Why The WRC Has So Much To Offer

I have a confession. I love the WRC. I think the driving style required to be quick simply spectacular as the cars crackle, pop and spew gravel everywhere. Then, if there is a crash, it is always mind blowing. But here's the thing. The sport is in it's darkest hours right now.

Kind Of Symbolic Really

After the loss of a promoter at the start of the year (thanks to a Russian "billionaire" who actually lacked the billions needed to be a billionaire and was done for fraud) the WRC had no real TV coverage, no one running the website and no one to find sponsorship for the series. The coverage has continued, but more of a goodwill gesture as the TV reports are cobbled together at the last minute on a shoe string budget and WRC.com is being run by loyal rallying journalists. Then just two weeks ago, Nokia announced they will be taking their title sponsorship ("WRC - Powered by Nokia") elsewhere.

It gets worse. With no promoter, the FIA is in charge of organising the events, coverage and the future event calendar. North One Sport used to give rally organisers money for each round. Theory being, the organisers go through a lot of effort and money to set up the event, but then NOS contributed to get the TV rights. Now, the FIA want organisers to set up the events and then pay them for the right to be on TV. Consequently, not one event has signed the agreement for 2013. Technically as it stand right now, there isn't a WRC next year. (The official wrc.com website currently lists a calendar as a nice PR push, but they don't tell that no one has signed up to run the events!)

Not only that, but some guy called Sebastian Loeb has managed to make this incredible sport boring and predictable. Well, that statement is perhaps a bit harsh. You can't knock the man for being a literal driving god. But ever since his spectacular WRC début in 2001, the sport has been turned upside down. In his very first full season, 2003, he finished a close runner up to the champion Petter Solberg. Since then he has won every single title. Yup, that's 2004, 2005, 2006 (despite being in a semi-works car), 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011. There isn't a record left standing that doesn't now have his name attached to it. Just when you think someone in a Ford (be that Solberg, Latvala, Gronholm or Hirvonen) gets close to either winning a rally or a championship, the magical Loeb manages to pull it out of the bag with a simple Gallic shrug.

A national sporting hero in France (not only a French champion, but in a French car) and no doubt at all, the best driver the series has ever seen, if he were to retire at the end of 2012 then the end of the WRC may not be so close. Just imagine what it would be like without him. Looking at this years rallies and those from previous seasons, there have been titanic scraps for the other podium positions. Now imagine those battles being for 1st. We would have had more winners and different champions. There would be a better chance to win (more like the early 00's where any of 6/8 drivers could win each rally) and then surely more incentive for manufactures to enter. Loeb recently expressed a nonplussed attitude to longer rally distances recently introduced, set up his own endurance LeMans team and last month convincingly won a Porsche Carrera Cup race around Pau. So perhaps leaving the World Rally Championship at the end of this season is a real possibility.

Come On, This Needs To Happen

Maybe, just maybe if a promoter is found for next year and if Loeb retires, BMW will do the right thing and continue their Mini programme. It probably won't happen, but it would be nice. Also, this season hasn't been helped by Ford's continued bad luck and the only man who could seriously not just challenge, but beat hands down, Loeb, is not competing. Sebastian Ogier taking a year out to develop the new VW Polo WRC has been a great loss. Rumours cropped up recently when ex WRC champion Miki Biasion tweeted that Lancia could return in 2013. There is a very slim chance that a turbo engine could be stuck in the Proton S2000 car. But nother seem extremely slim.

You get the impression that thanks to French domination and lack of poor leadership, a series with such massive potential has been baulked. It may be on the brink, be the WRC is really worth saving.

Just What Is The GRC?

The GRC is about to kick off. Well, it kicked off 2 rounds ago at Charlotte. But I meant, grow in popularity. Not heard of it? You should have and if not, you were no doubt about to any time soon. GRC is the Global RallyCross championship (or should it be GRCC?) and that name is particularly interesting for two reasons.

First, it isn't technically Rallycross. Second, it isn't really Global either. In that usual great American tradition (such as the SuperBowl "World" Final, or something like that), the Global Rallycross Championship is in actual fact held in the US and only the US. Then, so far in 2012 anyway, the events have been purely on tarmac. Traditional Rallycross is held on a circuit that consists of both tarmac (or should that be "asphalt") and gravel, which is where the name originates from.

