I've always wondered about that. Why doesn't the likes of more european comapanies (e.g. BMW, AUDI, etc...) join in the fray. I think it would make it so much more interesting! :alien:

BMW seems to like doing things once... like Dakar (2001?2002? champoion w/ the FG650 and I think they placed pretty well in Dakar w/ their turbodiesel X3 this year?)

Audi used to be in WRC and dominated it w/ their quattro drivetrain and a female driver. However, Audi seems to be mroe concerned in the luxury market and road raceing arena now.

Mercedes... well, they're apart of chrysler and I'm not sure what they're doing...

Peugeot is already in WRC
Citroen is already in WRC i think?
Skoda - not sure
Alfa Romeo - not sure
Opel - they used to be... don't know about now. but since it's a Ford, the Focus prolly took over.

I'm not a hardcoer rally fan, so my info might not be completely correct, so feel free to comment. =)

Money. It costs a lot of money.

And it takes even more money. :-)
Also, each car company decides where to put its advertising money. Opel (which is part of GM, not Ford) and Audi run in the euro touring car series.
Richard

How does the cost compare to funding for a roadracing team? Even close?

Manufacturers seem to take the "Hit it and quit it" approach to rallying. Such as Audi and Lancia(Renault).

It's simple, Subaru seems to think that hardcore racing development helps thier enitre car line. Which, to some degree it does. You don't see many group N Xsara's or Focus's, 206's in Europe. Subaru is just deeply engrained with rally.

Yes, money. If you catch up with WRC.com Mitsu is pulling out of the rest of th eyear after Germany b/c of costs no doubt. Skoda has been in limited programs as well, running many national rallies with lower entry fees, and that tend to be local (Poland, Germany, Czech).

"Money"
-Pink Floyd

that's true, money plays a big part.

however, by far the most expensive racing circuit is F1.... with engines costing millions and only used in one race... =) Michael Schumacher was teh highest paid athlete in the world at one time...

since Ferrari, Mercedes, and BMW are deeply tied up in F1, i don't think they will be fielding any WRC teams anytime soon. Also, rally is very popular as a spectator sport, but not as much as a participation sport, unlike road racing which can be done by an ameteur relatively easily compared to rallying.

skoda = VW/audi

Manufacturers seem to take the "Hit it and quit it" approach to rallying. Such as Audi and Lancia(Renault).

Lancia was involved in rally for 26 years (1966-1992) Renault (which is not part of Lancia if that what you meant by putting it in parenthasis) was involved for 35+ years (1964-current -JWRC) althought they have taken some years off and a lot of the time was spent in conjunction with Alpine. Audi was involved for for about 8 years. I would hardly call those as examples of "hit it and quit it"

There is a lot more to Rallying than just the top WRC class.
Citroen, Puegoet, Fiat, Suzuki, Opel, Ford, VW, MG and Renault all compete in the Junior WRC (super 1600) which is cars that are more appropriate to what they actually manufacture. Very few companies find it worth it to make an AWD concoction to compete in the WRC class.

Just about every car manufacturer has been involved with rally at one time or another.

It's simple, Subaru seems to think that hardcore racing development helps thier enitre car line. Which, to some degree it does.

Well it is not that simple. Car companies make decisions on how to market their products based on many different factors. For the most part the whole point of racing is to improve the companies image, provide name recognition and to provide brand loyalty.
In many cases rallying does not fit the image the manufactururs are trying to emit. For example Audi has become a luxury automobile maker and rallying just does not fit that mage, it is dirty, raw, and the cars sustain lots of damage over the course of the event.
Road racing is much more of a gentlemans sport and certainly appeals more to the wealthier people than rally does.


You don't see many group N Xsara's or Focus's, 206's in Europe. Subaru is just deeply engrained with rally.

That is because those cars don't qualify for Group N, they are not AWD from the factory.


Yes, money. If you catch up with WRC.com Mitsu is pulling out of the rest of th eyear after Germany b/c of costs no doubt. Skoda has been in limited programs as well, running many national rallies with lower entry fees, and that tend to be local (Poland, Germany, Czech).

yes money has a lot to do with it, but you have to realize in order to put a racing program to good use you have to spend equal money on marketing it and a lot of these smaller car companies just can't afford to do that or decide the money could be better spent somewhere else.

Also part of the reason Mitsubishi is pulling out after Germany is because there is a huge scandle in Japan (the ex Mitsu CEO was even arrested) and it would look bad if they were to compete in the rally Japan, it might be deemed inapropriate by the Japanese public. They also have plans to be back after further development.
Hyundai as well also plan to be back

That is because those cars don't qualify for Group N4, they are not AWD from the factory.


fixed ;) ... actualy there are Group N Xsara, Focus and 206 rally cars. N3 or N2, depending on their engine capacity.

fixed ;) ... actualy there are Group N Xsara, Focus and 206 rally cars. N3 or N2, depending on their engine capacity.


Oops, my bad,thanks. N4 was likely what the poster I was replying to was thinking ;)

Automakers first decide the type of image they want for the company then decide were to present it. Subaru wants a sporty outdoorsman kinda image so rally is perfect for them. Wouldn't make much sense for them to try doing Nascar or something unless they wanted to change there image. Same with other manufacturers. A Company like BMW wouldn't have much to gain by going to rally instead of F1 or sports car racing.

When the pug 206 won 2 years ago. The car was the best selling car in europe. I think renault investigate that and plan to run in 2006.

Renault may use the Megane, but put simply many car manufacturers need to see a correlation between rallying and sales. Frankly doing poorly can be worse for a car makers image then winning enhances it. Speaking with Suzuki earlier this year about running an Ignis (arguably the best current Super 1600 car) in the states they told me that they did not want to spend the budget to rally a car that you could not purchase in the US the way Hyundai did with the Tiburon (referring to SCCA Pro Rally). I think that more than a few people would have purchased an AWD turbo tiburon. You must also consider whether a manufacturer has a suitable platform to build a WRC car from. Finally with all of the consolidation in the Automotive industry many car makers would be basically ocmpting against themselves. Skoda is part of the Volkswagen/Audi/Porsche/SEAT so to run three teams is a bit silly. BMW's resources are invested in Formula One, TOyota converted their rally HQ into the F1 facility, Honda's legacy is in F1, MErcedes did rally at one point but I would be hard pressed to find a suitable platform, General Motors used to be involved with Opel and remains so in Super 1600 with the Corsa, that really only leaves 4 of the worlds major auto manufacturers out of the fold completly.