group A.
Production cars stripped out, suspension components tightened up (and avaliable off the shelf), and stock engine blocks and cranks, stock bodywork.
Using stock cars/parts is only cheap if they come from actual mass-production cars, not homologation specials.
The problem with Group A & N was that manufacturers had to produce production cars with 2L turbo engines and 4WD to be able to compete. That was extremely expensive and set the barrier to entry even higher than it is now. If you look back at the group A rally cars of the '90s, the Suburu Legacy & Imprezza were the only cars which were really designed to be 4WD (although Imprezzas were made with 2WD, 4WD was available throughout the range). The other cars like the Celica GT-Four & Delta Integrale were homologation special models with 2L turbos & 4WD. The Escort Cosworth wasn't even a Ford Escort but was based on the Sierra Cosworth.
The great lesson learned in the '90s in motorsport generally (GT1 being another good example) is that producing a production homologation car is even more expensive than a bespoke race prototype.
The WRC car rules were introduced for 1997 to allow 2WD non-turbo production cars to be converted to roughly group A spec. They had to make the change as with the demise of the Escort Cosworth, Celica GT-Four & Delta Integrale, only Suburu & Mitsubishi still made road cars which would have been eligable for entry as 4WD.
That would get zero manufacturer involvement. Only Toyota has anything like that on sale any more with the GR Yaris (and GR Corolla in the states) and that's only because its the CEO's passion project. Unless you want a crossover/SUV series production based stuff isn't the answer.
Considering the even stricter emissions regulations in the European Union (where most of the WRC rallies are being held) there's no incentive for manufacturers to build performance versions of family cars. In fact, Hyundai had already announced they'll axe the ICE N-line (consisting of the i20 N, i30 N and Elantra N) in the EU as it's not economically viable to make them compliant with the emissions requirements and instead the N-line will be EV only. The existing Rally2 cars aren't really based on actual hot hatches (the i20 N and GR Yaris are outliers), but rather on mundane hatchbacks we all see on the streets every day. The Škoda Fabia family of R5/Rally2 cars (3 models to be exact) are actually based on a normal Fabia 1.0 MPI (at least that's what Wikipedia says)
Fun fact - Groups A and N aren't actually gone, they are rather classified under Group Rally(insert number here) and Group R before that for convenience purposes. The cars (at least from Rally2 and below as Rally1 is a different beast altogether) still have to conform to the regulations set for Group A and N. Rally2 and Rally3 therefore would fall into Group A (modified production cars) while Rally4 and Rally5 are basically 2WD Group N production cars.
Do this + require a good number of homologation cars.
@@ibex485 a stock car race would show how bad some product are and force them to be better or be a the joke ,but manufacturer know their product is rotten so they by aftermarket part so they are sure that those are good than put a sticker on... kinda like what the gtr force the exotic car to evolve or be left behind ... so many rules get confusing so stock would be easy to watch
I think one tiny detail that caused the current Rally1 manufacturers to go on 'full defense' mode on the current regulations - in addition to handicap the Rally1 cars by taking away the hybrid and limit the engine output and aero, the FIA will allow cars under the Rally2 regulations to run with larger restrictor, larger exhaust and a Rally1 style aero + a paddle shift gearbox. And here is the first issue - if the so called Rally2+ comes to fruition there's the possibility that a driver using a car under these regulations could upset the works Rally1- entries which will be bad for the bottom line of the current Rally1 manufacturers.
Another issue - why bother have this upgrade kit for Rally2 cars, when the Rally2 cars are good enough as they are and are used in many national and international championships like WRC2, ERC etc.; And while for large scale operations like TOKSport it will be chump change as they receive manufacturer support, privateers like Kajetan Kajetanowicz will have to either pay premium to have their Rally2 cars be upgraded with a kit that would be used in only 13-14 rallies per year (compared to unlimited use for a vanilla Rally2 car) or rent one from a large preperator like TOKSport which will be far more expensive than renting a vanilla Rally2 car.
Another thing that needs to be mentioned in regards to Rally2 is that only the Skoda Fabia RS and Toyota GR Yaris are homologated until 2030 or beyond. The Hyundai i20 N Rally2 is homologated until 2028, but most of the Rally2 fleet will have their homologation expire until either 2025 or 2026 - the Ford Fiesta (which by now is long in the tooth) expires until 2026, while the Citroën C3 will have its homologation expire in 2025. There are rumours that Lancia may return, but with their only car on offer - the Ypsilon, is going to be an EV only, it makes zero sense to create a rally car with ICE without offering a production ICE model in first place. Perhaps Stellantis are waiting the FIA to allow EV cars in WRC.
Stop floating the idea of EVs in Rally, not a single person wants that, viewership would fall off even more of a cliff and implode at the bottom of it. Go be an environmental nutcase somewhere else, that shit kills motorsports.