This has led to many hardcore fans openly mocking the GRC. Fortunately there are only 3 fans of Rallycross in the world. So while they post on YouTube comments, the rest of us motorsport fans can enjoy a properly marketed series, with big name sponsors, manufacturer support and star drivers from all forms of racing. The winner of the first two rounds this year is non other than double World Rally Champion, Marcus Gronholm. The lanky 44 year old Finn has certainly shown the pack that you can teach an old dog new tricks.

Yet, while Marcus has stolen the headlines in his Best Buy Mobile sponsored Ford Fiesta, a quick scan of the entry list is also extremely interesting. First, in another Fiesta, is Tanner Foust. He did some stuff on YouTube once and is current a presenter on Top Gear US. He also turned up to Ken Block's own Gymkhana event and beat him. Ken is also present here in suitable Monster Energy attire. Joining them is Travis Pastrana. He is also very famous around those YouTube parts for jumping out of a plane, crashing rally cars, achieving the longest jump in a car and being motorcross champion. Not only that, but he drives a Red Bull sponsored works Dodge Dart. Not to mention Rhys Millen, who is in a works Hyundai Veloster (but sssh, don't tell anyone, underneath it's a venerable Accent WRC) and the odd appearance from ERC and British RallyCross star Liam Doran. Not to mention Brian Deegan, Sverre Isachsen, Dave Mirra and Filipe Albuquerque.

Wait, there's more. Live coverage on ESPN with commentator Toby Moody, the 3rd event of the season being the X Games (you may have heard of it if you have played the DiRT games) and the others events supporting Indy & NASCAR events (so big stadium seating for fans).

With only 6 events this season, the GRC is short but sweet. I believe that with a few subtle changes and a longer calendar, the GRC could be the series to put in motion a RallyCross revival. Certainly, the racing so far has been close, with plenty of action. For instance, here is mega-star Ken Block trying to keep up with good old Marcus. And crashing. Twice.

Update: It's been confirmed that Sebastian Loeb will be joining in for the X-Games round!

Social Networking In Motorsport - Yay Or Nay

Social Networking is ace. No two ways about it. I wouldn't be surprised if there were more Facebook accounts than people on earth.Consequently, this presented an opportunity for companies to promote their products and also sports personalities to interact with fans (and gain followers to promote themselves, to then show to potential sponsors and so on and so forth). When done correctly, Social Media can be a massive win, but there are many many pitfalls and missed opportunities.

This was ever meant to be a British Touring Car Championship BTCC focussed blog and it still isn't. But this series has adopted sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube so heavily of late, it would be churlish to look elsewhere as the teams, drivers and PR assistants all jump on the bandwagon to try and impress potential sponsors and increase fan following.

"Why Didn't You Reply To My Tweet?!"

There are any number of driver twitter accounts you can follow. Matt Jackson, Jason Plato, Dave Newsham, Gordon Shedden, Matt Neal etc etc. Not only that but teams, sponsors and staff have various account all related to the BTCC. In addition, there is an increasing number of BTCC related websites that have twitter accounts and also the writers and commentators can also be followed. If you follow them all (or at least most of them anyway) you can end up with a constant twitter feed, all some way relating to your favourite motorsport series. This is only a good thing for the championship as a whole. NASCAR being the prime example how how to do Twitter (even so far as having a #NASCAR Twitter TV advert. Article here).

And yet, there is still so much to learn. For instance, I simply couldn't fathom by Daniel Welch had not one, but two twitter accounts. I'm sure there must have been a reason behind it. I thought maybe one account was a personal day to day one, while the other was for racing only news. Yet I've seen both tweet about the racing and retweet each other. Confused, much? Thankfully, only one exists as I write this. Perhaps in the future one could be used by a team member to provide live race tweet updates, while the other is Dan himself.

