Hi, friends!
Japanese Rally was out of World Rally Championship for years and that was because they didn't have any of their manufacturers involved at the top of the sport.
Mitsubishi pull out at the end of 2005 while Subaru and Suzuki pulled out at the end of season 2008. It is almost unbelievable that Japanese manufacturers don't have their team because Subaru and Mitsubishi with their models of Impreza and Lancer have heritage in the sport but somehow European manufacturers ruled out the opposition.
I always say that domination can't be good for any of the sports so it is same with rallying.
Citroen dominated for almost a decade and Volkswagen with Polo WRC took four championships in the row.
DOMINATION CAN'T BE GOOD FOR THE SPORT.
Rally Japan still has some kind of a hope that they will be included in this year's WRC calendar but I doubt that because of everything that is going on in the world about coronavirus pandemic.
Anyway, this season or next they will be included in WRC, the only question is will pandemic end in time to held the event itself?!
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With the pandemic going on, there might be a sparse chance for any radical changes in the calendar, and they might just roll with whichever stages are most popular. I do hope to see more of them next year though. As you say, domination isn't good in any sport. Like F1 for example, it seems rather boring these days with the big spenders like Mercedes-AMG taking win after win. It's come to a point where you'd almost know who's going to come on top.
There needs to more equal competition all around. I remembered Lancia once dominated the sport, and their record for Constructor wins remain unbeaten till today. But it was superb fun to watch nevertheless, given that their competitors were equally up to par, and they had great drivers behind them. I find that domination is fine, but only if your rivals are on an similar footing, only then can it be enjoyable.
i guess it's all about the money in motorsport at the moment. it always used to be because teams with biggest budget always won. but not always because M-Sport Ford won in 2017 and 2018 with Ogier and they are just semi-private team...
I do wish there's a bit more balancing these days. Maybe a budget cap of sorts would make it a more even playing field. At least then, we could have more of the smaller teams be given a better chance!
Its all about FIA regs. I remember well in'90's, in group A times and just before WRC class, top Group A Ford Escort Cosworth costed around 300 000 Deutch Marks (DEM) and it's like 150 000€. Lots of privateers were battling at least in their countries against works drivers. Today you must pay 250 000€ only for R5 car and WRC car costs around 750 000€. Rent of R5 car for WRC event costs around 45 000€ and WRC car around 200 000€ (works car). Its all sick these days but its all about the money unfrotunately
Ah, it's quite interesting to see it in that perspective. I didn't know how expensive it has become these days to go rallying. Fewer privateers and rivalries all make for an unbalance playing field, then. Maybe it could be revised in the future, eh?
hardly, cos every WRC or R5car can be made ONLY from a manufacturer. it was a long time ago when you had so much great workshops or tuners (especially in Italy) who were able to build a great group A rally car. I used to knew a guy who was making dogbox gearboxes for Andrea Aghini in his Lancia days. Man, that gearbox costed 60 000DEM, which is today 30 000€
Wow, must've been great to know such a legend! I'm guessing the general viewership isn't so much focused on motorsports any more, so it's not a sustainable business for those smaller enterprises, no? Just imagine if motorsports had football levels of money and viewers. It would be nuts!