MOTORSPORT: Long wait over for long races

New home, new format: let's go endurance racing
Six weeks we've waited for a V8 Supercar race and we ought to be excited.

It's a new race this weekend, an enduro at one of the country's great circuits -- Phillip Island. But there's a dearth of excitement so far. Hopefully it will kick in by race day, Sunday.

As we head into the endurance season we wonder whether, to most of the general public, Australian motor racing is still pretty much just race day -- and particularly race day at Bathurst.

We've paid a bit of attention this year to the TV audience numbers for V8 Supercar racing, and have noted here that -- based on the research of media agency Mitchells -- they are lagging, cumulatively, about 1.5 million viewers behind where they were after eight rounds last season.

But there is a hard core of -- give or take a few tens of thousands -- about half a million viewers on the Sunday of a V8 Supercar round. That's approximately one in 40 Australians.

A sizeable audience nonetheless, but it leaves V8 Supercars about eighth on the list of Australian sports on TV, rather than on the tails of cricket and the main football codes -- where we're sure V8 Supercars Australia would like it to appear.

And to the vast majority of Australians we suspect that motor racing is still pretty much that day-long race at Mt Panorama a week after the football finishes.

Nothing more, nothing less. So what has changed over the past 10, 12, 15 years? In essence, not a lot.

More merchandise is sold. More foreign-controlled teams. And more street races -- and more to come. Certainly in Townsville next year, and perhaps Sydney too.

A 2009 V8 Supercar calendar is expected to be released this weekend, and most interest will be in whether a round at Homebush -- or Sydney Olympic Park -- will be on it.

The much-hyped Homebush idea has looked to be very much up in the air this week following the demise of Morris Iemma as NSW premier last Friday.

It may not be dead, but if it is a goer it will be odd to announce it at Phillip Island -- beside Bass Strait -- rather than make a song-and-dance about it in Sydney.

Anyway, strange things happen in motor racing -- and not just V8 Supercar racing.

Apart from the change of venue this weekend (from Sandown) for the traditional 500km warm-up in Victoria to Bathurst, there is a variation to the format.

The two drivers in each Falcon and Commodore will have to set qualifying times and each will have to drive in a 14-lap sprint on Saturday afternoon, with each car needing to make a pitstop in one of those short races.

The results of those races will decide the grid for Sunday's main race, in which there needs to be only one driver change -- meaning there could be some double stints and drivers staying at the wheel for two hours.

Championship leader and reigning champion, Holden's Garth Tander, has called the Saturday revisions "a bit Mickey Mouse".

Perhaps they are, but perhaps also they are worth a try. They might spice things up a bit, although again we suspect that there won't be a whole lot of public interest in what's happening until Sunday.

And, come race day, there is always the prospect of the Phillip Island weather spicing things up nicely. Nicely, that is, if you're watching it on TV.

The Island can be a hell of a place when the weather turns nasty, but even if there's a healthy crowd at the track the bulk of the audience will have the luxury of a lounge chair at home.

Just for any readers who haven't caught up with it yet, the parity issue that was kicking around in V8 Supercars during the long break since the Winton round was deflected at last Friday's V8 Supercar board meeting.

There won't be any changes to the aerodynamics of either make for Phillip Island or Bathurst, but the subject has been listed again for the next board meeting on October 22 -- the eve of the Gold Coast Indy.

If there is to be any parity adjustment it looks likely to be only for the last three rounds -- in Bahrain, at Symmons Plains in Tasmania, and the grand finale at Sydney's Oran Park.

We mentioned in our last report that a Federal Court case was listed for last Tuesday, with Dick Johnson Racing taking action against V8SE over the banning of some of its engine components.

However, it came to our notice soon after we filed that report that the matter had been resolved, with V8SE approving the use of DJR's D3 cylinder heads and new camshaft, averting the court case -- and we promptly removed the item about it from our report.

Hopefully now the focus over the next few days will be on what happens on the track at Phillip Island. May be the best team and drivers will win.

On that basis we'd have to say the three most favored cars are the Falcons of Mark Winterbottom-Steven Richards and Jamie Whincup-Craig Lowndes and the Commodore of Garth Tander-Mark Skaife.

