Rally Dynasty: a rally manager game

A test day in an R5 — the modern car, forty years on from the VFTS. The owner's figure, and if anything a generous one: the published European hire rate puts a Rally2 at €10,000 for a whole regional rally. €10,000 on its own, on top of the €11,053 below it: counter target €21,053 (estimate, not a quote).

Corroboration, not a quote: GoToTheGrid rally-car hire rates (updated 2025) — R5/Rally2 €10,000 for a regional event, €13,000–€20,000 for a national one, €25,000–€30,000 for a championship round.

One Estonian Rally Championship round. Two figures inside it are published: the entry fee for a two-day round in a 4WD car is €1,054, and the eight compulsory Pirelli Scorpion control tyres are €2,083. Fuel, van, spares, service crew and beds are the reasoned remainder. €12,000 on its own, on top of the €21,053 below it: counter target €33,053 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Entry fee: Terminal Estonian Rally Championship 2026 general regulations, Art. 5.2.3 — 2-day event, 4WD €1,054 (2WD €930; a sprint-rally round is capped at €600; late payment adds €150). Tyres: EAL control-tyre notice — Pirelli Scorpion 185/70R15 K6 at €210 + VAT, and the Saaremaa 2026 SR Art. 7.1.6 caps a round at eight tyres. Eight × €260.40 incl. 24% VAT = €2,083.

Somebody filming it, or it did not happen. Two shooting days at the Tallinn one-operator rate of about €1,200 a day: the day rate is real, two days is the estimate. €2,400 on its own, on top of the €33,053 below it: counter target €35,453 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Day rate: Tallinn camera-crew rates (updated 26 November 2025) — camera operator €550–€750/day, a basic one-operator 10-hour package €1,050–€1,350, a crew day €750–€2,500.

Two EAL international licences at €320 each, plus the medical certificate each one requires — €175 apiece for a sports-medicine examination. Nothing outside Estonia starts without them. €990 on its own, on top of the €35,453 below it: counter target €36,443 (real prices, checked 3 September 2026).

Sources: EAL price list 2026 — Rahvusvaheline litsents €320 (single-event €150). The medical is required only for the international grade, on EAL's own form: EAL licence page. €175 is the Tartu University Hospital PAKETT SPORT examination, which is where the certificate or competition permit is issued; a family doctor signing the same form costs less. The FIA grade an ERC round asks for is set by Appendix L and issued through the national federation, so the figure that reaches the buyer is the EAL one above.

The 2026 Estonian championship is six rounds — four at home, one in Latvia, one in Finland — so a season is five more after the first. The round count is published; €12,000 a round is the estimate above, carried across. €60,000 on its own, on top of the €36,443 below it: counter target €96,443 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Round count: EAL rally calendar 2026 — Alūksne (LV), Saaremaa sprint, Jyväskylä (FI), Lõuna-Eesti, Paide, Saaremaa.

Ten more shooting days at the same real €1,200 Tallinn day rate, so the season has footage from every round rather than from the one that was affordable. €12,000 on its own, on top of the €96,443 below it: counter target €108,443 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Same rate card as rung 9: Tallinn camera-crew rates.

A cut of it that stands on its own. Estonian production houses price a documentary-style piece with interviews, music and graphics at €3,000–€5,000; this takes the top of that published band. €5,000 on its own, on top of the €108,443 below it: counter target €113,443 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Band: Epicfilm, Estonia — what a one-minute video costs: a documentary-style piece with a speaker, supporting footage, music and graphics runs €3,000–€5,000.

A press officer at each of the six rounds — the federation's own rate card says from €500 an event — and twelve months of managed social at the €600-a-month Estonian agency rate. €10,200 on its own, on top of the €113,443 below it: counter target €123,643 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Press officer and placements: EAL price list 2026, media services — event press officer from €500, sponsored item in the federation newsletter or website from €100, pre- and post-roll on EAL TV from €100 a clip (all + 24% VAT). Social management: Velsio from €600 a month; smaller Estonian shops start near €99.

Buying into the club his father raced for: workshop, livery, and a car worth running. Counter target €200,000, which contains the €123,643 of the rungs below it (estimate, not a quote).

No source and no quote: what it costs to buy into a registered non-profit is not a published figure, so the page states the total and what it stands on and does not invent the difference.

