CAMS National Series - Oran Park May 6-7. Do yourself a favour !!

[alfacors]

Sounds like a V8Supercar meet..... but without the 30min wait between sessions

[hml2777]

These sort of hold ups don't seem to happen at events run under the other sanctioning body.

[nafe!]

In no way would i ever agree with there being too many races!.

Its what made the round far better value for money then any other round ive been to recently.

I watched racing the WHOLE day...not with half hr 40 minute breaks etc, it was race after race after race, best day for constant racing ive been to yet.

Very good turn out, Ppl loved the trucks combined with the gt cars and the utes. Could have been a better turn out in the gt cars....but there never has been a good one in australia since this type has existed anyway. How about the competitors get out there? Bring the cars and u will have the crowds....

Great day racing, im lucky that my tickets were free as 35 bucks is a bit steep but none the less i thought it was a great day.

[D.R.T.]

No doubt nafe, this was one of the best meetings in a while, with the non stop action all day long.

What I was suggesting was that instead of 3 races per category have 2 longer races. That way the on track action will still be as thick and fast but there will be more flexibility in scheduling.

All in all a very successful day, hopefully the CAMS series gains some momentum and can build on Round 3.

[storyline]

DRT - but with your idea of longer races you MUST have bigger grids otherwise - even with normal attrition - you are going to get very strung out fields.

On the other hand there are some categories that have steadfastly refused to build their cars for longer races - sports sedans spring to mind - I am aware of a number of meetings where longer races have been proposed for them (for the very reason you cite) only to have thrown back at the organisers 'but we can't run that distance - we don;t have the fuel capacity'.

[D.R.T.]

If where talking 2 x 15 laps instead of 3 x 10 laps, I dont see it being that much of an issue.

[storyline]

With the sports sedans you would be surprised how little fuel they actually carry. They try and save weight everywhere - and fuel is weight.

How often have you seen cars run out of fuel because they have had a delayed start and then an extra warm up lap given with no reduciton in race distance?

Call it foolish on the part of the drivers - but it happens. Consider that those 5 extra laps can be - depending on the track - anywhere from 10 km to 20km.

[Silver 3]

From a spectators point of view the entertainment value is in seeing racing.So to that extent I believe the more races the better.For some catergories 20 minutes is a long race and more than adequate.On a race day a mix of race lengths adds to the interest as different race strategies are needed. I do not see too much value in longer processional races that see spectators lose interest.As for Henry comment( please note my tongue is in my cheek) - 6 cars have less opportunity to cause a problem than 30- so when numbers do increase the issues will be the same regardless of sanctioning body.It is a issue that C of C handling will never please everybody.The shame of red flags and safety cars is that they can decrease the entetainment value in the meeting.
To look at the other side of it-- I would rather see too much racing rather than the F -1 situation that struggles to put RACING entertainment on the track.The V 8 show has taken a leaf out of that book and generally does not offer value in the support program.

[XW GT]

Oran Park have a 5pm curfew (penguins?), and with seven categories on the program it was always going to be tight. Red flags etc mean that the competitors usually (and do) get shafted because of time constraints. 2006 racing and 1926 officials!

[alfacors]

It's the competitors that cause the red flags though..... not the officials

[storyline]

But how often is the need for the red flag disputed by competitors and even officials?

[alfacors]

No idea, but if the competitors weren't getting stuck in awkward spots due to spins, clashes, whatever - then the only reason for a Red Flag would be acts of nature like a torrential downpour, darkness etc?

[Silver 3]

Yeah, you could run the meeting perfectly without all those nuisance racing drivers mucking it up.

[storyline]

Actually my point wasn't that they cause red flags but more that how often are the red flags actually necessary?

[alfacors]

Hard to say I guess. Is there any sort of records kept for complaints or objections made by competitors? The ones I saw on the weekend were justified.

[Peddler]

Originally Posted by nafe!

In no way would i ever agree with there being too many races!.

Its what made the round far better value for money then any other round ive been to recently.

I watched racing the WHOLE day...not with half hr 40 minute breaks etc, it was race after race after race, best day for constant racing ive been to yet.

