Why are there no young Superstars in Rallycross?

[Robin Plummer]

Unlike in the world of WRC Rallying in the Supercar/Division 1 classes of the British and European Rallycross championship there are no young superstars everyone is 42+. Will Gollup is a great driver but he is 52, Lawrence Gibson, Pat Doran, Per Eklund, Kenneth Hansen, Martin Schanche are all at least 10-20 years older than say
Richard Burns 32, Alister Mcrae 33 etc. Why is this? I know that Supercars cost a lot to run so the rich company owners can only afford it. I know Rallycross doesnt really have much Manufacturer support but I belive it should be better supported by car makers and introduce young guns using it's cash to pay for them. The technolgy that is used is not far from WRC spec, the promotion of the car is good and the specators see more than 2 passes of a car!. The sport is ideal for TV too.

Just dream and Imagine the Rallycross Euro Championship of the future...
Seat, Ford, Peugeot, Mitsubishi, Toyota, Subaru, Hyundai, Citroen, Audi...

Rounds
1. Brands Hatch - England
2. Bercy - Paris (indoor stadium)
3,4,5,6,7,8 Germany, Norway, Sweden etc
9. Silverstone (Super Special and part of GP track)
10. Gran Caneria (ROC Super Special converted into one track)

And 4 young guns (hopefully 2 brits)!!

We can but hope...

[Robin Plummer]

I forgot to say the fact that the cars weight about 110kg less and 200bhp more than WRC cars makes them more spectacular to watch also.

[Peter S]

There are young guns in europe.

Watch Per Johansson in the works Hyundai Accent Wrc. He is an ex rally driver, 28 years old and will fly.

Then there is Sverre Isachsen, Glen Voie, Morten Bermingrud all in the early 30's.They will be very near the front. There are a lot of younger drivers in Europe in all classes. More and more are getting involved as the sport is about to boom again.

All of those manufacturers you mentioned are represented in 2003. Some are works assisted. Pavel Kounty and Marek Zeman are planning to be in Europe with works assisted Skoda Fabias towards the middle of the year.

Works cars will be:- or works assisted

Saab - Per Eklund
Peugeot - Jean Luc Pailler
Citroen - Kenneth Hansen
Seat - Torben Moller
Ford - Ludvig Hunsbedt - gets some assistance
Hyundai - Per Johansson
Audi - Lars Larsson

So they are represented, with younger drivers. The problem is not a lot people know much about this because the publicity that the british reporter gives on european rallycross is rubbish. That is where the main problem is.

If the British press reporter decided to write something positive about the European series for once rather than having a negative approach then maybe more people from Britian will be competiting. That is why i respect Tony Bell.

I mean the european coverage gets no mention in the Motorsport news or autosport anymore. It is a joke. And the coverage of British rallycross in the autosport is a even bigger joke.

If younger drivers are wanted to be brought into european rallycross from this country then media coverage has to alter dramitcally to do this.

It is also frustrating to see people like Pat Doran say British is best. That is rubbish, as British rallycross is like Formula Ford in comparison to Formula 1. The Swedish and French championships are ten times more professional and are national faviroutes. On average there are around 20,000 to 30,000 french fans that attend there National rallycross meetings. We are lucky to get that a touring car meating these days.

It all comes back to press coverage and promotion. Sort this out and the car manufacturers will be interested. As will younger drivers, as manufacturers will be prepared to back them.

Rallycross is the best motorsport on 4 wheels, which is just bursting to fulfill its maximum potential.

Maybe now Gollop is back in a proper ERC legal car, we may see interest rekindled in Europe, and younger drivers may have a hero and role model in the rallycross world to aspire to once again. Gollop is a class act and finally we have a driver that can set the standard for the rest of British rallycross to follow.

[Robin Plummer]

I am finally coming round to you way of thinking Peter. I think that forcing everyone to run Euro regs will encourge more European participants and provide the public with a single view of Rallycross. This in Turn I hope will get a British round or 2 back on the calender were it belongs.

[Peter S]

I hope the Eurosport tv deal comes off. I have been told that 5 rounds are confirmed, but there is apperently a meating the first weekend in May to settle a dispute with two rounds of the championship to ensure money is available to pay for it.

This will give the championship a Big Big presence once again in this Country, which will be most peoples only chance to see or hear about it, apart from the internet.

In 1996 when we banned all group b cars and went completely with european regs as well as modified cars we had twice the number of modified and division 1 cars we have on the grid now. then the rac withdrew there backing and it turned to disaster.(Excluding stock hatch and minicross) So people involved within the championship who keep saying there wont be enough cars, talk codswolep!

To me the right structure would be to have 4 classes. And then run Stockhatch championship and Minicross at say club level as a seperate standalone series.
Division 1
Division 1a
Division 2
Modified

Thats what other countrys do, Sweden for example has a seperate supernational series. Also in Sweden they only allow 12 drivers into each class (they have 10 direct qualifiers, top 10 from previous years championship and then 2 out of around 8 which all pre qualify). THis gives the organizers 12 championship drivers for the four rounds, with pre determined grids for the qualifying heats, which they can market much better, giving superb tv coverage and whole massively professional series. How can sponsors refuse that!

Again this is a big success due to the big marketing and promotional push it recieves. Also the media coverage is a lot bigger as it gets in all daily newspapers as well as sameday tv, radio and all motorsport mags. Kenneth Hansen is a national hero over there.

