"f86sabre" (f86sabre)
12/12/2013 at 09:41 • Filed to: WRC
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"f86sabre" (f86sabre)
12/12/2013 at 09:41 • Filed to: WRC | 1
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Oldie, but a goodie. Makes me sad what has become of WRC. I don't blame Loeb, the fact that the manufacturers left is what I think has been the problem. Rules, economy problems and all that.
RacecaR
> f86sabre
12/12/2013 at 09:44 |
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I remember seeing that video for the first time. I watched it about 10 times in a row. Awesome stuff!
Biased Plies
> f86sabre
12/12/2013 at 09:52 |
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It also makes me sad of what's become of Linkin Park...
Destructive Tester
> f86sabre
12/12/2013 at 09:54 |
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I'm in agreement about the lack of manufacturers problem. It was downright sad when Ford and Citroen were the only factory teams...
Fred (FreddsterExprs)
> f86sabre
12/12/2013 at 10:06 |
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WRC should have fixed their terrible media coverage by 2008 when the internet became an alternative/addon to classic TV programs. Rally delivers great pictures all the time and for 3 day a weekend. I bet Bernie Eclestone would have made a fortune out of it. Maybe they could have kept some manufacturers on board with proper media exploitation. Or some would have come back in 2011.
Right now there are 4 manufacturers (VW, Ford, Citroen, Hyundai) which should be enough if all of them would have 2 competitive drivers each. Sadly that isn't the case. Ford and Citroen are lacking funds and are loosing ground quickly to VW. They also lack constant speed.
While the sport is great and I hugly resepect every rally driver for having the balls to do this, the championship isn't close enough and is not followed by many people.
So if I was FIA Boss I would do the following to rescue the WRC:
a) Split commercial rights between the FIA and a private Investor/Company like Red Bull. As soon as there is money to be made somwhere magic things happen.
b) Limit the budgets. I am looking at you VW. Keep it at less than 50 Mio. € for a 2 car team + development & personel.
c) Every manufacturer is forced to sell a WRC car for ~400k or to lease out a WRC car for 100k per season. We need this to keep private teams alive.
d) With F1 going turbo as well, make Formula 3 and GP3 adapt WRC spec engines. Manufacturers love technology synergys.
e) Sell TV rights for very little money to any national TV station as long as they comit to send 1 hour of well produced, FIA overlooked of Rally summary daily. That gives a broadcaster 1 hour per weekend to fill with flying/flipping/sliding cars.
f) Make a proper website with complete live streaming. Also think about automatically following drones for filming or sth like that. We live in a great time for mobile media solutions, so get on it.
If you follow this FreddsterEXPRS Instant Rescue Plan (TM and Copyright and so on) you will finally sell the product that is WRC properly. If the commercial aspect is right the sportive part will follow.
MooseKnuckles
> f86sabre
12/12/2013 at 10:23 |
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f86sabre
> Fred (FreddsterExprs)
12/12/2013 at 10:59 |
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Hoccy
> Fred (FreddsterExprs)
12/12/2013 at 11:30 |
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I think the lack of consistant speed is caused by all the drivers being young with less experience than what we saw in the early 2000's. The only driver in those teams with a lot of experience this year was Mikko Hirvonen, and he was consistantly slow.
The fact that it was Loeb and Citroen vs Hirvonen and Ford for some years didn't help recruiting any new drivers either. If not having four teams makes the championship even on short term, it makes more good drivers in the long term.
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Fred (FreddsterExprs)
> Hoccy
12/12/2013 at 11:48 |
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The "funny" thing is that in F1 many talented drivers (Frijns, Leimer, Bird, Wickens, Mehri, Juncadella,...) didn't make the cut to the top class because of paydrivers and no interest by the teams.
In WRC there are not enough super fast & consistent drivers to be put into a WRC car. Neuville was the only one after Loeb and Ogier. Östberg probably could be counted as a young talent as well. But that's about it.
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Hoccy
> Fred (FreddsterExprs)
12/12/2013 at 12:20 |
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Not now, but that's because there wasn't enough teams in the late 00's so young drivers could gain experience. Also several drivers in the Loeb generation ended up with no team or sad events led to their departure from rallying.
You rarely see anyone become WRC champions when they're less than 30 years old, so Řstberg, Mikkelsen, Neuville, Novikov and maybe even Latvala can still be considered talents. At least in the way that they still have their best years in front of them.
Dusty Ventures
> Fred (FreddsterExprs)
12/12/2013 at 14:49 |
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"Neuville was the only one after Loeb and Ogier."
And Hirvonen. He may have never been as fast as Loeb but he's repeatedly destroyed everyone else, and twice missed the title by less than ten points (once by just a single point). If every time Hirvonen came second to Loeb it was counted as a win he'd have 34 wins (more than anyone but Loeb) and four titles. 2013 was a disappointment (I have a conspiracy theory about that), but he's bad fast. Last year in 2012 his worst finish all season was fifth and he finished on the podium 11 out of 13 races, including 6 second place finishes (all but one of which were behind Loeb).
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Dusty Ventures
> MooseKnuckles
12/12/2013 at 16:52 |
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I will never, NEVER get tired of that