MOTORSPORT: The forgotten classic

Surely Le Mans is still THE race
Has the motorsport world forgotten something? We believe it has. At least our corner of the motorsport world here in Australia seems to have.

It's probably a similar story in much of the rest of the world too, we suspect, although almost a quarter of a million people still go to the Sarthe circuit in France at this time each year.

The Le Mans 24-Hour is on this weekend. It is the 76th running of the great sports car race.

Here in Australia you could be forgiven for not knowing it was on. Even the dedicated motorsport media barely give it a mention these days.

Yet this is one of the world's great races. Some would say the greatest, and with good reason.

Traditionally it ranked up there with the Indianapolis 500 and the Monaco Grand Prix, and ahead of Daytona. Not any more, unfortunately.

Yet might it not be of more relevance to the motor industry and motoring than any of those other classics? Surely endurance at speed is more important than sheer speed alone, and Le Mans is ahead in the environmental "race", having already been won on diesel fuel.

We suspect the problem with Le Mans is that, in this electronic age, a 24-hour race is not conducive to live global television.

Expect a mention in the media on Monday once the race has been run and won, but our recollection is that in recent years even the victors get barely one or two sentences of recognition in Oz.

For the record, the Australians competing at the French circuit this weekend are David Brabham in an Aston Martin, Alex Davison in a Porsche 997, and -- he's a Dane but we'll claim him as an Aussie -- Allan Simonsen in a Lola-Mazda.

What a combination -- Lola, the great British sports and open-wheeler car maker, celebrating its 50th year in the sport, and Mazda, the only Japanese car manufacturer to have won Le Mans outright, in 1991 with its rotary-engined 787B.

Here's a link to a list of the 55 entries in this year's race lemans.org

Fourteen nationalities are represented among the drivers, comprising the cream of the world's endurance racers as well as many who have raced in Formula 1.

Indeed, the drivers in the three factory Peugeot 908 HDi FAPs have done 393 F1 grands prix and 32 Le Mans 24 Hours' between them.

Among that squad are Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 F1 world champion and 1995 Indianapolis 500 winner, and Alexander Wurz, the youngest winner at Le Mans at just 22 in 1996.

This weekend's race, running throughout Sunday eastern Australian time, is sure to be between the diesel prototypes of Peugeot and Audi.

German manufacturer Audi has won this event seven times, including the past two years with diesel cars, and returns with three factory entries and Tom Tom Kristensen -- Mr Le Mans, with seven wins himself -- as its lead driver.

Among the other LM P1 prototypes is a Judd-powered Courage-Oreca with Frenchman Olivier Panis, a Monaco GP winner, in the seat.

Also on the entry list is a closed Lola prototype with an engine from Aston-Martin, another revered name that took outright honors at Le Mans almost half a century ago, in 1959.

There are also four Aston Martin DBR9s in the field.

The Japanese car companies don't have the presence they did in the 1990s, but Dome -- Japan's leading specialist racing car constructor -- is there with closed-bodied prototypes.

And it would not be Le Mans without Porsches and Ferraris. Eight Ferrari F430 GTs will battle three Porsche 911 GT3 RSRs in the LM GT2 category, while there are two Porsche RS Spyders in LM P2.

Altogether there are 20 LM P1s, 12 LM P2s, 10 LM GT1s, 13 LM GT2s -- plus eight reserves.

What a motor race.

Bathurst, GP 6th and 7th among Oz sporting events
If Le Mans' star has faded on the world scene, where do Australia's major motor races rate on the national sporting scene?

According to the latest Sweeney Sports Report, billed as Australia's most authoritative sports and sponsorship survey, the Bathurst 1000 is Australia's No.6 most important event and the Australian F1 GP No.7.

The AFL grand final came in at No.1, with 25 per cent of people surveyed giving it top billing, with the Melbourne Cup horse race next on 20 per cent, the Australian Open tennis 12 per cent, the state-of-origin rugby league series 8 per cent, the NRL grand final 5 per cent, then Bathurst on 4 per cent and the GP on 2 per cent.

Sweeney said it interviewed more than 1000 people in the six state capitals and Canberra, roughly half men and half women, and one-third aged 16-29, a third 30-44 and a third 45-65.

