World Rallycross Championship 2016

[crossfades]

Originally Posted by Distracted

I overheard a conversation last year at Lydden between two officials about how expensive the sport was getting. They were concerned that only factory teams would be able to afford it in the long run.

Walfridson is one example that has pulled out already. It is a shame that IMG raises the costs more and more for organizers and drivers. It is true that in the future it will probably be only factory teams left and I too have heard others in the rallycross circus having these concerns.

[1975DCS]

Originally Posted by Distracted

I overheard a conversation last year at Lydden between two officials about how expensive the sport was getting. They were concerned that only factory teams would be able to afford it in the long run.

Today I've heard even worse information in the paddock: there is talk about closing the paddock for spectators next year! If this means permanent closing or an extra entry fee (like VIP) is not sure...

One thing is for sure, I wanted to take a picture of the 208 of the secondary Hansen team from the side of the tent (not in the tent!) when a unfriendly mechanic rushed to send me away... Must be a big secret engine!

[NaBUru38]

Unless IMG switches to street races a la Global Rallycross, traditional fans will disappear if they have no paddock access.

If costs escalate, European teams will do European or national championships only. But there they won't get as much exposure as in WRX.

[Distracted]

Originally Posted by 1975DCS

Today I've heard even worse information in the paddock: there is talk about closing the paddock for spectators next year! If this means permanent closing or an extra entry fee (like VIP) is not sure...

One thing is for sure, I wanted to take a picture of the 208 of the secondary Hansen team from the side of the tent (not in the tent!) when a unfriendly mechanic rushed to send me away... Must be a big secret engine!

I'm a really new fan to the sport and half the fun for me is getting to see the cars up close and watch the teams work. It's already an expensive weekend (at Lydden) and if they keep adding costs I'll probably stop going.

[1975DCS]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Unless IMG switches to street races a la Global Rallycross, traditional fans will disappear if they have no paddock access.

If costs escalate, European teams will do European or national championships only. But there they won't get as much exposure as in WRX.

That would be disastrous, two half championships with 3-4 heats of SuperCars. I still don't understand why we can't see ERX and S1600 in all European WRX rounds. Lydden 2014 for example was a great race!

[1975DCS]

Originally Posted by Distracted

I'm a really new fan to the sport and half the fun for me is getting to see the cars up close and watch the teams work. It's already an expensive weekend (at Lydden) and if they keep adding costs I'll probably stop going.

Me too and I guess most of us out here...

[chunder]

I would think part of the reason for not having the ERX guys at Lydden was, bizarrely cost!

The ferry and travel costs for a lot of the teams would be very high to get to the UK from most parts of Europe.

Either that or paddock space.

If this is true about making paddock access charges then I will never visit Lydden Hill for WRX again. it might be for safety, or they might dress it up as that, but if it is done they will lose an awful lot of fans sadly. I will say in their defence it was rumoured last year too, but nothing came of it.

But they seem to be rather oblivious to most long term fans, we are not the audience they are looking for I guess.

[rx-guru]

Originally Posted by chunder

But they seem to be rather oblivious to most long term fans, we are not the audience they are looking for I guess.

In case you don't drink lots of energy drinks every day you are perfectly right! Take Timmy and Topi as an example, they even have a Red Bull can in one of their hands whilst driving on open roads, to take selfies for their Facebook followers. That's the way to do it if you want chicks for free.

https://www.facebook.com/toomastopih...type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/26407725694...type=3&theater

[Hickey]

Originally Posted by chunder

Either that or paddock space..

Funny you should say that as a friend heard from the horses mouth this weekend in mettet that is in fact the reason that ERX isn't at Lydden. I suspect it's the size of the entourage not the car numbers as there were 120 at Lydden in Easter (but 15 swifts take up about the same as 2 EKS cars). Plans are afoot to get planning permission to extend the paddock and I hope they succeed for next year.

I hope charging for paddock entry is a myth. It wouldn't work at mettet or loheac as entrusting the viewing area is via the pits. I can't see it happening either but also heard that photography of cars this weekend for WRX boys was a big no no when it came to under the bonnet so maybe WRX boys are thinking of having a restricted area. All seems a bit ott for our little sport but money talks I guess.

[chunder]

I think the likely reason for photography is that as a fan you can take a picture of anything and post it on flickr or twitter, and these guys are running at such serious levels now at the high end they are probably prototyping new turbo's piping, intercoolers, pushing limits with build rules.

