Fine for Lowndes

Lowndes backflip - he cops fine
Craig Lowndes has done a massive backflip, pleading guilty now to bringing V8 Supercar racing into disrepute -- and he's been given a $15,000 fine. But $5000 of it is suspended, provided he doesn't "offend" again this year.

Lowndes was to face a stewards inquiry in Launceston on Friday in the wash-up from his track actions and comments at the Gold Coast Indy. He opted at an investigation last week not to take an immediate fine for an alleged "burnout" ahead of the start of the first race at the Gold Coast, then cutting a chicane and not immediately surrendering position, and for remarks he made that were taken to suggest that officials were trying to manipulate the championship to a close finish.

Now, rather than risk a loss of championship points as well as a fine, he has decided to cop a fine and be done with it. Lowndes and his Triple Eight team have claimed since Indy that his remarks were directed at Holden rather than officials. The triple V8 champion and dual Bathurst winner says his comments were rash but inexcusable and that he does not doubt the integrity of officials, who he says have a tough and thankless task.

Anyway, now it's on with the racing. And, with his lead over Holden's Rick Kelly already narrowed to just 30 points, Lowndes will debut a brand new Falcon V8 Supercar at Symmons Plains in this weekend's Tasmanian round of the championship. The series leader gave his new car a shakedown at Queensland Raceway last week.

"It is very, very good and the (Triple Eight) team is delighted with the way it has come on," Lowndes says. "I am looking forward to using it for the remainder of the championship." Teammate Jamie Whincup will now drive the Falcon they shared in last month's Bathurst victory.

"We need to concentrate on winning races now," Lowndes says. "Tassie was quite good to us last year (even though Garth Tander won all three races in a Holden) and we had a strong car package. The two Sunday races are now 140km each, which will suit the way we set the car up. We have not yet had a wet race at Symmons Plains, so things could certainly get interesting if we have rain. It is also a track that is semi-difficult to pass on, so team strategy and qualifying position will be the keys to getting a good result."

While Symmons Plains is a happy hunting ground for Holden, Ford has won six of the 10 rounds so far in this year's championship and could clinch the manufacturers' title with another victory this weekend.

Plenty of other major motorsport this weekend too, with the final round of the Champ Car series in Mexico and the third round of the A1 Grand Prix series on a new 3.1km street circuit in China's capital, Beijing.

V8 spending cap - world first
Australia's V8 Supercar racing is on the verge of becoming the world's first sport to set a cap on how much teams can spend on competing.

Today's Auto Action magazine reports that V8 teams group TEGA is on target to announce the cap within days. "To be phased in over three years from 2007, the Total Racing Expenditure Cap will limit how much V8 teams can spend on competing in the (Supercar) Championship," AA's editor-at-large Mark Fogarty writes.

TEGA's four-man commission -- chairman Kelvin O'Reilly, former Australian Football League chief Ross Oakley, former Liberal Party federal leader John Hewson and Adelaide's Clipsal 500 boss Roger Cook -- are reported to be "close to finalising the rules, including the maximum team budget figure".

"We've said by mid-November and that's still our target," O'Reilly says. The cap is expected to be set between $6 million and $8 million a year. "We've asked all the teams what they think and it's within a range," O'Reilly says. "It's a matter of setting the exact number and the implementation issues for those that are above the cap."

AA estimates that Holden Racing Team, HSV Dealer Team, Ford Performance Racing, Triple Eight and Stone Brothers are already spending more than the likely limit, but O'Reilly says: "We're not about chopping people off at the knees. We're about creating a workable business model that they can achieve."

He's also proclaiming confidence about enforcing the cap. "We believe that we've got far and away the vast majority of loopholes covered," O'Reilly says. "When the AFL introduced their (player payment) salary cap, it took them about five or six years. We're fortunate that we have one of the blokes that actually helped do that (Oakley), who's got the knowledge of where a lot of those loopholes were in so far as the human side of it. Our difference is the technology side."

TEGA will appoint an investigations officer or commissioner to audit compliance with the cap and O'Reilly says sanctions on teams for any breaches will be "meaningful". The ceiling will not include spending on marketing, media and promotion or merchandising.

Hamilton is promising to set new world standards for a street race and says it will become NZ's biggest annual event. Pukekohe, the permanent circuit 40km south of Auckland, will host its last V8 Supercar round next year. Plans for street races in Auckland and Wellington have failed in recent years.

The resource consent hearing in Hamilton this week, before independent commissioner Alan Withy, has received 234 submissions, with only 36 opposing the city's planned race. Only two of 138 property owners around the proposed circuit have opposed it. The Hamilton City and Waikato District councils have made separate resource consent applications for the hosting of the race for seven years. Hamilton Mayor Michael Redman says his council supports the event unanimously and has worked hard to try to mitigate any concerns.

The hearing is focusing on environmental issues, including the effects on local businesses, access to the area, parking, traffic, increased noise levels and the loss of natural features such as trees. Commissioner Withy's decision is expected by the end of November.
Opponents have raised concerns the V8s would glorify or encourage "boy racer" activity in Hamilton.

