Now that the season has come to a conclusion, and the bonus points championship was decided on countback on race wins, the winter off-season begins. It is a time when often very little happens and when we sit around waiting for the ominous threat of Christmas... whatever that even is in this day and age. But in the midst of the darkness and cold that is the off-season when there is no racing going on the political and business wheels remain silently turning in the background. So while all that is going on it is time to take a look at what is supposed to be the grand finale of the motor racing calendar. In a world before Formula E existed, it was the send off before we all spent the winter months watching delayed coverage of LOORRS on Motors TV. Which in essence is a slightly mad, yet ultimately hilarious category where potentially insane Americans race an array of trucks and dirt buggies around small off-road circuits. It involves a lot of jumping, crashing and things of an upside down nature.
The Race of Champions has been a stable presence on the annual sporting calendar and for the most part has been well received, pitting different champions against one another... but in many respects the 2014 offering didn't match up to its predecessors. Does that mean the event has lost it's edge, and does becoming champion carry the same degree of respect it once did. Well today, in an effort to put something new on this corner of the internet and to prevent me from forgetting how to put words into cohesive sentences (on reflection I fear that has already failed me) I endeavour to examine the 2014 iteration of the event.
The Race of Champions
Last weekend (well 8 days ago now) was the annual end of year competition - the Race of Champions. An event that was put in place to answer to the eternal question that rumbles across the internet and across the tables in the pub... well maybe less so on the latter... is a rally driver faster than an F1 driver. Or can an Indycar champion trump a touring car legend - if everyone was placed on equal terms in equal cars, on a level playing field - who would come out on top. So many years ago an event was fashioned to sort that out - by bringing a collection of drivers, and a collection of cars alien to their native championship and let them fight it out. It is a strong concept, and one that has done well over the past few years being hosted in stadiums in Paris, Dusseldorf and London before visiting Bangkok. The 2013 event was also supposed to be held in the Thai capital - but unrest in the city prevented it taking place. So after a sabbatical the 2014 Race of Champions was moved to Barbados... sounds more like a swanky holiday for those who were selected to take part.
The event takes place over two days - day one being an event to decide which nation delivers the best overall performance across the variety of different cars. Day two being the individual challenge, to find the 'Champion of Champions'... In 2014 the nations cup was not won by a nation and the champion of champions trophy didn't go to a champion... and that's where we have a problem. 2014 was a very poor year for the Race of Champions in terms of the strength of field - no current race winning F1 driver made the list, which is terrible. In fact the last F1 race victory in the entire roster was in 2003... sums it up really. Grosjean was the only current driver present, with Williams test driver Susie Wolf and former driver David Coulthard in support. Other categories were better represented Tom Kristensen from WEC and Le Mans fame was probably the most qualified attendant. Multiple Australian V8 Supercar champion Jaime Whincup was the most decorated representative for the touring car genre while Ryan Hunter-Reay represented Indycar. Aside from that Kurt Busch represented NASCAR and Petter Solberg arrived as Rallycross champion.
Some strong participants in their field and in their home country - but the fact that there was no WRC representation, and none of the current F1, Indycar, NASCAR, WEC, WRC, USCC champions were present is a damning insight. Lopez, Solberg and Whincup were effectively the only 2014 champions at the top of their class present - and even then an argument can be made questioning the world status of the Australian championship. To rub salt into the wounds the field was padded out with junior formula drivers, Esteban Occon and Jolyon Palmer. Palmer might have a case as GP2 is - in theory the second rung in global single seater racing and therefore is fairly advanced. Euro F3 however is not... Occon wasn't even lumped in the 'future prospects' category, he was put forward as the co-representative of France. Admittedly Vergne was in Uruguay on Formula E duties, but no Loeb, Muller, Duval, Bourdais - seriously... Furthermore the fact that Germany, Finland and Japan/ Asia in general didn't field a team at all is rather sad.