Just for the record, for those who may have lost track during the six-week layoff, here's the essence of the season so far:

V8 Supercar drivers' championship after 8 of 14 rounds -- Garth Tander (Holden Racing Team) 1844 points, Mark Winterbottom (Ford Performance Racing) 1832, Jamie Whincup (Triple 8/Team Vodafone) 1758, Rick Kelly (HSV Dealer Team) 1506, Will Davison (Dick Johnson/Jim Beam Racing) 1426, Steven Richards (FPR) 1383, Craig Lowndes (Triple 8/Vodafone) 1365, James Courtney (Stone Brothers) 1343, Lee Holdsworth (Garry Rogers Motorsport) 1200, Russell Ingall (Paul Morris Motorsport/Supercheap Auto Racing) 1189.

Race winners this season -- Mark Winterbottom 7, Garth Tander 6, Jamie Whincup 5, Will Davison 2, Craig Lowndes 1, Steven Richards 1, James Courtney 1.

Teams championship standings -- FPR 3227, Triple 8/Team Vodafone 3123, HRT 2828, DJR/Jim Beam 2458, Stone Brothers 2391.

Younger readers may not recall, but Phillip Island has a history of endurance races. Indeed, what is now the Bathurst 1000 originated at the Island in 1960.

The race by the seaside was 500 miles, or 800km, before it moved to Mt Panorama -- and got stretched a bit further. There were other 500km races at the Island in the '70s.

We're grateful to Auto Action magazine for reminding us of the Phillip Island endurance honor roll, and here it is:

Armstrong 500 (mile)
1960 Frank Coad/John Roxburgh (Vauxhall Cresta)
1961 Bob Jane/Harry Firth (Mercedes 220SE)
1962 Harry Firth/Bob Jane (Ford Falcon XL)

Auto Action has a very comprehensive preview of the new Island enduro.

It's a good read (so good that we bought two copies this week!) before settling into that lounge chair at the weekend, or setting off for the track.

As much as we've found the lead-up to the race to be dull, we hope Sunday's race is a cracker.

Firstly, we must say that -- if it's happening -- we're pleased to see some big-time motorsport being injected into a new area, NSW's Northern Rivers.

Events NSW has got involved and the World Rally Championship round is to be held every two years, alternating with New Zealand in the restructured WRC calendar that will be capped at 12 rounds a year.

The precise course intended in the Northern Rivers region has not been announced, but most of the competition is intended to be in the Tweed and Kyogle shires -- with 16 stages provisionally around the towns of Kyogle, Murwillumbah and Mullumbimby.

The event will be based by the sea at Kingscliff, with the service park at the beach -- a WRC first.

Much of it sounds positive, but we must point out that the announcement hasn't exactly shaken the world -- or even NSW. The news made a sports brief in the Sydney Morning Herald. Nine lines. Very brief indeed.

The Daily Telegraph found considerably more space for it, back on page 21 of its general news -- with a color picture of a rally car jumping too.

But we couldn't help but laugh when we read triple Australian champion Neal Bates, headed for a fourth national title this year in his Toyota, being quoted likening Rally Oz in NSW to "having the Olympics here again".

It reminded us of long-time BMW Australia boss Ron Meachem telling us in the early '90s that 2-litre touring car racing was going to be as big as the Olympics.

We can only presume that Neal Bates will say either that he was misquoted or taken out of context.

Anyway, in the name of fairness after the scepticism we have expressed about Rally Oz being revived (and we're still not convinced, certainly that it will be a huge success if indeed it does happen), here is the crux of Wednesday's announcement by CAMS (the Confederation of Australian Motor Sport):

"The first event will be Repco Rally Australia on 3-6 September 2009. The deal with Events NSW is for an initial five events, taking it through to 2017 -- with an option to extend that arrangement for a further five events."

Events NSW chief executive Geoff Parmenter said the WRC would generate more than $100 million of direct economic benefit for NSW over the life of the initial agreement.

"Hosting the WRC -- the highest profile four-wheeled motor sport championship after Formula 1 -- on a regular basis in regional NSW will drive tourism, create jobs and deliver major economic benefits to the community," Parmenter said.

"And the event provides a unique platform to showcase northern NSW to the world. Last year more than 816 million people in 180 countries watched the WRC, with around 51 million viewers per round."

As much as we are very dubious about any such claims for TV audiences, particularly global TV audiences, that we hear nowadays, we won't quibble with Parmenter on that claim just now.

But we thought it a bit rich him saying that "three other states were eager to host" Rally Oz.

Let's not forget that Western Australia gave the event away two years ago -- after almost two decades -- because it didn't see a lot of value in it.

Victoria took a look at it about eight years ago and gave it the thumbs down, preferring to keep its MotoGP at Phillip Island as its major motorsport event outside capital Melbourne.

