Rallying Towards Capitalism: Why the World Rally Championship Needs North America

It is without a doubt that the WRC’s powerhouse lies in Europe. But no longer satisfied with current market sales, manufacturers are putting the heat on organising bodies to explore other options in order to engage a greater audience. Like Finland is the spiritual home to rallying, North America is the home of patriotic capitalism. A North American rally would be a grand addition to the championship, but it’s not just the locale of events rally sponsors want to change. North America is also the home of ‘made for TV sport’ that demands larger attendance and television audiences. Sponsors of the WRC are hungry, so let’s move Finland to America so we can all make more money.

I hope all readers were as uncomfortable reading that as I was writing it. I would not dare mention it but for shock value and to illustrate a point: why did it make you feel uncomfortable?

If we take a step backward and objectively evaluate our sport, I don’t see much wrong with it. Envision a rally car with the world’s best driver and co-driver on gravel or tarmac surface. The road their racing winds over remote mountain tops and cuts through deep ravines. Birds are chirping and fans are cheering. Echoes of a car can be heard for minutes before you see it. Whether you want to see a rally on your own or with 100,000 other people, you can! And you could do it all within the same day. The WRC has it all. So what are we chasing with all these changes? Quieter days? Busier stages? More Cars, teams and drivers? Our sport is perfect. Or is it money? Yes, its money.

For better or worse top tier sport is always driven by sponsorship. The sponsor’s goal is to look strong and perform well so people watching will want their product. The biggest sponsors in the WRC are the cars that Rally drivers compete in. Citroen, Ford, Hyundai, Toyota and Volkswagen are all sponsors of drivers that come with their own cars and teams to compete, in order to sell more cars.

Mucha Fiesta! I'd sure buy one. Car manufacturers have also expressed interest in another Latin American rally, due to its large car market.

There should be a healthy balance of give and take in all relationships. The world is either in or recovering from a great financial crisis (depending on your perspective) and sponsors have less money available to spend on WRC teams. Sponsorship is riskier so manufacturers are looking for greater security in their investments. Enter the FIA, the WRC’s governing body. Designed to keep the sport safe and fair, they are also responsible for keeping sponsors happy. Right now this means creating a larger viewership. We’re all familiar with 'made for TV sport'; Formula 1 and NASCAR. Rally Cross is a good example. These are single location Motorsports that are easy to film and broadcast live. There also “Less confusing” as has been suggested by some. Creating a larger audience is the stated goal of the FIA and the participating WRC teams. But at what cost will this endeavour come?

Talk of change is a great and positive thing. But as we discuss changes to rules and regulation for TV viewership we must remember there is a balance in every good relationship. This relationship is between the sponsors and the fans. The very fans that are buying their cars. Sponsorship is a good thing and it creates many exciting opportunities for sports. You’ll see me on the stage side wearing a Ken Block beanie and a NZWRT jacket on cold mornings because I know a small part of the money I paid will go towards the affiliated team. But without a governing body whose vision for a sport is uncompromised, sponsorship can dilute the very thing it’s trying to promote.

You're always in my way, Hella! But thanks for being a sponsor. I'd buy those lights too!

Changing the rules and format of a sport to better suit sponsors should be considered with great caution. Like a rally car approaching a blind crest without notes, it’s hard to tell what the result will be.

[Sponsors Message Here]

[WATCH THIS SPACE]

And with that I hope Rally America becomes a WRC event. It has huge potential to further promote the sport and attract more manufacturers. The sponsorship opportunities are endless. I’d also love the excuse to visit. Just not at the expense of Rally New Zealand.

Rallying Has Something Special About It: Colin McRae

Rallying has something special about it. An X-factor that is hard to put into words. For many millions of fans around the world that follow rallying in its various forms, it is the most exciting sport on earth. Rally is what they get up for in the morning, what they think about at work and what they dream about at night. Its an individual-team sport unlike any other. And that's what rally is like for me.

