tell me what u think about the world rally championship

[st-evo-9*corn fed-8urvet*]

*also sorry about the double post i realized this is the proper section for this. and i wanted to get more then 1 view out of this thread :-)*

the WRC or World Rally Championship is the premier rally body in the world *excluding america*. the WRC is to the world what nascar is to the U.S.

so i thought i woudl share a little of the 2008 season to give u guys a taste of what we're missing out on let me know ur opinion on how u feel about the clips. driving, and the way the show was made/edited/and presented :-)

clip 1 = the first round in the wrc season which takes place in monte carlo its the 3rd day.
SIDE NOTES - ford, citron, and subaru are the heavey hiters in the wrc. mitsubishi has sat out the 2008 season because of budget problems and the new evo 10 doesnt meet the production rules to be entered in the wrc. also the ford's in the wrc are focus's yes this is the bad ass focus that ford decided to give europe an awd turbo sprint machine and shafted the U.S. with that econo POS. also this is a tarmac rally meaning the course is paved ashfault.

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2820471901373349109&ei=kr-jSLqqFpGUrAP07LUj&q=2008+wrc+&hl=en

clip 2 = is day 2 in sweden which is the 2nd round in the wrc its a snow/damp
course.

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3503931636364338186&ei=kr-jSLqqFpGUrAP07LUj&q=2008+wrc+&hl=en

clip 3 = is day 1 of finland which is the 9th round in the wrc. the course is smooth gravel and very fast *lots of jumps :-) *and the indoor racing u see in the beginning is whats called a special rally stage which is an exhibition race in front of a crowd in a stadium. enjoy!!

video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8048681112245595944&ei=-r2jSOX2LqCCqgOgsokO&q=2008+wrc+&hl=en


like i asked in the beginning give me ur thoughts and opinions of everything u see in the videos and how u feel about real rallying and if it should be brought to the U.S.

[Vettezuki]

I think WRC, more than F1, has a chance to be somehow popular in the US. It has a lot of spectacular off road action, it's a team sport (driver + navigator), involves some of the most spectacular driving skills on the planet and is based on a true everyman's car. But, hey, I thought miniDisc should have been popular in the States too.

The problem is that the motorsports and sports market is sooo full in the States, that even though WRC rocks, and might appeal to Americans, it has a tough hall at best.

[st-evo-9*corn fed-8urvet*]

I think WRC, more than F1, has a chance to be somehow popular in the US. It has a lot of spectacular off road action, it's a team sport (driver + navigator), involves some of the most spectacular driving skills on the planet and is based on a true everyman's car. But, hey, I thought miniDisc should have been popular in the States too.

The problem is that the motorsports and sports market is sooo full in the States, that even though WRC rocks, and might appeal to Americans, it has a tough hall at best.

i think i rally could take off like a bat outta hell in the US but for this to happen and compete with wrc rules thats means that U.S. might have to start selling the euro/jap counterparts of our watered down US cars. b.c in the rules of rally manufacture entered car has to have had so many of the same carbon copy sold to the public i think its 2500 or 5000 units per year i forgot.

IE - all engines have to be 2.0L well the sti in the US is 2.5L but everywhere else to meet with rally rules they sell it as a 2.0L to the public. same goes for fords 2.0l turbo focus hatch.
-and then companys like skoda, citoen, and peugeot would have to come to the US and set up shop here, which to tell u the truth i wouldnt mind at least there would be some better cars to drown out all the hondas. :-(

the second problem ive seen with rally and even drifting is the sponsorship backing $$$ and pushing. really there is an untapped fuckin mega well in rally for US sponsors.
only the energy drink companys Monster and redbull have to balls enough to jump in and try and get things started. think about the X-games rally section its cool and all but if uve seen any wrc episodes the x-games is pretty damn "humble" to say the least.

imagine all the mascar sponsors and manufacture sponsors getting behind rally in the US holy shit i think it would be bigger then nascar!! maybe even have more viewers then F1 but that might be stretching it lol. F1 to me is a drivers and engineers sport, while rally is a drivers and viewers sport.

so ya in summary the 2 things needed to get rally into the US r

- j-spec and euro-spec cars/companys here
and
- sponsorship up the ass!!! after that the people will come in groves!!!

so do u think this can happen? or what do u think needs to happen to get wrc to the US and make it a REAL WORLD RALLY CHAMPIONSHIP!! lol?

[Sonic03SVT]

Love love love WRC. Always have. Id love to see the old group B cars brought back though, those things were some WILD rides.


