V8ST - 2014/15

[promax]

Originally Posted by Ugy

Don't worry we have TITP to look forward to in another 5-6 months.

i see the Pukekohe ST round is just a week before it too

[MS Fan]

From AutoNews NZ facebook page

FORCED TO THE TABLE?
Seems that someone has some common sense.
Owners of NZ motor racing circuits have joined together telling all factions in the ongoing and ruinous V8 war that unless they get their act together, they will ban all V8 classes from their circuits.
This is extraordinary, it is unheard of and it is absolutely the last hope for settlement.
The categories themseives won't do it. MSNZ is powerless to bring unity — now the circuit owners have stepped in and said enough. Apparetky that have issued the ultimatum that unless ST and TLX car appear on the same grid with a parity arrangement, there will be no racing for them!
Providing he circuit owners stick together on this, it might work.
The circuit owners met in Dunedin last night, on the eve of the MSNZ Conference.
I imagine there will be much scurrying about among representatives of the V8 categories over this.

[promax]

Originally Posted by MS Fan

From AutoNews NZ facebook page

FORCED TO THE TABLE?
Seems that someone has some common sense.
Owners of NZ motor racing circuits have joined together telling all factions in the ongoing and ruinous V8 war that unless they get their act together, they will ban all V8 classes from their circuits.
This is extraordinary, it is unheard of and it is absolutely the last hope for settlement.
The categories themseives won't do it. MSNZ is powerless to bring unity — now the circuit owners have stepped in and said enough. Apparetky that have issued the ultimatum that unless ST and TLX car appear on the same grid with a parity arrangement, there will be no racing for them!
Providing he circuit owners stick together on this, it might work.
The circuit owners met in Dunedin last night, on the eve of the MSNZ Conference.
I imagine there will be much scurrying about among representatives of the V8 categories over this.

so in other words.. EVERYONE is sick of this ****

well done to those involved in this stand!

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by MS Fan

From AutoNews NZ facebook page

FORCED TO THE TABLE?
Seems that someone has some common sense.
Owners of NZ motor racing circuits have joined together telling all factions in the ongoing and ruinous V8 war that unless they get their act together, they will ban all V8 classes from their circuits.
This is extraordinary, it is unheard of and it is absolutely the last hope for settlement.
The categories themseives won't do it. MSNZ is powerless to bring unity — now the circuit owners have stepped in and said enough. Apparetky that have issued the ultimatum that unless ST and TLX car appear on the same grid with a parity arrangement, there will be no racing for them!
Providing he circuit owners stick together on this, it might work.
The circuit owners met in Dunedin last night, on the eve of the MSNZ Conference.
I imagine there will be much scurrying about among representatives of the V8 categories over this.

All is not as it would at first seem, the next few day's will reveal all and in more detail, despite some wishful thinking by some.

[socram]

PLEASE keep us posted. Even if that is only half true, I think it bodes well and if it is circuit owners pushing it, without playgrounds, there is no play.

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by socram

PLEASE keep us posted. Even if that is only half true, I think it bodes well and if it is circuit owners pushing it, without playgrounds, there is no play.

Hi Ray,

The push and shove is actually the circuit owners telling MSNZ to get their act together with regard to the V8 touring car category, if you have not yet seen this Speedcafe article, then I think what it doesn't say is very obvious.

Friday 23rd May, 2014 3:27pmAuthor: Gordon Lomas ©


V8 SuperTourers summer calendar to proceed as scheduled.

V8 SuperTourers chief executive Ray Noonan and MotorSport New Zealand have refuted claims the category has been banned from competing at the country’s circuits.
Noonan had initially relayed information to his teams, warning that the series would be blocked from all NZ tracks but later corrected the message, saying the V8 SuperTourer calendar would continue.
Initially Noonan wrote in part: “…that as a result of a decision made today at the MSNZ AGM, Shayne Harris, president of MSNZ, has advised me that V8ST have been banned from all NZ tracks, with immediate effect and indefinitely.”
However this was later found not to be the case.
V8 SuperTourers last month announced plans to move to a summer series for its 2015 calendar starting with the endurance races in September and finishing with the ANZAC Day meeting in late April on the V8 Supercars program at Pukekohe.
It is understood that the circuit owners recently held a meeting and brought their concerns to the governing body at its Annual General Meeting being held at Dunedin.
“The circuit owners had a meeting as part AGM and told MSNZ to get their act together with regard to sorting out something in regard to V8 categories and so forth,” Noonan told Speedcafe.com
“And this has been interpreted, well, (that) the SuperTourers can’t race any more until this is sorted out.
“I’ve spoken to the track owners this morning and everything is all good.
“A miscommunication occurred and it’s now been resolved and sorted out as far as I’m concerned.”
Noonan stressed that he and the chairman of the NZ V8 Touring Cars, Ian Booth, sat down and agreed to a joint calendar and to operate together in the future.
“We’ve formed a very constructive relationship with Ian to the point where we are sharing calendars, information and raceday officials.”
MotorSport New Zealand president Shayne Harris confirmed that no series had been blocked from running at any circuit.
“All the entities who own race circuits in NZ got together and said that this V8 split has go to stop,” Harris told Speedcafe.com
“What the circuit owners are saying is they have had enough of this fragmented V8 class.
“And the days of turning up with 6 cars or 10 or 12 cars and calling it a race has got to go.
“No-one has banned anyone.”
Noonan said that he is confident that the V8 SuperTourer calendar for 2014/15 will continue as planned.

