MOTORSPORT: A rapidly-changing landscape in Oz

Massive change is taking place in the organisation of Australian motorsport, creating plenty of apprehension about what's in store in the next few years.

Hot on the heels of V8 Supercars' takeover of the Bathurst 12-Hour, the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) will be the sole owner of the country's alternative to V8 Supercars events in four-wheel circuit racing – the Shannons Nationals – from next year.

CAMS is buying out the half-share of Rob Curkpatrick, who has run the Nationals for a decade.

While CAMS chief executive Eugene Arocca says his organisation does "not foresee any major changes", already there are rumblings about a condensed calendar for next year.

And the website of the sport's weekly magazine, Auto Action, says it "understands as few as just three categories could be taking part in The Nationals in 2016".

The Nationals now host a dozen or more categories, but not all of them at all meetings.

The latest changes occur against a background of CAMS recently stripping some categories of Australian championship status while flagging the imminent creation of an Australian endurance series – which could be an Australasian series, with a couple of rounds in New Zealand, most likely for GT cars.

There has already been the recent introduction of Formula 4 as the country's premier open-wheeler category, while Supercars are working on Gen2 rules for 2017 that likely will introduce six – or even four – cylinder turbocharged cars against V8s and coupes alongside sedans.

This week CAMS had already called for expressions of interest in running the Australian Production Car Series after Curkpatrick handed back the rights, with September 4 the deadline.

Expressions of interest in running an Australian Rallycross Championship close today. National rallying and rallycross legend Bob Watson has already created an organisation called Rallycross Australia with hopes of organising a national championship, but plans for a couple of events to revive rallycross – a cross between rallying and circuit racing – at Broadford, north of Melbourne, fell through.

Meanwhile, a test day is scheduled tomorrow at Brisbane's Lakeside Park for the ambitious Extreme Rallycross Championship due to start there on the first weekend of September – but with only one Super Lite car in its premier category.

There have also been developments on the drifting and drag racing front in recent days, while a development application has been lodged for the proposed new circuit and driver training facility on NSW's Central Coast north of Sydney.

The CASAR Park site is near Bushells Ridge, between Gosford and Newcastle, and the application has been made to the Wyong Council.

"The construction process will be quite simple – it's literally a road and some sheds," said Brad Wilson, one of the founders and the chief executive of CASAR, standing for Community Automotive Sport and Recreation.

"The difficult part has been the planning and bringing it all together, but it will be worthwhile."

Nationals to come under McConville's charge
Cameron McConville, the former V8 Supercar racer now heading the CAMS "motor sport development department", will oversee the Nationals after CAMS completes the buyout of Curkpatrick's half share for an undisclosed price.

Curkpatrick is expected to remain an adviser and continue managing a few categories on the Nationals program, including sports sedan and the Kumho V8 Touring Cars.

Among the many other categories that run at the Nationals are the Australian GT Championship, owned by prominent businessman-racer Tony Quinn, Porsche Carrera Cup, Porsche GT3 Cup Challenge, Formula 3 and Formula Ford open-wheelers and the Radical sports cars.

"I am very proud of what we have accomplished with the Shannons Australian Motor Racing Nationals across the past 10 years and, by the end of this year, 91 rounds of top-quality motor racing," Curkpatrick said in the announcement of the CAMS buyout.

"The Nationals was formed out of a period of extreme instability in national-level motorsport, outside of the V8 Supercars program, that saw a group of categories and competitors all struggling with no real direction.

"We introduced stability, a sound business model for the categories and competitors involved and we are proud to say it has thrived since."

CAMS chief Arocca said Curkpatrick had "done a fantastic job running the Nationals and has built it into a significant part of the Australian motor racing landscape."

"We don't foresee any major changes and we will continue to provide a platform to showcase our motor racing categories and build the profile of the Nationals.

"Managing the Shannons Nationals is a logical step for us and we now have the appetite and operational capacity to take it on and run it successfully.

"We intend to build on what Rob and his team have achieved in the best interests of Australian motor sport."

The next round of this year's Nationals is at Victoria's Phillip Island on September 18-20.

CAMS gets with the drift too
CAMS and the Australian Drift Grand Prix organisation have joined forces, with the governing body sanctioning ADGP's season starting at Melbourne's Calder Park on September 5-6.

Apart from its National Drift and state-based Driftkhana series in Australia, ADGP says it will be running several events in Asia in coming months. Events are already scheduled in Indonesia and Thailand, with the prospect of more in China, the Philippines and Malaysia.

"ADGP set the benchmark for drifting and extreme-motor sport events in Australia and we constantly take drifting to new heights," ADGP competition director Brett Wilkinson said.

"Our core aim is to introduce a new demographic to the sport in a safe, exciting environment and we feel that CAMS can help us achieve that.