Favorite rally car ever...the RS 200
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_RS200

only sorry we never got to see the RS200 "evolution"...800 hp and 0-60 in 2 seconds...now thats a 4 banger id drive!

[Vettezuki]

I think we have to keep in mind that the most popular form of Motorsports in the US (NASCAR) has several things going for it.

- has deep roots in outlaw behavior, no joke for real
- those roots extended to true everyman stock car racing
- decades of some of the most savvy promoting by a truly gifted entrepreneurial family


I think you could possibly bring the Euro-spec Focus and possibly the Japanese Rally homologations to the US, but forget the Frenchies; they aren't coming here just for that. I'd love to see it, but wouldn't hold my breath. There simply isn't the kind of combination of necessary support to make it happen, even though Americans might really like it once it was up and running.

[vonage6591]

I know I would love to see WRC in the U.S. I remember watching it early in the mornings on speed network and always thought it was way cool to see essentially the same cars driving around on the street, as opposed to nascar and how far its gotten from its production car roots. If we were to have some form of rally here would it be rural or mainly more tarmac city stuff?

[Vettezuki]

I know I would love to see WRC in the U.S. I remember watching it early in the mornings on speed network and always thought it was way cool to see essentially the same cars driving around on the street, as opposed to nascar and how far its gotten from its production car roots. If we were to have some form of rally here would it be rural or mainly more tarmac city stuff?


In my opinion the United States is the most geographically blessed country in the world. We have deserts of several different types, mountain ranges of various flavors, major coastal areas, on and on. As for Rally in the US, the tarmac stuff should be a minimum. We should use nature as god intended . . . to send screaming turbo charged cars through at insane speeds. :smack:

[st-evo-9*corn fed-8urvet*]

In my opinion the United States is the most geographically blessed country in the world. We have deserts of several different types, mountain ranges of various flavors, major coastal areas, on and on. As for Rally in the US, the tarmac stuff should be a minimum. We should use nature as god intended . . . to send screaming turbo charged cars through at insane speeds. :smack:

nascar has gotten far from there roots as one stated earlier! its turned into a money sport which i have no problem with as long as they still race there hearts out!!

also u wanna know probably the biggest reason y homologated cars wont come to the US....SMOG!!!! better yet california smog!!!!..........wait naw better yet because all those prodution cars come with some form of ANTI-LAG!!!!!!!!

yes its true the euro and j-spec evo, sti, citroen etc..... come with a base anti-lag system, sometimes knows as a secondary air injection system!!!

look at these 2 stock evo exhaust mani's and tell me what u see!!!

here is a j-spec/euro-spec evo engine
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/cky_bam_marg/Wxga_0405evo18_thumb.jpg

and here is the US engine
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a117/cky_bam_marg/Picture017.jpg

also in our stock ecu's mitsu hit the anti-lag portion or the code and deactivated it many evo's like mine have unlocked all that code but still need the hardware to run the stock antilag which is hard to get on the blackmarket!!

[vonage6591]

In my opinion the United States is the most geographically blessed country in the world. We have deserts of several different types, mountain ranges of various flavors, major coastal areas, on and on. As for Rally in the US, the tarmac stuff should be a minimum. We should use nature as god intended . . . to send screaming turbo charged cars through at insane speeds. :smack:

I mean what about from the business end of it though, you can't really charge people to watch rally when its not in a controlled area like a city can you? I mean look at nascar and such, they get a fortune for those tickets and they pack well over 100,000 into the seating at those tracks.

[st-evo-9*corn fed-8urvet*]

dont even try and tell me that nascars bread and butter income is the stadium seating at watever track. just like everything else it comes from advertisers/sponsors

how do u think people associated with tv shows get payed? they charge for u to put ur nice commercial about vag cream in the middle of the show and charge u a mill for it to play so many times a day and then charge u 5 mill to show it in the middle of a nascar race once!!!

also im guessing there is a for lack of a better word *association or league fee* for the enterying teams at every track, and then a fee nascar tacks for the sponsors to enter and hell maybe evern a fee to get ur car televised a bit more then usual idk but shit along these lines is how nascar makes it cash money!

and im imagining from what i see in the wrc i dont think they make any money from the 10 spectators u may have on every other corner of the course that got there for free and by climbing a mountain by foot. its threw all those pretty lil stickers that are slapped all over there cars and by the stations/advertisers that pick up and brodcast the event or advertise during the event and from the teams

[st-evo-9*corn fed-8urvet*]

anywho if the sponsors came and pumped money into a sport the people will come.

so besides the x-games monster and redbull need to hop on there shit and tabe this keg even more here in the US to incorperate the US-rally championship with wrc