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At the MIA’s annual motorsport conference in South Korea evidence has emerged that the country is on the verge of a multi-faceted involvement in high-level motorsport.

Casting our minds back briefly for a moment to 2003, where Hyundai’s participation in the remainder of the WRC season came grinding to a halt and eventually the Korean car giant withdrew its cars, went back to the drawing board and promised to comeback stronger than ever in time for the 2006/2007 season.

Well that time has elapsed, the Rally season is well underway and things seem to have gone a little quiet in the Korean camp at the moment. But are things about to change?

The early indicators would suggest that: a renewed impetus behind bringing F1 Grand Prix to Korea; the wish of Hyundai to rejoin the WRC series and, major investors researching possible new motorsport venues.

Said the MIA‚Äôs Chris Aylett, “The key to all this is a change in import laws that is allowing foreign car manufacturers to compete head on with the indigenous ones ‚Äì Hyundai, Kia and Daewoo. While they had a monopoly in their own land they did not need the marketing kudos of motorsport to sell their wares. Now they will. This is a major market poised for take-off.”

Korea is another country in which the MIA has already laid firm roots and, in order to begin stimulating business for the UK motorsport industry, set up a liaison office Seoul as much as three years ago.

At the Frankfurt Motorshow in 2005, visitors got a glimpse of a rather sporty looking Accent SR (pictured above), fitted with a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine, five-speed auto gearbox, lowered suspension and a wider track, sitting on 18-inch wheels with 225/40R tyres.

On seeing this car, the word ‘Homologation’ springs to mind. Reminding ourselves that word means: to approve (a car, boat, or engine) for sale in a particular market or use in a particular class of racing. Watch this space!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, March 28th, 2006 at 5:51 pm and is filed under Rally. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.