Big Changes to Irish Tarmac Rally Championship from 2016

[Arfur]

The old 2 litre cars are going out of homologation anyway. So those cars, which were the vast bulk of WRC entries, wouldn't have been eligible for points anyway in the very near future. Secondly, WRCs can still run in rallies in class 7. They just don't score Irish Tarmac Championship points.

It's not like the entry lists were teeming with homologated WRCs anyway.

Galway had 7 WRC cars. Three of those wouldn't be eligible for any championship within a year, regardless. Of the remaining 4, two were one off drives, purely for that event.

6 turned up in West Cork. Of which 3 would be ineligible within a year.

One turned up for the Circuit of Ireland. It will be out of homologation next year.

6 WRCs entered Rally of the Lakes. 4 will have no homologation within 2 years.

7 turned up for Donegal, 5 have expiring homologation.

So that's the state of play of the championship. It is made up of a dwindling number of aging WRC class cars.

Some of the best rallying I've seen all year has been in R2 where young guys are fully committed and wringing the neck out of their cars.

I think R5 will boost entries & bolster competition.

I do accept and understand all of that but still don't like it... Rallying is heading down the same road as f1 went down many moons ago.... All the cars look and sounds the same, boring... Just my opinion though and I think I'll probably be in the minority on this.

 

[jonspeed04]

The only r5 cars that even sound like rally cars are the ds3 and 208 , even the super 2000 skodas running over here sound muffled compared to when hanninen etc using them . R5 fiestas are super quiet and are like watching paint dry yes there could be a good battle between r5 cars but as a spectacle not for me . I am lucky enough to have been at nearly every round of the Irish Tarmac championship since 1987 and the best years for me was 95-2005 the best of group a and the wrc era .

 

[Reno_LV]

I must agree the new Fabia might look well, but sounds terrible.

 

[Pumesta]

Rallying went to **** the day the group B cars were banned

 

[davecoupe]

If sacrificing the 2.0 WRC cars on the ITC adds a bit more weight to this, I'd be all for it.

No pissing around with old (dull) COI stages focusing on the cross-border aspect this time around though. If we can show what the real stages in Ireland are like and what we actually have to offer, it might be more than a fleeting visit this time.

Have it on some of the proper Irish stages, either the stages Loeb (Donegal) or Gronholm (Galway) described as some of the best in the world .......

 

[Cess]

Just coincidence and in no way related.

The changes to the Tarmac Championship were badly needed as the competition was going stale and suffering from a lack of homolgated entries as:

(1) new WRCs are increasingly unafforable; and

(2) S2000s and R5s couldn't win - hence no incentive to push hard or even enter in the first place.

I read that article last night and would urge everybody to, before they get overly optimistic of a WRC round coming back. The headline is incredibly misleading. The actual article states that as the 2016 WRC calendar isn't finalised and some European rounds look increasingly unsure of their place (GB, France, Sardinia and even Germany), there is a chance they could get dropped and replaced. It then recycles quotes made in the wake of this years ERC event, whereby certain individuals were quoted as saying that the Circuit could potentially have the abilty to become a WRC round.

The cruical point is, there is no new evidence offered in the article and no insider knowledge to suggest that the Circuit is in the frame. Its all based on "what ifs" and "maybes". If a European round was dropped and if funding was available. The article actually concedes that the likes of China or the Middle East are more probable, as they are the big growth areas, are target markets and have oodles of cash.

The one fresh quote is from Bobby Willis who indicates that he is quite content with Circuit's current place as a successful ERC round.

Other aspects to consider. During the short period the Circuit has been an ERC round, it has never managed to attract a big name title sponsor from the private sector. Nor did Rally Ireland. In addition, a more realistic article from Sammy Hammil in yestersday's Belfast Telegraph stated that circa £3m would be required to run a WRC round in Northern Ireand. Where on earth would that amount of funding be found?

Just to reinforce an early point, the car manufacturers already indicated that they didn't sell enough cars in Ireland to justify going there and were only interested in countries with bigger sales potential

I'd be highly surprised if it ever happened. I'd also like to be wrong.

 

[davecoupe]

 

[DC.]

