Wrc 2011

[Photodave]

Didn't see a thread for this - apologies if I missed it?

I used to LOVE going to the RAC rally - went every year from '90 to 2000. When they stuck it down in one corner of Wales I fell out of love with it as a spectator sport but still watched.

As the electronics started to take over I watched less and less, to the point where I really don't care if I miss it. A sorry state of affairs

BUT, I've seen a glimpse of the new 2011 regs (can't seem to find a proper run-down). Looks VERY promising indeed.

Anyone else a fan? Any thoughts on the upcoming season? Will Loeb still be the guy to beat in cars that will require a different style of driving? Or will Solberg see a resurgence to build on some of his 2010 performances? How will Raikonnen get on in his second full season...

[DazJW]

Not the best news for people wanting to watch it on TV.

[Photodave]

aw bum I presume ESPN is a pay channel on Sky? I use their F1 Live website a lot but didn't realise they were on the telly too....

btw did you clock the Walter Rorhl vid on that page? Legend!!

[DazJW]

You can get ESPN via a few things but it's an extra subscription on top of them, I believe it's £12 a month to add to Sky or £9 a month if you already have Sky Sports.

No Rohrl vid for me, it comes up with Blomqvist, Mikkola and Vatanen.

[nigelread]

Originally Posted by DazJW

Not the best news for people wanting to watch it on TV.

Thats crap i don't have Sky

Didn't like the presenter when it was on Dave but at least i got to see the action

[Photodave]

Bugger. Looks like I'll have to follow it on the web then. Yeah that guy on Dave (Neil Cole or something like?) could get annoying.

Daz, must be random links then. I got Rohrl both times I went there so didnt realise. Still the others are all legends too. Just need a Toivonen clip for the set

Fingers crossed these new cars put some excitement back into it too.........

[AlfaDrivingFan]

I'm not paying for Sky just to get the WRC See it online like the rest of you

[DazJW]

It looks like Motors TV are still doing their hour-long summary of each day. You need Sky buy at least it's not Sky plus ESPN.

Interesting quote from David Richards of Prodrive - "It's very clear that Volkswagen are about to announce their return to the World Rally Championship as well - and under the Volkswagen brand rather than Skoda."
Autosport Article

It'll be interesting to see how the rally car first, Mini second (rather than converting a road car) design approach works out for Prodrive.

On the subject of old rallying videos I was quite impressed by this the other day. Not a terribly exciting car but certainly exciting driving.

[Mongoose135]

I used to love rallying, the concentration and bravery needed to do it exceeds f1 by far imo, unfortunately it's not a great sport to watch on TV. The highlights on dave seem to focus mainly on the crashes to make it interesting, and the onboard shots don't look that exciting either because the cars are so planted

[David P]

Good to hear it'll still be on Dave

[nigelread]

Originally Posted by David P

Good to hear it'll still be on Dave

Excellent

Rallying is my favorite motorsport

[Photodave]

Taking up Mongoose's point, when I USED to love rallying the cars needed serious input from the driver. The group B monsters were essentially trying to kill them (and succeeded at times), the group A cars were entertaining both for the drivers and the spectators. But the more recent WRC efforts with active diffs, flappy paddle / push pull gears etc have sucked the entertainment right out of it. Loeb is still a superb driver but it's just so DULL to watch! The 3 day format with repeated and reversed stages is a joke too - it's virtually circuit racing but i do understand the cost drivers behind it all....

Try and find the clip on youtube of Walter Rohrl driving an S1 Quattro to see what I mean - there's a camera pointing at the pedals as well and he's "dancing" on them to keep the thing pointing the right way. Or look up the 1986 Monte Carlo Rally story...or the 1989 RAC...

I KNOW technology is important and there's relevance for our road cars but I'm so pleased that the cars have been "dumbed down" for 2011. I'm just praying that it translates to more exciting viewing......

[DazJW]

Originally Posted by David P

Good to hear it'll still be on Dave

Unless something has changed in the past few days it's not on Dave. It's on ESPN (subscription) and Motors TV (Sky).
Dave dropped it and no one other than ESPN wanted to pick it up - though that may be money related as they were rumoured to be talking to Five and the BBC.

Espn is an extra channel, even if you have the full sky deal, you have to pay more for it.

Good to see it will be on motors tv, though I imagine production values will go even lower than they did when dave took it on.

I used to watch it religiously when it was on c4. Then dave took it and turned it into some kind of talk show with the occasional rally footage and I havent watched it with interest since.

Fingers crossed this will be an improvement.

[DazJW]

Originally Posted by munky

I used to watch it religiously when it was on c4. Then dave took it and turned it into some kind of talk show with the occasional rally footage and I havent watched it with interest since.

I hated it when it was on C4 at two in the morning. It was ridiculous.

Dave last year was good, they'd dropped all the silly celeb garbage and were just doing coverage. Though I preferred watching it on Motors TV as they had an hour for every day instead of an hour for the whole event.

[David P]

Originally Posted by DazJW

Unless something has changed in the past few days it's not on Dave. It's on ESPN (subscription) and Motors TV (Sky).

Don't know why I said Dave I meant Motors TV

[David P]

Link to the WRC Site http://www.wrc.com/

[nigelread]

Yup no mention of Dave
World Rally Championship - Newsroom - Library - Press Releases - New TV deal gives UK WRC fans more coverage than ever before

[Alex_79]

Ford is getting off bad iwith their withdrawal for the Lapland Rally. They were to test the Fiesta WRC there for a final time as part of preparations to the WRC, but Latvala crashed the car which was to participate

[DazJW]

They've said they'll still complete the Sweden testing so it shouldn't be too much of a problem. Citroen aren't doing an event until WRC Sweden either.

[Stu GTV]

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[alfamito155tb]

lancia stratus should come back specially with the 2012 model coming out would be epic

[Alex_79]

Only problem is it's not an official Lancia Stratos...

[DazJW]

News from Sweden shakedown is that Latvala was 7 seconds quicker than Loeb, Ogier was 1.5 slower than Loeb.

Update: Henning Solberg fastest, Hirvonen, Petter Solberg, Loeb, Latvala, PG Anderson, Ostberg.
Full list as a .pdf here.

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Seems to be quite a few new entrants coming into WRC. Some Ford privateer teams, Block doing a full championship and two Mini teams coming in later in the year before doing a full year in 2012.
Plus VW being very, very heavily rumoured for 2012 with a couple of other manufacturers said to be considering programmes too.

Start of a new age perhaps?

[David P]

WRC coverage tonight on Motors TV at 10.35