It was announced this week that for 2012 the BRC will only be open to 2wd cars up to 2000cc and I have to say that I support this change. A lot of people will be disappointed at the lose of the 4wd cars but it should help to put a cap on costs. It might not seem like that now, when a competitive Group N car can be built for much less than a new R3 class car like the Citroen DS3 R3, as a rough estimate £50k compared to £100k. But, if a talented driver was to find the budget to compete in a top level S2000 car like the Skoda Fabia then it would force the other drivers to come up with similar machinery or get left behind. The Fabia at over £250k is way beyond even a well funded BRC team.
The move to 2wd also opens up the BRC to a much larger range of cars which could potentially bring back some manufacturer support. The basic spec of the cars, is similar to the spec of the F2 cars that were used in the heyday of the BRC in the late 90's when it was regarded as the best in the world for developing new driver talent. If the rule changes can get the BRC back to that level of competition and recognition I for one will be very pleased.
Press Release:
http://www.rallybrc.co.uk/news-stories/514-04012011-brc-spells-out-its-future-from-2012.html
1997 Ulster Rally, just as a reminder of how good F2 was:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5DJEdUt8X6E
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