MOTORSPORT: Leadership change at CAMS

CAMS president Andrew Papadopoulos said Arocca had had “a distinguished career in sports administration” and brought a wealth of experience to CAMS “as it forges a new direction”.

“The board of CAMS is finalising a new strategy to continue to develop and enhance the position of motorsport in Australia,” Papadopoulos said.

“It is designed to engage with, and focus on, the needs and requirements of our members and potential members to a much greater extent, while ensuring that motorsport remains prominent, affordable, safe and fair – we want more people enjoying more motorsport.

“CAMS also has our Ignition road safety program which we want to roll out further to many more schools around the nation and we have a number of programs, such as the Women of Australian Motor Sport and the Young Officials programs, that we want to drive further through the community.

“Eugene brings to CAMS a great depth of knowledge and skills in sports administration. He is highly regarded in the commercial world, government and sport.

“Combined with a strong interest in motorsport, his experience and ability ensure that he is a perfect fit to take CAMS down the strategic path that the board has set out.”

Mr Arocca was chief executive of the North Melbourne Football Club until mid-year and previously was chief operating officer at Collingwood – the AFL powerhouse once headed by a former CAMS chief executive, Greg Swan.

Before entering sports administration Mr Arocca was a prominent Melbourne lawyer, having run his own mediation business and been a partner at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.

In announcing Morgan’s departure yesterday CAMS signaled that it would have news on a new chief executive “in coming days”.

Yesterday’s statement was headed simply ‘CAMS STATEMENT’ – there was no ‘CAMS chief executive moving on’ or ‘CAMS bids CEO farewell’.

While Papadopoulos said that CAMS greatly appreciated Morgan’s work and wished him “the very best in his future endeavours”, yesterday’s statement included no quotes from Morgan on his time in the position.

It said Morgan had been with CAMS for “close to three years”, yet he was appointed on May 6, 2010, and took up the job the following month – less than two and a half years ago.

Usually it is the media accused of exaggeration!

Gold Coast 600 continues V8 Supercar’s TV pick-up
As Nissan and the Kelly Brothers prepare to reveal next Tuesday the new Altima they will introduce to V8 Supercar racing next year, there is still no word on a new TV deal for the sport – but there is some good news in the wash-up from last weekend’s Gold Coast 600.

The Australian TV audience for the event was the best in three years and followed the uptick in Bathurst 1000 viewing as reported earlier this month.

Last Sunday’s average of 627,000 viewers in the five major state capital cities for the race won by Will Davison and Mika Salo for Ford Performance Racing, ending Triple Eight’s run of 11 straight wins, was up almost 21.3 per cent on the 517,000 for the final day of last year’s Gold Coast 600 – and almost 13.8 per cent above the 551,000 in 2010.

As mentioned here earlier in the week, last Saturday’s average in the five capitals was 398,000.
While that was not a strong result (and included a particularly weak Melbourne component of only 53,000), it also was above the other years since the Gold Coast carnival transformed from “Indy” with American open-wheelers as the main or joint-main show to a pure V8 Supercar round.

Below is a table of the event’s key Australian audience in recent years. Bear in mind that 2009 was the first year after “Indy” and that the ’09 event was held after the 11th-hour “scratching” of the A1 GP open-wheeler category and with a suddenly-organised touring car legends component.

Four-year Gold Coast TV audience comparison

* An earlier race on the 2009 Sunday averaged 475,000.

Only the past two Gold Coast 600s have had a visiting international driver in every V8 Supercar.
There have been no authorative reports on the international TV audience since the transition from the Indy days.

Last weekend’s races on the streets of Surfers Paradise are to be screened in the US this Sunday night on subscriber station SPEED.

Live streaming of Nissan Altima V8 Supercar launch
Nissan will stream the unveiling next Tuesday morning of the Altima that will mark its return to Australian touring car racing online via YouTube.

A live feed from the Melbourne function will be streamed via YouTube.com/NissanAustralia from 10.30am Australian eastern daylight time that day.

