Motorsport: V8 Supercars on the streets of Perth?

Midweek motorsport report
April 25, 2007

V8 boss gives Barbagallo only two more years
A new push is underway for a V8 Supercar Championship street race in Perth -- and if it fails Western Australia will be left without a round of the series within three years.

V8 Supercars Australia has told the WA Sporting Club that the Wanneroo circuit, or Barbagallo as it has been called in recent years, is not safe enough and its facilities not up to scratch.

The club is now contemplating aligning itself with a consortium headed by Michael Rasheed's Marlin Group that is preparing a pitch for a street race.

The consortium, and V8 Supercars Australia, know that a street race is going to need a hefty contribution from the WA government -- and the signs, and history, on that score are not good in the West.

An attempt several years ago to get a street race up at Fremantle collapsed because the WA government didn't see that it had compelling benefits.

While the government will be obliged to revisit the idea if, and most probably when, it receives a fresh pitch, WA Sports Minister John Kobelke has already reminded the local media that "the return for tourism and promotion of the state (in the previous proposal) came nowhere near warranting the expenditure required".

As with the push for a similar event in Townsville now, the state government would need to pump in more than $10 million upfront and smaller but still substantial amounts -- perhaps $3 million -- each year.

And, again like Townsville, the federal government most likely will have to be asked to contribute $10 million to get the project off the ground.

The Perth pitch, and indeed that from Townsville, will rely heavily on the popularity and perceived benefits of Adelaide's Clipsal 500, to a lesser extent the Gold Coast Indy (where the V8 Supercars share the top billing with Champ Cars nowadays), and the enthusiasm with which Hamilton in New Zealand will emulate the Adelaide "template" next year.

Barbagallo boss Adrian Chambers says V8SA chief executive Wayne Cattach told him during last month's WA round of the championship that the circuit would not remain in the series beyond 2009.

Barbagallo has been planning to spend several million dollars on an upgrade as the WASCC has a lease on the track until 2022.

It was confident of getting WA government support for the permanent circuit but needed a long-term agreement to host the V8 round to warrant the planned expenditure.

The club's directors have already been looking at joining forces with the Marlin consortium, but Chambers admits in today's Auto Action magazine: "We need a lot more time to think things through before we start hassling the (WA) government to do something we've been telling them not to do (support a street race) for several years."

Street races generally have great atmosphere, but they are costly and the claimed benefits often questionable. And, in the long term, the danger of racing on temporary circuits is that in a severe economic downturn such events could quickly be axed -- and when that happens some of the existing permanent tracks may already have gone.

The upcoming event, a round of the Asia-Pacific and Australian championships on June 1-3, will struggle through, but the ACT government is continuing to signal that is not prepared to prop it up in 2008.

Canberra has traditionally been the Australian heart of gravel rallying, although WA could claim to have had the title while it hosted a world championship rally for two decades until last year.

Without a Rally Oz this year, and -- it seems to us -- some doubts about whether the proposed new event in south-east Queensland will proceed in September '08, the Rally of Canberra should be the country's premier rallying event this year, although it has had an identity crisis for some years because of Asia-Pacific competitors generally being outpaced by Australian drivers.

The bigger concern, though, is that there is no sign of a major sponsor for next year.

The ACT government tipped in $750,000 last year and is concerned about dwindling sponsorship, declining visitor numbers and limited exposure.

The national capital has already shown it wants bang for its bucks, dropping its V8 Supercar round after just a couple of years when it found the sums weren't adding up.

Toyota at short odds in the West
It's the second round of the Australian Rally Championship this weekend -- at Busselton and around the old timber town of Nannup in south-west WA.

Toyota's reigning champion Simon Evans won every stage of the opening round in Queensland in his turbocharged, four-wheel-drive Corolla Sportivo.

There is a danger of that domination all season long, although on the WA roads local star Dean Herridge may provide some strong competition, but his Subaru Impreza WRX is now three years old.

Three Super 2000 cars will be in action -- the Toyota of Neal Bates and Ford Fiestas driven by Michael Guest and Darren Windus, another local.

Expect Bates to be the most competitive of this normally-aspirated trio.

Among the rising stars to watch for are Eli Evans, younger brother of Simon in a Subaru, and two 18-year-olds -- Brendan Reeves from rural Victoria, also in a Subaru in which he finished third in his ARC debut in Queensland, and Molly Taylor, daughter of Bates' long-time and champion co-driver Coral, in a two-wheel drive Mitsubishi Mirage.

Monster move on cards for Atko
Australia's world rally championship driver Chris Atkinson is increasingly being linked with the MonsterSport Suzuki team for next year.

Japan's popular "Monster" Tajima has visited the Atkinson family at its Gold Coast home and is keen to get Atko's signature as Suzuki's factory team prepares for its debut season in the WRC, veteran rally correspondent Jon Thomson reports in today's Auto Action.

Tajima fielded Atkinson in the 2004 Asia-Pacific championship in a Suzuki S1600.

Competitiveness will be a question mark in Suzuki's debut WRC season, but one benefit for Atkinson is that he would become a paid driver rather than having to buy his place in the Subaru team with which his contract expires at the end of this season.

Power without hope of Indy 500 glory
Any chance of Australia's Champ Car star Will Power racing in next month's Indy 500 has been ruled out by Team Australia co-owner Derrick Walker.

The Indy 500 entry list is thin this year and organisers have been trying to entice competitors from the Champ Car series, which is the competitor of the Indy Racing League -- and in which the 500 is the crown jewel.