My first clear memory of rallying is of Rally Great Britain, November 2001. Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae, Tommi Makinen and Richard Burns were all fighting a four way battle for the driver’s championship. Makinen retired early in the rally and Sainz fell out of contention after losing time from a nasty puncture. This left two British drivers fighting for the title of World Rally Champion. McRae in a Focus and Burns in a Impreza. Both were at home and both were flat out. The exhilaration watching this battle gave me is unlike anything I have ever experienced.

After an abysmal start to the season Colin had achieved a hat-trick of wins that thrust him into title contention. It was Colin who was the underdog in my eyes, even though Richard Burns was yet to win his first world title. What made Colin the underdog is the same characteristic that makes him so exciting to watch on the stages. He has unquestionable talent, but his talent was fuelled with reckless abandon. When Colin saw an opportunity to win, no matter how slim the chances, he’d put his right foot to floor. This mentality made him famous and was been personified by a single line: “If in doubt, flat out”.

This is one of my favourite Colin moments. After a big drivers side impact in Corsica 2002, 
Colin was in the car for the next rally in Catalunya. The gear leaver was moved  to the left 
of the car so he could grip the wheel with his good hand.

To the shock of  Nicky Grist in 1997,
Colin had forgotten to mention he'd
activated the anti-gravity machine in
his Subaru at the start of the stage
 in Western Australia

I cannot remember why I was so fanatical about Colin as a driver. As a fellow countryman who left Scotland as a young boy it may have been national pride that filled my heart when watching him. And although I believe that to be a small part of why I identified with him, Colin also had a personal drive that is rare to see in any person. From afar it seemed at times he was notoriously difficult to get on within a professional environment. There are many moments in his career that show this: the lead up to his 1995 world championship title and his split from co-driver Nicky Grist to name only two. However these personality clashes always seemed to stem from frustration and his strong desire to win. I always got the feeling Colin could never make a rally car go as fast as he wanted it to go. The car was his limitation, that’s what I believe made him so exciting to watch. Colin was very ambitious.

I don’t believe this fan adopted slogan“If in doubt, flat out” was ever meant to be interpreted so literally. I like to imagine a 5 right blind crest, where Colin takes a wide line in 6^th gear knowing full well he is ignoring the instruction of his own notes. Its this blind faith he had that all four wheels would touch the ground on the other side that I identified with more. The Colin McRae philosophy has been pertinent in my life because Colin’s Ideology describes a balance between risk and reward. That if you do not seek, you will not find. If you do not attack you cannot win. Without ever consciously practising this, “If in doubt, flat out” was embedded within me and it began to motivate me in every venture I undertook.

This clear memory I have of November 2001 is only 15 seconds long. It is this short amount of time that I can see has forged my motivation for an education, the beginning of a career and a lifelong partnership. A love of rally sport that my emotions follow like a roller-coaster in a theme park; celebrating the highs and morning the lows. In short, this 15 seconds of television I saw as a boy has directly influenced the person I am today. Of course, I didn't know this at the time!

Video courtesy of 97chicane on YouTube

Colin's crash marked the end of his championship hopes. It would also be remembered as the last time he would come close to winning it. Richard Burns and Robert Reid were crowned the 2001 World Rally Champions. When I watched this ‘live’ in 2001 I couldn't help but feel if he hadn't been so stupid he could have won. He would have won. But with hindsight I see it had to be this way.

Colin became a world rally champion in 1995 because of his disregard for team orders and his liberal application of the Colin Philosophy. Conversely, had Colin eased off the gas and coasted around that corner he would have likely won in 2001. But Colin couldn't take his foot of the pedal when there was a second to be saved. I don’t think he knew how. And I don’t think he’d have been in the same position he was to win in either 1995 or 2001 had he known. Colin truly drove to what he believed.

"If you start thinking about accepting second, then you might as well go home. I am here to win. Nothing else will do."

When Colin crashed that focus I remember I was so mad at him. I didn't see his win in 1995 and I was so invested in his campaign that I felt it was a personal betrayal when he threw it off the road. But the passion I felt that afternoon is what has cemented my own passion for rally, for every driver and every championship around the world. Besides, I think Nicky Grist would have given him an earful enough for us both!