Queensland has had plenty of opportunities to grab Rally Oz, and indeed there was the infamous grand plan announced 15 months or so ago that was to include a $650 million complex at Norwell between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, but it didn't proceed, obviously content with its Gold Coast Indy and new Townsville V8 Supercar street race.

There aren't many other states left to have been in the running.

South Australia would have done a great job of hosting Rally Oz because of its record of embracing and promoting major motorsport events, but it's had a less than satisfactory experience with its Australian championship round and has spoiled itself with a quarter of a century of F1, firstly, and more recently its Clipsal 500 V8 Supercar event.

Tasmania could hardly have been in the running for Rally Oz because of its geographic isolation, and it's probably content with its Targa Tasmania.

Canberra is a rally hub and might have been keen, but the ACT government isn't too fond of rallying any longer, and the Northern Territory may also have had a little interest but is more suited to Safari-type events.

So, please tell Mr Parmenter, what were the three other states so keen to host Rally Oz?

There are a few other things to be revealed yet too. For starters, just who is going to run the event -- and how.

We presume it will be headed by Garry Connelly, who was the main man most years when Rally Oz was in WA, and that he will bring together much of the same team in the same fashion.

We wonder whether the financial input of Events NSW and sponsor Repco, along with whatever assistance is forthcoming from shires, will be enough not only for the rally to run in '09 but to continue and prosper.

We wonder also at Tweed Shire Council general manager Mike Rayner's proclamation that the rally will "showcase the Tweed (region) as a tourism destination to a worldwide television audience".

It must be said that the Northern Rivers is one of the most beautiful parts of Australia, and that that fact is perhaps largely unknown to many Australians, but whether the Tweed/Northern Rivers get the most tourism benefit, or whether the Gold Coast gets it at next to no cost to Queensland, might become the issue.

Certainly rallying can showcase locations much better than Formula 1 (so too can cycling races), although the audiences of rallying are nowhere near as big as those of F1.

For starters, most people flying into the new Rally Oz surely are going to land at Coolangatta on the Gold Coast, if not Brisbane.

And there is talk of "significant promotional activities in Sydney to kick-off the rally".

These will want to be considerably more significant than the manner in which this week's launch announcement was handled. And, in any case, they will be hundreds of kilometres -- a good day's drive -- from the rally stages.

Let's hope some, indeed much, good comes from the resuscitation of an international event that had pretty much looked lost to Australia. But already much is going to have to improve if it is going to happen, and especially if it is going to succeed.

Before we get to the fuss over Lewis Hamilton's penalty at Spa, some simple facts.

Ferrari has won six of the past 10 Italian GPs, but McLaren has won two of the past three. Ferrari has won 17 times at Monza since 1950, while McLaren has won nine times since it began in 1968.

Dual world champion Fernando Alonso has not won a GP since last year's victory at Monza with McLaren.

Although Alonso's Renault is improving, he's hardly likely to be a contender this Sunday -- and there will be continue to be more interest in his future than his immediate race results.

Might he yet be at Ferrari next year? Or at Honda? Or BMW-Sauber? Or stay at Renault another year?

Robert Kubica -- the young BMW-Sauber who has overshadowed Nick Heidfeld most of the season although not at Spa, where the vastly more experienced Heidfeld made up several spots in the wet last couple of laps -- took the first podium of his F1 career at Monza when he was third in 2006. He scored his first GP victory this year, in Canada.

Now to Lewis Hamilton, and the lingering feeling from the 25-second penalty that robbed him of victory at Spa and relegated him to third is anger.

The penalty was grossly unfair, as Hamilton did absolutely nothing wrong.

The situation is a sad commentary on what is meant to be the world's premier racing category. Instead it looks like world championship wrestling or a contrived boxing bout.

It's testing the patience of even the most addicted F1 fans.

The heart of the problem is that the three stewards appointed by the FIA -- the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, but otherise known as Ferrari International Assistance -- at each GP are part-timers, while two years ago there was at least one full-timer.

Allow us to quote three of F1's greatest drivers on what they think of last Sunday's fiasco.

"This is the worst judgment in the history of F1 -- the most perverted judgment I have ever seen," said Niki Lauda, triple world champion.

"It's absolutely unacceptable when three functionaries (the part-time stewards) influence the championship like this."

Calling for full-time stewards, Sir Jackie Stewart, another triple world champion, said: 

"This decision raises questions about their (the part-time stewards') ability and, indeed, about the sport's very governance.