[Woolley]

In short, enough is enough/a plague on both your houses.

Reckon the circuit owners have got that right. Some people on here need to listen to them and give a little less attention to their own navels. In my opinion, of course.

But then again I've recently been told (publicly) it was all my fault.

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Woolley

In short, enough is enough/a plague on both your houses.

Reckon the circuit owners have got that right. Some people on here need to listen to them and give a little less attention to their own navels. In my opinion, of course.

But then again I've recently been told (publicly) it was all my fault.

It will also be your fault if England don't win the FIFA World Cup this year!

[socram]

Thanks for that.

Now all we have to do is get everyone to agree and apply the same thinking to ALL classes currently turning up with just 9 or 10 cars, and get back to decent sized grids.

Mallory Park had a limit of just 14 cars for many years and just about every race was over subscribed, but as it was only a 1.35 mile track, spectators weren't staring at empty tarmac for very long. With all North Island tracks having a saloons capacity of 40 or more cars per grid, anything less than 20 or 25 is wasteful.

When any one make manufacturer puts it out that they are only building 20 vehicles for a race series, they should be told to go away - or reconsider, until they have at least 30 sold, or amalgamate with an existing series.

Unlike the circuit owners, team owners, MSNZ, manufacturers or even series organisers and race officials, only paying spectators do not have a voice.

PS: Yes, Woolley, it will also be your fault if I can't fulfil orders for cheap Union Jack shirts, such as the one I bought for a fiver when England crashed out a few years ago!

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

It will also be your fault if England don't win the FIFA World Cup this year!

Nope, I definitely don't accept any responsibility for anything football related.

[unpatriotic]Hopefully they won't get out of the group stages so that we get rid of those ghastly flags people attach to their cars. And to quote John Cleese, I can cope with the despair, it's the hope I can't stand[/unpatriotic]

And as the Kiwis will know, the real world cup is next year.

[promax]

I see the Blues lost again in Super Rugby.. does Woolley get blamed for that one too?

[isoskim]

Originally Posted by socram

Unlike the circuit owners, team owners, MSNZ, manufacturers or even series organisers and race officials, only paying spectators do not have a voice.

Respectfully disagree. With the emergence of unsocialised media like Facebook, the paying public have the ability to voice their opinions. You only have to look at the commentary around the recent v8st/NZV8TC "open" letters.

[pigs fly]

A very BIG NO

[promax]

Originally Posted by isoskim

Respectfully disagree. With the emergence of unsocialised media like Facebook, the paying public have the ability to voice their opinions. You only have to look at the commentary around the recent v8st/NZV8TC "open" letters.

the paying spectators have had their say.. by not buying tickets. free entry Saturdays and bulk free tickets given away for each meetings.. it will be interesting to see the real numbers of actual paying spectators for these so called high profile events.

[socram]

Fair comment. What I suppose really I meant was that there wasn't a co-ordinated representation. Fragmented facebook posts, scattered all over the interweb, are no more than lunch room gossip, as they are not formalised.

Apart from one NZ based motoring message board aimed at the classic arena plus a another with a section for motoring, this is just about the only place I pop into regularly!

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by socram

A force fed diet of one/two make series with tight rules and no room for innovation, plus tiny grids, has effectively killed off local motorsport. We now have Tofu racing. Bland.

Same around the world in many arenas of motorsport. One make championships sold under the guise of saving money or "fairness" but are mostly anything but cheap or fair and mostly boring.

Quite honestly a lot of this has extinguished my passion for spectating or following series like I used to. As a driver though, I still have the self centered enjoyment of whatever I drive on track, that hasn't changed. But I have a hard time dragging myself through 100 pages of Autosport or hours of TV coverage or even going to the track to watch it.