I followed Colin to the end of his rally career, fiercely flying the saltire for every event he competed in, especially when he came to New Zealand. Colin McRae is the reason I am so passionate about rally and why I am so driven to pursue milestones seemingly out of my reach. He's why I look forward to every rally.

I might just see the next Colin McRae.

Citroen's Biggest Mistake

Citroen's Biggest Mistake

Image Source: http://www.first4auto.com/slender-lead-for-volkswagen-driver-sebastien-ogier-in-portugal/

Red is a colour current Citroen Racing boss Yves Matton has been used to evoking emotions of love, passion, success and victory. For nearly a decade Citroen World Rally Team’s dominance of the World Rally Championship had been indisputable. Before Sebastien Loeb won his first drivers championship in 2004, a hat-trick of rally wins was news paper worthy and a career winning total of 23 rallies made you the best in the business. Oh, how Sebastien Loeb and Citroen have changed the face of rally.

Colin McRae became the most successful rally driver in history achieving 23 rally wins after a hat-trick ending in Greece, 2001.  In comparison Sebastien Loeb has since achieved 78 wins, with a win streak of 6 in 2005 and 5 in 2006,2008,2009 and 2012. Wow.

But now Yves is being forced to see Red in a different light. This new shade represents frustration and disappointment. With the knowledge that 2012 was to be Loeb’s last full time year in the WRC Citroen recruited Mikko Hirvonen/Jamo Lehtinen and Dani Sordo/Carlos del Barrio to remain competitive. Now at the midpoint of the season, Mikko and Dani have struggled to bank consistent results for their team. Citroen are currently second in the manufacturer’s championship having only won only two rallies this year, both of which were won by semi-retired Sebastian Loeb. This is the first year in a nearly a decade that Citroen Racing has not dominated the drivers or manufacturers championship. Over the past nine years Citroen have utilised the consistency and outright pace of drivers like Carlos Sainz, Colin McRae and Sebastien Ogier in combination with Sebastien Loeb to dominate both championships. So what happened? 

In 2011 Sebastien Ogier was promoted to Citroen WRT for what was arguably the team’s most successful year. Loeb and Ogier won five rallies each and Loeb went on to win his eighth consecutive drivers’ title. Any spectator would be forgiven for thinking that Citroen had another eight years of domination ahead of them. But behind 2011’s success there were team orders that caused the team to come unstuck. During the season both Loeb and Ogier had been on the raw end of team tactics and it became apparent that both Sebastiens had begun to feel threatened by one another. At the end of the year the top three drivers were only separated by 26 points – just over a single rally’s points haul.

Sebastien Ogier left Citroen at the end of 2011, still with two years left on his contract (Elizalde, 2011). Considering that Ogier was handpicked and groomed by Citroen WRT after winning the JWRC in 2008, this was pretty surprising. Whether Citroen showed Ogier the door or he left of his own accord, an uncharacteristic combination of mismanagement and short-sightedness left Citroen without their future star. Sebastien Loeb was nearing retirement and they had lost their most significant investment.

Sebastien Ogier under pressure from Jari-Matti Latvala and Miikka Anttila on the last stage of Rally New Zealand 2010. This mistake and a spin approaching the finish cost Ogier the rally by 2.4 seconds.

Sebastien Ogier was immediately signed by Volkswagen, spending all of 2012 developing their new Polo R WRC and competing in a Skoda Fabia S2000 in the SWRC. Needless to say, Volkswagen’s development went well. Sebastien Ogier even made history whilst absent from the WRC by setting a stage time faster than all other turbo-charged WRC cars in the normally aspirated Skoda. By the time development had finished his blood must have been boiling at the chance of returning to WRC competition! Now half way through the season Ogier and Jari-Matti Latvala have taken over the winning persistence of Citroen and look unbeatable. Citroen’s decision to stop working with Sebastien Ogier has been their biggest mistake. It has compromised the strength of their team and quite possibly their ability to deliver a drivers or manufacturers championship win in 2013. For the second half of the year Yves will be hoping his Citroens will play the part of El Matador and lure the charging Red Bull Volkswagen’s in a direction other than the finish line. 

Then Red will have a new meaning for Yves altogether.