TCR Australia 2023

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Sandgroper

Thats great.

I thought the GT series would have been next after supercars

It’d be a sad day in Australian Motorsport if a series that actively limits professionalism in the category is the second best series in Australia. The whole thing is geared around the amateurs

[Umai Naa]

Originally Posted by Sandgroper

Thats great.

I thought the GT series would have been next after supercars

GTs share billing with both TCR and Supercars.

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

GTs share billing with both TCR and Supercars.

GTs work fine as a headline and a support act

[Buckshot]

Originally Posted by Sandgroper

is this even watchable now?

Who watches it ?

Honestly, it's getting to be a struggle.

I piggyback onto a mates stan account and throw him the extra cash for the Sport option but with only 13 cars on the TCR Grid it's not looking good. The racing just isn't exciting, it's far too processional or spaced out, no-one's having a go.

I really want it to be good but it's just...meh.

[one five five]

What weights will the internationals run at for SMP and Bathurst?

[V8 Fireworks]

It looks like it will be an intra-team battle between the Hyundais for the driver's title! Sweeney and Buchan.

The BOP seems to be working well at keeping the older i30 hatch competitive with the newer Elantra N/i30 sedan.

[Tourer]

Mr Curkpatrick is outa there.

Seems likely to me that what ARG present in addition to TCR could be quite different next year.

[Mixer]

Yeah there is a... pattern there

[GTRMagic]

Last person out, please switch off the lights..

[Mixer]

The question I have is whether McMellan and co actually ended up ahead after they bought up everything, flogged it to Stan and then buggered off with the money.

I suspect they may not have but $20m goes a long way.

Competitors now left to pick up the pieces.

[Mixer]

So ARG has sold their 50% stake in Australian GT to SRO...

https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/09/25...nership-group/

Does anybody else think that could place TCR on the block as ARG tries to stem the bleeding and that Lotti might just take it over?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Mixer

So ARG has sold their 50% stake in Australian GT to SRO...

https://www.speedcafe.com/2023/09/25...nership-group/

Does anybody else think that could place TCR on the block as ARG tries to stem the bleeding and that Lotti might just take it over?

Who would buy it?
And all the chassis they own…

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Who would buy it?
And all the chassis they own…

Can't see anyone in their right mind looking to buy any of it but I CAN see Motorsport Australia trying to run it for the health of the sport overall.

No question in my mind that Covid really hurt ARG but the model was flawed to begin with and it's hard to see how any of it is recoverable now, unless a benevolent benefactor suddenly appears.

Certainly hope that TCM survives and may start to thrive again (although work is needed to reign in costs there) and this would be a good opportunity for the two TA2 Series in the country to combine.

So what would be left for Motorsport Australia to run? Maybe TCR but hard to see it standing on its own - maybe combine with another class; maybe TCM; maybe TA2 but they might all go and play with AASA where the other series runs; doubt S5000 will last much longer.

[one five five]

From my point of view ARG are just down-sizing and cutting off anything unrelated to GRM.

Given their work with Peugeot for the hybrid car I see ARG hanging on to category management there, same with Trans-Am, and those categories get run on the MA/SpeedSeries calendar.

Didn’t CAMS originally do the TCR rights deal with Lotti? ARG then leased the category management rights for a certain period of time?

Questions for me are:

What happens to TCM?
What interest does James Warburton still have in ARG?
Do MA or any other promoter want to run the Bathurst 6hr? (assuming ARG still wants to own the International….if not, does MA want to run it?)