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Anyone have any facts on his thoughts on the state of our rallying efforts after visiting a rally in the good ole USA.
Nicky Grist and Rally New York. Anyone have any facts?
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I can tell you what lots of other important WRC people think. I talked to a bunch at rally spain.
General consensus was this:
Roads seem very good
They think the sport is "Coming back over here" and..
"It was coming up real nice a few years back, what happened?"
I would explain the SCCA etc... and then the dual sanctioning bodies, and they would say..
"WTF?! 2 championships w/ 30 entries per event?"
Lots of them also think our cars are pieces of crap, and our country is too big, and we dont have enough small rallies.
Some of the Brits I was talking to seem to think a championship is pointless without factories as well. (Including their own)
They told me they watch our rally on TV (USRC on Motorsport Mundial), and our roads look too fast.
Only a couple of them (M-Sport people) had actually BEEN to a U.S event. They told me the cars were crap
I lol'd.
General consensus was this:
Roads seem very good
They think the sport is "Coming back over here" and..
"It was coming up real nice a few years back, what happened?"
I would explain the SCCA etc... and then the dual sanctioning bodies, and they would say..
"WTF?! 2 championships w/ 30 entries per event?"
Lots of them also think our cars are pieces of crap, and our country is too big, and we dont have enough small rallies.
Some of the Brits I was talking to seem to think a championship is pointless without factories as well. (Including their own)
They told me they watch our rally on TV (USRC on Motorsport Mundial), and our roads look too fast.
Only a couple of them (M-Sport people) had actually BEEN to a U.S event. They told me the cars were crap
I lol'd.
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Matt Johnston said that important WRC people think:
>Lots of them also think our cars are pieces of crap..
>Only a couple of them (M-Sport people) had actually BEEN to a
>U.S event. They told me the cars were crap I lol'd.
HA. That's the last thing I care about. Give me 100 crappy cars and I'll put on a super fun rally for you.
Cheers,
Anders
(apologies for having nothing Grist-related in this post)
>Lots of them also think our cars are pieces of crap..
>Only a couple of them (M-Sport people) had actually BEEN to a
>U.S event. They told me the cars were crap
I lol'd.HA.
That's the last thing I care about. Give me 100 crappy cars and I'll put on a super fun rally for you. Cheers,
Anders
(apologies for having nothing Grist-related in this post)
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When I was talking to Nicky at RIM in 04' he kept making comments about how 'agricultural' our cars looked!
ha! still funny to me..
edit: it was 2003, man the years are flying..
Matthew Johnson
CarolinaRallySport.com
matthewjohnson.us
ha! still funny to me..
edit: it was 2003, man the years are flying..
Matthew Johnson
CarolinaRallySport.com
matthewjohnson.us
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>When I was talking to Nicky at RIM in 04' he kept making
>comments about how 'agricultural' our cars looked!
I think that's a good observation. I also think it is fitting for the US.
Here our rallies are not in population centers with sponsorship support, they are in podunk towns with a hardware or tractor supply store.
Our teams do not have the opportunity (due to many factors I won't go into here) for support. The bulk of the teams are largely not prepared with necessary spares and are making do at the event.
I have always looked at rallying in the US this way. We build race cars in the shop. (But the race car parts NEED spares in the truck.) And we are agricultural in the field.
That is the right way to approach rallying as a team in this country until changes are made to the sport at the most fundamental level.
Eric
>comments about how 'agricultural' our cars looked!
I think that's a good observation. I also think it is fitting for the US.
Here our rallies are not in population centers with sponsorship support, they are in podunk towns with a hardware or tractor supply store.
Our teams do not have the opportunity (due to many factors I won't go into here) for support. The bulk of the teams are largely not prepared with necessary spares and are making do at the event.
I have always looked at rallying in the US this way. We build race cars in the shop. (But the race car parts NEED spares in the truck.) And we are agricultural in the field.
That is the right way to approach rallying as a team in this country until changes are made to the sport at the most fundamental level.
Eric
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>When prodrive came over first, they said US rally was 15-20
>years behind, and sadly the gap isn't getting smaller! 2
>championships/2 governing bodies. How do you think this looks?
>Maybe Kermit the Frog should be in charge!
How many 'national' championships are there in the UK?
Besides which, competition (including sanctioning bodies) is the American way (IRL/CART, USAC/CART, NHRA/IHRA, IMSA/Grand American, RA/NASA...). It may not be the most effective way to get things done, but it is the nature of the environment, and it isn't likely to change any time soon. I think this is the main reason the FIA has such a lot of 'trouble' dealing with racing in the US.
Adrian
>years behind, and sadly the gap isn't getting smaller! 2
>championships/2 governing bodies. How do you think this looks?
>Maybe Kermit the Frog should be in charge!
How many 'national' championships are there in the UK?
Besides which, competition (including sanctioning bodies) is the American way (IRL/CART, USAC/CART, NHRA/IHRA, IMSA/Grand American, RA/NASA...). It may not be the most effective way to get things done, but it is the nature of the environment, and it isn't likely to change any time soon. I think this is the main reason the FIA has such a lot of 'trouble' dealing with racing in the US.