Seven rounds of the European championship in a Rally3 somebody else owns, prepared and run by their people. The 2026 European calendar is seven rallies and the ERC3 entry fee is €2,400 a round; both are published. About €15,000 a round to hire a run car, and roughly €7,000 a round for tyres, fuel, the recce car, travel and beds, are reasoned. €170,800 on its own, on top of the €200,000 below it: counter target €370,800 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Entry fee: Barum Czech Rally Zlín 2026 supplementary regulations, Art. 4.4 — an ERC3 priority driver or a non-registered RC3 entry pays €2,400 with the organiser's optional advertising and €4,800 without it. Round count: “Seven up for ERC in 2026”, 10 February 2026 — seven rounds, best six scoring. A cheaper door exists and is real: M-Sport's Fiesta Rally3 Trophy caps the entry at €1,500 a round, but you bring your own car. No published hire rate for a Rally3 was found anywhere; €15,000 a round is reasoned down from the Rally2 championship band on rung 17, and it is not a quote from anybody.

The same seven rounds in the class that actually wins them. The RC2 entry fee is €3,300 a round and a Pirelli European-championship gravel tyre is €416, both published. The hire at €28,000 a round is the middle of a published €25,000–€30,000 championship band, and sixteen tyres a round is the estimate. €279,692 on its own, on top of the €370,800 below it: counter target €650,492 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Entry fee: Barum Czech Rally Zlín 2026 SR, Art. 4.4 — €3,300 with the organiser's optional advertising, €6,600 without, so refusing to carry their stickers doubles the fee. Tyres: FIA registered tyre suppliers for the 2025 European Rally Championship (16 September 2025) — Pirelli 205/65R15 K4A gravel hard at €416.00 per tyre excluding VAT. Hire: GoToTheGrid rally-car hire rates (updated 2025) — €25,000–€30,000 for a Rally2 at a championship round, against €10,000 regional and €13,000–€20,000 national. Sixteen tyres a round is this page's estimate and not a regulation; the FIA's per-event allocation was not found in a public document.

A Rally2 that belongs to you rather than to whoever you hired it from. €300,000 is what Toyota's team principal said a Rally2 costs; Hyundai's programme manager put a Yaris Rally2 at €320,000 in the same interview. €300,000 on its own, on top of the €650,492 below it: counter target €950,492 (real prices, checked 3 September 2026).

Price: DirtFish, 11 December 2024 — Jari-Matti Latvala, “Rally2 is about €300,000”; Christian Loriaux, “a Yaris Rally2 costs about €320,000 at the moment”. Manufacturers do not publish list prices for these cars, so a quote from two team principals is as published as this figure gets, and that is exactly what it is. Same piece: the FIA's target cost cap for a 2027 top-class car is €345,000, which Loriaux said should really be €400,000 and Latvala said must not pass €500,000.

The rung where a driver becomes a team. Two cars means a second crew, a second set of spares, and a truck that has to carry both. €300,000 on its own, on top of the €950,492 below it: counter target €1,250,492 (real prices, checked 3 September 2026).

Same price and same source as rung 18. Nobody publishes a discount for buying two, so none is assumed here — the second car is priced at the first car's number.

Three is the number the European teams' championship lets you nominate, of which the best two score. Below three you are not really contesting it. €300,000 on its own, on top of the €1,250,492 below it: counter target €1,550,492 (real prices, checked 3 September 2026).

The three-car rule is real: 2026 European Rally Championship — “A team may nominate a maximum of three cars (from all categories) for the teams' championship, with the two highest-placed cars counting for points.” Car price as rung 18.

Past three nominated cars nothing extra scores for the team, so a fourth is a spare, a rental, or a seat sold to somebody who brings budget with them. €300,000 on its own, on top of the €1,550,492 below it: counter target €1,850,492 (real prices, checked 3 September 2026).

Car price as rung 18. That a fourth car earns its keep by being rented rather than by scoring is this page's reading of the three-car rule above, not a quoted business model.

Five Rally2s is a customer operation rather than a rally programme. The fleet is the business, and results are what sell the seats. €300,000 on its own, on top of the €1,850,492 below it: counter target €2,150,492 (real prices, checked 3 September 2026).

Car price as rung 18. For scale, a five-car Rally2 fleet at that price is €1.5m of metal — more than the whole ladder below it put together, and the rung above is a world championship season.

