What’s the matter with Motorsports?

I was a kid back in 1997 when Class A was replaced by WRC. And that was the first big
disappointment for me, because, among with the end of Class A, it was an end also for the
Subaru Impreza 555, the Toyota Celica Turbo 4WD, the Peugeot 205 Turbo 16 E2 and of
course for the princess, the Lancia Delta Integrale 16V HF 4WD! Of course, a few years earlier
there was also the Fiat 131 Abarth, the Lancia Stratos HF, the Ford Escort RS1800 Cossworth
and the king, the Audi Quattro. And that was exactly the meaning of the Rally!

But anyway, the WRC era had come, fortunately, bringing with her the Subaru Impreza WRC,
the Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution V, the Peugeot 206 WRC, the Citroen Xsara WRC, the Toyota
Corolla WRC and the Ford Focus RS WRC. And all these cars were a relief for us, the rally
enthusiasts, the dust eaters, the maniacs, the spectators who were so annoying by standing
exactly at the point the wheel would touch a second later.

A few years later, back in 2008 the WRC included a Citroen C4 WRC, a Peugeot 307 WRC, a
Suzuki SX4 WRC and a Skoda Fabia WRC. That was a joke. And a bad one! If I wanted to watch
a Fabia, a 307, an SX-4 and a C4 to be driven through snow or gravel, I could have driven my
car just 3 miles away from my home, watching Athenian families to enjoy their picnics on
Sunday morning in the countryside.

In the meantime, humanity decided to turn green and that affected also Motorsports, so
Formula 1 converted to bumper cars and rally cars replaced by super mini city cars with better
suspension and bigger wheels. So today we still have a World Rally Championship and a
Formula 1 Championship, but nothing reminds us the past glory days of the V12 engines and
the massive back spoilers. Today you turn on the telly on Sunday, and if you choose WRC is
actually like watching a traffic camera located in the city centre during a boring summer
weekend afternoon. You can enjoy a Hyundai i-20 same as my cousin’s car, a Toyota Yaris,
which also drives my mum, a Citroen C3, which is also my girlfriend’s car and if you are lucky
enough a Ford Fiesta, a car that is very good, for my best friend who works downtown!

As for the F1 there is no point of discussion. They have already officially announced that cars
will become electric, that means more boring. Totally pointless. Today there is so much
telemetry that technicians have a major role than the driver himself. So just covert cars to
radio-controlled toys. Who needs a driver if there is no clutch, no gearbox, no engine at all.
Only an electric rotor as the one my hair dryer has. It will also be perfect as a game for PS5.

I wonder if in two years we will have a WRC with an Aygo, a C1, an electric Smart and a Ka!
Why not? All of them are tiny, practical, eco-friendly and economical. Of course, there are
some similarities with trolleys but that’s exactly the point of these cars. You can drive to the
supermarket, get your grocery, easily load them in the boot, return home and tirelessly park
on the road in front of your house located in the crowded suburb you live in. Is that Rally?
Not at all! But its green and practical, so it’s totally complied with today's requirements. Who
cares about acceleration, speed, overtaking, engine sound, apex and slipstreams? All we need
is clear air, fresh vegetables, fuel economy, silent engines and slow driving. We don’t actually
need the steering wheel or the pedals, we are able just to connect our car to a satellite via
our mobile phone and that’s all. We are now officially passengers in the driver’s seat. We are
not petrol heads anymore. We became androids or robots.

If that is the present and the future of Motorsports and more generally of our society, the
question is not “What’s the matter with Motorsports?”, the real question is “What’s wrong
with humanity?”.

The G(r)eek.