The Value of Excitement

Finally an exiting round of the WRC! I am talking about Rally Portugal, where drivers battled it out to the end and delivered substance to the very idea of «competition» in spectacularly changing conditions. After intense days of rallying, Mads Østberg was crowned the winner since Mikko Hirvonen was given a penalty because of his Citroen DS3 WRC was found to contravene technical regulations following post-event scrutineering. Østberg was the first privateer to win a WRC rally for nineteen years! To me that says a lot about the development of the sport, but I will come back to that some other time.

Best of Rally Portugal 2012

What’s more important is that Rally Portugal carried on the good sentiment from Mexico. I am of course not talking about the stone-throwing idiots among the spectators who not only made it very dangerous for the drivers, especially the one that cracked Thierry Neuvilles windshield, but jeopardized the whole event and the character of the WRC because of their bizarre behavior. There are few non-European rounds already, if not Mexico will be wiped off the calendar as well due to things which has no affiliation with rallying what so ever. I sincerely hope that the organizers and the FIA take action and investigate these episodes.



Besides that, during Rally Portugal, with the announcement that the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) most likely will handle the coverage for the rest of the WRC season, it seems like the FIA has regained control over the future of WRC in the wake of the Antonov affair (he is to appear in court soon, denying any wrong-doing). Since the FIA in the beginning of February 2012 announced that they would «open discussions with all the other parties which have expressed interest in the promotion of the WRC in order to guarantee the future development and growth of the FIA World Rally Championship», the situation seem to have calmed down.



The structural problem is not solved, however: how to promote the WRC without making the same mistakes as before? One suggestion is to re-read the 2004 report by UK based Centre for Integrated Marketing (CFIM). Back then, Prodrive CEO, jack-of-all-media-trades and so on David Richards – who acquired the commercial rights to WRC from Bernie Ecclestone in 2000 and sold them in 2007 – was according to the report «convinced that WRC has been largely under-exploited» and sought inspiration from Formula 1 and its ringmaster Ecclestone and by which the promotional foundation had been created by him. As stated by Martin Beck-Burridge and Jeremy Walton in their 2001 book Sports Sponsorship and Brand Development: The Subaru and Jaguar Stories;

Formula 1 Grand Prix racing was to be formula that led to the development of motorsport business (…) parallel changes based on that example, of providing a reliable show of competitive quality, were adopted by other branches of motorsport. That has been particularly true of the World Rally Championship (WRC) (p. 13).

Despite some success, in terms of attracting new audiences, the adaptation also has its flaws. For many reasons the iRally guys have a point when they stated that: «Rally is not F1. A promoter role a L’Ecclestone hasn’t worked.» One of the questions the FIA needs to deal with is whether the WRC should continue to strive for a mass-market appeal a la F1, or take promotional issues in another direction, towards making the WRC a sport for the genuinely interested. I am not saying that these two perspectives are incommensurable, but I think focus should be on what the commercial actors can do for the WRC and not the other way around. And – curiously enough – one should remember that according to the Economist, Ecclestone in 1982 made a deal with EBU which proved to be groundbreaking for the commercial development of Formula 1.

Nevertheless, Rally Argentina, which is next on the calendar, comes too soon to spot any structural changes in the WRC. But due to the format changes towards an «endurance event» I’ll bet some valuable hints about where the sport is heading will surface. As you can imagine it is therefore with great excitement that I in a few days will pack my suitcase and border the plane from Oslo to Buenos Aires. I will travel with a company called RETO (Receptive Events and Tours Organization) which collaborates with other «Rally Travel companies», and judging by the impression I have got this far, they provide a lot of fun, superb service and incredible facilities.

 

The Need for Change

Since WRC commercial chief Vladimir Antonov was arrested in London November 25, following the issue of a Europe-wide arrest warrant as part of an investigation into the asset-stripping of Bankas Snoras, a Lithuanian bank of which Antonov was a 68 per cent shareholder, the WRC has been a mess. Fortunately, as we race towards Christmas, and the recce for Rally Monte Carlo, it seems like the rescue has been made. Because things looked bad. Really bad.

Prior to Antonov’s arrest, regardless if he is innocent or not, the sport already was in a fragile state with enduring criticism from the major manufacturers, fans and investors. With the turmoil in the wake of Antonov’s arrest none of the manufacturers were in a hurry to pay the entry fees for 2012 until the registration date came, amplifying the tension even more. Moreover, major players like Abu Dhabi closed their wallets and left WRC completely.

