A Sociology of the World Rally Championship

History, Identity, Memories and Place

H. Naess

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781137405449
• Topic: Sozialwissenschaften
• Subtopic: Soziologie

Drawing upon interviews with key people in the World Rally Championship as well as trans-local ethnographic research, this book explores questions of commerciality and sporting identity, tackling the sport's controversial handling of the shift into 'the commercial age'. It is essential reading on combining sporting heritage and commercial progress.

1

Introduction: The Paradox of Commercialism

From the snow and ice of Scandinavia to the glamour of Monte Carlo, from the heat of Kenya to the thin air in the Argentinian mountainsides, the FIA World Rally Championship (WRC) has served up a passionate motorsport drama since its inauguration in its current form in 1973. During that time the sport has transformed from a little-known series to a pop-cultural roadshow worth millions of euros, now with 13 rallies scattered around the world and more than 600 million TV viewers annually, fiercely competing for attention in the global landscape of entertainment industries. By and large, it therefore follows the typical development phases in sport (see Beech and Chadwick, 2004) – foundation, codification, stratification, professionalisation, post-professionalisation, commercialisation and post-commercialisation. In the WRC, like in a variety of other sports, this has led to diverging opinions on how to balance sporting identity with commercial concerns. As a consequence the WRC community has become quite polarised.

On the one hand we find the ‘traditionalists’ who want rallying to be what it was ‘back in the days’ and defy any changes made on the behalf of anything but the sport itself. On the other hand, we find the ‘modernists’ who desire a real shift into ‘the commercial age’ by adapting to contemporary media consumption patterns and promotional desires. As such, the WRC seemingly is trapped in what is called ‘the paradox of commercialism’. This paradox is defined as ‘the challenge of extracting commercial value from their brands without compromising the intrinsic “integrity” and spirit of the game’ (Smith and Stewart, 2013, p. 534). I think Oliver Ciesla, head of WRC’s current promoter WRC Promoter GmbH, described the situation well when he in 2013 said that sacrificing WRC’s traditional values should not be the price to pay for improved commercial vigour. But, Ciesla added, without commercial strength, traditional values will not survive.¹ Hence, the question instigating this book is: how can we unravel this paradox?

Based on an analysis of the promotional context (Chapter 2), the media (Chapter 3), places (Chapter 4), spectators (Chapter 5), cars (Chapter 6) and the drivers (Chapter 7) of the WRC, I argue that the first step towards a solution is to realise that these ‘traditionalists’ and ‘modernists’ actually are allies, not enemies. The reason is, as will be explored in the upcoming chapters, that the WRC’s sporting identity is the championship’s key promotional asset. Drawing upon interviews with key people in the sport, historical studies, online forum analysis and trans-local ethnographic research from rallies (Monaco and France), spectator cultures (Finland and Argentina), the inner life of a WRC team (Italy), and the media production facilities (Wales), my findings from each of the WRC’s main sites specify how its traditions and cultural meanings supply promotional substance to the championship. To explain my approach I would first like to explain what kind of sport the WRC is before I place the WRC into the sociology of sports. At last, I introduce the theoretical framework of this book.

What is the World Rally Championship?

Motorised sports on four wheels have been going since the late nineteenth century. An old saying even claims that the first race was held when the second car was produced. Run either on purpose-built tracks (racing), in the wild (raids) or on ordinary roads (rallying), motorsport competitions have since become the ultimate challenge for cars and their drivers. From local competitions and cross-country (cross-continental, even) motoring adventures, motorsport has turned into a large hierarchy of established championships. As of 2014, there were five global motorsport championships: the World Rally Championship (WRC), Formula 1 (F1), World Touring Car Championship (WTCC), World Rallycross Championship (World RX) and the World Endurance Championship (WEC) series. Together, these series constitute the apex of the motorsport pyramid. They represent the ultimate challenge, the best drivers, the most advanced technology, the most spectacular cars and the most diverse string of events. They attract the greatest audiences, the largest amount of money, the most glamour and the biggest celebrities.

All of them are managed by the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA). What we know as the FIA today has existed under different names. For the sake of clarity only the latter abbreviation will be used in this book, unless otherwise noted. Originally established as Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (AIACR) in 1904, as of 1 February 2014, the FIA brings together more than 230 national motoring and sporting organisations from over 130 countries on five continents. The organisation follows a governmental style similar to that of a nation state. Its supreme body is the General Assembly, which brings together the Presidents or Delegates of the Clubs and National Sporting Authorities, which are members of the FIA. The annual General Assembly approves and votes on the reports and proposals from the FIA World Councils, the budget and accounts, the international sporting calendar, the Statutes and proposals for membership changes.² Specifically, there is a clear separation between

• the making and amending of sporting rules as the primary legislative function,
• making and reviewing executive decisions regarding the management of financial resources and organisation of sporting events, and
• resolving disputes between members, sporting participants and other relevant parties.

