Irish Tarmac Rally Championship

[s12impreza]

Have the organisors noticed that they need to pull out of the jim clark and Manx's events as the lack of Irish entries gets smaller and smaller every year, it shows that the competitors are not bothered with the rallies, why is this mostley down to costs and some have had bad experiences, I think its time to put an extra 2 rounds in Ireland where all drivers can afford to go and rally and that would also make the championship more competitive, just look at the list of starters registered for points for the Irish tarmac series in all groups at the manx's rally, poor its time to shake it back up and let stages like sallys gap be lit back up bye the sound of rally cars again

[sal]

I know this topic is being discussed on the Irish forums regulary and with the current regs of the BRC forbidding WRC machinery to score points and Mark Taylor the BRC promotor making no bones that he would like to see the back of the WRC cars then I can see why it is a hot topic.

It's interesting though that it appears to me that very few Irish crews (and I count all classes not just the WRC boys) take part in a full season of events on your side of the Irish sea let alone going to the Manx and JCMR. It's often said that the majority of Irish WRC crews of a certain age are rich businessmen with no itention of progressing in the sport and are just competing for fun and therefore are not usually bothered about necessarily completing a full season. This may or may not be true however with the exception of the Mchales (and which one of Garth or Aaaron have completed a full ITC campaign in the last couple of years?) which Irish Tarmac driver has shown any desire to develop a career outside of the ITC? Not that many I can think of and therefore I cannot really understand why they would want to measure themselves against Group N competition on a couple of "overseas" events. Yes the Manx is a classic event but with it's move to a more expensive time of year from it's normal end of season date has seen a decline in entries from both sides of the pond.

I for one would miss the Irish crews competing on the JCMR and Manx as I'm sure would the event organisers who are desperate for every last pound however with a round of the WRC now in Ireland and a BRC that seems to lack any clear direction perhaps it is time to let go of history.

[princess sharna]

I dont think this should be done, a lot of people enjoy the rally in the isle of man and like myself follow it around ireland and uk. there are a lot of testing stages on the isle of man and some of the irish ARE just in it for the fun and to prove themselves they are brilliant! People of the isle of man would miss the irish WRC's!

[52Paddy]

If the ITC was to drop the Manx and Jim Clark rallies, it would be very bad from their point of view in that, with the BRC under Gp N category, the lack of WRC cars may result in a loss of spectators. On the other hand, from an ITC point of view, the Jim Clark and Manx rallies (whilst being both very nice events on the calendar) could be replaced by another 2 rallies in Irish, particularly on the eastern side, where there is not much activity. The only question to put forward is: Will this relocating of rallies from across the pond back to the Irish mainland encourage more drivers to compete in full seasons?

As has been said, there are a lot of rich businessmen within the sport and they could surely afford to compete abroad. Maybe costs are not the problem as, I'm sure, some rally drivers will want to drop rounds to spend time with family and look after their other side of life. Are dropped scores part of the sport? This could also be a factor. Anyway, just my 2 cents. :)

[ste898]

Without the Irish drivers in the WRC Cars the Manx and JCMR would be nothing and I certainly would'nt think of going to watch the purely boring Group n cars and the hang on's.........