Actually, this is quite interesting. According to a FIA spokesman, quoted in the Emirati news paper The National, Abu Dhabi was dropped from the WRC calendar in 2011 because it would cause «geographical imbalance». I guess the inclusion of Jordan apparently added enough Middle Eastern flavours to a championship where more than half the calendar takes place in Europe. Also, the FIA’s standpoint stood in contrast to the words of Simon Long, commercial boss of WRC, who in 2011 said  that «there is a desire to evolve the calendar to a more global one, as we are pretty Eurocentric as a championship right now».

Given the recent events it seems kind of weird that I was so positive about the new WRC during the first half of this year. Especially noteworthy in these discussions is the increasing dissatisfaction with the mismatch between possibilities and turnouts. Objectively, the global road show of the WRC is a treasure chest of commercial opportunities, of adventurous storytelling, automotive drama and spectacular scenery – and, mind you, some of the world’s most fascinating regions have yet to be visited by the WRC circus. So why doesn’t it work? Besides unintended organizational turmoil answers are plenty, and experts stack up in two lines to speak their opinion.

Many desire a standardization of everything from ECUs to rallies and tires. Make the WRC more similar to the Intercontinental Rally Challenge (or the WRC changes that came in 1997). They have better media coverage, less «tribal politics» in the organization of points and events, and most importantly: it is actual competition between a number of drivers and manufacturers. Problem solved.

Others favour a copy-paste of Group B. Forget about past errors and unleash the spectacular engineering that historically is the reason to why WRC became a global spectacle in the first place. Add to this new events as well as the return of the classic ones – like the Safari Rally, as seen in the video above – and the result will be a fun and exiting sport with wild cars hustling through exotic venues. Again, problem solved.

I am not in the position to decide which way the FIA should choose. But in order to keep the WRC from hanging on by its threads here and there in the future, they surely must pick one of them.

The Environmental Issue

Doing fieldwork on different WRC rallies produces a variety of experiences. While attending Rally de France-Alsace 2011, this became clear Saturday morning when I read the local news paper Dernieres Nouvelles D’Alsace (DNA). Headlined «C’est parti pour trois jours de liesse – let’s go for three days of celebration», followed by a picture of Seb Loeb driving off the ramp at the ceremonial start at Place Kleber in Strasbourg – it was easy to assume that the rally was a big party with unanimous support from the Alsatian local authorities as well as the general public. One reason, assumingly, was focus on the environment.

Early morning, Alsatian vineyards, a couple of hours before the cars came screaming on the road in the background. Photo: Hans Erik Næss

If you read the press kit from the French Motor Sports Federation (FFSA), it says «right from the launch of the operations linked to the organization of the 2011 Rally France-Alsace, the FFSA has involved all the bodies looking after the protection of the environment». As an example, the organizers refer to a carbon evaluation of Rally France-Alsace conducted in 2010 where they found that it generated 2700 tons of greenhouse gases, the equivalent to two roundtrips by an Airbus between Paris and New York in terms of CO2 emissions.

What was interesting was that 60 % of these rejects were due not to the rally itself, but to the traffic it generated in terms of spectators. FFSA’s solution was to set up a properly adapted public transport service for the Rally France-Alsace 2011 in partnership with the Alsatian territorial communities. Not everybody bought into this, though. In the very same news paper, a string of academics and others launched a scorching critique against the rally. In something resembling an anti-WRC-manifesto available here, they conclude that the rally is a barbaric event representing nothing but a scandalous misuse of money while destroying the environment and glorifying an expat tax refugee (Loeb) as the hero of the day. Ouch.

Either way, as a spectator you actually didn’t notice much of this at all. But given that the majority of emissions came from the traffic generated by the rally, there is one important lesson the organizers should take into consideration. Many of the stages were unreachable unless you travelled by car, and even then you had to walk vast distances. Poor information along the way, for instance how far it was to walk from the parking lot to the stage (something I noticed several families with small children were complaining about), was not helping either. In fact, if one really wanted to cut emissions, better information would ensure that spectators would not get lost all the time!

The Wonderful Future

Imagine 5-6 drivers, all in different cars, who all capable of winning a WRC rally. Wouldn’t that be something? David Williams, main author of the Rallycourse books, wrote this in 1998: “prospects for international rallying look better than at any time since the mid-1980s”. If the mood before the 2011 season was not entirely similar, it was still a noteworthy breeze of excitement in the air.

The new Polo WRC R, ready to hunt.