As many have pointed out in the comments, one of the biggest reasons why WRC is not popular is down to the lack of coverage and marketing. In a way, when Ken Block passed in 2022 one of the biggest & best marketers for the entire sport went with it, which is a shame because rallying is awesome. I know he hasn't competed in WRC since 2018, but the amount of coverage the guy brought to ARA alone is simply just remarkable, because he understood what made the sport interesting, and was a marketing genius.
Good to see some level heads in the comments. The obvious answer is to ditch Rally1. Make a WRC Spec Rally2, or Rally2+ for the top class, and keep the current Rally2/R5 spec for privateers and WRC2.
It is great that you mention the WEC and how well it is doing, because the move to GT3 in WEC away from GTE was also for this exact reason. If it wasn't Pratt and Miller making a C8 GTE Corvette, who else was going to race GTE? They regulated themselves into an obscure corner of extremely limited options, and alienated many manufacturers. So the switch "down" to GT3 became the logical choice to bring a rich diverse grid of cars back to proper world class endurance sports car racing. And with good BoP based on all the series that run GT3 is run in, as a baseline for the FIA/ACO/IMSA.
The same is true now for the WRC. All of the current Rally1 manufacturers make a Rally2 car, and you get PSA back into the top class, make a path for Skoda to have a manufacturers team again, and encourage development for the Rally2/R5 class in general, which could even draw in other manufacturers who see the benefit of racing a car they actually have for sale.in a showroom floor.
Kalle is an animal, i dont think changing the cars or format will stop him, he got a podium in his second event at 19 years old, his first win in the next season and then his first championship in the following season, i just think he is on another level
Thay allready have a class (rally2) with multiple manufacturers, cars that are sold in shops, not much aero. Maybe bigger restrictor and that would be it. But too simple?
Drift is not for spectacle, it is executed to be fast around the corner. It maintains a gas engine in torque rpm range. With an electric motor you have full torque at low rpm to exit the curve with full grip. There's no need to use the tires like a clutch slipping on the soil losing energy. Greetings from Barcelona....i love your channel.
WRC has lost the endurance aspect of rallying, due mainly to the need for good TV coverage. In years gone by a SINGLE stage of the Safari Rally could be around 300Km - this year the whole event was about the same! Something somewhere needs to change as right now it is simply out-n-out racing against the clock and rallying was never meant to be that way. Stages (selectives in my day) were meant to be completed in a SET time with penalties for late or EARLY arrival. That may be going too far, but nevertheless if it stays as is I can't see new manufacturers coming onboard; and the points system is ludicrous!
Wait....early arrival? Like finishing the previous stage too quick?
@@extragoogleaccount6061Yes, because A Stage was point A to B, "Special Stages" were rally cars only on closed roads (lanes, tracks, or tarmac roads) but "stages" included the road links between them, so if you checked in too early, it meant you'd been speeding on public roads... Remember, this is why Makinen retired from the RAC in 1998 - because he couldn't get into the service park via the public roads, as the police stopped him driving on 3 wheels.
When rallies used to cross countries, the rally cars (often driven by the co-driver) had to get from service park to the start of the next Special Stage on public roads, which could be hundreds of miles.
@@OsellaSquadraCorseI could be wrong on this but I think they are still timed between stages and are penalized for arriving to early or to late. I can't remember who or which rally. But I vividly remember someone getting a ten second penalty for being late to stage start last year.
I agree. The RAC rally/Rally GB used to run from Sunday to Thursday and run through the night too, similar for the Monte Carlo rally, now they are more like hill-climb events. The spirit and romance of the endurance type rallies of old is now in the rally raids like the Dakar.
As much as I would love to see the return of 1000 km plus rallies especially in Africa its just not going to happen. And it's not just because of television. I remember reading somewhere that planning for Safari back in the 80s started six months in advanced. Sending cars out to recce the routes and setting up the cars for rally in general.
A lot of motorsport series are facing the same problem as other sports; lack of engagement by new fans because their series is aired behind a paywall. Dedicated fans might pay the subscriptions, and the broadcasters with the coverage rights might make a profit (at least for the first few years), but others can’t afford it/were only casual fans and can’t justify the outlay/don’t want to be tied to a TV deal/whatever. Result; a lower audience that dwindles year on year as people aren’t drawn into the sport when they simply don’t see it.
Gone are the days in the UK where you could catch F1 on the BBC/ITV, as well as BTCC, WRC, rallycross, the Indy 500, etc. - at least in highlights form on the likes of Grandstand and Sportsnight.