While the Indy organisers have been pointing out how affordable the 500 can be, Walker says that him entering a car "would only prolong the agony" of the 12-year split in American openwheeler racing.

"The only way a Champ Car team should ever go to the Indy 500 is as part of a unified series," Walker says.

"The race is going through a rough patch at the moment and if this or any other team goes to Indy it will only help the other series and do nothing at all for Champ Car."

Australia's sole entry will thus be Ryan Briscoe, driving for Jay Penske -- son of the iconic Roger, the most successful entrant in the 500's 90-year history.

HRT getting its house in order
Mark Skaife is on target to comply with Holden Racing Team's V8 Supercar licence requirements within days, according to today's Auto Action.

It reports that, as part of the process, all the team's personnel are being transferred from the payroll of Walkinshaw Performance, which builds the cars for HRT and championship-leading HSV Dealer Team -- which made similar staff arrangements before the season.

Auto Action editor-at-large Mark Fogarty writes that Skaife and Tom Walkinshaw are still finalising the settlement of their long-running financial dispute but the gist of an agreement between them gives Walkinshaw at least half of Skaife Sports, which holds the two race licences, against WP's outstanding debt.

Supercheap team changing hands?
The first of the new online editions of Motorsport News this week reports that PWR Racing, which runs the Supercheap Autos V8 Supercars of Cameron McConville and Paul Dumbrell, is to be taken over by Gold Coast property developer John Marshall.

MNews, which will still publish a hard-copy monthly magazine, says the deal is likely to take effect after the Winton round of the championship next month.

Marshall may want to install his son, Marcus, in one of the Commodores next year, with McConville's contract up at the end of this season but Dumbrell having a year to go.

Hot under the collar about brakes
Brakes are a very hot issue in V8 Supercars at the minute.

The Touring Car Entrants Group is to investigate complaints from teams about the performance of the new control brakes.

Motorsport News reports that Garry Rogers Motorsport engineers have been investigating whether Dean Canto's huge crash at Pukekohe in NZ last Sunday was caused by a rotor failure.

Brad Jones Racing co-owner Kim Jones has made a formal complaint about the mandatory Alcon rotor adopted this year as a cost-saving measure.

Teams say cost savings have been more than offset by needing more sets of brakes for each race meeting.

But more significant noises heard from the paddock have been "This is about safety" and "Bathurst is going to be ugly."

One to watch, most of all for officialdom when the word safety crops up.

FIA hardens line on moving floors
The Federation Internationale de l'Automobile, or FIA, the world governing body of motorsport, is getting even tougher on the flexing floors in Formula 1 cars that are apparently boosting straight-line speeds.

The FIA revised its testing procedures after a request from McLaren for clarification after the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, where Ferrari and BMW were suspected of the technique.

F1's technical regulations state that no bodywork -- and that includes a car's floor -- can deflect more than 5mm vertically when exposed to a 500 Newton load upward.

The FIA's loads tests will be quadrupled to 2000 Newtons from next month's Spanish GP, with the teams having to remove any brace that is fitted between the bodywork and chassis.

The FIA believes that some teams have been gaining an aerodynamic advantage by using parts designed to pass FIA tests but which flex when the cars are at high speed.

Suspicions were raised by some of the straight-line speeds in the early races being mathemetically impossible unless changes were going on in the aerodynamic shape of the cars.

It is all a variation of last year's controversy when some rear wings were flexing.

Mosley cautious on night GPs
The FIA says it would need to do a full safety assessment before agreeing to any night-time GPs.

"We would not sanction night racing for F1 without a very careful investigation," FIA president Max Mosley told Reuters news agency.

Melbourne has already postponed until 2009 any attempt to switch the Australian GP to night to increase the television audience for the race in Europe.

However, the Malaysian GP and the potential new race on the streets of Singapore remain interested, even keen, about running under lights.

Double world champion Fernando Alonso says the idea is impossible and Mosley says: "There are all sorts of factors … and we want to look at that very carefully before we sanction it.

"We have a safety commission which looks specifically at these problems and they will probably come up with a number of recommendations and research to undertake before saying okay, because it would be a big step and we wouldn't want to make a mistake.

"One mustn't underestimate the logistics, the degree of lighting that will be necessary for really good television coverage, the cost, the complications and all the things that go with it.

"But that's not really our problem -- all we would be concerned about would be the safety aspect."

Copycats 'the way to go'
Mosley says customer or "copycat" cars are a must for F1 from next year.

"F1 hasn't got enough money for 12 different teams to have 12 research and development programs, 12 wind tunnels, 12 organisations getting on for 1,000 employees (each)," he told Reuters.

"That means you either have 'customer cars' or you have people struggling at the back of the grid being lapped four times in the race.

"It's obvious you should have the customer cars."

F1 rules have traditionally stipulated that teams must design and build their own cars but the FIA has flagged that will change next year when David Richards' Prodrive becomes the 12th team.

Richards plans to enter cars with the chassis and engine provided by one of the top teams, most likely McLaren-Mercedes.

Already this year Dutch-owned backmarker team Spyker has taken action against Super Aguri and Toro Rosso, claiming they have entered cars that breach the 2007 rules.

The Super Aguri is a version of last year's race-winning Honda while the Toro Rosso has been designed by Red Bull's Adrian Newey but has a
Ferrari engine instead of the Renault motor in Mark Webber and David Coulthard's Red Bull cars.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone is trying to resolve this season's dispute by next month's Spanish GP.