Dave Tries To Tweet & Drive - Fails

One driver that has to be commended with his twitter use is Dave Newsham. He retweets positive messages from fans as a Quote, adding his own "thanks" or comment to the end. It shows he reads what the fans are saying and not only that, but takes time out of his day to do it. Social media is primarily used to build relationships and make things more personal. This is how to do it. I can just picture Dave with his feet up in his Scottish castle by a lake, with a roaring fire, a glass of whiskey and a vending machine, replying to tweets. (Probably not true, but you never know)

As for the other Team ES racing driver. Well, the number of tweets produced, the time taken to tweet and the personal touch are all commendable. But the danger with "out there" comments is that the community can take a slight turn against you. This is one of the many pitfalls. Recently a "Not Chris James" parody twitter account was set up, already amassing 200 followers

Aside from the obvious advantages and disadvantages (never tweet after drinks, no matter how tempting) there is still so much un-tapped potential for the BTCC online. A quick look at YouTube reveals many videos that receive thousands of views, ranging from classic John Cleland & Steve Soper crashes, all the way through to incidents from the latest round at Oulton Park. It is a great way to promote the sport, a fact that has only recently been picked up by the official BTCC.Net YouTube account. It now uploads an "official" highlights real of the previous rounds action. However, the potential is squandered by the time delay. Within hours of a race ending, loyal YouTube-ers have already uploaded the latest videos, so why would you watch it again 3 weeks later? Of course, there may be some agreement with ITV preventing such a thing from happening.

The only team that regularly posts videos is Honda Yuasa Racing. They are up to the minute (uploaded during race day with quick clips and interviews straight after a race) and show Honda PR activities during non-race weekends. This is great. However, while the quick clips that are clearly uploaded straight from a phone are speedy, it would be nice to see a proper feature video round up of the weekends action in addition. Tony Gilham has been leading the way in the respect, by first making a very professional looking video at Brands, followed by a hilarious "Go Hard" music video, which was not only funny but went hand in hand with one of his sponsors.

In fact, to get a lesson in the best YouTube accounts, you have to look to other touring car series. Tom Coronel in the WTCC has built up a large and loyal following by uploading 2 well produced YouTube videos per race weekend. A preview clip to give you a tour of the track with a qualifying report and then race highlights. The main draw is of course on-board race footage, which is shot using GoPro cameras. This is something that I would love to see in the BTCC. Once again, there may be TV rights issues to overcome, but anyone can see Coronel's videos as promotion for the series and a compliment to watching the live race coverage. It adds to the experience as opposed to loosing TV viewing figures. The BTCC live coverage does not use on-board shots and at times, action happening further down the pack can be missed. What better way to relieve a big Plato or Neal fightback through the field than an on-board video uploaded the following week? If there is an agreement that prevents teams from filming then it is short-sightedness on behalf of whoever made that decision.

Jan Flash - Watch My Videos, Now! (Or I'll start my own series..)

Another series that knew a trick of two was the STCC. Was being the operative word, as "Mr STCC" himself, Jan 'Flash' Nilsson has gone with some other teams and formed their own entire series, TTA. But, the point is, long before Mr Coronel made it popular, Flash and his team we doing videos for years (1.5million total views and counting). Be it race highlights, testing clips or interviews. What this enables is an audience outside of Sweden. I'd never heard of the Swedish Touring Car Championship until I stumbled across one of Flash's videos. The beauty is, people worldwide can watch even if there isn't TV coverage in their region. A series' popularity outside of the target nation may seem a little pointless, but an outside audience bolsters the championship's reputation.

Lastly, Facebook. This is something that the BTCC needs to look at and perhaps change the way it goes about things. Dunlop for instance have a great page, with regular BTCC ticket competitions. Mac Tools (a sponsor of Frank Wrathall) have set-up a page which is still in it's infancy, but provides race updates, pictures, general Mac Tools news and competitions. In this respect the Honda BTCC and eBay Motors BTCC pages are similarly well run. But, if you look at the individual driver pages, it's all wrong. First of all, the golden rule on Facebook is that your personal page should remain that way. I've added several BTCC drivers on Facebook, who use their personal profile for fans to "Friend". But it should be that they have a Facebook account for their own real-life friends and then a Facebook page for BTCC fans to then Like. For instance, do I really need to know Adam Morgan's relationship status? No, of course not, that's too personal for a fan to know. Also, Redstone Racing's page is still entitled "Airwaves Racing (Redstone)". This can and should be changed.

