A Shift Up For Rally Racing

[Blue_Tires]

LONDON -- It's hard to get revved up over motor racing when carmakers aren't putting their vehicles on the starting line. The situation is perhaps worst in World Rally Racing, a varied and rugged sport that's been hit hard by the economic downturn.

Japanese manufacturers Suzuki ( SZKMF.PK - news - people ) and Subaru ditched the annual World Rally Championship in 2008, leaving Ford Motor ( F - news - people ) and France's Citroen as the sole automakers putting their cars on this year's 11-month circuit, which kicked off earlier this month in Sweden.

Yahoo! BuzzBut Simon Long, chief executive of the World Rally Championship's main promoter, North One Sport, has a new profit-sharing model he hopes will lure in more manufacturers, something the sport desperately needs in order to stay both credible and economically viable.

North One, which recently signed an 11-year promotional agreement with the international motor sports governing body Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, will start distributing a percentage of its profits from sponsorship, licensing, TV broadcasts and advertising to the series' main stakeholders: carmakers, event organizers and series organizer FIA, with North One retaining the biggest slice of earnings.

"We're prepared to share profits because we need to do that to move ahead," said Long. "We're also spending a lot of time talking to manufacturers, finding out what it is they want to achieve at a corporate level and at dealership level."

Rally driving is a world apart from its classier and more costly speed-racing cousins Formula One and Nascar. But it offers manufacturers like Ford the chance to showcase cars that look a lot like what you'd find in a typical dealership, in a dynamic, white-knuckle-inducing environment with stunning scenery, spectacular crashes and neat insight into how drivers handle their vehicles.

http://www.forbes.com/2010/02/23/world-rally-championship-business-sports-auto-racing.html?boxes=businesschannelsections