Kenya's hopes of reclaiming the World Rally Championship status heavily depend on the organisational outcome of year's KCB Safari Rally which starts on Friday afternoon from the Kenyatta International Conference Centre, Nairobi.
Author: chris
Sat Jun 28 01:46:00 2008
Hi and congratulations to an excellent KCB Safari Rally preview.
Just one thing always has me amazed in the last two years. How Kenyan media
and public seems to see returning to the World Rally Championship as the
big target for the Safari Rally. It is a shame Kenyans don't seem to
realise - or Kenyan media doesn't seem to publish - how lucky you are.
The Safari Rally is part of the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge)
since 2007 (ignoring the one-off 2008 circumstances for a moment). For many
European rally fans the IRC is not the 2nd league, but an alternative
series to the World Championship (WRC). If you follow the WRC as well as
the IRC in the past couple of years, it becomes clear the WRC is losing and
the IRC is gaining. Partly the World Campionship is losing for getting rid
of marketable unique, challenging adventure events like the Safari, and
they don't even realise their many mistakes. Another mistake is that they
try to push all WRC events into a pattern, which is exactly what was the
downfall of the Safari Rally as a World Championship scoring round. Do you
really want to return to the status Q where you left in 2002 and such
effectively have the Safari Rally robbed of all its unique, adventure
character?
The manufacturers seem to agree with my sentiments. The IRC clearly has
more gripping battles with more different makes of cars than the WRC. And
that still is not all:
In glamour and marketability there is only one other rally that can
challenge the Safari Rally for the claim to be the best in rally history:
The Rallye Monte Carlo. For 2009 the Rallye Monte Carlo departs from the
World Championship and becomes a round of the IRC. Imagine the IRC in 2009
staging the two most famous rallies in the world, Monte Carlo as well as
Safari, while the World Championship remains with a number of no-name
events such as Cyprus, Sardinia and Poland with talk of Bulgaria too. Sure,
World championship is still a name, but if they don't do a drastic U-turn
soon....
Basically the way it looks at the moment, Kenya should be celebrating that
the Safari Rally is part of the IRC, instead of trying to jump onto the
sinking ship.
Hi and congratulations to an excellent KCB Safari Rally preview.
Just one thing always has me amazed in the last two years. How Kenyan media and public seems to see returning to the World Rally Championship as the big target for the Safari Rally. It is a shame Kenyans don't seem to realise - or Kenyan media doesn't seem to publish - how lucky you are.
The Safari Rally is part of the IRC (Intercontinental Rally Challenge) since 2007 (ignoring the one-off 2008 circumstances for a moment). For many European rally fans the IRC is not the 2nd league, but an alternative series to the World Championship (WRC). If you follow the WRC as well as the IRC in the past couple of years, it becomes clear the WRC is losing and the IRC is gaining. Partly the World Campionship is losing for getting rid of marketable unique, challenging adventure events like the Safari, and they don't even realise their many mistakes. Another mistake is that they try to push all WRC events into a pattern, which is exactly what was the downfall of the Safari Rally as a World Championship scoring round. Do you really want to return to the status Q where you left in 2002 and such effectively have the Safari Rally robbed of all its unique, adventure character?
The manufacturers seem to agree with my sentiments. The IRC clearly has more gripping battles with more different makes of cars than the WRC. And that still is not all:
In glamour and marketability there is only one other rally that can challenge the Safari Rally for the claim to be the best in rally history: The Rallye Monte Carlo. For 2009 the Rallye Monte Carlo departs from the World Championship and becomes a round of the IRC. Imagine the IRC in 2009 staging the two most famous rallies in the world, Monte Carlo as well as Safari, while the World Championship remains with a number of no-name events such as Cyprus, Sardinia and Poland with talk of Bulgaria too. Sure, World championship is still a name, but if they don't do a drastic U-turn soon....
Basically the way it looks at the moment, Kenya should be celebrating that the Safari Rally is part of the IRC, instead of trying to jump onto the sinking ship.