There’s existing deals in place with broadcasters that would take a lot of unpicking, I get that, but I wish the FIA would get a TV highlights package together and offer it to free-to-air broadcasters. Something like a round-up of FIA-sanctioned series, with a few minutes of coverage for each series. Even if the coverage was delayed by a month or more so as not to tread on the toes of existing broadcasting rights holders, it would at least put the sport in front of casual viewers.
In an ideal world I’d also ensure blue riband events like the Indy 500, Bathurst 1000, Le Mans, Macau GP, et al, would all be part of this highlights package too.
By this stage it’s probably impossible, but if someone could bang heads together and make this happen then instantly there would be casual viewers able to get a taste of various series without taking the expensive leap of faith involved in taking out a TV subscription.
I’m imagining the ability to (at least in the UK) tune in to a broadcaster like the BBC on a Saturday afternoon in late June and catch an hour long highlights programme showing the Monaco Grand Prix, Indy 500, a Formula E race, and a WRC event. Around 15 minutes each, nothing disincentivising die-hard fans from catching it live or nearer the time (in the case of F1 catching it live on Sky, or the extended highlights later on the day of the event on Channel 4). More eyeballs on the sport, happier sponsors, and a new generation of fans built up in the process. These days it could be available on catch-up services like the iPlayer too, so if the sport catches someone’s eye they could even binge watch a few episodes at a time.
If I was Liberty et al I’d at least be drafting future broadcasting rights contracts to allow for this to happen. Otherwise the amount of motorsport viewers will just dwindle over time, and the whole thing will just slowly fade away into irrelevance.
It may even help the likes of Sky keep subscriber numbers to a decent level. For every few kids who watch this highlights package somewhere growing up, some could well choose to take the plunge and take out a Sky Sports F1 if they get their own place and can afford it. As it is Sky seem to have existing fans of F1 (as well as the undoubted short-term gain of Drive to Survive viewers - itself behind the Netflix paywall - that have temporarily helped the situation) who are tempted to stump up the cash to watch F1 live in the UK (either through a subscription, or a pass with the Sky owned NOW TV). A dwindling pool of customers, basically. It would benefit them in the medium to long term to have interest in the sport raised.
I'd love to see a new group A, or at least 4wd monsters that look like road cars that never got a 4WD version (like Focus in the early 00s) and have limited aero
For me the best solution is to go with Rally2 cars with some aero updates and fossil free fuel...hyrbrid is not suitable with the adventure that WRC still contains as a sport...
Dont forget that in Rally2 we have more manufacturers! Skoda VW Citroen Hyundai Toyota Peugeot (the older 208) and Proton which currently participates only in British Rally Championship but if Rally2 becomes top tier Mellors Motorsport will may see an oportunity...
They re also way cheaper than Rally1s and of course there is always the room for privaters to come and give chances to newcomers to shine bright and start their careers...and that would be spectacular! Just like we learnt during 90s 😉
The 208 T16 is no longer eligible as its homologation had expired. The Iriz isn't FIA homologated and also ineligible for WRC
I've been getting into WRC lately. The speed with these current Rally1 cars is insane, but it is disappointing they only have ~8 entrants, then a couple of them DNF the first day and now 1/4 of your field is effectively out of the rally.
Excellent video and channel. Love the recommendation.
Really needs to be hotted up production cars. To do that 4WD has to go. FWD & RWD cars that look like the production cars. Longer stages, night stages (deal with the dust!), make it proper rallying, not just sprints. A rant from an old rally purist who has competed on both sides of the car and organised rallies at lower levels :)
Or just go with Rally2 specs.
I really would not say that BTCC was a one man show last year. Yes Sutton won most races and was the class of the field, but let's not forget, unlike F1 where Verstappen won 19 out of 22 races, Sutton only won 12 out of 30 races and the other 18 races were won by seven other drivers. The gap between first and second in the championship was only 46 points, and there was still a chance of other drivers taking the title in the last round of the season if Sutton had a bad weekend. A huge difference to the nearly 300 points Verstappen finished ahead of his team mate.
Things have been liked! I mean, as always you produce great content. Thanks!
Great thing you've done... keep it up !
A thought from a former hardcore rally fan, now little more than a passing interest now: Why not dust off, adapt and update the old group S rules?
Cap power at say 350-400hp, any body style, max engine displacement of 3ltr either via displacement, hybrid or by boost, kerb weight of no less than 1000kg either by ballast or by the cars natural weight, and it has to silhouette (ex aero) one of the cars in your manufacturer's lineup.
That way, with a heavy cost cap in place you can choose pretty much what to do fairly cheaply.
I know it's a flight of fancy and would never work, but hey, just a thought.
WRC as a sport is inherently more difficult to follow than circuit racing, but it needs a promoter that knows how to use the internet. Lack of teams aside (ok yes a huge issue), the product as it stands is pretty top tier, it's just hidden behind pay walls and no online presence.