Very good turn out, Ppl loved the trucks combined with the gt cars and the utes. Could have been a better turn out in the gt cars....but there never has been a good one in australia since this type has existed anyway. How about the competitors get out there? Bring the cars and u will have the crowds....

Great day racing, im lucky that my tickets were free as 35 bucks is a bit steep but none the less i thought it was a great day.

I am with you Nafe... was a great day at Oran on Sunday. I went out there with my young bloke and i still can not get the thought out of my head when he first saw the trucks come out, "he thought it was the ducks guts" he hasnt stopped talking about it since!

How bad was the wind and dust in the arvo? that was very uncomfortable...

All was good till my young bloke decided that he wanted come stand in front of me to tell me something, and in the process of saying that he was feeling sick, vomited all down the front of my shirt this lead to me vomiting and having to drive home starkers!

[Oaksnaf]

I wonder how many competitors from other series liked the Truck Racing? Those who dont like the condition of the track i suppose.

[SRabbit]

Saturday was the first time I'd ever seen the trucks live - I was down at turn 3 when they came taking some photos and after 3 or 4 minutes I looked across and could not see the grandstand at the top of the circuit for the thick black exhaust smoke - not to mention nearly being hit by chunks of tyre rubber - I wouldnt like to race after them on top of that!!

[RotorFan]

Originally Posted by SRabbit

as far as promoting the event goes, well, I live fairly local to the track and I can tell you that if I didn't read TT Forums, I wouldn't have known it was on at all.
even as I drove into the track I was thinking 'now it WAS this weekend, wasn't it??'

Well I live in Sydney and every year I ring up Oran Park and get them to mail out a calendar. Thats a great way to make sure you know whats going on Although I didn't catch this event in the Calendar at first because the idiots called it "National racing series" in the calendar - how am I meant to know what that is? It was only through seeing the date here on TT that I realised. So the calendar didn't end up helping!

Originally Posted by racer69

I was suprised by the turnout, considering the lack of promotion.......

So were we. Oran Park is tough for me and my brother to get to but we managed to get there 15 minutes before the first event and already there were forming the second row of cars in the carkpark up the main drive.

Originally Posted by racer69

I would have thought the constant announcements over the PA advertising a raffle for a ride in a Kingswood and saying how great Kingswood racing is was interesting at this CAMS event, considering the Kingswood's are a part of the AMRS/AASA show........

Yeah that struck me as odd. My brother bought $5 worth from the girls (wasn't that Mork's daughters or something? ) and they didn't announce the winners at all. I hope we didn't win - I wouldn't want to have missed out on a hotlap in an HQ, which one announcer described as "pretty good".

Originally Posted by racer69

Trucks were pretty good (despite the trucks being practically non-existent in the last few years compared to the 90s, there still seems to be a fan base there), but where was Rodney Crick? Both his old trucks were there (both Volvo's), along with his former co-driver Col Lovett, but Crick, and the ex-Rob Russell truck he has steered in recent times were not there.

I don't know about that - Rob Russel used to drive a Kenworth. The truck Crick has been racing in lately is (I think) the old Inky Tullock "Pinky" truck (the truck Inky used before moving on to his black and red Volvo White Aero). Incidentally, I think Crick had a falling out with the old Volvo team. I don't know much about it - something to do with money I think. He has no link with the Lovett trucks now though.

The truck racing was very average compared to what it used to be. Not very close racing and too few entries. And does anyone know what that was meant to be first thing Sunday morning? It was penned in as a Warmup for 5 minutes but I was sitting there watching them fang around, warming the tyres up more vigorously than I've seen before only to see them start to form together for a race! The grid was all messed up too, I couldn't make sense of it - there's no way they could have qualified in that order. Anyone know what that was about? The only thing I could figure was it was a race that was meant to happen yesterday but was red flagged and had to be resumed on Sunday, hence the messed up grid and lack of warmup.

Originally Posted by Alan 52

Also most of the crowd had left before the final truck race which suggests that the Utes were the headline attraction.

