A FRESH NEW BREEZE INTO SA RALLYING
author: Leon Botha
It is great to see that a big name has entered the rally scene as sponsor and to see it linked to the brand new M-Sport Ford Fiesta S2000 to be driven by Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich makes it even better.
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The new Ford Fiesta S2000 to be driven by Charl Wilken and Greg Godrich.
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BASIL READ CONSTRUCTION stepped onto the scene so suddenly - that in Route Notes it would have carried a "caution turbulence" call!
There is no doubt in my mind that the time has arrived to bring more such sponsors onto the rally scene, especially now that we are standing at the dawn of a new era of Extreme Entertainment in the sport!
Rallystar would like to welcome Basil Read Construction and we truly hope that they will get more publicity than they can handle!
At Rallystar we have decided to step up the quality and information of the Route Notes even more this year and competitors can expect to get more and better information regarding certain conditions that will enable them to fine-tune the Notes even more.
This will without doubt instil more confidence in the competitors and if the calls are read at the right tempo and the drivers are able to interpret the calls exactly right, the tempo and therefore the promotional value of the sport will go up more than only one step.
The presence of the new Ford will without doubt attract more people to the sport and for the first time in many years the Ford fans will again have something to cheer for! They are simply a better breed of supporter than most other makes can brag with.
With a field of up to eighteen S2000 cars running we can surely not ask for a better chance to build the sport to new levels but I can not but wonder what will happen further down the field?
Nothing has really been done to make the entry level easier and what worries me most is that - to be honest the steps up to the entry-level for young up-coming and talented drivers are filled with seniors lying around tripping everyone that come past. You have to get past almost middle-aged men to get to, let alone, through the door. Its like a Grade three guy getting measured against a first year varsity student! That however is not the competitors fault - it can be placed right at the door of those who seem to have a total lack of vision regarding growth!
N4 - well with Subaru's plan to go racing after their ubsuccessful 2009 racing seasion where they hardly made it to the prize-giving let alone the podium, you can sure as hell not expect N4 to grow?
Strange that in America where Subaru is breaking sales records, they are very much into the rally and Xtreme scene - but then they have been proven wrong before?
There is simply no support locally and with us hanging onto the FIA rules regarding the N4 cars - we have no chance to see any growth. But then I do understand that we have to cater for all the international competitors who enter our local rallies and we need to have our cars ready for in case one South African driver decides to go and win the WRC production car series! Please???
It is truly amazing that no one except me have stood up to try and get the South Africans to see and realise that this is exactly that - South Africa! It is a drop in a bucket - we make up 1% of the global car sales, we are truly not in count even if our Airforce is the second oldest in the world!
Please Lord send us the De la Rey of rallying who will realise that we actually have an opportunity to change things to suit us and not the world. We can actually enjoy ourselves!! Nothing can stop us to create something worthwhile and substantial in South Africa.
Do that "Botha" version I begged for in 2003 of an N4 - standard gearbox, standard computer, roll cage, brakes and restricted suspension modifications and we will have at least ten of them running by next year!
We also need a 1600cc class with similar restrictions - something that can be built for less than R120 000 if the factory supplies a shell?
In short we need to get back to at least 45 entries per event and we need to make it cheaper sooner than later.
Take the sport where the people are, limit activity to two days, cut out nonsense except if that will ensure large crowds!
It will be very interesting to see how many S2000 we will have left next year?
I don’t mean how many will be running, I mean how many competitors will still be able to afford to run them. I think a few are in for a nasty financial shock in 2010 and the final sum may spell the end for more than one.
Then again I say if you have it, you have it! I seem to have wasted too much time concentrating on motorsport instead of reeling in every cent so I could also not screw around in an S2000?
I can not wait to see what happens this year - can you imagine running a few million bucks car and you can phone home telling mommy you came 18th overall and 18th in class?
How do you get 18 cars into the top five on a rally? I am sure we are going to see a few attempts at that!
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