Despite a huge collective fondness for rallying, the sport seems to be in decline. How can it be saved? The evo team don their thinking bobble hats to come up with a possible solution
HOW TO SOLVE A PROBLEM LIKE RALLYING?
That most noble of motorsports: not merely driver pitted against rival driver in a controlled environment, but a partnership of two human beings, trusting each other implicitly in the face of potentially mortal danger. Man and machine battling not just to be the fastest of all from point A to point B, but to conquer the conditions and the natural environment, too. Motorsport to the original template.
But something’s not right with rallying. Sure, it’s become almost fashionable to knock it, so we’ll aim to be a bit more constructive than that, but when Messrs Meaden, Barker, Vivian, Goodwin, Ingram and Beaumont, and yours truly, get round a table, a pattern emerges. Well, apart from the wily old Viv, that is: ‘Still the only place you can witness genius driving and the deployment of giant cojones together,’ he opines. ‘Splendid. Wouldn’t change a thing.’ Somehow I think the rest of us are going to have a different view…
You’ll often hear the phrase ‘I don’t know where to watch it’ applied to modern rallying, a perception based on the time when the WRC disappeared from terrestrial programming. In fact, there’s a variety of ways to watch: highlights are on Channel 5 and BT Sport in the UK, while there’s also coverage on Red Bull TV (online) and on the sport’s dedicated online portal (WRC+), which also enables all sorts of data to be accessed – although you’ll have to buy a subscription.
Rallying is crying out for the sort of fan interaction enabled by the modern world of smartphones and social media content. It’s a sport on a large scale, often elusive to cover – and far too expensive we’re always being told. But surely modern technology, from smartphones to drones, offers so many solutions.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 2017 من Evo.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة December 2017 من Evo.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
BEST BUYS BMW M CARS
THE PERFORMANCE CAR LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE looked very different over the last five decades without BMW. Its M division, founded in 1972, has produced some of the best driver’s cars ever to hit the road, and in the process has provided a stream of benchmark models for its rivals to chase. In recent years, stricter emissions regulations, downsizing and electrification have seen some of those rival cars falter, yet by and large BMW’s M machines have remained strong. In fact, some rank among the greatest the department has made think of the eCoty-winning M2 CS and M5 CS while others are the only options worth recommending in their respective segments. Price tags have risen with performance, however, putting those latest offerings out of reach for many, but the marque’s popularity means there are numerous earlier M models available on the second-hand market for far more attainable figures. Here are four of our favourites.
TYRE 2024 TEST
Want to fit the very best tyres to your performance car? The annual evo Tyre Test identifies the cream of the current crop
HONDA ACCORD TYPE R
A liberal sprinkling of Honda Type R fairy dust on the late-'90s Accord produced an unlikely evo icon and a genuine performance bargain
TOY STORY
Where best to store some of Toyota’s most prized and valuable racing superstars? Under the wind tunnel at its Cologne HO, of course...
POWER PLAY
It develops 819bhp. It has no turbochargers, no hybrid assistance. Ferrari describes it as the most complete GT it's ever made. And it’s so proud of its mighty V12 engine it’s named the whole car after it. This is the 12 Cilindri
THE FIRST SAMURAIS
Japan has been responsible for many of our favourite driver's cars of recent decades, but their ancestors are often much less well known. We take a look at where the big manufacturers began their performance car journeys
DEFINITELY. NO MAYBE
Three Japanese performance icons - Lexus LFA, Subaru Impreza 22B and Nissan GT-R. Over three days on some of our favourite roads we explore what makes each uniquely thrilling, but also the car culture that unites them
1V3.0
F1, P1... and now W1. The next chapter in McLaren's Ultimate Series is the British firm's challenger to the forthcoming new Ferrari hypercar and a £2million, 1257bhp, hybrid-powered, technical tour de force
Thornley Kelham European RS
One man’s dream to build the perfect Porsche 911 has resulted inthis aaticMously restored and enhanced classic. We delve into the details and take it for a drive
Bentley Continental GT Speed
The new Continental GT is the most powerful Bentley ever, and the beginning of anew plug-in hybrid era for Crewe. But is it still a benchmark grand tourer?