Car racing emerged as the country's eighth most popular sport, with 35 per cent of people having an interest in it -- behind tennis (57 per cent), swimming (55 per cent), cricket (53 per cent), Australian Rules football (52 per cent), soccer (46 per cent), rugby league (42 per cent) and rugby union (38 per cent).

The interest level in car racing and rugby league was the same as the previous year, while interest in tennis was up 1 per cent but the other five major sports showed drops -- cricket by 6 per cent, soccer 5 per cent, Aussie Rules 4 per cent and swimming and rugby union 2 per cent.

However, on the print media coverage table car racing scored only six, compared with 21 for cricket and Aussie Rules, 14 for tennis, 13 for soccer, 11 for rugby union, 10 for swimming and nine for rugby league.

Of the top eight sports, car racing rated second lowest for internet coverage -- ahead of only swimming.

Incidentally, motorcycle racing -- a separate category from four-wheel racing -- was a "winner'' in this latest Sweeney report, with interest up three points to 27 per cent on the back of Casey Stoner's 2007 world championship success, and ahead of sports including basketball (25 per cent) and golf (23 per cent).

And in Sydney, sometimes mooted as a possible home for the Oz GP if it leaves Melbourne, only 1 per cent ranked it No. 1.

Adelaide, of course, was the original host of the F1 race, from 1985 until 1995.

A report in Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper today (Thursday), headlined 'D-Day looms for GP', said "Victoria is running out of time to convince F1 chiefs it should (continue to) host a GP that will lose at least $40 million each year".

"A decision on Melbourne's F1 contract (expiring in 2010) is expected within weeks, with Australian GP chairman Ron Walker holding the key to saving the race," wrote Herald Sun Victorian politics editor John Ferguson.

"The Brumby government backs the race but has again refused to hold it at night (as F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone wants)."

Victorian Major Events Minister Tim Holding was quoted saying: "There are ongoing negotiations with Bernie Ecclestone and the FIA but we have ruled out a night GP and that is not negotiable."

Here is the gist of a story in the Montreal Gazette:

"Revised aerodynamics rules, the return of slick tires and what Mark Webber calls 'saving the world', could radically upset the competitive balance of F1 next year, the Red Bull driver says.

"With the changes to come, it will be much less competitive between the teams," Webber told the Gazette. "When you make regulation changes, the strong guys win and the weaker guys suffer.

"The sport now is very close in terms of lap times. It's pretty competitive in the midfield group (of teams). There are a lot of guys finishing on the lead lap.

"When you make big regulation changes, the strong guys can do a better job of it, and it will inevitably make the discrepancy greater.

"I'm not talking about things like overtaking; I'm talking about the difference between the teams actually getting bigger with the changes to come."

This year has seen the abolition of traction control and engine braking, while next season aerodynamic performance is to be cut by as much as 50 per cent and -- according to The Gazette -- there will be a return to slick tyres, instead of those with four grooves.

"Slicks ... have a larger contact area on the track. The FIA previously stopped the use of slicks to reduce cornering speeds and 'make the sport more competitive'," The Gazette said.

"Also new for 2009 will be the introduction of the Kinetic Energy Recovery System, or KERS, a device designed to convert thermal energy lost through braking into a useable form fed back through the engine for additional power.

"KERS is the result of increasing pressure on FIA -- the sport's world governing body -- to become more environmentally friendly.

"Webber hesitated when asked whether he supports the changes being brought in next season.

"His preference was to leave things as they are, especially because no one really knows what to expect.

"After the four years of regulation stabilisation that we have had, with the exception of traction control and a few other things, aerodynamically we've been pretty stable," he said.

"But next year we've got a very new category effectively -- tyres and aero and 'saving the world'. It might be too much."
 
CAMS keeps its lips sealed
The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport continues to refuse to reveal how its representative, Garry Connelly, voted at the Federation Internationale de l'Automobile special assembly on Max Mosley's presidency last week -- which can only be taken as a vote in Mosley's favor.

CAMS president Colin Osborne is quoted in this week's Auto Action magazine defending his organisation from announcing which way its man voted, claiming it could jeopardize future relationships with other FIA-affiliated clubs.

"We don't intend to disclose how we voted," Osborne told AA. "It was a secret ballot for specific reasons.

"We appreciate that people will be inquisitive, but we have made a very conscious decision that the best interests of Australian motorsport will be served by us not disclosing the way in which we cast our vote and therefore we will not be disclosing."