Donegal to withdraw from the 2016 Tarmac championship:

http://www.highlandradio.com/2015/0...lly-to-be-withdrawn-from-tarmac-championship/

 

[Cess]

Incredible. Not sure I understand why Donegal Motorclub have chosen to do this.

The rule change only affects the Championship, not which cars can win rallies. So a WRC can still win any round, just not score points for the overall Tarmac Championship.

Very disappointed. They'll probably still get a big entry but it would still be better to be within the Championship.

 

[Graham]

It will be a round of the National series now

 

[Cess]

Not unless it knocks 2 days off. Plus the Harvest is already on rotation as a counting round with the National @Graham

 

[Graham]

hmmmmmm

 

[Arfur]

It's a brave move and think the Donegal Motor Club should be commended for making it..
In my own slightly selfish way I'm quite pleased.

 

[DC.]

I suppose they could enter it as Ireland's WRC round instead…

In all seriousness it would be a massive loss for the area, as I'm sure 'rally weekend' is one of the biggest of the year for them.

 

[Cess]

I just don't understand where they go long-term with this. The Focus and S12 and S14 run out of homologation in the next year or so and the FIA are on the cusp of ushering in new technical regs that will make the next generation of WRC class machines even more specialised and at a guess probably harder for privateers to run.

Plus, no one other than M-Sport really offers customer cars anyway.

So what's Donegal going to look like post-2017? Two WRC Fiestas and Mark 2 Escorts?

 

[RallyCiaran]

Incredible. Not sure I understand why Donegal Motorclub have chosen to do this.

The rule change only effected the Championship, not which cars could win rallies. So a WRC could still win any round, just not score points for the overall Tarmac Championship.

Very disappointed. They'll probably still get a big entry but it would still be better to be within the Championship.

They have done it to try and force the Championship to change back to allowing WRC cars. I think it's very childish of DMC.
The rule changes will have very little effect on the Donegal rally, they are just throwing their weight around as the biggest rally on the island.

With the Circuit, Ulster, and Jim Clark all part of the 2016 BRC, and its classes all based on the "R" classes it makes sense to me that the Tarmac championship should do the same. It would allow the competitors from Ireland to more easily do the other BRC rounds, and it might encourage the BRC competitors to do the other rounds of the Tarmac championship.

 

[Artoir]

Smells like politics.

 

[davecoupe]

I think the fear for the Donegal Motor Club is any impending ruling on the modified classes. There has been talk for years that they are too fast compared to new stuff and Motorsport Ireland are probably on the cusp of doing something about it.

Basically, I think DMC feel they need the WRC class cars just to be faster than the modifieds to be able to justify them. Gallagher would have been third in the ERC on the Circuit in 2014 in a 30 year old starlet among professional drivers and they were passing a speed trap in Sligo at the weekend only 2/3 mph slower than WRC's as it is (108 mph for Donagh Kelly and 105 for Gallagher)

Donegal is the Mecca for such cars and it wouldn't be great for the rally if a fleet of 30 year old modified cars finished ahead of the modern breed of WRC's.

 

[KevM]

It'l get to the point where you see a Group B style ruling on the Modifieds

 

[Artoir]

The modifieds and WRC cars are the only thing that really interest me on the day now to be honest. The competition in the modifieds is great too, look how close the top 5 are so far this year. Characters like Frank Kelly do a lot for the popularity of the sport too.

14 years running WRC cars have won the championship now, this will fairly shake things up anyway, for better or worse.

 

[Neil Kirkpatrick]

Great we interview about the ITRC with Eugene Donnelly

http://www.highlandradio.com/2015/0...ves-his-views-on-tarmac-championship-changes/

 

[ilovequo]

Nesbitt/Donnelly were the glory days i'll remember!

 

[Neil Kirkpatrick]

Donegal is back on as Part of the Irish Tarmac Championship

 

[seanbob]

Tis indeed true from what I'm reading @Neil Kirkpatrick

Kind of makes you wonder why they made such a song and dance about the rule change in the first place but I'm glad that someone eventually seen sense at DMC

 

[Cess]

Any truth to this rumour that DMG has procured a Skoda Fabia R5? The man has some former history with Skodas.