Adrian
Nicky was very well informed of the state of rallying in the US. I don't think that he was suprised, disappointed, or otherwise by his visit to NY. The most suprising thing about him (at least to me) was that he was never condescending, always helpful and supportive. If only a few of our own could take a lesson from him in tact, politics, and vision we could be in a much better state than we are.
He did have some interesting insights. One was that we need an organization of drivers/co-drivers to better represent our interests to the two sanctioning bodies. Based on recent history this seems like a good suggestion, maybe even common sense that we all seemed to have missed.
-C
He did have some interesting insights. One was that we need an organization of drivers/co-drivers to better represent our interests to the two sanctioning bodies. Based on recent history this seems like a good suggestion, maybe even common sense that we all seemed to have missed.
-C
>...we need
>an organization of drivers/co-drivers to better represent our
>interests to the two sanctioning bodies. Based on recent
>history this seems like a good suggestion, maybe even common
>sense that we all seemed to have missed.
We had an organization of driver/co-drivers in the SCCA rally department before the NWO, WRC-wannabees took over.
Oooops... sorry... you missed your chance. The corporate types are taking over rally, because the NWO cheerleaders couldn't see beyond next week.
>an organization of drivers/co-drivers to better represent our
>interests to the two sanctioning bodies. Based on recent
>history this seems like a good suggestion, maybe even common
>sense that we all seemed to have missed.
We had an organization of driver/co-drivers in the SCCA rally department before the NWO, WRC-wannabees took over.
Oooops... sorry... you missed your chance. The corporate types are taking over rally, because the NWO cheerleaders couldn't see beyond next week.
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Sorry, Jens, but that's nonsense. I can't really speak for NASA as I've only done two NASA events, but Rally America is vastly more responsive to competitor input than SCCA was. Vastly.
- Christian
Bjorn Christian Edstrom
www.christianedstrom.com
- Christian
Bjorn Christian Edstrom
www.christianedstrom.com
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>...One was that we need
>an organization of drivers/co-drivers to better represent our
>interests to the two sanctioning bodies.
I agree, but you get labeled as anti-organizer to do such a thing.
>an organization of drivers/co-drivers to better represent our
>interests to the two sanctioning bodies.
I agree, but you get labeled as anti-organizer to do such a thing.
>>...One was that we need
>>an organization of drivers/co-drivers to better represent
>our
>>interests to the two sanctioning bodies.
>
>I agree, but you get labeled as anti-organizer to do such a
>thing.
>
>
I wouldn't mind if that occurred. I just wouldn't invite them to my event! JUST KIDDING! I think an injection of humour was needed here.
Can't see me in your mirrors?
I must be in front of you!
>>an organization of drivers/co-drivers to better represent
>our
>>interests to the two sanctioning bodies.
>
>I agree, but you get labeled as anti-organizer to do such a
>thing.
>
>
I wouldn't mind if that occurred. I just wouldn't invite them to my event! JUST KIDDING! I think an injection of humour was needed here.
Can't see me in your mirrors?
I must be in front of you!
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>They told me the cars were crap
It's more that most of them are half-assed attempts at being a rally car.
It's more that most of them are half-assed attempts at being a rally car.
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>Lots of them also think our cars are pieces of crap
I find this a bit humorous. I've seen plenty of crappy cars at international rallies! At the Swansea Bay rally last year most of the Peugeot 205 Cup cars I looked at in detail would be considered in the bottom 50% of the rally cars here! Same thing at the Ulster Rally in Ireland!
I think they assume that we don’t have high quality cars because we don't have $250K ex-WRC cars running around! The fact of the matter is that Cascade, VT and other top US shops build cars that rival almost any European prep shop. I would venture to say that we actually have the same number of nice cars per event (as a percentage of total entrants) as a large club rally in the UK (like Swansea Bay).
Andrew
I find this a bit humorous. I've seen plenty of crappy cars at international rallies! At the Swansea Bay rally last year most of the Peugeot 205 Cup cars I looked at in detail would be considered in the bottom 50% of the rally cars here! Same thing at the Ulster Rally in Ireland!
I think they assume that we don’t have high quality cars because we don't have $250K ex-WRC cars running around! The fact of the matter is that Cascade, VT and other top US shops build cars that rival almost any European prep shop. I would venture to say that we actually have the same number of nice cars per event (as a percentage of total entrants) as a large club rally in the UK (like Swansea Bay).
Andrew
>...Rally America is vastly more responsive
>to competitor input than SCCA was. Vastly.
Yes, that is true. I wanted to re-word my post, but got busy doing real stuff.
I was shootin' from the hip and comparing about 6 years ago to 30 years ago. You called me on it, and that is my fault. Damn!
>to competitor input than SCCA was. Vastly.
Yes, that is true. I wanted to re-word my post, but got busy doing real stuff.
I was shootin' from the hip and comparing about 6 years ago to 30 years ago. You called me on it, and that is my fault. Damn!
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Matthew Johnson
CarolinaRallySport.com
matthewjohnson.us
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=werd
Sorry for all the time some of you are about to waste on this site! Just couldn't resist....
Matthew Johnson
CarolinaRallySport.com
matthewjohnson.us
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