"F1 attracts the largest capital investment in sport, but it's being overseen by people who are not doing it full-time, and we get inconsistent decisions.

"In football, rugby, tennis or cricket you have professional referees and umpires who do their jobs day in, day out and you have accountability. We need that in motorsport."

And Sir Stirling Moss, regarded by those who overlook the late Gilles Villeneuve as the greatest driver never to win the F1 world title, said: "I thought it was an absolutely appalling decision."

Indeed it was.

An appeal has been lodged, but that's just embroiled the matter further in the shocking system that will contrive the climax of the championship.

We note that Hamilton is now getting a lot less than unanimous support from fellow drivers -- although in the world that is F1 that is hardly surprising.

Felipe Massa has been the beneficiary of Hamilton's penalty and is the man set to fight out the title with him.

And, changing categories, some reflections on an historic IndyCar season, from the Associated Press, here here

Martin's A1 again, but series health is a long way from that
Queenslander John Martin has been confirmed as the Australian driver for the postponed start of the fourth A1 Grand Prix season at Zandvoort in Holland on the first weekend of October.

Using Ferrari-powered and designed cars now, the series was to have started at the Ferrari-owned Misano circuit in Italy about now, but that round was cancelled because of delays in construction of the necessary number of cars.

Martin came into the Aussie team in the middle of last season and great hopes were held for him, although -- apart from a stirling performance at the Oz round at Sydney's Eastern Creek -- the results weren't what was hoped.

Team principal -- or "seatholder" -- Alan Jones said this week: "We have a lot of faith in John's skills and we think the new car will suit his style."

Worrying, though, was A1 Team Australia chief engineer Rob Arnott saying: "The team itself hasn't changed."

After what we've seen from the first three seasons -- forget the excuses, look at the results -- we would have thought there needed to be a major overhaul of the team.

In the bigger picture, things are not looking good for A1 on the financial front.

Reports in recent days, especially in London's Financial Times, indicate that the series -- started by a Dubai sheik, run by a South African mining tycoon and owned for the past two years by a private equity fund, RAB Capital -- is virtually worthless.

The latest report from the FT's James Mackintosh, headlined "Bad decisions only tip of RAB fund's iceberg", has this to say:

"Two years ago Philip Richards, the 'R' in RAB Capital, was on a roll.

"Booming commodity markets and easy access to finance had bolstered his hedge fund strategy of buying into small private mining and energy companies and helping them float, and he was ready to look further afield.

"Over the following 12 months he made two disastrous investment decisions: he bought a controlling stake in A1 Grand Prix, the motor racing series, and became the second largest shareholder in Northern Rock, the failed bank.

"The holding in A1 -- which cost about US$150 million (£86 million), including financing -- has been written down to almost nothing, while RAB has joined a court action over the level of compensation to be paid by the (British) government for nationalising the Rock.

"However, the problems at RAB's US$923m Special Situations fund, the flagship fund managed by Mr Richards, go deeper than just two bad stock picks.

"The fund invested heavily in private companies -- providing financial backing and helping them to go public -- and in small and Aim-listed companies.

"Many of the private companies are now unlikely to be able to access public markets, and are suffering from the unwillingness of banks to advance cash, while the listed companies have been hard-hit by the fall-out from the credit crunch.

"The fund is down 48 per cent this year, including a drop of 22 per cent in August -- 9 points of which were due to a third writedown in the value of A1."

This, obviously, is far less than A1 performance.

Now a mini Targa too in Tassie
Some news out of Tasmania ... and at first we thought it sounded like a split in the Targa ranks, but it quickly became clear that this is actually an expansion under the same organisation.

A mini Targa is to be held in southern Tasmania early next year to compensate for the lack of stages around Hobart in Targa Tasmania, which is now based almost entirely in the state's north, Hobart Mercury motor racing writer James Bresnehan reported.

The new tarmac rally had 18 entries in the first 20 minutes after the news -- including from Jim Richards and co-driver Barry Oliver, who have won Targa almost more times than anyone can now remember.

The offshoot, called Targa Wrest Point (after Hobart's casino), will be held around Hobart on January 30 to February 1.

But it will not be in or near the Hobart itself, apparently because the Hobart City Council took too long deciding about the use of its roads.

Rather than running in opposition to the main Targa, Bresnehan said it would be "the major shakedown event leading into Targa in April" -- with 13 stages, many of them former Targa Tasmania stages.

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