MotoGP is in a place where manufacturers are digging themselves into a black hole of aero that makes racing worse, and it's basically a Spanish/Italian championship that happens to go international. Glad Liberty have bought it out however.
You recommended Dirtfish's RUclips channel, hope you don't mind me recommend another channel which happens to be the Welsh language channel S4C's Railo channel. They have some great pieces and stories on rallying. Now I admit that most is in Welsh but there are English subtitles provided, so you can follow along to what's been said. They did a fantastic piece with Malcolm Wilson a few months back as well as another piece on Dave Richards of Prodrive. Hope folks check it out.
Motogp needs a reboot,world superbikes have tried to but the big road bike market is dying. British superbikes are the boss at the moment. Love your channel fella, motorsport insight.
Liberty said they want to reboot it with 750cc V4s in 27 with no aero or traction control. Also the new kid Acosta is making things interesting this year podiumed his second race
@darragho6358 light revvy bikes with no aero. Mmmm sounds familiar. Maybe someone will invent a new kind of engine that fires twice as much and is more powerful per litre????
Endurence racing sets a good blueprint, the key is getting manufacturers in with exciting unique cars, in rally terms thinking back to Group B, that freedom.
I dont know what the answer is tbh mate. I thought going WRC 2 would be a good solution but then that would inevitably push WRC2 costs up and then you are in the same issue. Its too expensive. Personally for me id just remove the hybrid, cut 80% of the aero.
I think they need to limit testing, all the teams are testing all year long for each rally, it cant be cheap.
Ultimately though the days that interested me most in WRC are long gone. I used to love watching Solberg in a Subaru, the Lancer Evos, they were cars that i long to own even now.
12:00 I mean DTM is now just ADAC GT masters with DTM stickers slaped on it.
It's interesting how the other series that uses the same ruleset as DTM, Super GT, has managed to keep going strong with its GT500 field. They also only have three manufacturers, but all three seem totally invested and not willing to easily withdraw.
@@nickklavdianos5136they weren't exactly happy with the merge either but it's possibly because of the fact that DTM went as far as using the DRS system while Super GT do not. They also field in much lesser cars compared to DTM
@@nickklavdianos5136 two or three manufactures are fine for domestic/national series, which DTM, Super GT, V8 Supercars etc. are/were. Three manufactures in FIA sanctioned world championship (with around ten cars in top class at best) is other side of the coin.
As a die hard rally fan, they do have a talent to make it frustrating at times.
I would hope that the rule changes could attract more fans, but IDK...
dose the change the new points system back from what it became this year?
A restomod style modernised 205T16 would be epic!
For me what WRC needs is homologation rules again.
Cars with road going equivalents that people can go out aand buy (or lease these days) based on what is winning/ looks coolest.
And ban frenchmen called Sebastien.
I don't like the hybrid stuff because I guess I'm old but it''s here to stay.
The problem is that no manufacturers are buying on that regulation either now except Toyota. Even then, they ended up losing money for every car they've made
Nice video, will be interesting to see what happens, personally i agree that the WRC needs to wait untill 2026, that way the manufactures won't have to spend money unecasarally, also if the WRC doe what they a suggesting they will do it will affect trust in the regulations
Great job
Imo you forgot one important part. New Rally1 rules also alllows anyone build Rally1 car. There is no need for manufacturers like now, so for example Petter Solberg can build a car, make it look like Subaru and start in WRC without an approval of the manufacturer. This is something that was possible maybe with Group N back in the days.
I think that Dakar showed that this is the correct way. There are private teams as Overdrive or Prodrive and even fully private drivers like Martin Prokop, who builds his own car in his garage. I bet that even if Hyundai left WRC, there will be many new teams and tuners who will entry with their own projects.
I hope they keep what little areo they have. If they get rid of the big wings it will look shite though I loved the areo cars, they should just bring back the 2017 cars
Keep the Areo it makes the speeds more interesting to watch.
I agree with the manufacturers, let the current cars run through 2026. I guess the FIA is scared of having another era like 2018-2020 WEC where it was just Toyota and some privateers, but if the new regulations are good they will attract new brands in 2027. And the 3 current Rally1 manufacturers seem comitted anyway, so if the governing bodies can wait another 2-3 years and create a solid base for the future, everyone will benefit from that (viewers included).
The simplest solution (besides just leaving everything alone, which the FIA will _not_ do!) would be to ditch the hybrid, and put 85 kilos of ballast in its place. This would make it so teams only need to focus on the drop in power, rather than the aero and the tiny engine inlets and what-have-you.
But this is the FIA we're talking about here, so they will absolutely not take the simplest path.
