TCR Australia 2023

[Alan52]

I watched the 9 coverage of Saturdays racing.The scariest part for TCR was that about 80% of the crowd left after the second last race -TransAm- and before the start of the last race -TCR.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by Alan52

I watched the 9 coverage of Saturdays racing.The scariest part for TCR was that about 80% of the crowd left after the second last race -TransAm- and before the start of the last race -TCR.

Yeah and it didn't look like it was any sort of crowd to begin with.

Serious chicken and egg problem for most of the ARG categories now.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Yeah and it didn't look like it was any sort of crowd to begin with.

Serious chicken and egg problem for most of the ARG categories now.

Sadly similar to a Sydney Motorsport Park Supercars event.

Watched it all on TV and the racing in every category was most interesting and not without on track and off track drama.

But outside of Supercars and the AGP, are there any decent crowds at circuit racing anymore?

[Alan52]

I actually thought the crowd on Saturday looked pretty decent by the standards of Saturdays at ARG meetings.
There could be a discussion about how hard it is for local racing to compete with the elite of world racing that people can watch every week.
This weekend for instance live free streaming on their YouTube channel of the Nurburgring 24 including all practice/qualifying.That would instantly remove any desire to watch Supercars.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by Alan52

This weekend for instance live free streaming on their YouTube channel of the Nurburgring 24 including all practice/qualifying.That would instantly remove any desire to watch Supercars.

This in a lot of ways is my complaint about ARG putting Australian TCR and everything else on Stan.

Much of worldwide TCR is free to watch live on YouTube, and I regularly enjoy it.

[pimmy]

TCR TV has full-race videos from Phillip Island, which will hopefully continue for the rest of the year. Still only highlight clips from Symmons Plains though.

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by Mixer

This in a lot of ways is my complaint about ARG putting Australian TCR and everything else on Stan.

Much of worldwide TCR is free to watch live on YouTube, and I regularly enjoy it.

Stan were the only people willing to bail them out financially after Mr PAYCE got sick of losing the family fortune.
Their viewing reach is so small -and not growing - that it was always going to consign them to oblivion.The Saturday 9 coverage is an attempt to redress this.Don’t know if it will have any measurable effect.
The 2 hour highlights package is on 9 today.I will be interested to see if they follow the Bathurst precedent of only having Sunday races in it.That was much better as it made no sense to fill up half the highlights with races that had already been shown live on 9 on the Saturday.

[chavez]

Do any TCR Series worldwide have any of their races on FTA TV?

Currently a third of TCR races are live on FTA TV, compared to, from memory about 55% of Supercar races.

Supercars do compare favourably with cricket, AFL and NRL, all of which are below 50% FTA.

All TCR races are eventually shown on replay on FTA. Certainly not the case for Cricket,. AFL or NRL.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Alan52

The 2 hour highlights package is on 9 today.

On a weekday? That's not ideal. But the general idea of having highlights was not a problem for the World Rally Championship or Australian Super Touring... However folks expect this to be available (free) on streaming these days for viewing at one's convenience.

Originally Posted by Alan52

I watched the 9 coverage of Saturdays racing.The scariest part for TCR was that about 80% of the crowd left after the second last race -TransAm- and before the start of the last race -TCR.

I'm assuming they did not jump into their Audi S3s and Honda Civic Type Rs to drive home, or if they did TCR is that bad they don't care for it anyway.

In Britain, TCR to the contrary seems like a solid B-championship to the BTCC. A good streaming package, much lower costs to run cars that are nearly as fast as pukka BTCC cars, and (it looks like) around 20 entries per meeting on average.

Originally Posted by Mixer

Transam is far and away the most competitive and interesting ARG category. Some might say the only one.

But it's the same Americana format as the ATCC itself. Hardly a useful category for brands like Hyundai, Honda or Audi.

Not to mention being far, far removed from the idea of a touring car and hot hatches and sport compact sedans, unlike TCR.

Of course TCR cars sound bad, but so do BTCC cars since they went turbocharged. The cars sounding bad really doesn't seem to be an issue in Britain for either touring car class.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by chavez

Do any TCR Series worldwide have any of their races on FTA TV?

Who gives a **** about FTA TV?

I'm on my third property now without access to free to air TV...

The vast majority of TCR racing overseas is available on Youtube live, if not on-demand.

If TCRA was on YouTube and allowed a direct membership that way I'd pay it in a heartbeat.

This surely is the future of sports support.

I most certainly am not paying for Stan which is rubbish, unless they separate the Sports package, which they will not do.

Stan had the money but they lack the understanding of how to market this racing.

The fact that they led the PI marketing with "see Renee Gracie and co" tells me nobody there has any clue about local racing fans.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Who gives a **** about FTA TV?

A number of people on this thread, who have lamented the move from FTA on Seven to Stan and a number of people who constantly complain on other social media.

[chavez]

Originally Posted by Mixer

If TCRA was on YouTube and allowed a direct membership that way I'd pay it in a heartbeat.

This surely is the future of sports support.

Yep, only a matter of time. Cuts out the middleman (ie the TV network or streaming platform).

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Who gives a **** about FTA TV?

I'm on my third property now without access to free to air TV...

The vast majority of TCR racing overseas is available on Youtube live, if not on-demand.

If TCRA was on YouTube and allowed a direct membership that way I'd pay it in a heartbeat.

This surely is the future of sports support.

I most certainly am not paying for Stan which is rubbish, unless they separate the Sports package, which they will not do.

Stan had the money but they lack the understanding of how to market this racing.

The fact that they led the PI marketing with "see Renee Gracie and co" tells me nobody there has any clue about local racing fans.