What a load of hogwash!

Here's the latest from Stewart, reported in London's The Independent:

"Max is entirely convinced that he can conduct his business as president no matter what occurred. He's wrong. He is failing to recognise that a lot of companies do not want to see him in the paddock, and nor do the royal families of Spain, Bahrain and Monaco.

"The King of Jordan did not go to see his own rally until Max had left. His brother, Prince Feisal, had invited Max but was at pains to avoid being photographed with him. The Prime Minister of Turkey called to ensure Max would not turn up at his race.

"A number of the chairmen, presidents or CEOs of the companies who were represented at Monaco called me and asked what to do, because they all wanted to avoid the risk of being seen with him.

"It is extremely selfish of Max to say that he can continue. At what cost to motor sport?

"The British papers were full of the scandal and how scandalous it was that Max won the vote and is carrying on. How can he not stand down?

"If he doesn't care about the damage he is doing, he is not the quality of person that should be doing that job. I am simply bamboozled by the arrogance of that attitude. It is just totally self-serving."

Stewart also called for an overhaul of the FIA.

"It has got to be run by full-time, professionally paid people," he said. "Nobody within the FIA, or in this paddock, could do it.

"The automobile industry is the third largest in the world, and motor racing is the highest capital investment sport and it is run by part-time people!

"There needs to be an independent headhunter to find the right people: vice-presidents for industry, mobility and sport, with a board and a non-executive chairman to promote proper governance and transparency."

"You're supposed to stop at red ... Lew Silly Boy," The Sun declared on its back page.

"Crash Dummy" screamed the Daily Telegraph. And the Daily Mail called it a "schoolboy howler".

"Having a red light in the pit lane is 'silly', he claimed," the Daily Mail said.

"And punishing him with a 10-grid penalty in the upcoming French race for ignoring it so carelessly that he rammed into Kimi Raikkonen's parked Ferrari is a 'bit harsh really'.

"As a Ferrari official noted, the word 'sorry' was nowhere to be seen on McLaren's printed explanation of Sunday's incident.

"Shame on you, Lewis, not for an exhibition of driving which would have cost you your no-claims bonus on the streets outside your Geneva home, but for a lack of contrition."

The Independent quoted Hamilton saying: "This (incident) will make no difference. It hasn't knocked me confidence-wise. I'm not gutted or disappointed.

"The fact is we destroyed everyone this weekend. With the car we have right now there is no stopping us.

"It is not going to take me a day to recover or anything. I'll be up first thing training and really looking forward to Magny-Cours (in France). You can't win them all."

The McLaren team's Finnish head of team performance Aki Hintsa has said of Hamilton: "When he knows the car he has is the quickest on the circuit he is pretty much unbeatable, an incredible specimen in any sport."

Perhaps so, and certainly he was brilliant in Monaco, but we are starting to wonder whether, in light of some of the off-track nonsense he's been involved in lately, he may yet turn out like so many other British sportsman -- lots of hype with not a lot of titles to show for it in the end.

Hamilton seemed to be very well managed in his debut season, but perhaps someone needs to take him in hand now.

"If our plans go the right way, I'd like to think we could be on the grid for 2009," said Ultimate team principal Barry Walsh.

However, 2010 is more likely.

Toro Rosso, formerly Minardi, is co-owned by Red Bull billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz and fellow Austrian and former GP driver Gerhard Berger.

Mateschitz wants to sell out of Toro Rosso before 2010, when all F1 teams will be required -- certainly if Max Mosley remains FIA president -- to design and build their own cars.

The Toro Rosso and Red Bull Racing cars are now designed by Red Bull's technical director Adrian Newey.

Ultimate runs French-made F3 cars from Mygale, which is based at Magny-Cours and is also thought to have F1 ambitions.

Angola, a former Portuguese colony, is the largest oil producer in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria, so money ought not be a problem.

Some people have believed there is a connection between Ultimate F3 driver Ricardo Teixeira and A1GP boss Tony Teixeira, who has been active in Angola over the years and was interested in acquiring Toro Rosso to reward A1 champions with F1 drives.

However, grandprix.com said Teixeira is a very common Portuguese name and there is no link.

Spain's TVE boasted an average 3.658 million viewers, with an audience share of 37 per cent, as Dani Pedrosa won the Catalunya GP last Sunday.