And some dweeb posting an under bonnet pic on flickr 3 hours after the meeting is exposing that tech to anyone from any team who might be interested..

Sad thing is, that you could probably get ore ERX cars in there and ditch WRX!! And that would be fine, and I think as fans we would not really care less as top ER are as great to watch as top WR!

[USRallycross]

Obviously not there in person but I thought the racing was good this weekend watching on youtube. I don't like the first corner but less carnage that Hockenheim. Also really good to see Loeb finding his feet and Ekstrom delivering on the promise of last year. We should have a title fight this year.

Re. Paddock entry fees, my guess is that they will be implemented next year. Several reasons - revenue obviously and it is king; logistics - too many people have no clue to look for cars; control - the teams want 'their' space and like to see fans in a controlled environment and not wandering everywhere.

Not defending this but I believe it to be the reality.

Mark

[1975DCS]

Originally Posted by chunder

I think the likely reason for photography is that as a fan you can take a picture of anything and post it on flickr or twitter, and these guys are running at such serious levels now at the high end they are probably prototyping new turbo's piping, intercoolers, pushing limits with build rules.



And some dweeb posting an under bonnet pic on flickr 3 hours after the meeting is exposing that tech to anyone from any team who might be interested..



Sad thing is, that you could probably get ore ERX cars in there and ditch WRX!! And that would be fine, and I think as fans we would not really care less as top ER are as great to watch as top WR!

I am not a mechanic, but I do like all the technical stuff. Better said: the technical aspect is about 50% of the reason for me to come. For me the car is the star! I can understand some secret stuff to be revealed, but half the bits aren't visible, like compression ratio and electronics. And I guess if a bloke like Julian Godfrey is inside someone else's tent can see more secret stuff than most of us.

[1975DCS]

Originally Posted by USRallycross

Obviously not there in person but I thought the racing was good this weekend watching on youtube. I don't like the first corner but less carnage that Hockenheim. Also really good to see Loeb finding his feet and Ekstrom delivering on the promise of last year. We should have a title fight this year.



Re. Paddock entry fees, my guess is that they will be implemented next year. Several reasons - revenue obviously and it is king; logistics - too many people have no clue to look for cars; control - the teams want 'their' space and like to see fans in a controlled environment and not wandering everywhere.



Not defending this but I believe it to be the reality.



Mark

I really don't hope so. It creates a distance like you see in F1 and WRC. Take Solberg and Hoonigan.

Those are only behind closed doors. On TV Belgium certainly is a nice track, but on the circuit you miss half the action.

[RXFan99]

World RX have introduced a new 48 minute highlight show exclusively for the Euro RX support series, can be watched on their official YouTube account from tonight apparently. Here's the full story from their website:

http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/ar...-rx-highlights

Great news and explosure for the ERX support category drivers!

[chunder]

It is the death knell for me with rallycross in this format if it happens. A silly decision, a selfish one, and a petulant and rather ignorant one.

But, rallycross is hardly the first jumped up championship to start doing this kind of thing.

So as fans all you can do is stick your vees up to them, write to them voicing your concerns as I regularly do and not attend the events.

Sadly there are more than enough people who seem to care little about what their precedent is setting. So things are unlikely to change back once they are made.

[rx-guru]

Originally Posted by RXFan99

World RX have introduced a new 48 minute highlight show exclusively for the Euro RX support series, can be watched on their official YouTube account from tonight apparently. Here's the full story from their website:

http://www.fiaworldrallycross.com/ar...-rx-highlights

Great news and explosure for the ERX support category drivers!

I made up a new thread for ERX things some time ago.

[tbtstt]

Just reading the latest interview with Petter Solberg on ERC24...

http://erc24.com/archives/23158

...and the handful of figures in the article really caught my eye. Specifically the fastest Lydden race times from the last few years:

6 laps:

2014 Bakkerud 4.25.4
2015 Solberg 4.25.0
2016 Ekström 4.16.4

4 laps:

2014 Solberg 2.58.9
2015 Ekström 2.56.1
2016 Solberg 2.52.2

I appreciate that the circuit configuration has changed slightly over the last few years, but that's approximately 1.5 seconds a lap quicker over a two year period. Shows just how much performance they are squeezing out of the cars!

[crossfades]

http://www.autoexpress.co.uk/car-new...port-out-there

What do you guys think? Is it the most exciting motorsport?

[chunder]

Amazing what a ridiculous PR budget can do for you isnt it.

Rallycross is exciting yes, but only because 95% of the world has never heard of it before and are suddenly being exposed to it by a huge campaign of marketing, hype and money.

