Winton

[mayhem]

I have been told that there will be no Konica/V8 Lites round for Winton Raceway either.
It seems that they will also go to Phillip Island, however if that cannot be organised then they will go to Oran Park, which would leave Victoria without a Konica round.

[TSR]

Juat goes to show US the racing fans, that TC Aussie Bernie could not give a flying **** about us the fans.

I feel sorry for the VIC race fans over the loss of Winton.

[mjt57]

Originally posted by TSR
I feel sorry for the VIC race fans over the loss of Winton.

I feel more for the local communities that rely on such events for their economic prosperity.

[Average Punter]

Originally posted by TSR
I feel sorry for the VIC race fans over the loss of Winton.

Not just them TSR. There are shotloads of punters there from all over southern NSW as well...

[1200Datto27]

There was a fiar bit of a hatchet job done on Winton in today's AutoFiction, essentially stating that as they do not have a round of the V8's then they will have to close the track (AF comment, not Wintons) as they do not have any other revenue! (that's right, I'm practicing and racing for free this weekend at winton ) Mick is quoted as AVESCO telling him that they are lacking "infrastructure" I think that could be interpreted as " there are no 5 star hotels near the circuit, and it isn't a steet circuit, so we do not like it, especially as you let those common riff-raff race there cars here the other 51 weeks of the year"

[Driver]

Originally posted by Average Punter
Not just them TSR. There are shotloads of punters there from all over southern NSW as well...

And SA

[pete55]

The whole rural communities in the vicinity have been told that they are too far away from civilization to have a round of V8 Supercars. I'll go back to what i said before, it's an absolute disgrace.
The only reason i know of that Winton got dropped was because TC wanted to have the Gala awards night in Melbourne because more tickets could be sold at the Crown Casino and that Winton was too far away. Now tell me that TC is not ALL about money in his pocket.

[Bimmerhead]

And that would be news to who?

[mountainstar]

Too bad really as the place was standing room only on race day. Hopefully they'll find some solutions to keep the place going. It would be a great place for a racing school.

[Onlooker]

Originally posted by 1200Datto27
There was a fiar bit of a hatchet job done on Winton in today's AutoFiction, essentially stating that as they do not have a round of the V8's then they will have to close the track (AF comment, not Wintons) as they do not have any other revenue! (that's right, I'm practicing and racing for free this weekend at winton ) Mick is quoted as AVESCO telling him that they are lacking "infrastructure" I think that could be interpreted as " there are no 5 star hotels near the circuit, and it isn't a steet circuit, so we do not like it, especially as you let those common riff-raff race there cars here the other 51 weeks of the year"

maybe this highlights what i have said in the past about people paying the market rate to use a facility, you are not probally paying anything above cost to use the track and so are not something that makes a track sustaianable.If anyone thinks that the few bucks it costs a clubbie to race is in anyway helping to further the advancement of a track they are dreaming, due to there discount rate they are infact leaving the circuit open to this sort of thing happening. how about we all pay what it costs and then every one is being treated fairly and there is no arguement

[Spunky]

This year the last round is at Ec and the Gala awards are being held on the Gold Coast, so that puts an end to that theory!

[Onlooker]

I would iagine that it will be dropped as a test track also as there is little point in using it for that when there is no round there

[pete55]

Originally posted by Spunky
This year the last round is at Ec and the Gala awards are being held on the Gold Coast, so that puts an end to that theory!

What i said is right, i was told by someone who knows.
The Gold Coast is not too bad because a large percentage of the teams are based there and a lot of the drivers live there also.

[1200Datto27]

Onlooker, I recall reading somewhere that the teams like to go to Winton for testing due to it's technical nature, as they have more of a chance there to fine tune things like power down and turn in, it is also fairly hard on brakes (lack of time to cool them) and has a relatively fast corner on it as well.

[Camaroz]

Winton also only took out a CAMS Track Licence to cover the V8's and (the old) ProCar!!!

Without those two shows I can see no need for the BAC to stump up for a CAMS Track Licence any more, they will go fully AASA so indirectly TC has put another nail in the CAMS Coffin in Vic - no Calder, Sandown limited, PI track hire fees increasing (to pay for TC), where will it end!

I'm going to Qld, at least tracks up there are flourishing (QR getting busy, Morgan Park on a roll, there's Carnell Raceway at Stanthorpe and people fighting to get Lakeside back.

