“Lessons for WRX to learn”
Did you watch it? You must have done. Even my mother watched it – and absolutely loved it. What am I talking about? England’s victory in the Cricket World Cup, of course. I haven’t always been the biggest fan of shortened forms of great sporting spectacles. For me, a proper cricket match has always taken five days to complete. And those five days had to include sunshine, rain, commentary on pigeons, tea, cake and the odd midafternoon snooze before the game was declared a draw.
When England won the Ashes 14 years ago, I was convinced cricket couldn’t get any better than that.
I was wrong.
I take my hat off to the one-day game. Sunday at Lord’s raised that bar to what must be an unbeatable height now; the entertainment and excitement were like nothing else across the whole world of sport.
Why am I talking to you about cricket when you came here to read about rallying?
It’s very straightforward – it’s about the opportunity we’ve missed for rallycross. Yes, yes, I know rallycross isn’t rallying, but it is a form of the sport I completely fell in love with a couple of seasons ago.
On my first visit to Lydden Hill, I was determined to hold my line that nothing could compare with the spectacle of two men and one machine racing the clock from A to B. But then I watched supercars attacking North Bend three abreast and Petter Solberg ripping down the hill to tip his DS 3 into Paddock Bend pretty much flat out. I was hooked. And when the serious racing came, as the weekend progressed through to the semis and the final, the theatre and drama went through the roof.
Even through two years of Johan Kristoffersson domination, I kept watching and, more importantly, the short form of our sport kept me coming back for more.
Just before I move on, I’m absolutely delighted to see Kristoffersson’s entry for Rally Finland. I absolutely believe the Swede remains one of the most talented, committed and consistent drivers I’ve ever watched. Had he started rallying at a younger age, I have little doubt he could have made it right to the very top. I digress.
World Rallycross was our equivalent to ODI cricket. Granted, I still think the whole thing took too long (I don’t think we should be committing the thick end of three days to a five-minute finale), but when we got a good last race with a bit of needle between Mattias Ekstrom and Petter Solberg; a bit of Sebastien Loeb inspiration; a brave, ballsy dive from Timmy Hansen or a cool, calm and completely calculated Kristoffersson win, it was always worth watching.
Sunday evening was the cricketing equivalent of Solberg beating Ekstrom to the 2014 RX of Germany in Buxtehude, when Petter got just enough grip out of the joker lap to cross the line 1/100th of a second ahead of the Audi-driving Swede.
That kind of thing became the rule rather than the exception in RX. And I’m sure it’s continued this season, but the simple fact is that World RX has missed its magic moment.
Yes, there’s a strong argument for keeping this sport for the privateers, but manufacturer support lifted it higher than it’s ever been and, for me, it’s still tumbling after news of another watered-down electric solution.
I can’t watch RX anymore. The world of missed opportunity makes me too cross.