If you could buy the WRC…..

[J4MIE]

If you could buy the WRC…..

After hearing rumours over the weekend that the WRC is potentially being put up for sale by the Promotors, it got me wondering….. A dangerous thing I know!!

But if you wanted to take over the WRC for the reputed £550 million, what would your plan be?
Assuming you don’t have that money in the bank, how would you go about finding investors?
What would you use to “sell” the current WRC to them, what would you change in the short term, medium and long term?
How would you make a return on the investment? How would you grow the sport, either at Rally1 level, or as a whole?

And, finally, would you run it for the good of the sport, or for your own financial interests?

 

[Humber]

I hope the WRC is purchased by an entity that is large enough that the WRC is only a part of their wider portfolio rather than a few organisations joining together by scraping their wallets for loose change to buy the WRC.

Steps & priorities - 1. Stabilisation of car class rules.
2. Rather than expecting manufacturers to turn up, encouragement of national motorsport teams to develop their local brand cars with the priority on safety and reliability rather than speed. Spain can have Cupra Rally2, France can have Renault Rally2, Italy - Lancia Rally2
3. Sell the idea that it is okay to run events where there are few spectators (what are the on-site spectator numbers for the Extreme- E off road racing like?) to reduce the chances of spectator issues. 'Remote' events more focused on tourists landscape/ scenery marketing.

 

[saco0o]

ps: remember that red bull media house is selling the "wrc promoter", not "wrc".
FIA is the one who owns the championship and who decide the rules, so - for example - you would not be able to "end rally1" by just buying the "wrc promoter" thing.

 

[mknight]

3. Sell the idea that it is okay to run events where there are few spectators (what are the on-site spectator numbers for the Extreme- E off road racing like?) to reduce the chances of spectator issues. 'Remote' events more focused on tourists landscape/ scenery marketing.

This is an interesting point that I see more and more.

Historically it was a lot about wanting many rally fans around and it is still often used as an argument for whether a rally is successful. Olympus rally in the US in the 80s was removed also because of low spectator numbers. (recall that old joke about knowing every fan there vs every fan knowing every driver in Europe).

But since full lifestream and the majority of spectators likely moving online (I don't have the numbers) I also believe this could change. For the future this definitely should change.

For one online viewing numbers have much higher expansion potential while on-site spectators are by definition limited.

I recall many people complaining online how stages in Poland were getting cancelled (for them) by a few dudes in a single corner.

Obviously if a rally is too remote there might be issues with the organizing model. Might have to move people in ther to run it. On the other hand with less people stageside you likely don't need some many Marshalls. On the other hand remember Australia 2018 with like 10 spectators in a stage where 2 of them were laying down 10 cm from the cars.

 

[Humber]

Well considering the next WRC round is the Acropolis, let us see if the behaviour of spectators has improved since 2023 when there were spectators standing in ditches next to the track or in areas that were sign posted as 'no spectator' areas. Maybe spray some 'skunk' odour in the 'out of bounds' areas so spectators are reluctant to stand there.

 

[Sal yet again]

If you want to move away from rallying and instead go "rally racing" or even worse "rally" then by all means take away one of the major USPs of the sport and limit spectator access even more than it is now on some events. I know we have seen that more and more for obvious reasons of liability and insurance and the service parks now resemble an F1 paddock however its that engagement with the fans that sets this form of motorsport apart from its circuit based counterparts and for some events spectator revenue goes towards mitigating the costs of having the rally in the championship in the first place. The coverage of the Monte for example usually focusses a lot on the first night and the fans setting off their flares and fireworks in the dark . Contrast that with Extreme E racing round a wet midge infested quarry. I know which I'd rather watch online.

Can see why the comments have been made though re coverage as how many viewers of the English Premier League football around the world have ever been to a match in person? Armchair gamers and online stats freaks who have never experienced the thrill of being stage side and being part of the crowd will never get it but for me taking the sport behind doors is the wrong move.