“And SUVs and crossovers” really left a bad taste in my mouth
Just feels like it’s gonna push more manufacturers to delete what made (insert model) great and turn it into an SUV, the Eclipse and Lancer all over again, essentially
I don’t care what performance numbers it’s putting down, what happened to that model being a car?!
Brazilian Stock Car Pro is going to be based on SUVs from next year and no longer V8.
Toyota and Chevrolet at the moment, 2 more manufacturers should be announced.
I don't like it, I can barely tolerate Gen 3 supercars. Mustang, that Camaro was dropped on its roof 😂
The death of Holden was unfortunate but at least even after the Commodore and Falcon were gone you could still get the spirit of the cars. It's no weirder than when the Altima showed up.
@Exponaut_R-01 I was new to V8SC when they had volvo and nissan. Great racing. Gen 2 mustang was already a bit too exotic for my liking. Can't see many of those here in Ireland.
Easy for me to have an opinion without any stake.
Cheers
@@irishcufta8 To be fair to Stock Car Pro, those engines are fucking INSANE, the Stock Car V8s were woefully outdated (like, they haven't changed since the 1960s outdated) and needed an update, so they turned to the Argentinians, and well, TC2000 is 2.0L 4-bangers, FWD, WITH 600HP TO THE FRONT. FUCKING. WHEELS.
My glory days of WRC were the same as yours... Great days, back when I loved it more than F1.
Last year I decided to start getting back into it, and I just can't... At all. I don't understand Rally1. It looks to be a fulfillment of the dumb direction that F1 is going into, and I think that WRC2 is more like what the top tier should look like.
That being said, I was absolutely thrilled when I heard they were ditching the hybrid
Cars going sideways a lot _looks cool_ whether you are eight years old or fifty-eight years old.
It’s so sad how WRC & BTCC have gone wrong, I hope they sort them out…
WEC has shown how to do it, the future looks bright with the new Hypercars!
F1 is infuriating too because 2021 was the best season in decades, then they changed the regulations and Adrian Newey took advantage. Such a shame.
I love Indycar but I don’t want TOO much BOP or homologation. I like to see different manufacturers trying different things.
Generally of it's more affordable Motorsport is better, F1 budget cap and has more audience than ever. Wec HyperCars are far cheaper than the lmp cars that came before which is part of the reason so many teams joined and GT3 has been around since the beginning of time.
I think reducing costs in wrc is very important and having a bit of freedom is great too, one thing I wish was more common in Motorsport is different engine layouts. I still think of the Audi quattro and Subaru Impreza as some of my favourite cars for their great soundtracks.
Good sir, how do you think about why SRO GTWC America GT3 is inferior compared to GTD while they're ultimately same machinary?
America can't sustain 2 top-of-the-line Sportscar series, it's always been like this.
Pirelli World Challenge only survived the ALMS and Grand Am, by being more of a Trans Am revival when Trans Am shit the bed.
You've got it right-keep the current rules, bring in new ones in 2027. The step method the FIA seems to love will raise costs and push manufacturers to the point where they'll have to decide if it's really worth the trouble
I'm a huge fan of the homologation era, but at the same time amazed with these aero monsters with insane suspension travel that are running on the WRC.
The 3 cylinder GR Yaris was meant as a homologation special for WRC then those rules scrapped for Rally1 rules with spec engine, spec chassis and spec hybrid
As with other catagories of motorsport, to save the sport and increase competitive participation they have to break the hold of the current manufacturers and lower the cost/barriers to entry. Make it viable again for privateers to enter with their own cars, which then gives new manufacturers an easy route to enter by supporting them.
They should look back to the Formula 2 'kit cars' of the '90s. The regulations should be formulated around converting a production bodyshell and manufacturers who participate in rallying (register for the manufacturers/constructors championship) should be obliged to sell the parts they use for their cars as kits at a regulated price. But the door should also be left open for privateers to make their own conversions without manufacturer support.
The roads are still the same Aidan. 😊 Hi from NG31
I was PE12
Just do a Group A with stripped down production cars, but mandate front wheel drive four cylinders (inline or V, NA only) and toss in the safety aspects. Minimize aerodynamic addons to just a front splitter and a rear wing. Sure, you'd kill a fuckton of speed, but that should make everything way cheaper, hopefully cheap enough that you could get new privateer teams in.
All Motosports that isn't GT or Prototype are going to kill themselves in 16 years time if they insist on trying to court manufacturers, there's been too much divergence between 2002 and 2024 on what's needed on city streets and what's need on racetracks and dirt courses. Manufactures care about profit and perception over everything else and whenever a motorsport program isn't making a big return on investment or looks even a little 'silly', let alone bad, the corpo will pull the plug because their actual profits come from selling cars and datamining+ad targeting consumers is more efficient on investment returns then racing promotion.
First! Great vid!