This audience share was the highest for all major sports events in Spain that day, even with Rafael Nadal taking another French Open tennis title against Roger Federer and F1 beamed live from Canada.

The MotoGP audience peak in Spain at 4.733 million as Pedrosa took the chequered flag.

TVE's cumulative audience after the first seven MotoGPs of the year is up 20 per cent on 2007.

Meanwhile, in Italy 8.346 million watched Rossi fight back to second place from ninth on the grid at Catalunya -- more than 800,000 up on the same race on the same weekend last year.

It represented a 46.18 per cent audience share on Mediaset's Italia 1 network, while the Canadian F1 race got 8.177 million viewers on Rai 3 in Italy -- a 37.74 per cent share.

The Catalunya bike race drew 1.4 million viewers on the BBC in Britain -- about one-third of recent F1 telecasts, but the BBC claims its MotoGP audiences are up 21 per cent for the year, and next year it will have F1 back as well.

Andersson, 70, well known to many in Australia, was driving a 1957 Volvo in the Milligan Vintage Trial when he was involved in a head-on collision on a blind corner.

Andersson led Toyota to four drivers' and three manufacturers' titles in world rallying, but was also at the helm when it was banned from the WRC for a year over an illegal turbocharger.

He also guided Toyota to second in the Le Mans 24-Hour in 1999 before taking it into F1 in 2002.

He was replaced as team principal in 2003 but remained an enormously popular figure in motorsport.
 
Feud bubbles between Subaru and Solberg
It's the Rally of Turkey this weekend, and even though Subaru's new Impreza was second on debut at Greece's recent Acropolis Rally in the hands of Petter Solberg there are still signs of discontent with him in that team.

The 2003 world champion has been told to "put up or shut up" in the second half of the season, according to a report in this week's Auto Action.

"Although any disagreement is denied publicly, it's known that there have been angry meetings between the Norwegian driver and Subaru team bosses," AA's WRC correspondent Jerry Williams wrote.

"One source said: 'Petter is quite a problem for the team. He's not playing his part as a team member. We all want to win, we all want to be world champions again, but sometimes it's like he's got his own agenda.

"Things are not great with him. We've finished second on the toughest rally in the championship with a new car and he's bickering again which, frankly, we're all bored with."

There is speculation Subaru may install test driver Markko Martin later in the season, and team boss David Richards is talking about fielding four cars in 2009 -- two of them in a satellite team.

The same source quoted in the AA article told Britain's Autosport: "This situation (with Solberg) is reaching a critical position.

"It's becoming really difficult to support Petter.

"There are plenty of people caught in the crossfire and Chris Atkinson (Subaru's Australian driver, who is third in the WRC behind Citroen's Sebastien Loeb and Ford's Mikko Hirvonen) is one of them.

"Chris is doing a good job. He's just quietly getting on with it."

Gordon leads NASCAR's big earners
NASCAR's top drivers are almost in the same money league as F1's main men.

Forbes magazine has reported that Jeff Gordon, NASCAR's all-time leading money winner, made US$32 million last year -- US$17 million came from endorsements and royalties on merchandise, and US$15 million came from his salary and race winnings.

Dale Earnhardt Junior, the second-highest earner at US$31 million, made US$21 million from licensing and endorsement income from the likes of PepsiCo, Anheuser-Busch and Adidas.

"Earnhardt's passionate following, which has its origins in his famous father's career, has translated into an abundance of riches despite his declining performance (he won six Sprint Cup races in 2004 but only two since)," Forbes said.

Sports Illustrated recently estimated that F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen made US$46 million all-up last year and that Fernando Alonso pocketed US$40 million.

German magazine Auto Motor und Sport has reported that Alonso is getting US$28 million this year just for racing and Raikkonen US$22 million.

Forbes said that Subway restaurants recently agreed to pay NASCAR team Joe Gibbs Racing US$4 million to be the primary sponsor of Tony Stewart's car for just three races this season -- and that Stewart will pocket US$700,000 from that deal.

It also said that Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin, who are driving Toyota for Joe Gibbs, are guaranteed US$10 million a year.

Busch's championship-leading performance at least warrants that kind of money.

Forbes estimated Juan Pablo Montoya was paid US$6 million last season by his NASCAR team owner, Chip Ganassi, but said the ex-F1 racer retained few rights over sponsorships.

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