Rallycross Teams Up With Norwegian Drive For Life Whilst F1 Hides In The Uncanny Valley

Formula One audience figures have slumped but that’s not just due to how boring the sport is but our unconscious revulsion at its near perfection, something Rallycross doesn’t suffer from as proven by it’s choice of charity partners

Whilst the borefest that is Formula One takes a break before the Hungarian Grand Prix, which will be as predictable as the odds on ComeOn! Sportsbook suggest, with Hamilton copping 1.43, Rosberg 2.80 and no one else having a hope in hell of winning unless the two Mercedes turn into a pillar of salt, the less glamorous but far more exciting instances of motorsport are busy making a far better impression on the public than the posh boys and their over-powered go-karts.

Uncanny Drivers Offputting

• F1 slumps due to inhumanity
• Rallycross shows more human face
• Drive For Life new charity partner

Formula One lacks excitement not simply because the drivers are all a bunch of chinless wonders that thrive on identical repetition, the sporting equivalent of the energizer bunny, but because their precision is mirrored in the car’s performance, natural in a sport where every single miniscule fraction of a second counts, but that means the sport as a whole is run by engineers, and engineers have a tendency to view anyone who doesn’t understand engineering to be some sort of untermensch.

Whilst some other motorsports suffer from the same affliction, the newer amongst them, Formula E for example, tries to mitigate this with distractions that F1 is too stilted and staid to attempt, lower down the pecking order the sports tend to be run by mechanics. Mechanics differ significantly from engineers in that mechanics are only too happy to explain absolutely everything regardless of your knowledge, and that leaves variation in performance that is good for audience figures and makes great gambling news headlines.

Uncanny Valley Of Formula One

This variation in performance is what makes it more fun to watch and wager on, not just because you can’t be as sure of the result, but because there is a level of precision that is actually off putting, that is unnatural, that we mere mortals find quite disturbing on a subconscious level. Formula One has removed so much of the humanity from the sport that it becomes like watching a computer play chess against itself and leaves the audience hoping the next lap involves a crash just to prove there is human fallibility involved.

The Uncanny Valley hypothesis states that if something looks or moves almost, but not exactly, like a natural being we humans are repulsed by it, and whilst typically you find this in robotics or 3D animation the fact that you never see Formula One engineers dirty (something mechanics always are) is precisely as off-putting as the robot that can’t quite smile without making you wonder if the pod-bay doors can be opened manually, and the zombie-like single-mindedness of F1 drivers doesn’t help matters.

Recently Lewis Hamilton was refused entry to the Royal Box at the Wimbledon Tennis final for being inappropriately dressed, he wasn’t wearing a jacket and tie. On the face of it you might think this would be proof of humanity, but actually it’s just proof that away from the cockpit of a Mercedes F1 racer Hamilton is a fish out of water, and not quite like the rest of us. Meanwhile around the same time the less glamorous world of Rallycross was showing its human face by entering a partnership with a charity that will almost certainly encourage internet gambling in Norway on the sport.

Drive For Life

Norwegian charity Drive For Life was selected to be the EuroRX charity partner in part because it was founded in 2011 by a rallycross driver in 2011. It takes under-privileged kids that have been, by their circumstances, denied opportunities and focuses their energies on an automotive-centric program of both practical mechanics and classroom learning. This is particularly attractive to risk-enjoying youth who like the speed and power that rallycross cars can provide, and the Drive For Life charity is supported by the crown prince of Norway and operates in 25 regions across the Nordic countries.

Entering into partnership with the FIA European Rallycross Championship will assist in raising the profile of the charity and will help it expand across Europe, something the founder Knut Ove Borseth will be pleased with. Now whilst F1 drivers and teams also do much for charity, this particularly car focused effort by Rallycross seems a far more human interaction between sport and charitable giving where the kids are likely to get far closer to Rallycross than F1 would ever allow troubled youth to their precious go-karts.

“I have been very impressed by Drive for Life’s philanthropic achievements and it is an honour to have them on board as our new Official Charity Partner. The statistics from DFL’s Norwegian programme has revealed that 87% of its students stayed on at school for a further year, which is a fantastic achievement. With over ten events staged across Europe, we can offer DFL a platform to promote the charity’s work with children. “ Said Martin Anayi World RX Managing Director for IMG, and with sentiment like that it is no wonder there is the odd Norwegian gambling laws of the Uncanny Valley won’t apply to Rallycross anytime soon.