When Mads Ostberg clinched second place in Rally Sweden further expectations were evoked. Since then, however, it has been the usual Loeb way, even though Ogier has snatched a couple of victories from his master. Consequently, as it has become now, the WRC is doomed if the competition doesn’t hot up. (Note: I am not one of those who blaim this on Loeb – it’s not his fault that he is one hell of a driver, rather, the others must step up). So, what about next year?


As the 2011 season have only four rallies left, rumors and “informed guesses” dominate the blogosphere. In the last edition of Handbrakes & Hairpins, for instance, Evan Rothman writes about Mikko Hirvonen’s destiny in WRC. The reason is that, as it stands this week (5-9 September), Loeb has renewed his contract with Citroën for another two seasons, his teammate Sebastien Ogier for 2012, both MINI drivers Dani Sordo and Kris Meeke are allied to the new team for two seasons and Jari-Matti Latvala is signed with Ford until the end of 2012. That leaves Hirvonen. And don’t get me started on the rest of the pack: Petter Solberg, Mads Ostberg, Ott Tanak and Jari Ketomaa, just to mention a few.


In other words; the field is crowded. Either way I think the WRC as a sport will benefit from anyone, rookie or veteran, who actually has the possibility to challenge Loeb for the title in 2012. It will not be easy, given Loeb’s unparalleled talent and Citroën’s gargantuan budget, but if the MINI continues to improve and Volkswagen works their Polo WRC right (and perhaps Toyota announces its comeback!) the new WRC (as of 2011) will maybe get the competition it deserves. To do so, several changes are needed.


One of least communicated, but perhaps most pressing issues (as discussed in my previous blog post), was underlined by Simon Long, CEO of North One Sport, in an interview with TotalRally.com in February 2011: the importance of stability. To achieve greatness in sport, people, manufacturers and sponsors must have predictable long-term conditions.


History proves him right. Foresight was, as David Williams points out, one of the main reasons why the 1997 rule changes “made international rallying look affordable and sustainable. They have also made it extraordinarily exiting. At no stage in its history has the sport been as competitive”.

Things are heating up in the WRC

Well, Loeb is still winning – but is if we take the rallies in Italy and Argentina into account, the atmosphere in WRC seems different that during the last couple of years. Cars look and sound great, Rally Monte Carlo is announced to be back in WRC in 2012, and above all the rallies are closer than ever with fierce battles and action-packed stages. Experienced WRC reporter Julian Porter wrote recently that his current «fever rating» was a 10/10: «The 2011 season just gets better and better. Argentina is a special place: passionate fans like nowhere else in the world, a landscape to die for and stages that just bring out the best in our drivers. And to top that, what a battle we had with five drivers at it hammer and tongs, three different leaders and the eventual winner only stealing it in the final 3.9 kilometres!»

I think Porter summarizes it quite well, not least if you view the YouTube-video above, showing the fun of both WRC 2011 and Argentinean roads. Add the fact that Volkswagen made a very impressive show on Sardinia, introducing their new Polo R WRC and commiting to WRC for five years with initial testing planned during 2011. Dr Ulrich Hackenberg, member of the management board of the Volkswagen brand, development division, said the WRC’s new technical regulations had proved a decisive factor in the firm’s decision to contest the WRC. He also added: «The big task of engineering a vehicle that is competitive and capable of winning at a large number of challenges holds great appeal for us».


Dr Hackenberg’s enthusiasm brings forward thoughts about the second golden age of rallying (the first one was Group B), that is when World Rally Cars were introduced in 1997. Prior to this, 5000 turbocharged 4WD cars (reduced to 2500 in 1993), the basic requirement for Group A, was a hefty demand for most manufacturers in the 1990s. Therefore, European manufacturers in particular urged the FIA to introduce another change in technological regulations. The idea was to take the creative freedom from the Group B regulations and pair it with vigorous safety requirements. That way it would provide technical opportunities to produce spectatular cars, while keeping the door to WRC open for all kinds of manufacturers. And it did. In 1999, there were seven manufacturers in the WRC.


Can we anticipate a similar development in, say, 2014? Rumor has it that it’s not just Volkswagen that has considered entering the WRC in near future. Saab is mentioned here and there (that would be a fun return from one of the classics), but even more so discussed is Toyota, which according to a well informed source has indicated that they plan to contest five or six rallies in 2012, prior to a full WRC programme in 2013. If this is for real, it would bring the WRC to another level, enabling new drivers and new talent of all sorts to enter the most fascinating motorsport championship in the world.