MOTORSPORT: Racing-sales axis broken

For a very long time racing success was seen to translate into the sale of road cars. Not any more.

Not by a long way, judging by the latest VFACTS figures for Australian car sales.

Holden and Ford have had Australia's premier motor racing series to themselves for 15 or so years now, yet their sales are in reverse. Quite rapid reverse in some cases.

Yes, yes, we know there is a global economic meltdown, and that the steep fuel prices we had for a year or so were not conducive to sales of six-cylinder Aussie-made cars.

But these latest VFACTS figures raise, more acutely than ever, the relevance of racing -- in particular the relevance of a two-make series based on large Aussie sedans that the road car market doesn't love anywhere near as much as it once did.

Amid economic gloom is hardly the time to anticipate new forms of racing, but the VFACTS numbers make us wonder what's happened to the SUV racing proposal about which we wrote some months ago, here.

Haven't heard a peep since, but that's another story for another day anyway.

New colleague Stephen Ottley, who is far more conversant with the VFACTS data than this correspondent, has pointed out that Holden's overall sales of 130,338 in 2008 were down 11.1 per cent, while Commodore sales of 51,093 were down 10.8 per cent.

Ford's overall sales of 104,715 were down 3.1 per cent but its 31,936 Falcon sales were down 5.9 per cent.

And sales of the new FG Falcon in December were down 17.6 per cent on the previous December's sales of the BF model.

Yet it was in early December '08 -- just a month ago -- that Triple 8/Team Vodafone and driver Jamie Whincup delivered Ford's first V8 Supercar title since the Marcos Ambrose/Russell Ingall/Stone Brothers heyday.

Ford had the excuse in '07 that Falcon loyalists were holding off for the FG, which duly arrived in '08 but hasn't captured the public's imagination, certainly judging by the sales figures (even if it collected several awards).

And Ford chiefs, who have already cut back financial support to just two V8 Supercar teams (Ford Performance Racing and Stone Brothers Racing, having notably closed the cheque book on Triple 8/Team Vodafone and Jim Beam/Dick Johnson Racing), must be questioning just what a V8 Supercar title, as well as victory in the past three Bathurst 1000s, does for them.

While Holden's Commodore is still the country's top-selling car it has just had its worst sales year since its launch in 1978.

That after V8 Supercar titles by Garth Tander and Rick Kelly in '07-'06 and a more glorious Bathurst record than Ford, as well as the success and advertising campaigns with Mark Skaife over more than a decade.

Ford and GM in Australia are under massive pressure from their American headquarters' to contain costs and have already trimmed the sails on their V8 Supercar budgets, but the TV audience figures we highlighted just before Christmas, here.

and these latest VFACTS figures raise very big questions about V8 Supercar racing's long-term future.

Even if, as Triple 8 chief Roland Dane highlighted in Auto Action magazine's recent V8 Supercar Summit, Toyota is the dominant brand in the carparks at Australian race tracks, the public still has a pretty healthy appetite for V8 Supercar racing.

But the spotlight is surely turning on where it's headed -- and its relevance.

Skaife still the man in V8 Supercar spotlight
The Christmas-New Year period produced several V8 Supercar driver announcements.

It's official now that Alex Davison joins Stone Bros, Jason Bargwanna is back in the (national) big league with Tasman Motorsport/Sprint Gas Racing with Jason Richards moving to Brad Jones Racing, and Michael Patrizi gets the new second seat with Paul Cruikshank Racing.

Holden Racing Team is yet to confirm the worst kept secret of all -- the arrival there of Will Davison from Jim Beam/Dick Johnson Racing, where James Courtney has already replaced him.

Incidentally, Auto Action editor-at-large Mark Fogarty had a long interview with the man Davison will replace at HRT, Mark Skaife, in the magazine's first edition of 2009.

The most pertinent remarks from Skaife, we felt, were:
"The amount of offers that I had over the last two months to maintain full-time driving and also, as an extension of me retiring, to come back and drive in the long-distance races next year ('09) was very flattering. It's been great. That part of it makes me feel like there is a case for me to come back and have a drive. But, at the same time, if I'm not going to enjoy it or can't do it at the level that I would be happy at, then I won't do it."

