posted Jan 28, 2008

When Sport is dominated like this, it's well known that the press will walk away.

I've followed rallying on and off for years, and I'm on an 'off' period at the moment, it's not the same when their is no British driver in with a chance. The only reason then to watch is if it is competitive & with Loeb winning by minutes instead of seconds, who wants to watch what is in reality, a precesion?

We are only made aware of Rallying through the BBC sport pages, and not even sure if WRC is on TV this season, is it?

& how does TV then make a win by over 2 minutes sound exciting, and a bloke picking up a WRC point in a Suzuki and is over 11 minutes behind the leader......come on!

In regards to F1, believe me it's had it's boring years, and a lot more recent. A lot rave about last season, but it was dull season for races, the result and how they fell made it interesting, but other than the rain in Germany a lot of boring races........Lewis you need to come into the pits those tyres are looking a bit bald.....

Wish FIA would stop counting all their money, and look at the sports, and how to bring the fans back.

F1 fans hands up in the summer who's mowing the lawn from 1:15pm......

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posted Jan 28, 2008

Does it matter if one person dominates the ranking - it is the act of the rally itself which is interesting, after all each one of the drivers is an exceptionally skilled practitioner of his craft, to drive on the limit when the penalty for going off line is a little bit more severe than gravel rash ..

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posted Jan 28, 2008

Yes, but the whole format and indeed the ethos of competing in the WRC was deliberately altered away from the endurance, primarily "man and machine versus terrain" type event that it had always been to a series of more spectator and media friendly type sprints, in the interests of making it closer and more exciting. The fact that the traditional nature of the sport has been lost, and it's still finishing with 2 and 3 minute gaps between the cars means that the FIA's modernisation plan has failed miserably. They've ended up with the worst of both worlds. Oh, and it's being covered exclusively on terrestial TV in the UK this year on the "Dave" channel, their first programme last night on the Monte was truely woeful, thank goodness for Eurosport.

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posted Jan 28, 2008

WRC has died a long time ago. The minute the FIA started changing all the rules it lost its luster. No wonder no manufacturer is pouring money into it to develop their cars further. Yes, Loeb is supremely talented, and probably the best of this generation, but sadly, the WRC is going the way of the dinosaurs

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posted Jan 29, 2008

I'm not so sure about total dominance by Loeb, sure he will probably win the championship but other rallies will be closer than this - this is his most successful event after all. With rules on tyres changes - it will even the cars a little more and a little more emphasis on driver ability , a new subaru, sordo learning all the time, Loeb a little complacent - it could still be pretty good. Come back Ari I say!

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posted Jan 29, 2008

i'm also on a bit of an 'off' period, but i did make it to the RAC last year. nowhere near the number of spectators than in the past (anyone who tried to get out of stage car parks during the late 90's will know what i mean), and just a general lack of atmosphere. there are no heroes anymore, Loeb is amazing, the best perhaps- but he's not iconic like Kankunnen, Sainz or McRae. maybe i'm just stuck in the late 90's when you couldn't guarantee a winner (Makinen was a good bet, but never a certainty), the cars resembled road cars, were a bit more distincive (they all sound the same these days- no flat four growl to indicate imminent Subaru), and the footage (where is Mark James now? Bring him back!) was excellent. What a shame.

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posted Jan 30, 2008

Yes its is on TV - Freeview 19 on DAVE TV. But where did they find that goon of a presenter?? He's obviously not got much knowledge and just pads it out to fill the hour. However, the bit to camera when he held out his arm and accidentally clobbered a passer-by was a classic - "And I've just hit that bloke - but it doesn't matter, cos he's French!!"

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posted Feb 3, 2008

Don't you think it s up to the rest of the world to produce a new Mc Rae, Gronholm, Sainz?
With all the money poured into the sport, you dont think manufacturers are trying hard to find, nurture and back potential winners? or is Citroen that far ahead of the field that any rally driver could win in a C4? Loeb is the best in Rally right now, bar none... He´s won 4 titles competing against previous world champions on snow, dirt, asphalt...so of course if noone can beat him, change the rules..! give it a couple of years and they'll lower the standard of the sport so as to make it accessible to any Tom Dick and Harry in their shiny Trabans...oh, and ban anyone winning more than one rally in a season,just to make sure there is a different name on the podium each time! When Carl Fogerty won his world championships in the late 90s, or Rossi for that matter, did it make Bike racing less attractive? on the contrary, other teams rose to the challenge, so why could it not apply in WRC? But then, what do i know, i am French...

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posted Feb 25, 2008

But when Steve Davies started dominating world snooker it just upped the standard of young players coming through. Perhaps the sport has needed a new standard for some time? Mind you, I'd rather have characters than superb technicians!D

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posted Mar 31, 2008

WRC died for me when McRae left in 2003

R.I.P Colin

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