0
What A Joke.
Posted by
JHS18
,
21 December 2011
·
31 views
So I've been feeling like a long overdue rant at the FIA, so I thought I'd do it here. It's not really a discussion and I didn't want to put it on my normal racing blog, because it wouldn't suit with my normal style.
So, recently, the FIA published both the WTCC and GT World Championship calendars - both proved to be quite a surprise, as neither included a British round.
This annoyed me quite a lot...actually, that's an understatement. It p**sed me off more than you can imagine.
This year, I went to my first WTCC event at my local track Donington. Previously, WTCC has been held at Brands Hatch, so I haven't been able to go. Despite having given the series a lot of (quite deserving, I feel) stick in the past, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The racing was close and exciting, and I was left quite surprised by the openness and access to the drivers compared to other FIA sanctioned events *cough* F1 *cough*
I really did hope Donington would keep WTCC for a second year at least. Sure, this year the crowds weren't great, but it is my belief that was entirely down to the weather that day. It was raining on and off, bitterly windy and cold too. In short, a typical Spring day in the UK. You only have to look at the healthy crowd sizes for every year it raced at Brands to see what interest there is, more of which I'll get onto later.
I'm not a fan of Sky or Virgin Media subscription deals, so rely on Freeview. Therefore, I haven't been able to follow WTCC (or in fact any forms of racing not on Freeview) that closely, but the trip to Donington really fired up the enthusiasm for the series in me once again, and I kept track of the results for the rest of the year.
I hoped that Donington and the FIA would be able to do a deal for 2012. But for whatever reason, it didn't happen. It seems Donington gave BTCC the weekend that originally the WTCC wanted, and with the WTCC not wishing to collab with the BTCC to race at the same weekend in a touring car fest, and with no other possible weekend available that they wanted, that was the end of the British round. Perhaps that's a sign of the times - Donington is still struggling to recover from the mess Bernie and the FIA left it in following the debacle with the failed attempt to host the British GP. Maybe that's why Donington's not willing to be bossed about by the FIA.
Also, thanks to its great online coverage, I HAVE been able to follow the GT World Championship for the past couple of years. Whilst the series organisation has been a bit of a farce (struggling to get enough GT1 cars out on the grid, something that'll change in '12 with a switch to GT3 specs) the racing has been some of the best I've seen in recent times. I was seriously considering going to the British round in 2012, assuming it would once again be held at Silverstone. But once again, no British round on the calendar, perhaps a more baffling move than the absence of a British round from the WTCC.
So, in short, two big events don't get a British round in '12.
(Here comes the ranty part)
I find it frankly quite a baffling and ridiculous situation. Once again, too many big egos not willing to compromise, and once again, the fans lose out.
It doesn't make sense NOT to have a British round. Sure, footbore may dominate the press in terms of sports coverage, but the UK enjoys one of the strongest fan bases of racing out of any nation, not to mention its incredible heritage. Take for instance, this year's Silverstone Classic. Those outside the UK may not have heard of this event, but this classic car racing festival this year generated 80,000 spectators. The place had a phenomenal atmosphere, for what, if you think about it, is rather a niche event. Look at Goodwood - thousands of people turn up to just watch cars go up a hill and mingle in the atmosphere. The British round of the WRC always draws a huge crowd despite the wet and rainy conditions that are normally part of the Welsh event, and events such the MotoGP, ILMC (in the past two years) and DTM often enjoy their biggest crowds of the season in Britain. BTCC has enjoyed a surge of interest through TV viewing and trackside attendance, and I don't need to even mention the British Grand Prix.
It's all very well championships going to far flung super rich nations who are perfectly happy to fund the event, with the FIA describing them as "emerging markets", but how about going where the FANS are? It is always the case with the FIA - money first, fans second.
Why the heck is the WTCC going to the US instead of the UK? Are any of the cars that race in the WTCC even on sale in America? Does anyone in America know who Yvan Muller or Alain Menu are? I thought not. This year, the WTCC has received quite a bit of attention from the British press because an English driver, Rob Huff, remained in title contention right to the last round of the season. Why is either championship going to China instead of the UK?! I've heard that the Chinese Government refused to show any of the F1 races during last year's World Cup - that shows their interest for motorsport!
Don't get me wrong - the FIA clearly has done a lot of good for motorsport, but more recently they've come across as a "federation" that really has no clue what it is doing, making some really weird choices when it comes to future regulations, rules, etc, etc that have found some great championships struggling to find their feet of late. Look at the WRC and GTWC - two championships that have loads of potential. The WRC has been attempting to come back, with new manufacturer announcements from Mini and Volkswagen, yet both championships have been brought to near collapse thanks to the FIA.
It is about time that we got someone in charge of international motorsport that actually knew what they were doing!
It's the same with F1 - sure, the FIA wasn't involved in the BBC/Sky deal, but that is surely a terrible move for F1 in the UK. Before, every race shown live on the BBC, now only half the races (and some pretty dull ones as well, like Barcelona, Valencia, Korea and Abu Dhabi) shown live. People are struggling to pay bills, and therefore a subscription to Sky is a comfort they'll do without, and it'll surely mean a drop in viewing figures when they've been going up in the last three years that the BBC has covered every race live. Talk about shooting yourself through both feet. But Bernie doesn't give a Sh#t, because it gives him £20 million more to "unwillingly" spend on one of his daughter's stupid weddings.
So that's a loss of some major championships visiting the UK, and a farce of a TV deal for F1. Merry bloody Christmas to you too.
Meanwhile, it's the fans that lose out of going to events. That'll ultimately only negatively affect motorsport in this country.
