The series really struggled with a lack of manufacturer involvement until recently. It was only really Ford and Citroën for a while there, and those that came and went - most notably Suzuki and Mini - were very poor efforts. The series was probably hurt a lot by Sebastien Loeb's decade of absolute dominance, too.
Fortunately, we have now got three and a half manufacturers - Citroën, Volkswagen, Hyundai and M-Sport - and Toyota is joining as well, though the question of when that might be has so far gone unanswered.
The real challenge lies in the format of rallying. It is unlike most conventional motorsport, which is circuit-based. But in rallying, the stages can be fifty kilometres long, and the cars do not directly compete with one another on the road. Even with compact routes, it's extremely difficult to get camera crews out there. A good 75% of the footage from a rally is on-board (which is fine), and that which is captured from outside the car comes from fixed cameras or helicopters - both of which can be very expensive.
More than anything else, rallying needs to embrace new media. They capture hours of footage over a single event, all of which gets condensed down to a half-hour daily wrap. Establish an on-demand streaming service, use drones instead of helicopters to capture footage, and involve the teams in the actual production of the finished product.
PM I have watched WRC ever since 2003. Wales Rally GB 2003 specifically. That shootout across Margam Park when Petter Solberg won the title. It for me got me hooked. The sport back then was in a massive rise. Granted Mitsubishi had dropped away, but we had Subaru, Citroen, Skoda, Hyundai, Ford, Peugeot. The drivers were characters like Solberg, Makinen, Loeb, Sainz, Gronholm, Auriol, McRae, Panizzi, Burns (who sadly of course, would never finish the rally)... And also one other thing - the stage was broadcast live on terrestrial TV here, ITV.
From 2004 onwards Channel 4 would get the rights and do a half hour per day recap of the events, usually at prime time around 7-8 at night. I always would either catch that or when it went to ITV again the 1 hour review show. But the sport then had profile. It had the names, it had the manufacturers. I would say it is funfair to blame the decline of the WRC on Loeb. Skoda tried a Fabia programme but never had the significant funding for it. Mitsubushi's 2004 Lancer effort was not clearly a large scale programme and internal PSA group politics led to Peugeot getting the axe a few years later.
For me the thing that partially killed the WRC was the collapse of Subaru. WRC's key was the fact that the sport also managed to grab the attention of younger audiences. See the video games. We had multiple WRC PS2 titles, and the Colin McRae series, and Richard Burns Rally and V-Rally. That bought the younger audience into it more. The cars such as the Subaru and Mitsubishi had a kind of cult status, partly down to the Japanese car scene as a whole but the cars were spectacular. I'll refer to an
excellent article I read the other day, with Chris Harris of Autocar chucking a Porsche 911 around a stage.
It is way too simplistic to assume that rallying has never fully-recovered its soul since the death of Group B, but the mechanical spectacle has probably been lacking. Even in the Mitsubishi/Subaru heyday it was the outrageous driving more than the cars which captivated us. What rallying needs is noise and slip angles. What rallying currently has is turbocharging and differentials that really only want the racing line – both are the enemies of the bobble-hatter.
The cars now lack that iconic status and image. I don't see Citroen DS3's or C4's as poster cars for young gamers and aspiring for young drivers (though Citroen must have had a certain degree of success to justify pumping in the money the whole time). The current cars could be something special, but at the moment seem more like hot hatches with a turbo slammed in but they lack the spectacle. The noise is still somewhat there but the spectacle is not.
Credit to Citroen for continuing support of the series, and M-Sport for sticking to their guns after Ford cut ties, but even then last few years, where has been the profile? VW came in, win a lot, but other than that do we hear much about rallying? In my opinion Toyota might be the kick the series needs.
The WRC has a great chance now to increase exposure and start a new golden age but perhaps they are too conservative. Move away gradually from the "Clover Leaf" format stages of going from Point A to B to C back to A. Rallying is about adventure and man and machine against the elements. Slowly allow more bodykits and freedom in regs, the cars to me are too sanitised now.
And finally, get a proper TV distribution rights package with promoters (more a UK-aimed comment here). Countries like Argentina dedicate hours to WRC. Last few years we have had ESPN, and Dave. A channel like ITV4 who already have a significant motorsports presence (BTCC with 70 hours+ coverage a year live) could work. WRC themselves provide the TV feeds and streams, not individual TV companies.
On rare occasions now I do watch WRC, or sometimes when I fire up my PS3 to play some WRC gaming, I am reminded of elements of the sport that made it perhaps my first favourite form of racing, before NASCAR, before Sportscars, before Touring Cars.
It's possible to go from 1 or 2 makes and build to heights... just look at the FIA WEC.
