Donegal opts out of Irish Tarmac Championship

Read with interest that the organisers have withdrawn the event from next years championship after the decision not to allow 2 litre WRCs to score points in 2016. Interesting and brave move and guess the event will still draw a big entry but hopefully its just a one off.

hhmmm......... hope its not a sign of things to come.....

Somebody standing up to the governing body at last?

Im a bit on the fence about the whole thing if Im honest.

I think a change needed to happen, the older 2.0l WRCars are too quick compared to the new 1.6t cars on Irish tarmac. We have seen this all year in the championship. But the change needed is a tough one to call. Do you ban 2.0l cars outright, restrict the power (and if so by how much), add ballast like British Touring cars, award half points like in Belguim. Its a tough one to call and somebody will always be upset.

But the change that the TROA have made is far to drastic. The reason the ITC is so popular in Ireland is the quality of machine it attracts. Competitors have always had the latest, state of the art cars going back as long as I can remember. Having the older 2.0l cars dominate the championship has gone against this while the latest machines struggle to keep up. I think a ban on the 2.0l cars would be the the correct way to go about things. That would allow the newer cars to become the top dog in Ireland.

But its too late in the season to announce that from next season 2.0l cars are banned. I think an outright ban from 2017 and 50%/75% of points awarded for 2016. This would give drivers time to change while still fight for next years championship.

However banning ALL WRC cars, both 2.0l and 1.6t is ridiculous. It goes against the identity of the championship and brings it in line with every other european country. It will loose everything that made the championship great. Dont get me wrong, an R5 in the right hands can be fast and spectacular, but what makes this championship great is that it has always attracted the best drivers in Ireland in the best cars. We dont need clones of each championship in every country, we need championships some some individuality to make them exciting to watch.

While I dont aggree with the route Donegal have taken in withdrawing (I think its disrepectful to the other members/clubs on the commitee, they are basically throwing their toys out of the pram when they dont get what they want), I dont think its fair that 4 of the clubs are catering for the BRC and ignoring the ITC

newt5550 wrote:Somebody standing up to the governing body at last?

The Governing Body does not really come into this. The TROA run the tarmac championship and they are made up of the clubs that organise Galway,Circuit,Killarney,Ulster,Cork 20,Manx,Jim Clark and Donegal. Hence some clubs are governed by MSI and some by MSA.

JOB wrote:

newt5550 wrote:Somebody standing up to the governing body at last?

The Governing Body does not really come into this. The TROA run the tarmac championship and they are made up of the clubs that organise Galway,Circuit,Killarney,Ulster,Cork 20,Manx,Jim Clark and Donegal. Hence some clubs are governed by MSI and some by MSA.

Oops didn't know that. I will shut up Thanks for putting me straight James

newt5550 wrote:

JOB wrote:

newt5550 wrote:Somebody standing up to the governing body at last?

The Governing Body does not really come into this. The TROA run the tarmac championship and they are made up of the clubs that organise Galway,Circuit,Killarney,Ulster,Cork 20,Manx,Jim Clark and Donegal. Hence some clubs are governed by MSI and some by MSA.

Oops  didn't know that. I will shut up  Thanks for putting me straight James

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Its the playing politics (with a small p) by the clubs I don't like. The 4 MSA clubs would be looking to BRC affiliation so they would be R5 inclined. Donegal leaving makes no sense to me. Its easy to know that there are not too many in the TROA who put their hands in their own pockets to fork out megabucks to buy rallycars - WRC's or R5's. This is no time to be making decisions for 2016 - its 2018 they should be looking at to give people time to adapt/change or whatever..Rant over

I'm not sufficiently familiar with this series to really have an opinion, but it strikes me there are distinct parallels with the BRC. Make very restrictive rules in the interest of controlling costs, and you limit spectator enjoyment and machinery variation. Ultimately, seeing 10 cars of the same make run the same stage can become a bit of a yawn fest which is distinctly unfair on the drivers and co-drivers. Killing an event/series for a year rather than allowing a longer term transitional phase as advocated by James seems daft.

Some form of handicapping system which allows a range of machines to compete event by event (possibly with ballast added to the winners as per the BTCC) may help improve the spectical.

As i've mentioned in my WRC/BRC collection themes, the further you go back, the more car variety there was (both factory backed and Privateers) all competing remarkably closely. Slower pace but greater spectacle.

Looking at Juha's pictures highlights the attraction of events with a wider range of motors - rwd, fwd, 4wd, normally aspirated, turbo'd - something for all tastes and all rocking it through a stage.

As I say, don't know enough about the Irish rally scene to be able to comment about the specifics, but i fear for the event/series if they don't learn from what I perceive to be the failings of the BRC....

Hadn't really thought about the impact of the 2016 British Championship until Brian and James mentioned it and sadly there is an obvious precedent for this during the F2 era and onwards, where although Group A 4WD and 2 litre WRC subsequently weren't "banned" they were shoved into separate events and not mentioned in the overall results etc. I agree there's an awful lot of politics playing out here and think a longer transition period should have been applied especially in light of the proposed WRC's rule changes in 2017. Sport is in a bit of turmoil at the mo on this side of the Irish sea for various reasons and sorry to see that ripple effect making its way across.

Donegal Motor Club are in the position to run an Intewrnational Rally to FULL entry without going far from their own doorstep as there are so many rally cars in Donegal.........plus much cheaper permits ......best of luck to them for as long as it last...............they may well be on their knees begging to get back into the Tarmac Championship if things turn against them