So f*ck you FIA. F*ck you Bernie. And f*ck you greedy ******* in motorsport who have lost touch with reality, and forgotten who the people are who keep your teams and employees in business.
The fans.
So, recently, the FIA published both the WTCC and GT World Championship calendars - both proved to be quite a surprise, as neither included a British round.
This annoyed me quite a lot...actually, that's an understatement. It p**sed me off more than you can imagine.
This year, I went to my first WTCC event at my local track Donington. Previously, WTCC has been held at Brands Hatch, so I haven't been able to go. Despite having given the series a lot of (quite deserving, I feel) stick in the past, I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The racing was close and exciting, and I was left quite surprised by the openness and access to the drivers compared to other FIA sanctioned events *cough* F1 *cough*
I really did hope Donington would keep WTCC for a second year at least. Sure, this year the crowds weren't great, but it is my belief that was entirely down to the weather that day. It was raining on and off, bitterly windy and cold too. In short, a typical Spring day in the UK. You only have to look at the healthy crowd sizes for every year it raced at Brands to see what interest there is, more of which I'll get onto later.
I'm not a fan of Sky or Virgin Media subscription deals, so rely on Freeview. Therefore, I haven't been able to follow WTCC (or in fact any forms of racing not on Freeview) that closely, but the trip to Donington really fired up the enthusiasm for the series in me once again, and I kept track of the results for the rest of the year.
I hoped that Donington and the FIA would be able to do a deal for 2012. But for whatever reason, it didn't happen. It seems Donington gave BTCC the weekend that originally the WTCC wanted, and with the WTCC not wishing to collab with the BTCC to race at the same weekend in a touring car fest, and with no other possible weekend available that they wanted, that was the end of the British round. Perhaps that's a sign of the times - Donington is still struggling to recover from the mess Bernie and the FIA left it in following the debacle with the failed attempt to host the British GP. Maybe that's why Donington's not willing to be bossed about by the FIA.
Also, thanks to its great online coverage, I HAVE been able to follow the GT World Championship for the past couple of years. Whilst the series organisation has been a bit of a farce (struggling to get enough GT1 cars out on the grid, something that'll change in '12 with a switch to GT3 specs) the racing has been some of the best I've seen in recent times. I was seriously considering going to the British round in 2012, assuming it would once again be held at Silverstone. But once again, no British round on the calendar, perhaps a more baffling move than the absence of a British round from the WTCC.
So, in short, two big events don't get a British round in '12.
(Here comes the ranty part)
I find it frankly quite a baffling and ridiculous situation. Once again, too many big egos not willing to compromise, and once again, the fans lose out.
It doesn't make sense NOT to have a British round. Sure, footbore may dominate the press in terms of sports coverage, but the UK enjoys one of the strongest fan bases of racing out of any nation, not to mention its incredible heritage. Take for instance, this year's Silverstone Classic. Those outside the UK may not have heard of this event, but this classic car racing festival this year generated 80,000 spectators. The place had a phenomenal atmosphere, for what, if you think about it, is rather a niche event. Look at Goodwood - thousands of people turn up to just watch cars go up a hill and mingle in the atmosphere. The British round of the WRC always draws a huge crowd despite the wet and rainy conditions that are normally part of the Welsh event, and events such the MotoGP, ILMC (in the past two years) and DTM often enjoy their biggest crowds of the season in Britain. BTCC has enjoyed a surge of interest through TV viewing and trackside attendance, and I don't need to even mention the British Grand Prix.
It's all very well championships going to far flung super rich nations who are perfectly happy to fund the event, with the FIA describing them as "emerging markets", but how about going where the FANS are? It is always the case with the FIA - money first, fans second.
Why the heck is the WTCC going to the US instead of the UK? Are any of the cars that race in the WTCC even on sale in America? Does anyone in America know who Yvan Muller or Alain Menu are? I thought not. This year, the WTCC has received quite a bit of attention from the British press because an English driver, Rob Huff, remained in title contention right to the last round of the season. Why is either championship going to China instead of the UK?! I've heard that the Chinese Government refused to show any of the F1 races during last year's World Cup - that shows their interest for motorsport!
Don't get me wrong - the FIA clearly has done a lot of good for motorsport, but more recently they've come across as a "federation" that really has no clue what it is doing, making some really weird choices when it comes to future regulations, rules, etc, etc that have found some great championships struggling to find their feet of late. Look at the WRC and GTWC - two championships that have loads of potential. The WRC has been attempting to come back, with new manufacturer announcements from Mini and Volkswagen, yet both championships have been brought to near collapse thanks to the FIA.
It is about time that we got someone in charge of international motorsport that actually knew what they were doing!
It's the same with F1 - sure, the FIA wasn't involved in the BBC/Sky deal, but that is surely a terrible move for F1 in the UK. Before, every race shown live on the BBC, now only half the races (and some pretty dull ones as well, like Barcelona, Valencia, Korea and Abu Dhabi) shown live. People are struggling to pay bills, and therefore a subscription to Sky is a comfort they'll do without, and it'll surely mean a drop in viewing figures when they've been going up in the last three years that the BBC has covered every race live. Talk about shooting yourself through both feet. But Bernie doesn't give a Sh#t, because it gives him £20 million more to "unwillingly" spend on one of his daughter's stupid weddings.
So that's a loss of some major championships visiting the UK, and a farce of a TV deal for F1. Merry bloody Christmas to you too.
Meanwhile, it's the fans that lose out of going to events. That'll ultimately only negatively affect motorsport in this country.
So f*ck you FIA. F*ck you Bernie. And f*ck you greedy ******* in motorsport who have lost touch with reality, and forgotten who the people are who keep your teams and employees in business.
The fans.
