Costs in different countries

[expat]

I was just looking at the regs for Rally North Wales, a round of the British Rally Championship. The entry fee of £1100 for 80 stage miles works out at about 10 euro per stage km. On the same weekend there is the Rallye Terre des Causses in France, a round of the French gravel Rally Championship. The entry fee of 850 euro for 139 stage km works out at about 6 euro per stage km.

So these 2 events, comparable in surface, status and stage length, have very different costs. Plus, the French event has a prize fund of 39820 euro, so that if you get a decent result you can get something back to offset your costs.

It would be interesting to see a breakdown of the costs for the 2 events to find out why the costs are so different. I guess the forestry charges are the main issue, but that is just a guess.

[Rallynavigator]

I would say the forestry charges are the main contributing factor into the costs involved. If the forest was to be sold to private buyers ,which it may well be  I can't imagine what the costs may be. I will be servicing on this event Bulldog / Rally of North Wales but the entry fee of £515 is the highest I have seen on a one day event.

Do we get value for money when entering these events. The cost for a BTRDA Forest Rally is £475 with on average 40 miles of stage and approx 130 road miles. The Nicky Grist Stages for instance is 40 stage  and 40 road with the greater road sections covered by the management vehicle , for the same money. The introduction of teams entering could be a way of cutting down these costs. The Carrick On Suir Irish rally for instance when I enquired came back with a surprising quote

"Carrick On Suir Forestry is being revitalised this year, with 100km of stages, new event HQ, and new stages never before rallied on. There is also an incentive package for first time entrants to the event, with every three new crews entered as a group having to pay only two entry fees, leaving the entry fee per crew at just €330 (normal price is €495)
The rally is on 14 April, and even at this stage, there has been a lot of interest in the event, with some interesting compettitors entered, both from Ireland, and accross the water..."

We need to offer more incentives such as this I feel in order to bring the cost of the events down. A prize fund wouldnt be a bad idea as you have mentioned Expat to give the event a further competitive drive for a finish.

[expat]

I haven't seen that reduction for new team entries on any other event, but it is an interesting idea. In principle I can see the attraction of new crews entering the event, but there is a downside. Consider it from the point of view of someone who has done the event every year for the past X years; I can imagine that they would feel they deserve a reward for loyalty rather than a new crew getting a reduction. There is a risk that regular competitors would feel put-upon and go elsewhere so the scheme could backfire. Tricky. Perhaps the scheme should apply to teams of 3 car at least 2 of which are new to the event, to keep regulars happy and to encourage them to bring new faces to the event.

Prize funds are attractive to a competitor but I don't understand how an event can afford it. It seems possible in some places, but in the UK I think it is a dream for most organisers.

[Rallynavigator]

Or maybe offer it to all competitors and not just the new teams. This would be far more attractive as a event. When you look at the costs for instance on The Wydean this year, 180 entries @ £475 = £85 500 and they find it hard to cover costs, I can see why the prize money is not there. Smaller events with a bigger content of two days wouldn't be a bad idea??

[expat]

I think some incentive for new crews to do an event is a good idea. Having tried the event the new crews may decide to return so this will be good for the long term success of the event. The challenge is to attract new blood without alienating existing competitors. I think a good way to do that would be to link the new crew benefit with existing competitors, especially as crews who like the event well enough to return are the best "salesmen" to get new crews along. Offering a rebate to teams where past competitors bring along newcomers seems a good idea to me.

There is a wider point here I think. Such a scheme would require competitors to co-operate with each other, at least to the extent of entering together, but any kind of co-operation is unusual I think. At a professional level a team often runs a number of cars, but many clubman entries try to do everything independently. Why not share service crew, service vehicles, equipment, spares package etc? This could significantly reduce costs for all involved. This would be easy enough to arrange, especially if crews are doing the same championship, so why don't more crews band together for mutual benefit?