My philosophy about series that desire to be semi-pro or professional, if you are going to go to all the trouble to organize and put on an event, hope to get paying spectators though the gate and people watching on TV, then you may as well put on a good show and put an event together worth doing and seeing. From the tracks perspective, I know at least one of them has the feeling they don't need the V8 race to survive and if anything financially might be better off for not having it. So I am sure the NZ tracks feel that it is pointless to continue with 2 separate series doing the same thing, the market isn't big enough for it, so it's time for all these folks to get themselves in gear and get on the same page so they have a weekend event worth selling to the public.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

They could always put Porsche Panamera, Maserati Quattroporte and Aston Martin Rapide bodies onto the ST chassis

I can't say I like the current Indy Car shape, doesn't really look like a proper open-wheel race car to me. Looks more like a vacuum cleaner...

Are they faster or slower than the old cars?

Much slower. Same old one make nonsense with boring cars and no innovation or interest. Lots of big egos obsessed with power and control.

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

Much slower. Same old one make nonsense with boring cars and no innovation or interest. Lots of big egos obsessed with power and control.

Now that's a surprise in motorsport....

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Woolley

And as the Kiwis will know, the real world cup is next year.

Rugby, schmugby. I care not for a sport that is played competitively by less than a dozen nations where you get something like 24 minutes of actual game time in 80 minutes - give me snail racing any day...

[HProject]

Originally Posted by socram

Fair comment. What I suppose really I meant was that there wasn't a co-ordinated representation. Fragmented facebook posts, scattered all over the interweb, are no more than lunch room gossip, as they are not formalised.

I like to think myself and Simon Chapman from Velocity are giving it an at least passable try...

Here's our report on yesterday's news: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

[Ugy]

Originally Posted by promax

the paying spectators have had their say.. by not buying tickets. free entry Saturdays and bulk free tickets given away for each meetings.. it will be interesting to see the real numbers of actual paying spectators for these so called high profile events.

The spectators have there own V8 series in NZ promax it's called V8SCs, especially after all the tihs that's been going down.
A lot of Ford fans are not interested in the st (believe it or not) that is a fact.

Me personally...if there was a st,tlx or a st/tlx meeting 10ks down the road and a round of V8scs on the box, the box would win.

[promax]

Originally Posted by Ugy

The spectators have there own V8 series in NZ promax it's called V8SCs, especially after all the tihs that's been going down.
A lot of Ford fans are not interested in the st (believe it or not) that is a fact.

Me personally...if there was a st,tlx or a st/tlx meeting 10ks down the road and a round of V8scs on the box, the box would win.

so that's why ST facebook page looks more like a V8SC fan page! lol

[socram]

Just to clarify my own take on both at the same meeting. Even if there are two half empty grids, they are only half way to an attractive solution.

One grid, two classes is no big deal ('Class' racing has been going since Brookland's days, so there is nothing new there) and that means room on the programme for another decent grid, preferably of vehicles that don't look like the main game.

Twice as many cars for the spectators, twice as much paid in entry fees (presumably) and a better chance of a profit, twice the enjoyment for all, or am I missing something?

If almost any two day classic meeting these days can attract over 200 cars, then surely it isn't too much to ask that anything purporting to be a senior meeting matches or exceeds that?

The only hiccup I see is that even our upgraded tracks don't seem to have designed the pits complexes to cope with large grids, which seems a wee bit short sighted!

In the case of Pukekohe, the millions poured into the track seem to have shrunk the paddock for most decent meetings, just to cater for one meeting a year, which also seems a bit short-sighted, given that surely they had access to the so called brains in the sport?

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by socram

Just to clarify my own take on both at the same meeting. Even if there are two half empty grids, they are only half way to an attractive solution.

One grid, two classes is no big deal ('Class' racing has been going since Brookland's days, so there is nothing new there) and that means room on the programme for another decent grid, preferably of vehicles that don't look like the main game.

Twice as many cars for the spectators, twice as much paid in entry fees (presumably) and a better chance of a profit, twice the enjoyment for all, or am I missing something?

If almost any two day classic meeting these days can attract over 200 cars, then surely it isn't too much to ask that anything purporting to be a senior meeting matches or exceeds that?

The only hiccup I see is that even our upgraded tracks don't seem to have designed the pits complexes to cope with large grids, which seems a wee bit short sighted!

In the case of Pukekohe, the millions poured into the track seem to have shrunk the paddock for most decent meetings, just to cater for one meeting a year, which also seems a bit short-sighted, given that surely they had access to the so called brains in the sport?

There you go again Ray, talking sense - it won't be tolerated I tell you!

[mikuni]

I agree with you socram.

I went to the V8SC round at Pukekohe, and amongst the fans were a number of SC fans who just couldn't understand (nor care) why there were 2 different NZ V8 touring car races with similar looking cars, yet they weren't out there together. I began explaning how it came about, and that the first field were actually V8 "Super Tourers". It was about the time when they zoned out and began to go blank when I realised quite how rediculous the whole thing is.

Having both at Pukekohe should have made everyone realise how embarrassing the situation is, and stupid they are for not only putting themselves in this position, but for continuing it.