 

[J4MIE]

ps: remember that red bull media house is selling the "wrc promoter", not "wrc".
FIA is the one who owns the championship and who decide the rules, so - for example - you would not be able to "end rally1" by just buying the "wrc promoter" thing.

Yes but as the Promotor you have a seat at the table and have a BIG say on how everything is run.

 

[macebig]

Let's see...
Rally 1 dies, immediately. Rally 2 takes over for 3 years with a fixed car cost of $150k. After 3 years, new production based cars with free use of production engines (no more 1.6T locked). Run whatever works and balance things out with weight formula. Off shelf parts for suspension and gearbox, cutting costs significantly. Ban carbon use (ultra expensive and useless in rallying). Lengthen rallies and use the CER formula. For example Portugal and Spain can combine for one event as Greece/Turkey/Bulgaria. Rallies go to 5 days with no repeated stages. A ceremonial start/SSS in a major town to promote the rally. Kill service park as is and replace it with a remote command center. 4-6 mechanics with return of roadside service. That's about it for now.

 

[Sal yet again]

I'd be looking to introduce one or two rally sprint type events in or around major urban areas in between the calendar for "traditional" format rallies. Make each one into a mini festival that would justify the expense for the teams and spectators attending and award full championship points.

Make sure the series had at least one "drive to survive" format programme on a widely accessible platform to satisfy those for whom the cult of personality is everything.

Find the budget to have more stage side cameras (maybe a few less presenters could help fund this) as thats what really brings over the true sensation of the sport.

Decide on a vehicle power plant type, ideally synthetic fuel and stick to it. One car on a stage needs to make noise.

Beyond that I'm still thinking

 

[J4MIE]

Let's see...
Rally 1 dies, immediately. Rally 2 takes over for 3 years with a fixed car cost of $150k. After 3 years, new production based cars with free use of production engines (no more 1.6T locked). Run whatever works and balance things out with weight formula. Off shelf parts for suspension and gearbox, cutting costs significantly. Ban carbon use (ultra expensive and useless in rallying). Lengthen rallies and use the CER formula. For example Portugal and Spain can combine for one event as Greece/Turkey/Bulgaria. Rallies go to 5 days with no repeated stages. A ceremonial start/SSS in a major town to promote the rally. Kill service park as is and replace it with a remote command center. 4-6 mechanics with return of roadside service. That's about it for now.

One of the issues with that Route idea would probably be a severe lack of marshals, events around the world are already struggling. You would also need more stages to be set up, more equipment needed etc, plus would mean more traffic moving around the route - roads are a lot busier than they were 30/40/50 years ago.

Roadside service is good but you’d need to have extra scrutineers following everyone around all the time. Do you still limit the amount of tyres, or do you try to increase the durability of the tyres and make them be limited to, say, 6 tyres per car per full day?

 

[J4MIE]

I'd be looking to introduce one or two rally sprint type events in or around major urban areas in between the calendar for "traditional" format rallies. Make each one into a mini festival that would justify the expense for the teams and spectators attending and award full championship points.

Make sure the series had at least one "drive to survive" format programme on a widely accessible platform to satisfy those for whom the cult of personality is everything.

Find the budget to have more stage side cameras (maybe a few less presenters could help fund this) as thats what really brings over the true sensation of the sport.

Decide on a vehicle power plant type, ideally synthetic fuel and stick to it. One car on a stage needs to make noise.

Beyond that I'm still thinking

Yes one that stands out was the Fafe rally sprint that ran for a few years the weekend before the rally. While I’d say it was good I don’t think they should be using a em section used on the rally itself. So maybe have a small city centre rally sprint or similar? Don’t think there should be championship points on the line, maybe a 3-2-1 bonus points overall or something.

Think there should be some funding help for events in some way, and think there should be an Australia/NZ on the calendar.

 

[Backa]

But if you wanted to take over the WRC for the reputed £550 million, what would your plan be?

I would definitely talk to a lot of people that are more knowledgeable than me before I would make a plan. Many changes would also be FIA decision and as promoter, I would just try to convince them to do it.