Next in rank is the World Council where each representative is elected by the General Assembly, chaired by the FIA President, and assisted by specialised commissions. These specialised commissions act in much the same way as ministries to a national government.³ In many ways, that makes them more important than the body’s general policies as they work directly on the development of motorsport. For WRC, the Sporting Commission is called the World Rally Championship Commission. Morrie Chandler, Commission President from 2006–2011, explained its workings like this in 2009:

The Commission is effectively responsible for steering the WRC, growing the sport and ensuring its continued success. It’s made up of nine people, six of whom are chairmen of relevant FIA working groups. These groups provide expertise in matters like technical regulations, promotion and safety, and also represent the views of manufacturers and rally organisers. A representative of the sport’s commercial rights holder, ISC, also sits on the Commission, as does the President of the FIA Rallies Commission, which is responsible for the other rallying series – like the FIA’s regional championships. Decisions of the Commission ultimately come down to votes. But to be honest we don’t use this method much in the early stages of discussion because we try to find a solution that everyone agrees with.⁴

This format of what has humorously been called ‘a United Nations for racing fans’ means it holds, in its own words, ‘the exclusive right to take all decisions concerning the organisation, direction and management of International Motor Sport’.⁵ It is, in other words, in charge of rules and regulations, as well as commercial strategies, for all international four-wheel motorsport (except for some US series). For the FIA-managed rally series, which is the theme of this book, that means keeping track of numerous championships that pit production-based cars and drivers in an annual series of weekend events through some of the toughest and most varied conditions on the planet.

Each of these championships is divided into separate classes where regulations differ in terms of what cars are eligible for competition. In the WRC you also have WRC 2 and WRC 3, which follow approximately the same seasonal pattern as the premium category, but with other cars. In this book I will concentrate on the WRC mostly because, as the championships listed in Table 1.1 show, it is by far the most popular, both on site and as a media phenomenon. It is the cream of the crop of rallying and is without doubt the final desire of every little boy or girl who dreams of becoming a rally driver. Yet it has in many ways a ‘common touch’ and ‘it is still one of the few motorsports that retains its traditional values’,⁶ says David Richards, one of the most industrious people in the WRC community. Besides co-driving Ari Vatanen to the WRC title in 1981, he is also the founder of highly successful UK motorsport company, Prodrive that built WRC Porsches in the 1980s, Subarus in the 1990s and Minis in the 2000s (see Henry, 2005; Saunders, 2007). In addition, he was the chairman of the media company International Sportsworld Communicators (ISC), later renamed North One Sport, when it organised the major promotional reforms in the WRC around 2000 (see Chapter 2).

Michèle Mouton, the former works driver for Audi and Peugeot during the Group B era in the 1980s with four victories to her name, and later the WRC’s General Manager in 2011, says something similar. ‘People can easily identify our cars with those they drive at home’, she underlines. ‘This is something very different to the traditional image of a racing car. Rally stages are also on public roads, they are the same roads you can drive on – this makes it very real. Plus I think there is a different level of skill in rallying, because the conditions are ever changing. You could drive the same stretch of road ten times and it would never be the same.’⁷ I think Mouton points to something important as each modern WRC rally – there are 13 a year under the current regulatory regime – is filled with venues which spectators, in principle can reach. In length, these stages are (at least since the 2000s) anything from a couple of laps on a small street circuit to more than 60 kilometres. That means there is a lot of road to cover if you want to. Entrances are dispersed along the stage, depending on access opportunities by road or on foot, but you can enter from anywhere if you’re really determined to do so. Some stages have specially built ‘tribunes’, spectator zones and scenic views set up by the organiser, sometimes further divided by different VIP arrangements. Since there are few shops along most stages, many people bring backpacks and camping equipment like foldable chairs, knives, portable stoves, and food and drinks.

Table 1.1 The FIA hierarchy of rallying, 2014

As many WRC rallies have changed their name and location within a country during the history of the sport, only their national origin is used here. As an example: What in 2013 is called Neste Oil Rally Finland (after its sponsor), and formerly known as the 1000 Lakes Rally, is here referred to as ‘Rally Finland’. National rallies take place within one country, whereas regional championships are dispersed over a larger geographical area. WRC events are organised around the world and, according to FIA rules, have to take place on at least three continents during the same season in order to qualify for the label world championship (Henry et al., 2007, p. 12). WRC rallies are organised by a national institution approved by the FIA, who in turn rely on a large network of economic investors and volunteers. Whereas investors often provide events with considerable support – Rally de France-Alsace 2011 received €1.44 million from a group of investors to make the event come true⁸ – approximately 5,000 volunteers participate throughout a WRC weekend to act as marshals, time-keepers and communication conduits. At Rally Ireland 2007, as an example, the financial gain from volunteering has been computed at €726,600 worth of work if each volunteer provided 3.5 days of labour at 8 hours each day at the Irish minimum wage (O’Connor, 2010, p. 72).