The city council called Keith Petrie, Auckland University professor of health psychology, to rebut that argument. Prof. Petrie says he cannot find any scientific evidence of a link between organised motorsport and "boy racer" activity. He says boy racers almost exclusively favor high-powered Japanese cars such as Subarus and Mazdas rather than the V8 Fords and Holdens. "They are not models that are attractive to boy racers," Prof. Petrie says. They prefer informal, unsupervised and illegal activities rather than a highly-disciplined event, he says.

The Hamilton council proposes planting 1000 trees each year of the race to address the impact of greenhouse gas emissions. The welfare of 57 trees in the city centre has been a particular issue. Arborist Mike Esson, of the Waikato Tree Trust, says his organisation opposes the V8s because it disagrees with the removal of trees. He claims a tree evaluation compiled by expert consultants for the city council is inaccurate and that it is doubtful some trees would be retained as outlined in street circuit plans. His group is especially concerned about the removal of pin oak trees where the pit lane and a grandstand are planned.

Promoters say they will provide free buses city-wide during the event.

Murphy team in junior series
Greg Murphy Racing is the latest major Supercar team to enter the V8 development series. GMR will field two cars next year -- one for Tasmanian Sam Walter, with the other driver yet to be decided. The cars will be VZ Commodores raced this season by Tasman Motorsport. GMR will continue to run a two-car team in the Porsche Carrera Cup after winning the past two titles with Alex Davison and Fabian Coulthard.

Meanwhile, Greg Murphy had a change of focus ahead of this weekend's Tasmanian V8 round, driving a Holden Astra in the early stages of NZ's AA EnergyWise Rally. About 50 drivers have been traversing the North Island trying to identify the most fuel-efficient vehicles and the most effective fuel-saving driving techniques. Tasman's Jason Richards was also among them. The rally, held every two years, ends in Auckland tomorrow.

The court found V8SA failed to ensure its employees and others were not exposed to risks to their health and safety over the recharging of the extinguishers. A fine of $550,000 could have been imposed on each of two counts, but the court set a total of $150,000 for the two breaches -- then discounted that by 25 per cent because of V8SA's early plea. Costs were awarded against V8SA. Motorsport News says two other charges are still pending -- against CAMS and the contractor who was filling the extinguishers.

Aussie more to the fore
Australian Alan Gow will remain in charge of the British Touring Car Championship for at least another four years. Gow was credited with the phenomenal success of the BTCC in the 1990s, then went off to do other things -- including trying to get James Courtney into Formula One -- but returned to the tin-top series in 2003 and has helped it regain its mantle. Under Gow second-time round the series has bumper grids, great crowds and TV audiences beaten in Britain only by F1.

"Ten new teams joined our championship this year," Gow says. "We started 2005 with just 12 cars and we finished 2006 with 26 -- over 100 per cent increase. That's what you call growth.

"The secret of our success? Simple, really: we're the biggest and best show in town. We're not perfect and we've got plenty of scope to develop... but no other championship in Britain delivers a team, driver, sponsor or manufacturer with anything like the profile, spectacle and sheer audience numbers that we do.

"We've recently seen many teams and drivers stepping up from other series. Why? Well, for professional drivers or teams to go race in any other series outside the BTCC or supporting package, is like wetting their pants in a dark suit; it may give them a nice warm feeling, but hardly anyone knows they're doing it."

"Our hope is that not only will the infrastructure be the best in the world (rally) championship, but that we'll be able to use it year-round for everything from Australian Rally Championship events right down to grass-roots competition, as well as a variety of other functions and events."

IQG Rally Events has signed a five-year agreement with the Confederation of Australian Motor Sports with two five-year options. Possible courses for the new Rally Oz are to be inspected by the FIA WRC safety delegate soon. A permanent headquarters within 50km of Brisbane, perhaps with a permanent special stage, is a key part of the plan.

Garry Connelly, who was the driving force behind Australia's  WRC round in Western Australia for most of its almost 20 years, is to chair the new event organising committee. More details are to be revealed next February, but Brown says: "(IQG Rally Events has an affiliation with a larger project group with considerable reserves."

They'll need to have very deep pockets!

The record 8 minutes 45.50 seconds that Jim Richards and Barry Oliver set in January 2005 in a 2003 Porsche GT2 was bettered by the Whites with an 8:42.82 on the final day, Monday. Crocker and Atkinson also beat the previous record. Richards and Oliver drove a new Porsche 997 turbo this time but retired after Friday's first stage because of a problem with the engine management computer.

Prodrive mum on F1 options
Speculation continues that Prodrive's entry to F1 in 2008 may involve Nissan, Aston Martin (perhaps with Cosworth-built engines) or Hyundai. The Nissan rumors vary from it competing against its world champion sister marque Renault, taking over from Renault in a rebranding exercise, or even buying Prodrive's entry outright. Alain Prost's name keeps being linked to the project too, despite the disgrace in which the four-time world champion driver left the sport several years back after his own team collapsed.

Prodrive is being very coy about all the talk. "I can only restate that we do not necessarily intend to approach F1 in a conventional way and that our strategy remains to partner another team," a Prodrive spokesman says, also insisting that there have been no talks about selling the entry.