Definitely would try to consult people responsible for WEC revival to see what ideas they had in WEC could be "copypasted" in WRC.

Focus on 5 manus to convince them to stay/join: Toyota, Hyundai, Ford, Skoda/VW, Stellantis.

Moving highlights from Red Bull TV to WRC channel on youtube and trying to get put some live Monte Carlo/Sweden stages on youtube. It's time when other series are hibernating so could get interest from fans and some will keep following.

More options for rally.tv subscriptions. Possibility to subscribe cheaper for one specific day, one specific rally etc.

Moving back to old point system but with 6-5-4-3-2-1 power sunday instead of 5-4-3-2-1 power stage.

Reversing road order after first loop on friday to equalize it a little.

Manus could declare 3 drivers for manus points plus additional fourth one, as long as he would be young enough and inexperienced enough (so Kalle could not be treated as one but Solberg could)

Tarmac round like Croatia/Barum/Roma/Ypres in middle of season to not have too much gravel rounds in a row.

Monte Carlo / Sweden / Mexico / Corsica / Argentina / Portugal / Greece / Kenya / Croatia / Poland / Finland / Japan / Wales / New Zealand would be my ideal calendar but obviously some financial stuff could not be ignored so Saudi Arabia will be part of calendar and some of my dream rounds would not.

 

[Fast-Eddie]

On the subject you have to wonder why the WRC Promoter is choosing now to sell ? (If that is true)

Maybe they dont like the look of the future of the WRC with the massive uncertainty around virtually every aspect of the sport at the top level... ie. the 2027 Car Regs, the lack of Manufacturers, deciding the event formats, a better points system etc.

All this is in flux and then the Promoter is landed with selling and promoting the product to TV, and other media in a way that will increase viewers and revenue.

The current Promoter may just be trying to get out while the going is good...

 

[Backa]

The current Promoter may just be trying to get out while the going is good...

CVC sold F1 rights to Liberty and F1 started doing well on commercial level with Liberty taking over.

Current promoter evaluations of WRC future don't need to be better than evaluations of someone else. Resources current promoter have don't need to be better than resources potential buyer would have.

And $550 million doesn't need to be offer of desperate seller but offer expecting to find buyer excited about unfilled potential WRC have.

 

[Mary Mary]

The current Promoter may just be trying to get out while the going is good...

100%.

Nothing can 'attract' new manufacturers. WRC as a production car and manufacturer series is already DEAD. The idea of a championship for manufacturers is a front and may continue to be so.

Privateers cannot sustain this series.

It has become a promoter series. Whoever buys will be making a loss using it to sell their brand, whatever, or wherever, it may be. Whether there is anything left of the series when they are finished with it is anybody's guess. There is no fathomable way to make anything on this series at that valuation.

 

[mknight]

If you want to move away from rallying and instead go "rally racing" or even worse "rally" then by all means take away one of the major USPs of the sport and limit spectator access even more than it is now on some events. I know we have seen that more and more for obvious reasons of liability and insurance and the service parks now resemble an F1 paddock however its that engagement with the fans that sets this form of motorsport apart from its circuit based counterparts and for some events spectator revenue goes towards mitigating the costs of having the rally in the championship in the first place. The coverage of the Monte for example usually focusses a lot on the first night and the fans setting off their flares and fireworks in the dark . Contrast that with Extreme E racing round a wet midge infested quarry. I know which I'd rather watch online.

Can see why the comments have been made though re coverage as how many viewers of the English Premier League football around the world have ever been to a match in person? Armchair gamers and online stats freaks who have never experienced the thrill of being stage side and being part of the crowd will never get it but for me taking the sport behind doors is the wrong move.

I typically get to watch one WRC round stageside per year and maybe two local rallies.
Yet I get to watch at least a few stages of all WRC rounds live online. Stageside you don't care much about the times or fights at all. Online you care mostly about that.

That's just how it is.

Problem is that historically stageside spectator numbers were just about the only measure of succes and it is still used by some. But those numbers are already at their limit or above on quite a few rallies and cannot be increased much without serious logistical and safety issues.