While spectator figures vary a lot from rally to rally, and from year to year, several million people attend WRC rallies annually. Rally Japan, for example, claimed that their WRC event in 2008 attracted more than 540,000 spectators.⁹ The most popular events, like Rally Argentina and Rally Finland, are rumoured to have attracted more than one million spectators each (these numbers are difficult to verify because most rallies don’t charge entry fees and because the number of rallies in a season shifts from time to time). It is also a popular media phenomenon. Between 2003 and 2009, annual TV viewing figures oscillated between 571 and 816 million viewers. In 2009, WRC was aired on 264 television channels in over 120 countries worldwide, while WRC’s official website (www.wrc.com) had more than 12 million hits from users in 224 countries. The same year the website attracted almost five million unique users from 224 territories and served 29 million videos (WRC Fact book, 2010, pp. 13–18). On video game consoles like PlayStation and Xbox, the official WRC games have been bestsellers since their first edition was put on the market in 2001 (by 2005, the official WRC series had sold more than four million copies). These games also introduced the WRC to popular culture, not least because WRC have some of the youngest spectators in motorsport: in 2009, 63 per cent of spectators were aged between 16 and 34 (WRC Fact book, 2009, p. 24).

In sporting terms, a WRC rally is typically split into between 15 and 25 ‘special stages’, run on closed roads, which are otherwise used for normal traffic. Drivers tackle these stages one car at a time in an effort to complete them in the shortest time. During the special stages, a co-driver, or navigator, reads pace notes to alert the driver to the conditions on the road ahead. Because rallies go on for several days, cars and drivers need to be looked after now and then. This is done at a service park or remote service zones at predetermined times during each event. During a strictly limited time, a fixed number of mechanics is allowed to work on each car. At the end of the rally, the driver who has completed all of the special stages in the shortest total time is the winner. Points are allocated to the top ten drivers in each competition on a given basis. In contrast to the majority of world championships, the WRC is not primarily a contest between nations. Titles are awarded to teams and drivers. There are basically three types of WRC team, although they compete on equal terms:

a) manufacturer teams type I: the manufacturer builds rally cars and more or less runs the entire operation,

b) manufacturer teams type II: the manufacturer provides funding and technical assistance, but leaves the engineering and operational aspects to a partnered subcontractor, and

c) privateers – independent teams who buy a WRC car normally from one of the manufacturer team types, run (almost) the entire operation themselves and fund their participation with sponsor money.

Competition rules are subject to change and are found in Appendix J to the FIA’s Sporting Code, which contains ‘all technical rules governing the classification into which vehicles could be admitted for the purposes of motorsport’ (Davenport and Klein, 2012, p. 12). Although regulatory changes are common in the WRC, it has as a coherent set of rules been altered only four times since it was established in its current format in 1973 (see Table 1.2). Even though emphasis is laid on the cars and the many technical issues involved, the FIA regulations also cover the rallies and the team structure of WRC (two or three cars, point scoring regulations, driver classifications, the number of mechanics allowed per car, etc.), and, not least in modern days, the commercial rights of the championship. A brief timeline of the WRC is given in Table 1.2.

Table 1.2 A timeline of WRC regulation eras

Common to all regulatory eras, however, is that WRC cars look like their road-going cousins, but are built at engineering facilities with varying degree of specialisation. From 2011 onward, they have been built on production 1.6-litre four-cylinder cars like Ford Fiesta, Mini, Volkswagen Polo and Citroën DS3, but feature turbochargers, four-wheel drive, sequential gearboxes, aerodynamic parts and other enhancements, bringing the price of a WRC car to around €345–600,000.¹⁰ Minimum weight must be 1200 kg empty, and 1350 kg with driver and co-driver. Inside a WRC car, there is only painted metal composite panels and two carbon fibre seats, moulded to fit the driver and co-driver. The result is a car that reaches 100 kph in around 3.5 seconds on all surfaces and can power-slide between the trees on a narrow gravel track under full control at very high speeds. Average speeds vary between rallies, from 60 kph (Cyprus) to 120 kph (Finland), but the all time high for one special stage came in Argentina in 1983. Swedish Audi driver (and later world driver’s champion in 1984) Stig Blomqvist completed the 81.5 kilometres of road called the Fray Lo...