The trouble with paying separate subscriptions for each sport you want to watch is that it gets very expensive very quickly.
For example I pay close to $200/year to watch EPL.If I was paying for MotoGP.com it would cost as much as Kayo for that 1 sporting competition.
The USPGA tried to move to a direct streaming model a few years ago but it collapsed due to low subscriber numbers.F1TV has been a failure compared to Liberty’s expectations to the point where they are giving it away to pay TV providers with F1 contracts in a lot of markets.When NASCAR tried to sell streaming packages in Australia after Foxtel pulled the pin a few years back it was a complete bust.There are very few sports where there is a significant number of people prepared to pay access to watch that one specific sport and TCR Australia is definitely not one of them.
Aggregation by pay TV providers/streaming companies is the cheapest route for consumers although the market needs to shake out a bit.Paying 6-7 lots of subscriptions is not viable.I’m real glad that in Australia F1 and MotoGP rights are held by the same network.On top of that my favourite race is Le Mans and I can buy a 1 event streaming package for the whole meeting from Wednesday on for 12 euros.
There aren’t many organisers prepared to do what they are doing for the Nurburgring 24 this year which is world wide live free streaming on their YouTube channel.
Point of information-If you have an internet connection in those properties you have FTA access.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by chavez

A number of people on this thread, who have lamented the move from FTA on Seven to Stan and a number of people who constantly complain on other social media.

I'm not really sure they watch, but they sure like to complain.

Originally Posted by Alan52

Point of information-If you have an internet connection in those properties you have FTA access.

I'm well aware of this but the streaming apps by most of the FTA providers are awful.

Nothing like a 60db show followed by a 100db ad that errors, making you repeat it...

So if it's on YouTube and I can pay for it there, I will, and I know it will work on all my devices.

if I can buy a specific subscription for what I want, like Cricket Australia did a few years back, I'll pay.

If I wanted to pay for Kayo, I would, except that service is so appallingly unreliable I won't pay for it, either.

Stan Sport I would pay for, but I won't pay for Stan to be able to get Stan Sport.

[Mixer]

Some good news:

Clay Richards making his TCR debit with MPC:
https://www.v8sleuth.com.au/richards...Fym_hezMmSQAeI

[V8 Fireworks]

How come the Modena Engineering gearbox that was so troublesome in the WRX TCR is so competitive in WRX vehicles elsewhere in other classes like Time Attack? I don't get it.

It remains a favourite box for WRX tuners everywhere else, despite the dramas in front wheel drive only form in the TCR.

Should a new generation WRX TCR (I do think the layout of low-slung boxer four and longitudinal gearbox has potential to be very competitive against the transverse engines) just use a Sadev or XTrac box to stick with the "norm" even though the Australian-made Modena box is perfectly good...?



Is it true that TCR car builders would be similarly unlikely to specify Australian-made MCA Suspension or Supashock dampers on the worry that customers won't be able to get rebuilds and support abroad, unlike if they spec something that fits the "norm" like Ohlins or Bilstein?

[S griffin]

Maybe because the gearbox was only designed for a specific type of event? That's probably the most simplest explanation. And obviously the road car version would be more robust. But it does make you wonder why they haven't fixed their problems. Or just revert to a simpler gearbox.

I don't know all the ins and outs or TCR, but I'm sure they have their own homologation rules and allow a bit of ingenuity.

[Umai Naa]

Motec shift actuator died at round 1 in 2019, after the car had done 3 partial seasons of racing over seas.

Then it kept breaking driveshafts at Winton smashing kerbs.

Don't be fooled into thinking the Subarus were brand new into Australia.

[pimmy]

As far as I know, only 2 were built. Last seen in the UK last year, still constantly breaking down.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by pimmy

As far as I know, only 2 were built. Last seen in the UK last year, still constantly breaking down.

There is a new shape WRX now. I still think it should be revisited with the new shape and a better homologation team, as many think the Subaru Impreza / Alfa Romeo Alfasud layout with the flat-four and longitudinal transaxle is the superior front wheel drive layout to the typical transverse layout.

Even though Subaru sales are poor in Europe, you could probably sell some cars to the Michelin Pilot Challenge series in the United States as Subaru are relatively popular stateside.

The boxer engine should have COG advantages to allow it to take the fight to the Lynk & Co and Elantra N?

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

Then it kept breaking driveshafts at Winton smashing kerbs.

Could it be they are using AWD driveshafts (perhaps AWD items supplied by Modena Engineering together with the box?), putting twice the power through them and simply hoping they don't break!

I'm sure a better homologation could do a better job with the new shape WRX.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by pimmy

As far as I know, only 2 were built. Last seen in the UK last year, still constantly breaking down.

I actually can't believe they managed to sell them!

[S griffin]

Originally Posted by Mixer

I actually can't believe they managed to sell them!

Yes, you wouldn't think there was much of a market for them. Especially where they sold them to.

[Umai Naa]

Originally Posted by pimmy

As far as I know, only 2 were built. Last seen in the UK last year, still constantly breaking down.

TopRun still have a caged shell that was never fitted out.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

TopRun still have a caged shell that was never fitted out.

So much for the rules of needing to build at least 10 cars of each TCR model!

Hopefully more Australian race car builders can get into the TCR building space, in addition to GRM with their run of 2024 model Peugeot 308s.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

So much for the rules of needing to build at least 10 cars of each TCR model!

Lynk and Co proved Lotti is a toothless tiger who doesn't enforce any on his own rules.

Let them lift 2 world titles while evading BoP by never selling a car and running a team that's as factory as you can get.