Common guys let’s get the comments going
If they make it so you can buy what is raced then I’m happy
When I bought the EA WRC game and went to pick a car to do my first rally in the game I was left wondering where the hell are all the cars. I had no idea there are only 3 manufactures in the top level of the WRC these days and it killed any interest I had in the WRC. Hopefully the FIA opts to kill the current Rally1 formula quickly and gets new cars on the grid ASAP.
MotoGP has a grand total of 6 fans outside of Spain, Italy and Indonesia
I used to be a massive fan starting 15 ish years ago but lost almost all interest in it, same with F1.
WEC, IMSA and overall Endurance series are where it's at these days imho
@@AdminAbuse good news, there is (and has been for a few years now I think) an endurance motorcycle riding series that goes all over the world racing things like 8h of suzuka or 24h of spa. I cant imagine what its like going up radillon, at night, on a motorcycle, after riding for that long but they do it. I believe its called FIM endurance championship or something? sadly theres only 4 races a year so far but as they grow im sure that number will go up.
I might be one of them😂. It's pretty good racing, thought i have started to realise we are having more and more problems related to aero
@@juni_2452Acosta showing us maybe it's just the riders...
Liberty said they want to get rid of aero on the new bike spec for 27 as well.
You made me spit out in laughter, thanks for that 😂
This isnt strictly a rally opinion but i think that motorsport in general has become to reliant on aero, downforce specifically i cannot think of a series that in the last 20 years has changed to incorporate aero as one of the main design components of the cars and has had a increase in the quality of the racing. NASCAR, for example, is at its best when the cars are designed to be slippery through the air and corners, not when they are glued to the track and on rails. in some series, it makes sense to have aero be a mainstay of car development or the racing like F1 Indy or WEC. But for the other series like Rally, GTs, Touring Cars, and Stock Cars, it ruins the racing.
Might just be me, but this era of rally is uninteresting for the same reason I don’t care for TCR. The cars bear only a passing resemblance to their road-going counterparts.
I dont even know if its actually that, because sillhuette cars of Group 5 were great, and c'mon... they were nothing close to the road cars either lol.
might be that its the lack of variety? like all the cars are based off the same frame? all just hatchbacks with big wings with the same sort of "kinda dull sounding" engines that all can get up to speed fast and take all corners at that speed. im sure its more exciting in person but yea nothing about each of the cars *really* stands out from one another to me.
@@garchompy_1561Rally racing in general has almost always featured hatchbacks. I do get what you are saying, though. There are no 4 door saloons like the Lan-Evos and Imprezas, there are no fastback coupes like the Lancia 037 and Toyota Celica. The cars sounding the same would have been alright if they sounded good (I always think of the sound of turbocharged 4 cylinders whenever I think of rally cars) but some variety would definitely be welcomed like the sound of inline 5 cylinders and V6s.
@@garchompy_1561 Also Group 5 cars looked like monstrous versions of their road car counterparts which combined with their performance made them so enjoyable to watch. Even if the manufacturers didn't make production versions of those cars for the public, the fans still made their own cars resemble those silhouette racers using body kits (even to this day there are body kits being made that are inspired by the silhouette racers of the 70s and 80s).
TCR cars are actually based on their road chassis at least, so they have that going for them.
There are few reasons to enjoy being older. Auto Racing is the outlier. I grew up with Can-Am and the aero revolutions in F1 and Indy. Young Adult and Cable TV was Group B and Group C and Turbo F1. I still enjoy most of the series, but have no interest in B0P. Can you imagine shackling the cars of my era? The true legends.
Honestly the BTCC and WRC as of late both have the same issue in my eyes: the regs just don't make any sense. BTCC still forces teams to use a wet sump system, for example. Wet sump systems are far more expensive and complicated to run in race cars because it's far harder to deal with oil starvation issues than just slapping on a dry sump and not having to deal with oil accumulators, complex sump designs etc all of which require more maintenance than a proper dry sump anyway. Rally1 is genuinely 2 steps removed from a spec series yet they still force manufacturers to run 1.6L I4's based on street engines which entirely blocks most manufacturers from entering even if they wanted to, since almost no one still makes 1.6L I4's. Subaru couldn't join even if they ditched that regulation as the spec transverse 4WD system means they can't use boxer engines anyway. It's all thinly veiled cost saving nonsense that actually ends up driving costs up because they're badly thought through. Why can't they just run a cost cap a la F1 and just make part of the entry fee pay the salaries of people employed to enforce the cap? In the end it would be simpler and cheaper for teams to follow cost cap regulations over meddling around regulations that only end up making the cars more expensive to run.
Also to people complaining about the WRC event coverage: yeah it's bad, but not even close to as bad as the points system they recently introduced or the aforementioned Rally1 regulations. Better coverage isn't going to do anything for the sport when the points system doesn't make any sense and incentivizes coasting through an entire day of the rally and the car regulations prevent most manufacturers from joining despite being as close to a spec series as possible without being one.
