The 1st round of the 2008 WRC season is starting in less than one hour. Perhaps not many of you know about the amazing World Rally Radio, which is free to listen and very entertaining to listen to - and also they play some great tunes (but that may be my awkward music taste )

Anyway, they start broadcasting at 18.30 CET (gmt +1)

So, tune in to have some fun on your thursday evening (and the following weekend).

Rally Radio: http://www.wrc.com/jsp/index.jsp?lnk=320

Thanks for the link Don! I wish we still had TV coverage here

Citroens use hacked physics. :mad:

Loeb's using WRC Tweak! Not fair! :weeping:

Big thumbup for WRC.com/ISC, http://www.rally-live.com/wrc/en/accueil/news1.shtml :mad:

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Watched it on tv (dave) myself. was pretty good coverage compared to what you usually get here! its on weekly too it said

Quote from Tweaker :

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Huh? ISC (International Sportsworld Communicators) the owner of WRC tv rights ended the deal with rally-live.com because it provided better live coverage service than the official wrc.com page.

nm me, it's just an overused image I always post when Don or Nakki are around

Oh :doh: I thought you just read the news title and joked about it...

Quote from deggis :

Huh? ISC (International Sportsworld Communicators) the owner of WRC tv rights ended the deal with rally-live.com because it provided better live coverage service than the official wrc.com page.

what stops them from continuing the live "coverage" of the rallies? there are plenty czech rally sites that do it for free, without having any deal with ISC

Brilliant

So much more entertaining than the F1 dross

Watched the highlights packages Fr-Sun on Eurosport, that man Loeb is untouchable - again.

It will be interesting to see how Sweden goes next......

Once Suzuki have got the car improved, PG Anderson could be rather dangerous ...

isn't it brilliant that Loeb won by TWO AND A HALF MINUTES and is only 2 points ahead in the table~?

Looked like Loebs definitely on form and ready this season in the 5 minutes or so of the rally they actually showed on the Dave coverage. What was going on with loading the cars onto transporters to go to the overnight service, it's meant to be an endurance event

5 minutes? my "coverage" lasted 45 minutes.

and is it meant to be endurance event? maybe dakar.

Quote from Don :

5 minutes? my "coverage" lasted 45 minutes.

Based on actual time I saw rally cars on rally stages rather than irrelevant waffle.

Quote :

and is it meant to be endurance event? maybe dakar.

No rallying is an endurance competition, it's been seriously dumbed down in recent years but for me the idea of cars being transported between stages is just too far.

Quote from ajp71 :

Based on actual time I saw rally cars on rally stages rather than irrelevant waffle.

I guess we saw different programme then. What I saw was called "WRC Access All Areas : Monte Carlo" and there was definitely atleast 20-30 minutes of rally action from the actual RMC.
You don`t define what is irrelevant or not, for me the actual "behind the scenes" are very interesting, as well as for many other REAL rally fans. Plus, this programme is not meant to be in-depth review of each WRC event. These are broadcasted on Eurosport as daily 25 minutes reviews + a ~50 minutes review of the whole weekend (perhaps also broadcasted on ITV?)

Quote from ajp71 :

No rallying is an endurance competition, it's been seriously dumbed down in recent years but for me the idea of cars being transported between stages is just too far.

You know they don`t transport the car between each stage? This was just between the Valence area and Monte-Carlo, roughly a 5 hours ride. Would be ridiculous to let the WRC travel that distance on it`s own wheels.

Quote from Don :

I guess we saw different programme then. What I saw was called "WRC Access All Areas : Monte Carlo" and there was definitely atleast 20-30 minutes of rally action from the actual RMC.

We have different views then, all I want is straight forward video of the rally and interviews and a bit of news from the service area. I don't need to see virtual spectator, diners, that head to head nonsense, huge pulsating stage names, or the general rubbishy 'technical' bits. They should put all those bits in a separate program IMO.

Quote :

You know they don`t transport the car between each stage? This was just between the Valence area and Monte-Carlo, roughly a 5 hours ride. Would be ridiculous to let the WRC travel that distance on it`s own wheels.

They used to run stages nearly that long on the Safari, to me the idea of not driving it is ridiculous, especially given the tiny distance they drive anyway now.

Quote from ajp71 :

We have different views then, all I want is straight forward video of the rally and interviews and a bit of news from the service area. I don't need to see virtual spectator, diners, that head to head nonsense, huge pulsating stage names, or the general rubbishy 'technical' bits. They should put all those bits in a separate program IMO.

Yes, and THAT is what WRC:AAA is all about. The "rally reviews" in it are just a "bonus", so that people who don`t watch the "real" reviews are up to date with what`s going on.

Quote from ajp71 :

They used to run stages nearly that long on the Safari, to me the idea of not driving it is ridiculous, especially given the tiny distance they drive anyway now.

Then get used to it, rally has been like this since I can remember it. And I believe cars didn`t cost 500 000 pounds back then (not considering the fuel usage and other mechanical wear of other parts). These cars are not build for "slow" driving.

Quote from Don :

Yes, and THAT is what WRC:AAA is all about. The "rally reviews" in it are just a "bonus", so that people who don`t watch the "real" reviews are up to date with what`s going on.

Well there isn't any other coverage option as far as I'm aware.

Quote :

Then get used to it, rally has been like this since I can remember it. And I believe cars didn`t cost 500 000 pounds back then (not considering the fuel usage and other mechanical wear of other parts). These cars are not build for "slow" driving.

The cars were fundamentally the same when the Safari was last run (5 years ago?) and they were still then doing 2 hour stages on seriously tough roads and lots of road miles. The cars have to be built to cope with the rally, it shouldn't be a case of building a car then finding a smooth short stage to drive it on.

Quote from Don :

what stops them from continuing the live "coverage" of the rallies? there are plenty czech rally sites that do it for free, without having any deal with ISC

http://vip.rally-live.com/en/offre2008/index.php

All that too? Actually I woudn't know, never used either that or wrc.com. But that seems to pay service with video coverage, living timing and stuff. Surely not happening without a deal with ISC.

yes, from 2008 all of that is free @ wrc.com - except hires photos, but you can find those on other sites

You said: there are plenty czech rally sites that do it for free, without having any deal with ISC

This thing was about wrc.com vs. rally-live.com. WRC.com wasn't free last year, right? It's just obvious that ISC now made sure in a nasty way that wrc.com won't have any competition...

I wonder if the monte carlo rally even goes in monte carlo at some stage, or is it all in france?