"With our expansion overseas, working with a Federation Internationale de l'Automobile [FIA]-sanctioned body was also important to us."

CAMS chief Arocca said ADGP was "clearly an extremely popular, professionally-organised series with potential for continued growth".

"Drifting is a huge and growing segment of Australian motor sport and we have been working hard to increase our involvement in the drift community so we can assist its development as an exciting, safe and sustainable form of motor sport.

"We are delighted to be working with Brett and his team to support the growth of ADGP and drifting in general."

Drag racing factions come back together
Peace has come to drag racing after the heated wrangling of recent weeks.

The new Australian Professional Drag Racing – representing Sydney Dragway, Queensland's Willowbank Raceway and WA's Perth Motorplex – and the long-established governing body ANDRA (Australian National Drag Racing Association) say they have resolved their differences.

Under the "peace deal", ANDRA will step back from moves towards promoting events, leaving that to the tracks, while it will sanction all rounds of the series they intend to run.

Andretti dirty linen a worry for Brabham
Andretti Autosport in the United States, with which 21-year-old Matthew Brabham hopes to race in next year's 100th Indianapolis 500, has been accused by a couple of its own people of being insolvent and unable to pay massive debts.

A lawsuit by two executives of Andretti's marketing arm, which has promoted IndyCar races at three venues and a Formula E electric series event in Florida, claims the famed family's racing empire has debts of US$7 million but assets of only US$2 million.

It claims the business lost US$10 million last year after grossing income of US$25 million and that it is on course for a similar loss this year.

It attributes the losses largely to sponsorship defaults.

Andretti Autosport – headed by Michael Andretti, son of the legendary Mario and father of IndyCar racer Marco – fields four IndyCars as well as entries in Indy Lights, the Pro Mazda Championship, the US-based Global Rallycross and Formula E.

It has also had ambitions to enter America's major category, NASCAR, as well as sports car and GT racing.

It is no secret that an offshoot, Andretti Sports Marketing (ASM), has lost money on promoting races, especially March's new IndyCar round in New Orleans.

Brabham, the grandson of Australia's late triple Formula 1 world champion Sir Jack Brabham, has ceased racing with Andretti in Indy Lights this season because of a shortage of sponsorship but has been testing an IndyCar with it in the hope of a deal to drive in next May's milestone Indianapolis 500, where his grandfather famously led the introduction of rear-engined cars.

The lawsuit has been brought by John Lopes and Starke Taylor, who each own 20 per cent of ASM while Michael Andretti owns the other 60 per cent.

Lopes, a long-time Andretti employee, was sacked recently but is seeking reinstatement through the suit, which claims Michael Andretti has tried to cover debts by borrowing several million dollars and using ASM money.

Michael Andretti has labelled the legal action "disingenuous and self-serving".

"My family has strived to earn an exemplary reputation in all facets of our personal and professional lives," he said.

"We will not allow this reckless attempt at grabbing leverage to impact our family name."

Ecclestone urges Renault to go team route
F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone wants Renault to revert to being a works team in the world championship.

In an unhappy "marriage" with Red Bull Racing after four successive world titles together in 2010-2013, Renault is contemplating whether to continue supplying V6 hybrid power units to RBR and its junior outfit Toro Rosso, to quit F1 or to have its own team again – most likely by buying the Lotus team.

A deterrent to the latter option is the debts Lotus has accumulated.

Renault feels it did not get enough credit for its success and now cops too much flak for the failure of the Red Bull-Renaults against the might of the Mercedes and Ferrari factory teams.

Its contract with Red Bull runs until the end of next season, although both parties could be happy to terminate early – with speculation mounting of RBR securing Mercedes engines.

"I'd like Renault to take over Lotus or start a new [F1] company of their own," Ecclestone said.

"They won't take the [Lotus] debt on.

"I'd rather not lose them because they've been with us a long time and they are easy people to deal with – nice people. There are no dramas anywhere.

"It would be nice to think they won't disappear.

"It's just a case, from their point of view, of how much it is worth to them.

"They are going to have a look at everything and hopefully come up with a decision by September."

Buddy Baker's giant place in history
One of NASCAR's greatest racers, Buddy Baker, died this week, aged 74, after a brief battle with lung cancer.

Baker was the first driver to clock an average lap speed of more than 200mph (almost 321.9kmh) – at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama in 1970.

Baker's 1980 victory in the Daytona 500 in Florida still holds the record for that track's fastest average race speed at 172.602mph.

He won the World 600 in his home town, Charlotte, North Carolina, three times and was nominated for NASCAR's Hall of Fame, of which his father Buck was a member.

A huge man, Baker was known variously as the "Gentle Giant" and "Leadfoot".