The whole modern day take on Group B was only gonna work if you could have had the mad innovations that Group B was all about, and as we all know, most championships in the modern day will stray from that ideology for fears of it becoming a billion dollar arms race, imposing more and more restrictions until you get something like you see with WRC today. Once again a Hybrid focused aerocentric regulation set has priced itself out of accessibility. WRC too has a bit of an identity crisis with it throwing away a number of events and formats that made it such a unique series with the loss of long endurance events, and some iconic events themselves making way for 'new markets' that seem to disappear as quickly as they show up.
Then answer for many, is longer rallies, the return of a few classics that have disappeared, better coverage (maybe less focus on live stuff as I've never felt that suited rallying that well) and the adoption of Rally 2 rules. But the manufacturers involved in Rally 1 seem to want nothing to do with that latter idea as I guess it would heighten competition too much? Which is rather ironic seeing as all 3 have Rally 2 cars in production now. Personally I don't think manufacturers should be dictating what a world level championship is planning to do, unless there's at least 5 of them or the FIA are proposing something mental like arsenic powered rally cars.
A bolt on kit for Rally 2 machines to make them Rally 1's is an idea I like, but got knows how that could spiral out of control.
Have they done anything about the flimsy windows yet?
No clue. Yet another motorsport behind a paywall so I'm just getting highlights and whatever the pro journos are saying.
@@AidanMillward truly a shame its a pay to watch, its hurting its popularity because it could use new fans... I'm glad that in italy sky shows 5/6 stages of every rally, better than nothing tbh
The flimsy windows??
Why do people say F1 is spectacle over sport when there is no spectacle and every time the drivers go wheel to wheel they get a penalty
Gille Panizi….. greatest kind of mental. Apologies for spelling, I’m half cut!!
The solution to me is rather simple: get rid of rally 1 regulations altogether, make wrc 2 the main category. The number of manufacturers will increase, the competitiveness will increase, etc
And Skoda will be on top (let's face it) - lovely.
Thoughts on Cody finishing his story?
Panizzis dougnuts was in 2002
It's on its arse; not enough manufacturers are interested as its too expensive and not enough TV coverage. Not helped by a few drivers dominating the series for years - Seb L, Seb O and now Kalli R. I hope it survives, I've been following it since I was 10m and that's nearly 50 years ago.
It would be interesting to see what happens if all the manufacturers leave rally
Ironically mass exodus of OEMs forcing the cancellation of Rally 1 and promotion of Rally 2 might end up being a blessing in disguise.
Ban hatchbacks and bring back large family saloons. The bigger and heavier the barge, the bigger the turbo.
Four doors and a room for a large suitcase and golf clubs in the back non negotiable.
I miss Group A and Group N. Bringing back these groups and the homologation specials would help a lot, but we know the FIA has no interest in keeping down costs.
Subaru chopping at the BIT to get these regs passed no doubt. They could finally run the cross tec and outback and truly get rid of the wrx.
its sad R-GT didnt take off, maybe if they brought the BRZ or toyata bringing the GT86 the variety wouldve helped it last longer.
@@garchompy_1561 I don't think the GT86/BRZ is classified as a GT sportscar like the Alpine A110 or Abarth 124. Fun fact - Toyota did made a rally version of the GT86, but was in the 2WD Group R3 class which was back then the highest 2WD rally class (Rally4, which is the current highest spec 2WD class is based on the previous Group R2 class)
The Crosstrek is an Impreza.😂
I completely lost interest in WRC as soon as aero was added. This is more of a personal preference but I prefer racing that relies on mechanical grip. Aero is great, but as soon as you reach the limits of grip or downforce it tends to go badly very quickly. With mechanical grip there tends to be more leeway and drivers can get away with small mistakes like correcting slides. This means both car and driver are on the edge more often since it isn't an instant "game over" if they push a little too hard.
Edit: after writing all this I realise it might not be so relevant to the video and what was discussed!
I want to ask some question less related to this video still related to our common passion can I ask it
GT3. Put GT3 on gravel.
They should have gone TCR with 4WD instead of Rally1. Allow two works cars per brand and at least two customer run cars to be eligible for manufacturer championship points.
WRC's current problem is almost exactly what the LMP1 problem was.
Go figure both ended up with 3 manufacturers...
The only way to fix this is bring back Manufacturer Homologations, and make the #'s high enough that they need to be road relevant / purchased by normal people......this wont happen unless you ditch the "hybrid" powertrain mandates.....theres a reason the golden age of WRC was when you could still buy a WRX that looked similar to a 22B or an EVO in general......(this statement isn't a mystery and shouldn't surprise anyone; as was the case for the popularity of NASCAR, people don't like "cookie-cutter" cars, and brand loyalty is blind when the race car has NO road relevance......this affects even non-road derived types of racing cars [INDY-car is a perfect example]).
