WRC '17 - Back to the future

The FIA have announced an overview for the revised WRC regulations scheduled to take effect from the 2017 calendar year, the guts of which are:

• The cars can be 50mm wider
• There can be greater overhang front and rear
• A larger rear wing will be permitted
• A 25 Kg weight loss will be allowed
• Engine power will have a new 380 HP top limit
• The turbo inlet restriction will be relaxed to 36mm
• Maximum turbo boost will be 2.5 bar
• Electronically controlled centre diffs are back

The teams and drivers will be delighted by the performance improvements, comments over the last 24 hours backing that up, and it's not exactly a shock. They were never likely to complain about more power and faster speeds.

Even the aero and dimensional tweaks have met with what so far seems to be virtually universal approval. So, there you go then - everybody's happy and the WRC will skyrocket in popularity and media coverage as a result. Or at least, that's the subtext of the agreed changes. But will they actually achieve that?

A little online back-and-forth with a few committed WRC fans brought the topic to the fore and a somewhat spirited debate ensued, prompting this post. And lest I get tarred with the curmudgeon brush, I hastily add that I'm in favour of more speed and grip, and if the drivers are keen, then they should have their wish. But let's face it, it's a mission making any kind of rational case on Twitter in 140 characters, so here's my take.

An unknown number of anonymous 'experts' have identified that part of the WRC's perceived lack of popularity is down to the fact that when the current cars are viewed in side profile, nobody can tell one from the other. No, I'm not making this up. There are people running this sport who actually believe that this is a problem.

So one would imagine that all single-make series or formulas, look-alike machines such as Indycar, Australasia's V8 Supercars, NASCAR and Junior WRC being examples that quickly spring to mind, are due for similar changes real soon now. Except they won't be, because the premise is puerile. That the sport's governing body can expect any human with a working brain to accept that cars looking too much like one another, (and only in the WRC mind you), is somehow an impediment to the future of the formula, says a lot about the state of those running the FIA.

And guess what, with the unique livery applied to the cars and the bloody big numbers stuck on them, a spectator not only can tell at a glance which car is which, you can even tell who's driving. All without even considering the differing profiles which set them apart now. Amazing.

There's a hint of  'Group B revisited' in all this aesthetics mumbo jumbo. While it seems that there is a certain nostalgia for the cars of that era, interestingly strongest in many who were elementary school kids or hadn't even been born then, chatting with rally fans of a more um... "mature" vintage elicits far less fondness for the cars of the time.

In fact, the 'design' of the Audi Quattro Sport S1 E2 Rally Group B, for instance, appears to have more to do with some hillclimb special cobbled together by well-meaning but aesthetically-challenged amateurs using bits from a dismantled Japanese-import refrigerated truck, than the car the homologation was purportedly based on. A truly hideous example of function over form, engineers triumphing over the stylists.

If you were to ask what exactly was the best part of the Group B era, you'd likely find that those who were there miss the sound the most. And it's hard to argue with that. Pop online and search for "Audi Quattro Group B sounds" and you'll understand. It'll make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up. But then, that's another story.

Today's WRC cars at least resemble the showroom model, and if the old motorsport adage "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" is to have any credibility, looking a bit like the showroom model is pretty much a no-brainer. The lads and lasses of the FIA would do well to remember that.