Fourteen rounds across four continents, and this rung buys the car as well as the season. The FIA set the target price of a Rally3 at €100,000, the world third-tier registration is €2,028 and a private competitor's entry is €4,500 a round, all published. €25,000 a European round and €55,000 a flyaway is the reasoned remainder. €665,028 on its own, on top of the €2,150,492 below it: counter target €2,815,520 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Car: the FIA fixed the category's price when it created it — RallySport Magazine, 2 July 2020, quoting FIA Rally Director Yves Matton at 100,000 euros, sold painted and without mandatory options. That is a 2020 target and the market has moved either side of it: a used Ford Fiesta Rally3 is listed at €78,500 today. Registration and entry: 2026 FIA WRC Sporting Regulations Art. 6.3.1 — WRC3, the Rally3 tier, €2,028 for the season — and Croatia Rally 2026 Rally Guide 1 Art. 4.2 — private competitor €4,500 a round, legal entity €9,400, reconnaissance only €1,500. Calendar: the 2026 world calendar is fourteen rounds, five of them outside Europe. The per-round running figures are this page's own and nobody quoted them; no freight rate card for a rally team was found in public anywhere.

The same fourteen rounds in one of the Rally2s already bought above. Second-tier registration is €4,045 for the driver and €13,543 for an independent team, and an entry made by a legal entity is €9,400 a round — all published. €40,000 a European round and €80,000 a flyaway is reasoned. €909,188 on its own, on top of the €2,815,520 below it: counter target €3,724,708 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Registration: 2026 FIA WRC Sporting Regulations Art. 6.2.1 — WRC2 is €4,045 in a driver's name, €13,543 for an independent team, and €135,385 for a team carrying a manufacturer's name in its title. Entry: Croatia Rally 2026 Rally Guide 1 Art. 4.2. The car is not charged again here — it is one of the five bought on rungs 18–22. What a registered second-tier entrant pays instead of the private-competitor fee is set by Appendix VI of those regulations, which the event guide points at without reprinting; that appendix could not be retrieved, so the published private-competitor figure is used and this line says so.

The second driver's registration and the second entry are published figures. The running cost is the same reasoned number again, because a second car is not cheaper than the first. €895,645 on its own, on top of the €3,724,708 below it: counter target €4,620,353 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Same two documents as rung 24. The team registration is not paid twice — it is a season fee, not a per-car one — so this rung carries one driver registration, fourteen entries and a season of running.

Nobody publishes what one costs. M-Sport sold the first privateer Rally1 to Jourdan Serderidis in February 2022 and no price was given, then or since. This takes the figure the reporting circles and says plainly that it is not a quote. €1,000,000 on its own, on top of the €4,620,353 below it: counter target €5,620,353 (estimate, not a quote).

The sale is real and the price is not: DirtFish, 13 February 2022 reports the first private buyer of a Rally1 car and gives no figure. These cars are sold one at a time by arrangement, so there is no list price to find. The nearest published anchors both point at the FUTURE car rather than this one: the FIA's 2027 target is €345,000 and Toyota's team principal said the top class “shouldn't exceed €500,000” (DirtFish, 11 December 2024) — which is the whole reason those regulations exist, and is a statement about what the current car costs by implication rather than a price for it.

A manufacturer's entry is two cars, and a one-car team at that level is a guest. Same figure, same absence of a quote behind it. €1,000,000 on its own, on top of the €5,620,353 below it: counter target €6,620,353 (estimate, not a quote).

No source, and that is the finding, exactly as on rung 26. Two cars is not a preference: registering as a world-championship team commits an entrant to running up to two cars over a minimum of seven rallies (2026 FIA WRC Sporting Regulations Art. 5.3.1), which is what the next rung pays for.

A season as a team rather than as an entry: two Rally1s, fourteen rounds, and the people to run them. Registering as a world-championship team costs €30,350 and commits you to at least seven rallies including one outside Europe, and each entry is €9,400 — published. What two cars of that kind cost to run for a season is published by nobody, and the €5.2 million here is reasoned, not quoted. €5,493,550 on its own, on top of the €6,620,353 below it: counter target €12,113,903 (part real price, part estimate — sources below).

Registration: 2026 FIA WRC Sporting Regulations Art. 5.3.4 — €30,350 for a WRC Team “in order to score points, irrespective of the number of rallies entered” — with Art. 5.3.1 setting the commitment at a minimum of seven nominated rallies including one outside Europe, with up to two cars. For scale, the same regulations charge a manufacturer €441,352 to register (Art. 5.2.4), which is the difference between entering the championship and being one of its brands. Entries: Croatia Rally 2026 Rally Guide 1 Art. 4.2, €9,400 for a legal entity, twenty-eight of them across two cars and fourteen rounds. The €5.2 million of running is this page's own arithmetic — roughly €150,000 a European round and €250,000 a flyaway, per car — and no team publishes its books, so there is nothing to check it against and the label says estimate for a reason.