[Trevor P]

Originally posted by pete55
The whole rural communities in the vicinity have been told that they are too far away from civilization to have a round of V8 Supercars. I'll go back to what i said before, it's an absolute disgrace.
The only reason i know of that Winton got dropped was because TC wanted to have the Gala awards night in Melbourne because more tickets could be sold at the Crown Casino and that Winton was too far away. Now tell me that TC is not ALL about money in his pocket.

Now let's all get one thing straight. TC, and hence V8Supercars, is ALL about money. And always has been. Let's not be naive about it. V8Supercars is not like AFL or NRL. It's a far more commercial activity. Like with any business, there are ways to express our feelings against these businesses/corporations when they are not treating us well.

[Aquarius]

Originally posted by Spunky
This year the last round is at Ec and the Gala awards are being held on the Gold Coast, so that puts an end to that theory!

I don't know where you get your information from, here is the full 2005 Calendar, and I am sure I read Phillip Islandas the Grande Finale

V8 Supercar Championship Series returns to Phillip Island
Release Date: 19/09/2004

2005 V8 Supercar Championship Series Calendar:

Non/Champ Mar 4-6 Australian Grand Prix Melbourne

Round 1: Mar 17-20 Clipsal 500 Adelaide

Round 2: Apr 15-17 V8 International New Zealand

Round 3: May 6-8 Barbagallo Perth

Round 4: May 27-29 Eastern Creek Sydney

Round 5: June 10-12 Shanghai China

Round 6: July 1-3 Hidden Valley Darwin

Round 7: July 22-24 Queensland Raceway Ipswich

Round 8: Aug 12-14 Oran Park Sydney

Round 9: Sep 9-11 Sandown 500 Melbourne

Round 10: Oct 6-9 Bathurst 1000 Bathurst

Round 11: Oct 20-23 V8 Supercar Challenge Surfers Paradise

Round 12: Nov 11-13 Symmons Plains Tasmania

Round 13: Nov 25-27 BigPond Grande Finale Phillip Island

[Aquarius]

There is mud being thrown in all directions, but I think it has something to do with Wintons stand on the CAMS Track Licences debarcle last year, when AVESCO told Winton and QLD Raceway to pay to the CAMS Track Licence or risk missing out on a V8 round, but the power shifted when the race tracks told AVESCO that was OK, but they (AVESCO) would have no test tracks in Vic or QLD.

I think this is AVESCO showing Winton that they (AVESCO) have the power.

I think Winton not having a round of the Konica's is a small retaliatory swipe by Winton, but most likely a sound finiacial decision

[pete55]

I'm guessing that no 5 star hotels and it's too far for TC to drive from the airport might come into it as well.

[Trevor P]

Pete
More a case of how much money can AVESCO make out of Winton. But if the Vic government threw in a few mill, then I am sure TC would reconsider.
Every now and then, a few cracks appear in the V8 wallpaper, such as Canberra, no series sponsor, and Bob Jane getting Bathurst at the last minute a few years ago - no doubt cheaply. A few cracks every now and then is to be expected, but when a team or two starts to drop out due to escalating costs, lets see what comes after that.
F1 have failed miserably to control their teams insatiable desire to waste more and more money. The same could happen to V8's.

[Spunky]

Originally posted by Aquarius
I don't know where you get your information from, here is the full 2005 Calendar, and I am sure I read Phillip Islandas the Grande Finale

Please read I said THIS year, not next.

[Matt H]

any comments from the ronkes.

would be a great insight to see what michael has to say bout this.

also, has the v8 lites calender been confirmed yet, with or without winton ???

[Matt H]

if they use the excuse winton is too far away from civilizatoin, lets look at it this way.

from melbourne, winton is 2 hours away, but roughly, give or take 15 minutes, so is the island ??

and i think youll find benalla is a far bigger town than cowes, but cowes would have higher quality accomodation

[Adam Ronke]

Winton is an hour and a half from the Ring Road, keeping close to the speed limit. Benalla is a town of 15,000 people but Wangaratta and Shepparton both exceed the size of Benalla by a great deal. There a quite a few 4-5 star accommodation houses in the area. There is a large establishment just outside of Wangatta in Milawa. The name of it escapes me at the moment but I believe it is 5 star and is built opposite Brown Brothers winery.

[racer69]

All it will take to get Winton back on the calendar is for the Government to announce it is spending $5 million on a new media centre.....probably wouldn't matter if the location was the car park either!

Isn't that all it takes to please Tony Cochrane