If the media coverage can alter then Europe will be back here very soon.

There has been to many older drivers set in there ways in rallycross and this to me has been reflected in to many areas of the sport.

People say that Group N type regs were never popular with Brits. This is one reason why division 2 is not adopted in this country apperently. Funny people should say that, as we did have a Europeam champion in Group N in 1994, Richard Hutton. He also finished runner up in 1993. And trevor reeves nearly won the championship back in 1988 in similar (ok group a but similar). mmmmm oh then there was Nick Jones winning a round in European Group N and Tony Bardy being a front runner in European Group N. Some things just dont add up. Maybe some people dont want them to.

The problem with Britain is the press coverage is so much sewn up by one person, that no one else seems to be able to get a look in. As a result the British public have been subjected to his negative critiscm about the european series for a long time, which is born out of the desire purely for the british series to succeed. It was the same bunch of people 5 years ago saying Spaceframe regulations were the way to go. Just look how much of a joke they turned out to be. Only one person choose to build a car to them regs, the famous Audi TT of Terry BRiggs. And we all know how much of a joke that car is. another waste of time.

Anyway first round of European series kicks off on May 17th. What a year in prospect. Best of luck to Tony Bell. Hopefully he can repeat some of that 2001 form he had, when he was giving Martin Schanche and Marko Joikinen a run for there money in the B final, at the Polish round.

[Hog]

Hats off to Peter S - a man with much passion and insight into the sport.

[Barrie]

Your false start beams were w#nk Hog, sort em out big man.

[Hog]

Teething problems Barrie.

They are very sensitive, perhaps too sensitive, and they will be adjusted before the next round. We suffered because the grid lines in places are barely there (which was meant to be rectified before the last meeting but the weather put paid to that) and it was therefore difficult at times to accurately place the cars on the grid.

These new beams are so sensitive that if someone in the crowd farts, it's likely to cause a jump start!

Ideally we need some way of locating the beams accurately. My idea was for each transmitter and receiver to be fixed to a 2 foot length of square section tube. All that needs to be done then is to sink a 1 foot length of square section tube in to floor (flush with the surface) which is sufficiently larger than the tube fixed to the beams to allow them to slide into the hole in the ground. That way the beams are in the same place all the time, and when they are removed at the end of the day there is nothing visible to interfere with other race formulas that use the rallycross startline in a normal lap of the circuit.

Of course if someone goes wide round Paddock on the loose, then we'll loose all the beam receivers anyway!

Any other suggestions are welcome!

[BertMk2]

Originally posted by Hog

Of course if someone goes wide round Paddock on the loose, then we'll loose all the beam receivers anyway!

That did cross my mind - they did look rather vulnerable sitting there, they don't even have the protection of mabs bank anymore! Not a lot you can do about that though, they've got to go somewhere - what do other circuits do? I can't believe that this problem is unique to Lydden.

While I'm at it those bl**dy cones that sit on the grass between the loose at paddock and the grid really p*ss me off - I must have got more photos of those cones than anything else!

[Hog]

Funniest thing for me on Monday was a group of young kids (about 11 years old) who interrogated us in the lunch break. When they asked us if we got paid for marshalling, and we said no, they (in unison) replied "Cor, I'd complain to the manager or someone about that". We fell about! Just couldn't get it through to them that we did it for the love of the sport and the chance to get close to the action.

The only way I can see to protect the grid area from errant cars would be armco. But how do you safely "start" the armco without it becoming a hazard. Either that or a decent size earth bank would do the job nicely.

Hmmm - earth bank? Now I wonder.........

[BertMk2]

Hmmmm, earth bank also known as 'Launch ramp'. I don't think there is a way to protect the recievers, as you say armco is not an option and there isn't really room for anything else.

Still, it's not as if cars ever go wide there is it? Ahh, hang on......

[Hog]

How about if we had hydraulic platforms that sank into the ground at the flick of a switch from the startline? That way as soon as the cars are clear of the grid we could sink the receivers into the floor and out of harms way.

Or maybe we could tie the receivers to the last car on the grid - when the car goes it takes the receivers with it and out of harms way!

Or maybe little rockets, to launch them into a safe area.....

Hmmm. Perhaps I'm getting silly now. I still think laying them flat or into a recess in the floor is the only way to protect them. Now where did I put my "Heath Robinson" book?

[Inside_Info]

Rallycross in the UK has definately taken a dive in popularity from a spectators point of view with the demise of the December GP at Brands, combined with a lack of TV coverage... To be honest, there was something special about the 6R4, RS200, 205 T16, Astra S4 etc... though todays cars are just as spectacular no doubt...

I remember myself and a couple of mates from uni going to see the '88 (I think) GP... won by Gollop... it was ages before we stopped talking about it!!!!

Before that I used to see it at Cadwell Park, saw some brilliant racing there...

The last meeting I saw was at the Estering in Germany in 91 (?). That was good because commentary at the circuit was part German part English....

Must try and get to a meeting this year... Any recommendations as to which one?

[Peter S]

British Rallycross Grand Prix - October 11th/12th at Croft. All the european stars will be there, an event not to be missed. You also get the Internations cup thrown in.....the supernationals are worth it!!!

Ps. the modern cars are a lot better than the Group B machines.

Rallycross is on the up again. Especially the European Championship