Asked by Fogarty if there was a serious offer from a credible team he may have considered, Skaife said:
"Oh, absolutely. I'm not going to go through what they were, but from both sides of the fence. I had some fantastic offers -- good quality, high-level, go-and-win races type of stuff if I wanted to do that. But I'd already made my decision."

And grilled by Fogarty about his famous debt to Tom Walkinshaw and how it impacted on his retirement decision, Skaife insisted: "I didn't have to get out.

"Tom and I were 50-50 partners in the race team. The race team is serviced by Walkinshaw Performance. There were financial issues over the last few years that Tom and I had a repayment plan on, which basically encompassed a four-year repayment plan, and throughout this year ('08) there were some issues which I don't want to go into because it's quite confidential in terms of the commerciality of it. But there were some issues in terms of sponsorship that didn't come in this year ('08) -- and not by a little bit; by over a million dollars -- which placed more financial pressure and a more urgent response as to how that was going to be resolved. So I didn't have to get out …"

Skaife claimed there were two options: "Me buying out Tom and settling the debt or him buying me out and settling the debt."

We suspect the whole story is still a long way from surfacing, and indeed may never surface.

Equally, we suspect it won't be long before Skaife is racing again. For another team, still on the red side of the fence.

The WA Sporting Car Club has produced some major plans to revamp the Wanneroo/Barbagallo Raceway that has long hosted Perth's round.

The idea of a street race, much favoured by V8 Supercars Australia, now looks to be dead, according to a report by Allan Edwards at V8supercars.com.au, here.

Carlos Sainz has lost the lead in the car category, with his VW teammate Giniel De Villiers victorious on the fifth stage and Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah back in front overall in his BMW X3.

Australia's Bruce Garland has jumped to 24th outright in his Sydney-built Isuzi D-Max ute after his horror stage last Sunday.

Dust and sand have been the dominant images of the event.

The tragedy has been the death of French motorcyclist Pascal Terry, who went missing on Sunday's second stage.

The body of the first-time Dakar racer was found about 15 metres from his bike. He was without his helmet, but with food and water beside him.

The 49-year-old had died of a pulmonary edema and the abnormal level of fluid in his lungs was reported to have been brought on by a heart problem.

"His body showed no signs of injury or dehydration," a forensic report said.

Terry had informed race organisers he had run out of fuel, then told them he was continuing after getting some fuel from another rider.

Satellite tracking eventually showed his bike stopped. His emergency signal was picked up by race officials in Paris but Argentine organisers were not notified until Monday morning, when a search was launched.

Rescuers had a difficult time finding Terry in the dense terrain.

Meanwhile, British driver Paul Green and his navigator Matthew Harrison have been in serious condition in hospital after their truck overturned during Saturday's first stage.

Green has now been taken off breathing apparatus after his condition improved while Harrison is stable but still on artificial breathing.

The fifth stage was a quinella for the VW Touaregs of South African De Villiers and German Dieter Depping, with American Robby Gordon third in his Hummer.

VW's former World Rally Championship superstar, Spaniard Carlos Sainz, hit a rock mid-stage, was without power steering for the last 200km of the day and somersaulted towards the end of the stage.

He has dropped from overall leader to third, 6½ minutes behind Al-Attiyah's BMW and VW teammate De Villiers, with another VW driven by American Mark Miller in fourth.

Spaniard Joan Roma is best of the Mitsubishi drivers in fifth, ahead of Frenchman Stephane Peterhansel, who is almost 29 minutes off the lead in sixth as he strives for a 10th Dakar win.

Usually dominant manufacturer Mitsubishi's team boss Dominique Serieys has said: "We are not under any pressure to lead the race just yet. The real meat of the rally will start next week."

Robby Gordon is seventh outright and within 42 minutes of the leading BMW.

Aussie Garland and Japanese-born co-driver Harry Suzuki are 9 hours 20 minutes down after five days but 24th place is a brilliant result, especially after their second-day dramas.