So, to summarise. Facebook Twitter and YouTube. Absolutely brilliant to raise the profile of the series, the teams, the sponsors and the drivers. But, please, sort it out BTCC


UPDATE: Prior to writing this post, I got word from Rob Austin on Twitter that filming is indeed prohibited on race weekends (with regards to in camera shots during races). Thus no on board footage allowed from the teams. (See here & here).

So I decided to ask the big man himself, Alan Gow, on the appropriately named "Questions For Alan Gow" forum thread on BTCC.net. My question and his response can be seen here (you may have to log in). Bit of a bullet dodging answer, perhaps I should have been more precise with the wording of my question as we all already know that "behind the scenes" items can be filmed. I was aiming for race action, and I did at least mention that. Sigh. Still, nice to get a response I guess. "BTCC teams are allowed (after first obtaining clearance) to film in the paddock, their garage, their awnings, their hospitality or suchlike at an event - in fact anywhere apart from, obviously, the on-track action" No kidding! And no, the forum won't allow me to respond any further.

The Jason Plato Sandwich - A Review

Little did we know, as fans of the BTCC, that Jason Plato's actual number one past time was not over-taking Matt Neal, flying helicopters nor drinking KX energy drinks (or was that a bottle of water I spotted at Oulton....?). No, it turns out our Plato loves a good sandwich. A self-proclaimed "King of Sandwiches" none the less.

Plato - On Sale Amongst The Ginsters

Available in Tesco fuel stations as part of the "exclusive" Deli range, the Jason Plato special is a ham and coleslaw sandwich. Nothing special there then apart from the added Jalapeno mayonnaise. I got it wrong anyway. This is not merely ham but Smoked Ham and not ordinary coleslaw but Crunchy Coleslaw. Not sure what that says about non-Jason Plato Tesco coleslaw if it isn't normally crunchy....

After an initial lag to the taste, about 10 seconds after the first bite, things soon spool up as the hot jalapeno mayonnaise soon smacks your taste buds with all the subtlety of a Plato love tap at Clearways. (Waheey! See what I did there.....boost and overtaking puns, I really should take up this cuisine review lark.) It doesn't blow your face off like a hot curry, but by the end of the sandwich a drink is advised. I had a glass of apple, strawberry & lychee juice, but ordinary water could also be used.

All in all, £2 for a sandwich of this ilk from a fuel station is quite reasonable. The granary bread sets off the whole taste sensation. However minus marks must be awarded for the rather smug looking image of Jason on the rear of the packaging

The Plato Effect

Something strange happened on Sunday. Jason Plato had qualified on pole position in his MG (sorry, MG KX Momentum Racing MG6...) for race one of the day at the Oulton Park BTCC meeting, only for a suspension part to fail before the race had started. Thus he was not able to take part. Even stranger was a feeling of emptiness on my behalf as the MG was wheeled off the grid.

I've never been a Plato fan. Nor have I ever understood why anyone else would be. I had to guffaw at the one man in a Plato MG jacket that cost over £150 when I visited Donington recently. I feel his moves on track bend the rules just a little too far and find off the track his general demeanor (bordering on schizophrenic, in the words of his arch-nemesis, Matt Neal) to be rude and self-congratulating. I may have even been known to cheer slightly in an un-sporting way if he ends up in the gravel trap.


But, with no Plato in the race, something didn't feel right. It wasn't the BTCC. Love to hate him, but without his presence and undoubted ability to extract that extra tenth, the field felt hollow. In the race, we were treated to a Matt Neal win, a Honda 1-2 and plenty of on track action. But, with no Jason Plato from the very start, the feeling was muted.

There is no denying then that he is the BTCCs poison chalice. As Paul O'Neill rightly summarised during the ITV4 coverage, the championship will be a very quiet place without him. No doubt about it, despite claiming to be a "Marketing Genius" and launching his own sandwich (yes, really, the Jason Plato Sandwich, on sale now in Tesco), being able to pull together large sponsorship deals through building up a reputation is a big help to the series as a whole. Long may it continue. Over to car manufacturers UK marketing departments then, to hopefully see value in the BTCC for next year and beyond as sooner or later Plato will retire...