So having declared this latest iteration of an entertaining concept a bit of a limp effort, does winning it lose some of it's meaning - well frankly yes. The nations cup was effectively won by Tom Kristensen all on his own, despite being on a team with Solberg. The final was between them as team 'Nordic' versus Team GB (which may as well have been team Scotland) formed between Coulthard and Susie Wolf. Again one driver carried the team, resulting in a play off between Kristensen and DC - in which the Dane came out on top. The Champion of Champions went to Coulthard after he smashed Pascal Wehrlein, a token German representative who has scored one win and finished 8th in the DTM (behind four other Germans)... but was entered alongside Palmer as a 'young star'. I am all for surprise results and new talents taking to the stage - Heikki Kovalainen in 2006 taking the individual tile for example - but the difference between Heikki and Pascal's efforts was that the Finn fought through a much stronger field, and beat Michael Schumacher in the final at a time when the German was very much still a powerful force (even if Alonso had taken over the F1 crown that season). Couthard and Kristensen were easily the class of the field, across the very diverse range of machinery on offer, but I can't help but think that they had it a little too easy.
This time around the venue was not a stadium as it had been for the previous few seasons, but a small national race track in Barbados which was modified to match the super-special rally format. Apparently it harked back to the earliest incarnations of the RoC event in which it was hosted in the Canary Islands on a part tarmac, part dirt rallycross style configuration. A strong range of cars was in use from high powered GT Audi R8's, VW rallycross cars, Aerial Atom Cup cars, Stadium Super Trucks and European NASCARs something to accommodate for most of the motor racing world. So while even if the drivers were a little thin on the ground, the competition machinery was suitably diverse. It might have nice if there was a section of the track that was covered in dirt as an equaliser between the race and rally drivers - but that would influence the list of cars available. For example the Audi R8 GT car would not work to well over some jumps and mud...
What is the answer to all of this then - frankly I don't know, mostly because I have no idea what the underlying causes were for the weaker list of participants than usual. Did the current set of champions just not bother putting themselves forward for invitation, or did the committee not invite them. According to Wikipedia only Grosjean and Kristensen were invited as the 2012 finalists from the last conducted Race of Champions event. I think that all major reigning champions should be invited - what counts as a major championship will ultimately be a source of discussion. But it should span as many disciplines as possible from Endurance prototypes and GTs, Rally, Touring Cars, Oval Racing, Motocycle Racing categories etc. Naturally would be difficult to integrate Motorcycles into the vehicle rotation for a RoC event but the competitors should be involved. The rest of the places should belong to certain invitational drivers - the likes of Kristensen, Coulthard, Robby Gordon, Yvan Muller and Sebastian Loeb who have competed successfully across a wide range of categories or have outstanding previous performance records. For example Muller is a former BTCC and WTCC champion but also has 9 ice racing titles to add to that, while Gordon has competed in NASCAR, Indycar, Dakar Rallies and now Stadium Truck racing.
The nations cup side of things does complicate matters, because there is no guarantee that the list of champions is going to be neatly ordered into a series of pairs per country. Perhaps this would be a completely separate set of drivers - participating nations put forward their two strongest contenders, which may or may not be part of the individual competition. This also does need a much broader net to take drivers from - 8 teams barely scratches the surface of potential line-ups we could see. Of course a larger field, while it opens things up a little, would cause a problem with the TV and live event timings. 32 teams featuring two drivers would take an age to film and broadcast - even if it would add more credence to the title on offer. I suppose in that respect the Race of Champions isn't really an answer to that age old question we hoped it would be, but a bit of meaningless fun to round off the racing calendar.
So in conclusion the 2014 Race of Champions was a shadow of its former self, or former selves as it should be. Maybe the two year delay is to blame, maybe it is the more remote location at fault - either way it won't go down as one of the finer incarnations. Both Coulthard and Kristensen do deserve recognition for their accomplishments considering both drivers have now retired from their respective fields and have still seen off any challengers. But the weakest part of the whole thing was their lack of competition and the lack of depth in the field. However, all of that only really matters if it was an event that really took itself seriously and I don't think it did this time. Being situated in an inherently relaxed part of the world out in the Caribbean may have contributed to that. If it is just designed as a bit of expensive elitist fun, then it was as successful as ever and the title is about as valuable as the little plastic football trophy I have at home. But as a means of deciding which category champion is the fastest, well by that metric it was in fact a load of nonsense - even if it was a mildly entertaining load of nonsense - and one that definitely needs more stadium trucks in the future.
