Rough Roads Ahead | Motorsports And Its Money Issue

Motorsports all over the world could look very different in a couple of years.
In todays video, we touch on 3 different racing series around the world, and discuss how we should go about fixing some fundamental issues within them.
00:00 intro
00:43 The WRC And Its Issues
02:23 Terrible New Points System
03:22 Fix The Rally1 cars
05:05 U.S. Rally?
06:01 INDYCAR And Its Issues
06:65 The Hybrid Engine Debacle
08:21 How Do They Fix This?
09:35 Aussie Supercars
10:12 Big Issues
12:45 Fords Response
13:43 Questionable Future
14:03 What's The Solution(s)?
COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. There are certain scenes where race footage is used. All those rights are property of their respective owners. Other photos and news elements are used solely for the purpose of assisting the original content to illuminate a more in depth story.

[@Jerseygarage]

What do you think, is racing in trouble? What series are you most worried about?

[@edugj23]

I feel it's getting harder to conciliate the expectations and requirements from manufacturers and sponsors with the desire of spectacle from fans.
With consumers changing interests, and a growing (mainly political) pressure to meet tighter environmental regulations and ditch fossil fuels altogether, companies must present themselves as organizations that take care of the planet and work towards a greener future. The commonly agreed path for that in the auto industry is switching to electric, but... a considerable amount of spectators reject this move making it into racing. People want brave drivers and loud, fire-breathing engines roar on the track. I don't object towards EV racers, as for me, racing is racing as long as there's a human pushing a machine beyond its limits - heck, Formula E seasons 1 and 2 had some of the craziest finales I've ever seen up to date - but the sensorial aspect enhances the overall experience of attending a race, of feeling the action on your body, and electric motors are currently lacking in this aspect. I didn't expect the opposition to get as big as it currently is, and neither did some of the event promoters.
Also, marketing teams have plenty of ways to spend their money in order to reach the consumer and convert it in sales, which can push down the idea of building a race car down the priority list.

[@Jerseygarage]

@@edugj23 I think the whole EV push is a big issue. I object to it in series where internal combustion is key to race enjoyment. Series like the NHRA, NASCAR, Supercars, and F1 would lose a lot of appeal if they switched to a full EV system.
I think the other, and larger issue is that racing as a whole isn’t what it used to be. Used to be that it was a way for companies to market vehicles to the masses, test revolutionary tech, and build brand PR all in 1 go. Nowadays? Nobody except for die hard auto enthusiasts watch the majority of racing series, and they already have their minds made up of who does what the best, so you can’t really advertise to them if they can’t be swayed. Testing tech happens at companies private test tracks and in simulations, not on the race track. And now, PR is done through Social media campaigns and press releases, not in public.
Nowadays, the majority of people buying cars can barely afford 1, let alone a spare performance car. I don’t watch NASCAR and think “wow, the ZL1s are doing really good, I’m gonna go get one” mostly because A. They share nothing with the road version and B. Even if I wanted one, I’d need a holy miracle to be able to afford one. My grandpa bought his house for $4,000 and had a Mercedes SL300 in his garage and used a Ford F100 as a daily. Times have changed, and they haven’t changed in racings favor.

[@edugj23]

@@Jerseygarage The series which are born electric are also struggling to gain a following as well, now that the novelty factor has faded away. So it might indeed turn into a matter of prioritizing the industry over the fanbase or vice-versa.
Also, I see a slowly growing stigma of "rich boys playing with expensive toys", which is used to justify blocking new developments related to the sport. Yes, it takes lots of money to go racing, but the impact to the economy, the jobs it creates and the technological development are dismissed as well. 🙄

[@magikvfx]

no matter what happens to racing, i think we can all agree it will stay in our hearts forever. From watching the Cars franchise to seeing NASCAR on the TV, and (max clapping everyone's cheeks in f1), there is no getting rid of racing, it will always stay here.

[@Jerseygarage]

In some form or another, racing will always have a place on planet earth. It's just gonna start consolidating, a lot of smaller and less popular racing series are gonna fold in the 2020s, because manufacturers are less interested than ever in participating because nobody is interested in it.