Well they were the draw card for people, definitely. I noticed more people standing up for the Utes and a huge influx of Holden/Ford clothing wearing typical V8 fans that I wouldn't normally see.

I can't understand the attraction... the Utes races I found particularly boring.

Originally Posted by Alan 52

The only scheduled distances reduced were in the 2 Commodore races-2 laps each.

Nope! As usual, truck fans got screwed and TWO of the truck races were reduced to 5 laps! The old "superprix" was a joke - it was over before you knew it. 5 laps is far too short, especially on the south circuit.

Originally Posted by Alan 52

The overall standard of the meeting was a step up from the 2005 version of the AMRS and while some of the fields were disappointing in size-particularly Performance Cars-the overall feeling was that it is possible to run a viable professional series away from V8 Supercars.

I really disagree. Last years AMRS (round 7 I tihnk you're talking about) was much, much better. The fields were bigger, they had the F4000's, the Sports Sedans were there and the Combined Touring had some great racing. I enjoyed that much better than this round.

Originally Posted by XW GT

Oran Park have a 5pm curfew (penguins?), and with seven categories on the program it was always going to be tight.

Are you sure? How can they have day/night meetings like this Saturday then?

Originally Posted by Peddler

How bad was the wind and dust in the arvo? that was very uncomfortable...

Terrible! Its really bad on the dogleg, and its been like that for a couple years now. They had the presence of mind this time to get the water truck out and spray some water on the road in front of toilets (the dust kicked up is mostly caused by some large family 4WD driving over it). There was a meeting last year where they stupidly rented out the rally track during a race meeting - that was terrible. It was about 5 times as much dust in the air that day.

Originally Posted by SRabbit

Saturday was the first time I'd ever seen the trucks live - I was down at turn 3 when they came taking some photos and after 3 or 4 minutes I looked across and could not see the grandstand at the top of the circuit for the thick black exhaust smoke - not to mention nearly being hit by chunks of tyre rubber - I wouldnt like to race after them on top of that!!

I don't see your point? Thats the attraction!


Overall it was a good day. My highlight was seeing the GT cars in the twilight. That Prsche GT Cup car with its brilliant yellow le mans style lights looked fantastic chasing the Viper. Then he had a go in the dying laps - it was fantastic! The 360 was having a good battle with the two porsches until he came unstuck.

Of course, seeing the trucks doing burnouts at the end of the day is always the best part I never get sick of that.

[storyline]

Originally Posted by RotorFan

I really disagree. Last years AMRS (round 7 I tihnk you're talking about) was much, much better. The fields were bigger, they had the F4000's, the Sports Sedans were there and the Combined Touring had some great racing. I enjoyed that much better than this round.

Last years (Round 8 btw) and this years figures for comparison:
Saloon 21/25
Trucks 15/13
Commodore 19/21
APCC 15/12 Touring Car Challenge 18/-
F4000 11/-
Sports Sedans 15/-
Of course there were GT and Utes this year though.

Are you sure? How can they have day/night meetings like this Saturday then?

Special permit.

[XW GT]

Hi RotorFan,
All of the nonsense with the trucks on Sunday morning was caused by the 5 o'clock curfew on Saturday night. Their race was cancelled and re-scheduled for Sunday morning.

[bathurst]

Originally Posted by alfacors

Also note that in APCC Chris Delfsma's XR8 was written off at Symmons. He will be back for Eastern Creek though - along with a fleet of 4 Protons to bolster Class C (Mertens, McAlister, Lambrick and Harris' cars) - and possibly the Xsara. Hopefully the Golf GTi will make a comeback into the APCC, and maybe a final run for the Echo (which was supposed to be making it's final appearance at OP), the return of Shep's Celica too.

Note sure what happened in GT-Performance with their fields, there's a few missing EVO, plus the seemingly disbanded Team GT didn't help things either.

Why have all those classes split up??? The performance cars should still race with the now GT class I reckon. It was great wknd at Oran Park... Non stop racing.. Maybe VESA should go and learn how to go straight from 1 event to the next. Stuffn 30min gaps sux at the v8supercars. $45 for wknd pass and FREE pit entry!! Much better value for money!!!!