Well, there’s an argument going on over on rallyforum.
Apparently there aren’t any charismatic drivers in the WRC any more and there haven’t been since the likes of Carlos Sainz and Colin McRae.
I think these people need to take a minute to look in the dictionary, this is what they’ll find.
cha·ris·ma
a. A rare personal quality attributed to leaders who arouse fervent popular devotion and enthusiasm.
b. The quality or power of an individual to attract, influence, or inspire people [Greek kharis grace, favour]
I don’t like to admit it as I wasn’t the world’s biggest fan of Colin but he did attract a hell of a lot of fans, but what about Petter????
I know his days of winning are long gone and almost forgotten but when he was at the height of his success the crowds around the Subaru service area were wonders to behold. You had to be there at least 2 hours before the car came in to service even to be in with a chance of getting an autograph.
I think he had that ‘rare personal quality’. The jumping around, screaming and shouting and pure excited passion commanded the devotion of thousands of people (or maybe just thousands of crazy Norwegians).
Perhaps though, could it be that it isn’t charisma rallying is lacking and this void is down to a distinct lack of head to head fights. It was the old ‘fueds’ that made for fantastic interviews where drivers experessed real fight.
Where are the likes of Burns v McRae, Makinen v the rest of the world???
You certainly don’t get what those guys had with Loeb and Hirvonen.
Dare I say it but perhaps we need a bit of the Bernie Eccleston magic to inject a bit of excitement back into the WRC……