[@armenian_man]

Yeaaaahh!!!

[@asdfreii]

A big one you’re missing from V8SC is the power imbalance of the broadcast deal.
While I don’t disagree that moving to a homologated GT3 style system would cut costs and attract other manufacturers, it would be deeply unpopular and bleed more fans. A large part of the reason people still tune in to Bathurst every year is that it is a local series. Yes Ford and Holden down under are dead, but it’s still red v blue. This series was born out of shutting out the international manufacturers following BMW and Nissan’s dominance. To reverse that will feel like a betrayal to a lot of fans.

[@Jerseygarage]

I missed a lot of things on purpose. Like how GMSV as a whole are treated like gods by Supercars Management while Ford keeps constantly getting kicked in the teeth. I’m not a ford or Holden fan, I’m a Supercars fan. But frankly you can’t deny the fact that between Supercars effectively designed the gen3 Camaro themselves and giving no help to Ford, while also totally ignoring the parity rules and letting Chevy run away with wins in the championship, frankly it’s a miracle Ford is even still around.
You are 100% correct, on paper, a GT sprint series makes sense. DTM did it, and for the most part, it’s been alright. But like you said, it would take away everything that makes the series what it is. I really believe that if Supercars got better people working in management, the NASCAR idea isn’t an unrealistic one. Frankly, it’s the only way I can see Supercars surviving for another 10+ years

[@asdfreii]

@@Jerseygarage oh I 100% agree - I’m a blue blooded Ford fan - but the broadcast deal has really hamstrung the series. I remember when everyone hated Tony Cochrane but I’d love to have him back.

[@ivaneurope]

A rally event in the USA (even though it is in the works for 2026 with HQ in Chattanooga, Tennessee) will not work simply because these cars aren't your Subaru Impreza or Mitsubishi Lancer saloon cars with big engines bolted in - the current crop of rally cars (from Rally1 to the basic production-spec Rally5) are based on B-Segment/Subcompact hatchbacks that are not being sold there (Toyota doesn't have any plans for example to bring the GR Yaris to the US) with small 1.6 turbocharged engine in the small engine bays - not something that Amecian audience would IMO crave for.
While I don't think that a WRC event will behoove American audience, an American round of the World Rally-Raid Championship (jointly sanctioned by the FIA and FIM for rally-raid events like the Dakar Rally) could be a hit. The cars in WR2C (yes, that's how is officially abbreviated) are what the American public likes - large SUV's and pickup trucks (like Ford Raptor and Toyota Hilux) with the occasional buggy or prototype (like the Audi RS Q e-tron or whatever Dacia is building in 2025) here and there. And IMO a Dakar-styled rally-raid event may be more appealing than an event from the WRC.

[@Jerseygarage]

I think it would be good to have both in the U.S.
Use the Toyota example, instead of running a Yaris, they could just rebrand it as the GR Corolla for the states. Even if they didn’t, I don’t think it would be a massive deal. Unlike the Rally2 cars, the rally1 cars share nothing at all with their road going cousins. Most rally fans, even American ones, know that. I think in today’s day and age in racing, nobody buys a vehicle off the showroom floor because of how it performs on track, except maybe for Vehicles like the AMG ONE or the Aston Valkyrie. From a purely business perspective, it holds way too much benefit to the WRC and FIA, they should at least give it a couple years on the calendar and try it.
Rally raid would be monumentally cool, even if it was in a sprint format I would love to see them blast around the deserts we have in the Midwest.

[@THELTX427VA]

im honestly not worried about dragracing the nhra is what im nervous about

[@Jerseygarage]

NHRA and drag racing as a whole has seen much better days in the states. That being said, the pure spectacle of the NHRA means that personally, I don’t think they’re going anywhere anytime soon.

[@damienflajolet9147]

lets goo, another youtube video to eat with lunch. Thank you

[@Jerseygarage]

Np dude, now go enjoy your lunch