The Peugeot 205 T16 is just... 😍 when you win the jackpot, can you buy me one too? 🥺
We had a 205 GRD diesel in the late '80s and '90s. That thing was amazing on country lanes. And if the poverty spec. diesel was that good, how amazing must the T16 be?
It's interesting how FIA fails to look into the past to see what made the WRC so popular from the early 80's up till the mid 2000's. Overall, the whole series was like one big circus that came to the town, an annual adventure for the drivers. Rallies used to have different feel to them as well, which won't work with current cars due the heavy emphasis on aero instead of robustness. And first and foremost, the drivers were just normal, everyday people, not super-athletic heroes. So you also had that working class-vibe to it all, because the series was cheaper to participate. The cars also were much closer to normal roadcars, that you could actually buy. Especially in the Group A-era, the series was flourished with tons of privateers on top class cars in selected events, usually local drivers, and they could show their talents to manufacturer teams through that. It all worked so well and there was so many spectators and fans as a result of all of that. Heck, even the TV broadcasting was fantastic still in the mid 2000's, nowadays you have very little stage camera footage and the camera feed from the forests is always terrible slideshow. I also think that since the cars are ultra fast nowadays, it narrows down the amount of drivers who really can drive such things, not everyone is capable of driving such things, but could do great results on WRC2 level cars.
The Group B era also featured a heavy emphasis on aero, though I do get what you're saying. When people think of Group B they think of the bewinged, wide-bodied, fire-spitting monsters of the last 2 seasons of Group B. Those are the cars that get featured in RUclips videos and racing games.
The Group A era was probably the best because it had a good balance of power, aerodynamics and costs. Plus it was cheaper to build homologation specials of Group A cars than homologation specials of Group B cars.
Yes, absolutely. Group B was not going to last anyway, it would have ran into same issue as current situation, very likely. So, a similar sort of ''reset'' is needed for the series again. But this time, the problem is that the series is not as popular as it was when Group B ended, so it might be do or die-situation for it.
@@CyanRooper What a lot of people have forgotten and I think to a big extent due to the reason you mention, is that the backbone of Group B on the ERC and national championship level was right up to pretty much the start of 1986 were the RWD cars, aside from an occasional Quattro (with the exception of mostly Germany, Finland and Sweden, which were spammed with Audis) and a couple of 205T16s in 1985. Everyone remembers the S1 and the Sport Quattro for obvious reasons...but IIRC almost forgotten cars like the Turbo Celica won more rallies in the WRC than those two combined. This brings up a couple of the other points in the video, the cars may not have been nearly quick as today or the Group B of late '85-1986, but they were spectacularly sideways and made glorius noise. That also goes for the early to mid-90s years Group A and not just the M3 or Sierra Cosworth, the cars were just "less sorted". Cars like the Manta 400, 911 SCRS, 240RS, the aforementioned Celica, the long wheelbase Quattro, M3, Cossie Sierra and Escort etc were also very relatable to the punter, the race cars and the road cars were certainly magnitudes less disconnected from each other than today, which in yesteryear similes would probably be like a bog stock 1979 Porsche 911 versus a 935K3.
It's a pity R-GT is largely ignored and almost forgotten that the category even exists.
Decreasing then removing the homologation requirements directly decreased then removed my interest in WRC. The whole point of WRC was you could buy the car you were watching. I have zero interest in the tube frame prototype monstrosities they drive these days.
GT racing is really on the up as well.
It seems the desire to go faster usually leads to massive cost increases and causes the series to fail. Its inevitable with any regulation set, how can this be avoided long term?
You can’t unless you turn it spec.
Let the engineers run wild: fans complain about dominance and lack of close racing.
Turn the series into a spec series: fans complain about "manufactured entertainment" or "fake racing" and lack of innovation.
There's just no winning with motorsports fans, is there?
@@CyanRooper yep
Bring the Group B cars out of the museums, ohh and make sure to get life insurance, drivers and spectators.
There are too many small categories requiring specialized equipment. Rally could be just WEC going sideways on gravel. Plenty entertaining, no need for million-dollar cars.
Still hate the BOP in endurance racing. It was such a big factor in Ferrari winning last year. Teams put more effort into sandbagging than designing a good car. Still if it's getting more popular maybe that's what people want to see.
Apart from a few seasons, it's been 20 years of stagnation and poor management in the WRC. And they still can't get it right, and seem incapable of doing so.
Interesting to see how the economics of hybrids don't work in motor racing..
Soon: GT3 Rally Spec