Mark Walton: why do people ignore WRC?
For the attention of: Netflix Sports Commissioner, London The elevator pitch: Drive To Survive meets Emmerdale
Series description: I think we can all agree that Drive to Survive has been a huge hit for you, Netflix. Even though the name makes no sense, and the series should really have been titled Drive to Own a Harbour-View Apartment In Monaco, your behind-the-scenes documentary about Formula 1 has brought the last couple of Grand Prix seasons to life. It has turned a pitlane full of deadly dull corporate team managers and PR-polished athletes into a nail-biting, three-dimensional soap opera; and while the action on the track has been utterly predictable, there’s always something dangerously erratic and unexpected about Guenther Steiner’s next sentence.
You may not be aware, but there’s actually another automotive championship that travels round the globe, pitting brave young drivers headto-head. It’s called the World Rally Championship. Crazy – who knew?! I propose that Netflix does a season-long behind-the-scenes documentary about the WRC, called Get Noticed to Survive. There are several key factors that make this a truly tantalising prospect.
Fact: Only 12 people follow the WRC these days, which means you should be able to buy the broadcasting rights for just £4.50, plus an offer to help out with some of WRC’s back-o¡ce work. Just general temping duties: answering phones, photocopying, that kind of thing.
Fact: Unbelievably, a British driver is right now within reach of winning the 2020 World Rally Championship. In the past, British champions like Colin McRae and Richard Burns became giant stars, with TV coverage, magazine covers and PlayStation licensing deals. Today, nothing. Despite his success, no one has heard of Elfyn Evans, and even the most die-hard car enthusiast would pass him in the street without recognising him.
Aged 31, Elfyn is from Dolgellau, North Wales, and he’s the son of former British rally champion Gwyndaf Evans. Elfyn’s first full WRC season came in 2014, and his maiden victory came at his home event, Rally GB, in 2017. This season, after seven years driving Ford Fiestas for M-Sport, Elfyn joined the works Toyota team, alongside six-time WRC champion Sébastien Ogier. As I write, Evans is leading this year’s Covid-truncated championship with just two events remaining.
Fact: Elfyn is just one of a whole paddock full of lively and interesting World Rally characters, ready and waiting to become tomorrow’s TV superstars. There’s… erm… hold on, I have the list here. Yes: Teemu Suninen, the Finnish hotshot; Ott Tänak, of course, the Estonian hotshot; and who could forget Takamoto Katsuta, the Japanese… erm… hotshot.
Fact: Unlike F1, locked in small circuits under permanent sunshine, the WRC would bring a new dimension to each episode: nature. Nature is big, nature is the zeitgeist, nature is where everyone is moving, post-Covid, in a bid to escape the zombie-apocalypse city centres. The Netflix audience would soon realise that in the WRC, there’s real drama to be found in mud-splattered gravel tracks and torrential rain. Ever seen Countryfile? Over four million viewers tune in every Sunday night to watch John Craven stand under an umbrella wearing green wellies in a bog. Or Emmerdale: nearly six million viewers a week, just to see Dawn Taylor sleep with Ellis Chapman to break Billy’s heart.
And if countryside is what the viewers want, one WRC event in particular this year had exceptional mud and dirt – cars battling their way through thick, gloopy sludge, chucking up giant rooster tails of brown ooze! Admittedly Rally Sweden should have been a snow event, but that’s global warming for you.
Conclusion: So that’s my pitch, a brand new Netflix motorsport series called Drive to Revive, subtitled, The Only Way the World Rally Championship Will Survive. Tune in for Episode 1: Who The Hell Is Teemu Suninen?
Editor-at-large Mark Walton has been contributing to CAR since 1998, championing rallying at every opportunity