Yet manus don't think those numbers are enough to warrant them using money on the series.

One way to increase the popularity is to increase number of rounds, which is very costly for everyone and can only increase the numbers a bit.
The other is to focus more on online viewers. Which WRC has done for 6+ years.

I do believe that the focus on online viewers should stay and even increase. That's not the same as banning spectators. As we wrote it is much more about selecting rallies that are "online attractive" rather than "in populated areas". The move of rally Sweden from Torsby to Umeå is exactly the kind of move I am talking about.

 

[macebig]

One of the issues with that Route idea would probably be a severe lack of marshals, events around the world are already struggling. You would also need more stages to be set up, more equipment needed etc, plus would mean more traffic moving around the route - roads are a lot busier than they were 30/40/50 years ago.

Roadside service is good but you’d need to have extra scrutineers following everyone around all the time. Do you still limit the amount of tyres, or do you try to increase the durability of the tyres and make them be limited to, say, 6 tyres per car per full day?

That's why the suggestion is to go cross country. More personnel available and cost splitting. Tyres should be opened up,imo. Use a fixed cost per tyre and scale up from there.

 

[saco0o]

Monte Carlo / Sweden / Mexico / Corsica / Argentina / Portugal / Greece / Kenya / Croatia / Poland / Finland / Japan / Wales / New Zealand would be my ideal calendar but obviously some financial stuff could not be ignored so Saudi Arabia will be part of calendar and some of my dream rounds would not.

but its kinda not on wrc or the promoter to "choose" 'where to race'. they go where there is a promoter willing to bring the series. wrc is not doing argentina because theres no money in argentina to bring wrc, for example

 

[Backa]

but its kinda not on wrc or the promoter to "choose" 'where to race'. they go where there is a promoter willing to bring the series. wrc is not doing argentina because theres no money in argentina to bring wrc, for example

Yes, as I said finances are obstacle to make perfect calendar but it's also not about picking 13-14 highest bidders and call it a day. Taking care of having diversity in surfaces/challenges, not making too much gravel events in a row, keeping or trying to get back classic rallies should be part of consideration when it is not too aggravating financially.

Safari and Acropolis were classic locations that we got back so I hope for similar future for some classic rounds.

 

[deephouse]

Events:
-Add at least one more tarmac event in the middle of the season in favor of one European gravel event.
-Add on the full mixed event (gravel/tarmac), I like how Latvia this year tries to do that, so don't mind if it would stay on the calendar.
-Shorten rallies (no one has that much time to fully watch rallies for 4 days the whole day), shorten stages (it could provide more battles because the time difference on each stage could be smaller), keep some marathon events
-Add NZ, USA, and China to the calendar (the last one is important because their car industry is booming, and they should target that market)
-Each event should have some very short special stage around the city, or race track, purposely built or fan-friendly to bring the sport even more to the people.

Cars:
-Open the regs to meet ICE, EV, Hybrid, or Oxygen, that way every car brand does meet the criteria to enter the series.
-Teams could provide the tires they want (so more tire brands could be present in the championship)

Media and coverage:
-Put more cameras on the stages, or develop some app/platform for fan cooperation to provide more content
-Make more stories like that jump in the water at the end of Sardegna rally, or Fafe jump, come famous corners, crash sites...
-Instead of expensive helicopters they should use drones
-Fix basic issues with the live platform and make a more user-friendly interface
-Provide some free content for people who don't want to pay for premium (maybe one stage live, short highlights or clips, interviews, stories...)

Points score system:
-Revert to the old system, except there would be Super Sunday and the power stage stays the same (so the last three stages can get you extra points - two of them 3 and PS 5).

Other:
-Link some events with continental championships like ERC, ARC... (it could be cheaper to organize, and people could get double action)
-The cleaning effect could be maybe reduced in some way if one or two zero cars drive before official entries (driven by legends or local heroes youngsters for competing teams, could be older spec Rally1 or WRC cars - for fan aspect more action).
-Include more women in the sport, or influencers to boost the series recognition.