Kelly Brothers team co-owner Todd Kelly has said ahead of the reveal of the first of the four Altimas the team is preparing under next year’s Car of the Future rules ahead of the release of the road version in Australia:  

“We've been extremely lucky with this car – it’s almost like it’s been designed to fit around a COTF chassis. We haven’t actually had to cut anything.

“Things like cutting a roof skin and trying to make it blend nicely and cutting through the middle of the rear doors - like we’ve done to-date with Holden – won’t have to happen with the Nissan, which saves a lot of time.

“All we’ve done is slightly blended the front guards to get the wheelbase spot on, and other than the flaring of the front and rear guards the Altima is almost identical to the road car.”

Meanwhile, V8 Supercars Australia reportedly has been quietly doing aerodynamic assessment of the still-secret Holden Commodore VF model that will compete against the Altima, Ford’s FG Falcon and the AMG Mercedes-Benz E63s to be run by Stone Brothers Racing in partnership with GT racing squad Eerebus Racing with financial backing from property magnate Betty Klimenko.

And in New Zealand the first season of the V8 SuperTourers that are similar to Australia’s Car of the Future but with a generic Corvette-based engine run in the Holden Commodores and Ford Falcons reaches its high point this weekend.

The SuperTourer International 500 is at the Pukekohe circuit near Auckland, where V8 Supercar racing will return next year after the financial debacle of the Hamilton street races. The upgrade to Pukekohe will be begin after this weekend and is to be completed before the V8 Supercars visit there in April.

This weekend’s event comprises three races – one Saturday, two Sunday – and 20 cars each with two drivers, including various internationals.

Webber vows he won’t be handing Vettel victory
Mark Webber says he won’t be surrendering any chance of winning this weekend’s second Indian Grand Prix to help Red Bull teammate in his Formula One world title tussle with Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

“If I have a chance to win the grand prix I will go for it,” Webber said. “If I’m in the lead this weekend I’m not pulling over for anyone.”

After three straight victories in Singapore, Japan and Korea, Vettel – champion the past two years – is six points ahead of Alonso – champion with Renault in 2005 and ’06 – with three more races after India.

New Delhi’s Buddh International Circuit is expected to favour the Renault-engined Red Bull cars again. Departing McLaren-Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton has said the Red Bulls are “way ahead” of rivals now.

Alonso has said consistently that Ferrari has never had the best car this season and he’s counting on the team’s strategy and discipline to give him the best chance of a third title.

Meanwhile, all eyes in the F1 paddock will be on Force India co-owner Vijay Mallya – if he turns up at Buddh.

Mallya’s airline Kingfisher has been grounded all month and is battling debts of billions of dollars and an unhappy workforce, many of whom have not been paid for several months.

Force India, which originally was the Jordan team, is co-owned by sponsor Sahara, which also has billion-dollar problems.

Petty renewed his deal with Ford a week ago and “The King” and Ambrose appear agreed on the dual V8 Supercar champion remaining with the team.

Ambrose’s strong links to Ford may have helped in Petty’s negotiations with the Blue Oval.

Auto Action magazine reported this week that Ambrose had resisted overtures to return to Australia next season to drive a fourth Ford Performance Racing Falcon to be entered by Charlie Schwerkolt, who was a partner in Dick Johnson Racing’s 2010 V8 Supercar title with James Courtney.

Ambrose is intent on conquering the American ovals – both his Sprint Cup victories have been on the Watkins Glen road course.

Meanwhile, NASCAR’s most popular driver, Dale Earnhardt Junior, will return at the half-mile (800-metre) Martinsville oval after missing two rounds after two concussions.

AJ Allmendinger has made a low-key return to the Cup after losing his Penske Dodge drive mid-season after failing a drug test.

Allmendiger has already done a couple of races in a Phoenix Racing’s Chevrolet and will drive at Martinsville and Texas before Regan Smith takes the seat for the final two rounds of the season.