Communications from South America are slow, but Garland has recounted that second stage.

"We got into the tight, twisty stuff and some of the vehicles in the field couldn't manoeuvre so well and we were driving in all this blinding bulldust, trying to avoid cars and bikes and trucks that were going off the road all over the place.

"At one point there were so many vehicles broken down on the track that we actually headed off into the bushes to get around them. Then when we did get back on the track we got a puncture.

"So then we were trying to dig a hole in the sand to get the jack set up and there would be trucks going past, tossing a wave of bulldust over you. It was just total insanity out there.

"At one point, when we were going, this truck came past us and it was towing a buggy that had broken down. Of course, the buggy had no control being towed, and it hit one of the bikes that had broken down and pushed it down the road and into our car. Luckily it was mainly just panel damage, but it certainly was a day to remember for all the wrong reasons."

Day five winner De Villiers said that was "undoubtedly the toughest stage so far".

"There was quite a bit of off-road and it was hard to find the right way," he said.

Sainz began the day with an overall lead of 3¾ minutes on Al-Attiyah, but made a mistake that cost him the front hood on his VW.

Sainz finished the stage ninth, while Al Attiyah was fourth in his BMW -- enough for him to grab the outright lead back by almost 2½ minutes from De Villiers.

Defending champion Peterhansel lost the rear hood of his Mitsubishi Racing Lancer in a roll but finished without a radiator.

The buggy of France's world touring car champion Yvan Muller is out after a fire.

Spaniard Marc Coma continues to lead the motorbike class on a KTM, but his lead over American Jonah Street on another KTM has been slashed from 43 minutes to 27 after a flat tyre.

Street won the fifth stage after he had been trailing Chilean Francisco Lopez for most of the race.

The best-placed Australian motorcyclist is now Simon Pavey in 45th on a BMW, 6 hours 36 minutes behind Coma, while Christophe Barriere-Varju is 65th on a KTM, 8½ hours off the lead, and David Schwarz, 15th in the early stages, is now 69th and almost 9 hours down on his KTM.

Thursday's sixth stage is from San Rafael to Mendoza, the heart of Argentina's wine region at the base of the Andes mountains.

A former steward on Dennis' private jet, Peter Boland, has claimed the McLaren boss once declined a drink on boarding the Challenger 604 aircraft, allegedly saying: "I want to go to the bathroom to wash my hands because I've been shaking with Arabs all day."

Boland reckoned Dennis had often been "insensitive" to Arab business associates.

Boland is claiming unfair dismissal, discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation, victimisation and post-termination discrimination and intimidation against Dennis and three of his companies.

He has told the tribunal a "violent and intimidating investigator" left him shaking "and utterly defenceless" some weeks after he lost his job at McLaren, which Dennis had told him was because he had lost his passion for his work after he was caught napping on a flight.

Brawn has been talking to Ferrari about engines because Honda has said that it will not supply motors after it withdrew from F1.

But a report in The Telegraph in London said Brawn had "conceded that the Honda RA109 is likely to be a dog if it does make it to Melbourne (for the season-opening) Australian Grand Prix) on March 29".

"Modifying the car to install a different engine requires at least six weeks of work," Brawn said. "It's unlikely we'll manage to be on track during the (northern) winter.

"That's why we are studying a package of evolutions for 2010, when we aim to step up the ladder.

"Next season will remain for us a transitional one."

While we don't doubt a buyer will be found, still most probably Prodrive's David Richards, Brawn's remarks, while perhaps realistic, will be little comfort to potential investors.

An extra round has been added to the end of the calendar of the struggling A1 series.

The race at Interlagos, the Sao Paulo venue for the Brazilian F1 GP, will be two weeks after the British round at Brands Hatch that was to close the fourth A1 season.

The next round, the fifth, is at Taupo in New Zealand on January 25.

There is no Australian round this season, but A1 has replaced Indy at the Gold Coast in October and -- provided A1 survives its financial difficulties that long -- that could become its crown jewel.

Dakar images: Willy Weyens