WRC: too much money, too little return

Rallying more than any other four-wheel motorsport is about the manufacturing industry showing off the ultimate technology that can be crammed into something that looks like the car you can walk into a showroom and buy.

And over decades, since BMC launched itself into rallying with a team of Minis (the old, cute ones) on the Monte Carlo Rally, manufacturers have seen it as a direct link between performance and sales.

In rallying, perhaps more than any other form of motorsport, the adage "win on Sunday, sell on Monday" has held true.

But rallying has become more and more expensive just as interest in the sport has waned, at least on TV. Although the FIA (about which we often have harsh words but not this time) have done a good job in developing rally coverage and magazine programmes, the TV companies have pushed it to deadbeat slots. The reason is simple: rallying is exciting and dangerous but an event takes several days to complete, and there are no head to head battles except for some stadium race-offs designed to capture the dying seconds of news broadcasts.

And as car sales collapse (in the UK, home of Ford's rally team, Ford's sales are down more than 15% against this time last year, the company said yesterday) there is little hope that winning events will lead to queues in showrooms.

So first Suzuki, who came into WRC recently, said, a few days ago, that they were giving up. And now, Subaru, one of the mainstays of the sport, have ceased work on next season with immediate effect.

The question now is simple: is Rallying going to return to its roots of being a gentleman's sport with modified road cars rather than the specialist machines developed in the wake of the dominance by the Audi Quattro almost three decades ago?

Or will it continue with a couple of manufacturers? Ford and Citroen (remember, Citroen sat out a year recently when the rules changed) and private teams, albeit with technical assistance from the factories and their former teams?

That's the most likely, it seems. And, of course, Subaru have not said they have totally cancelled their Rallying ambitions - merely that they are withdrawing from next year's campaign.

But unless costs come down dramatically and sales not only pick up but can be directly associated to the sport, there seems to be little reason for them to do so. In fact, although Subaru has not said so, there is little doubt that they will be looking at other sporting involvement - and the up and coming sport right now is World Touring Cars. Short, sharp races that are television friendly are widely broadcast. And Subaru know a thing or two about getting their cars around corners and going like stink in a straight line. The big question is whether they can translate that into a car that complies with the Formula.

Here's something intriguing: ProDrive run Ford's Australian V8 effort - which has just started to compete seriously against the might of the GM / Holden cars and Aston Martin's World Sports Car contenders. There is a wealth of track-talent there. And they know Subarus better than anyone - probably including Subaru. Chevrolet must be considering their continued involvement with WTC for the simple reason that it is increasingly unlikely to be able to pay its bills after December, unless someone stumps up a shed load of cash and the US government doesn't seem willing to do that.

And WTC costs a lot less than WRC. How much (or how little) it would cost to convert the rallying cars to WTC is an unknown. But for sure, the FIA is going to have to find radical solutions to manufacturers leaving motorsport and if some help can be given to migrating technology, at least in relation to chassis and bodywork, then there's mileage in a sideways shift.

As we said, no hint of that from ProDrive, Subaru or the FIA. But it's not a bad plan, surely?