Same as drifting, yet it doesnt make that the most amazing thing in the world does it?
Just different and new (to the uneducated)

[Barrie]

Spot on Chunder. It is exciting yes, but nowhere near the excitement of the ERC group B days. Petter Solberg is great to watch.

[chunder]

I am not saying modern rallycross is not exciting or not great for tv. A lot of older rallycross was too but there were also awful times, bad races and poor crowds and grids. But we werent being bankrolled by a marketing giant then.

All that has happened here is that a huge amount of money is being thrown at it where it never has before.

As fans we have ALWAYS known it only needed a budget and some decent PR and marketing to get it to work.

Sadly, what is being done is removing some of the fun, the camaraderie and pure racing, to be replaced by awful tracks, massive budgets for only a few teams and eventual replacement of the clubman style tracks with Xgames venues and the experience being turned into pit access being paid for, massive ticket prices, huge crowds, parking problems.

Yes it's progress, but at what price eventually. You can't have one without the other I guess

My hope is that WRX goes global once GRC dies its inevitable death, and we can have a European series again for the clubman guys, perhaps S1600 and rwd while Lites and some other tame crud travel with WRX. But right now WRX needs the rich guys to pad out the grid, even though they get nothing but a youtube clip for the privilege.

[crossfades]

I understood you're point before and know. Rallycross was good as it was before and no extreme change was needed except for promotion. IMG has turned it too speedway for cars really which annoys me a lot. Having in mind though how plans were from the beginning, one should consider it lucky that the original plans were scrapped ...

Me too long for a real Euro series with real tracks. Finland (my favorite track), Hungary, Poland, with others, would have good racing and are purpose built unlike the awful Hockenheim and Mettet along with other tracks that could be "built" in a week.

To be honest I don't understand why there had too be so many changes in both how the racing is laid up with heats and finals, and why costs needed to go through the roof. Sure, they want to make money but costs have risen extremely much. I hope it dosen't drive out too many competitors.

[chunder]

I think cross that when someone starts coming in and spending huge money on marketing, PR and trying to reach a global audience the budgets will substantially increase as a matter of course. It sort of cascades down. They buy aanother semi, we buy another semi, they buy a massive setup jig, we buy one too. etc.

The teams now are almost works level, certainly with Peugeot. VW, Ford and Audi are largely dealer teams as they would have been in somehting like a national rally team, but they are still receiving big money from importers and manufacturers.

I think the days of the Isachsen, Schanche, Pailler (Peugeot), Stecka Jernberg are gone. The guys with a bit of money to develop a car themselves are gone. The only one really is Robin Larsson who is not exactly short of money but they do a brilliant job.

My hope as I say is that WRX goes truly global, for works teams only, like a travelling circus. IMG do not want anyone else, they only want their money registering for the series and for bolstering the grids at ERX rounds, they have knocked back their tv coverage and media exposure to such a degree that it is almost useless using tv as a marketing campaign for your team as you get nothing more than a few youtube clips. But they can't race anywhere else.

If they really cared they would put ERX with all Europe rounds, but sadly fans are turning up whatever, as they usualy do when they are being fleeced but don't realise it.

It is called being swept up in hype. It's what millions of dollars of marketing can achieve, which is why people in that industry are paid a lot of money, they can make a grain of sand sound exciting.

And luckily for them, there is very little car based international motor racing at the moment that is doing anything but stagnating.

Bikes however are starting to rapidly encroach into car sport fans lives, and that is where I have been spending far more time in recent years. More accessible, more skillful, more human and you can still get a thrill at club level aswell as the top level.

[feewaybill]

It's a subjective thing, purely personal.

But for me the answer is yes. I have attended all motorsport events from local sporting trials to F1 and Indy. I dont do F1 live now, too expensive and too detached from the spectator but it continues to generate a huge audience. The original Formula Ford festivals were hard to beat, but circuit racing has become a little sterile and insular.

WRX and BTCC are currently the two I follow simply because they offer guaranteed action. WRX wins hands down because the machines are phenomenally spectacular, the driver quality continues to rise, and the teams and drivers are just so accessible.

Everything is cyclical so it won't last, but for me Lydden WRX is the number one must attend event each season.

[S griffin]

In my life is a great day for the next few generations of the best thing ever when the time comes to making the most important decisions on the way to get the best thing ever made a lot more than a whole fun sport and I have to be so much satisfied with the same sport I have learnt about

I love the way Rallyx and the coverage is going