MOTORSPORT: West side story on V8 Supercars
The WA Sporting Car Club tells its side of why Perth is off the V8 Supercar calendar, a great Daytona 500 despite interruptions, a similar tale from the Bathurst 12-hour, and Hirvonen one up on Loeb in WRCIn response to V8 Supercars Australia's announcement a week ago that the West Australian round had been ditched this year, the WA Sporting Car Club responded at the weekend, detailing that:
>>>It was not prepared to lock in to a five-year deal on V8SA's terms.
>>>That, while it had been offered a reduced fee for this year, over the five years of the deal put to it, the fee would have gone up 90 per cent -- that is, would have almost doubled in five years.
>>>That last year's crowd at Barbagallo was only half that of the year before.
While the WA government had offered long before V8SA's cancellation announcement to tip in $5 million for an upgrade of Barbagallo before the round that was scheduled for the first weekend of June, the WASCC said it was not its policy to chase government money as it is "not appropriate". And it said V8SA had declined to run the event at the circuit on the same terms V8SA had offered it.
Following is WASCC's response in detail:
"The WASCC is disappointed that V8 Supercars Australia has made a decision not to come to Perth this year. What is more disappointing is that this was announced on Monday, February 8, despite the V8s' imposed deadline of 1pm, Queensland time, on Tuesday, February 9, and the fact that we have still not been formally advised by V8SA as of 9am, Saturday, February 13, 2010.
"The main area of concern for the WASCC was a requirement to lock into a five-year agreement. As each year has passed, the business case for the V8s (at Barbagallo Raceway) is becoming increasingly marginal.
"WASCC general manager Peter Thornell said: 'The June long weekend was always going to be a big ask, given the number of other motor sport events on over that weekend, and this is in addition to the requirement for us to run two V8 events (and pay huge V8 sanction fees of more than $1 million within the seven months of the two events). Nearly all of our corporate clientele only budget for one V8 Supercar event in a financial year.
Thornell further outlined that:
- "V8SA's offer of assistance to help out with the WASCC's upgrade and new track -- as late as last week WASCC's consultants, GHD, were in Queensland in an attempt to work with V8SA to ascertain what it required to improve the infield at Barbagallo Raceway. The WASCC was disappointed that it had to rely on the WA government to follow up on offers that were made by V8SA last November. These promises of assistance have not materialised. These improvements were supposed to be in place for the 2011 V8 event.
- "It would be commercially irresponsible for the WASCC to accept the terms of the sanctioning agreement that V8SA was demanding. The WASCC has made it clear that it can only commit to a deal that is in best interests of the club membership, a position supported by the WA government.
- "While V8SA has stated it had reduced the sanction fee in 2010, that fee would almost double (plus 90 per cent) over the five-year agreement -- an increase that is difficult to justify, given that V8SA has not committed to the minimum number of support events it would include in the program. Based on the recent evidence -- that is, the number of competing teams/cars, attendance and subsequent falling revenues -- there is no business case that can support the financial commitment that the club would have to make.
- "The WASCC feels these demands would put the club at great risk of incurring significant financial losses. This would not to be in the best interests of its members or for motorsport in WA.
- "It is the wider implication that risking a large amount of WASCC finances would create. To promote an event, which in recent years has been shrinking, and the growing uncertainty going forward does little to build confidence in a five-year V8 Supercar future. In the last year alone WASCC witnessed a dramatic drop in attendance numbers (at its V8 Supercar round). In 2008 it had around 65,000 attendees; sadly in 2009 this plummeted to around 32,500. Further to this, WASCC again witnessed the drop in V8 teams and cars competing -- down to just 28 cars as now on the V8 Supercar website. This is all further compounded by lack of V8 visiting support categories -- the 2008 event had WA spectators enjoying many more categories like the V8 utes, the Australian Formula Ford Championship, Australian Porsche Carrera Cup. In 2009 WASCC saw just 14 Minis as the V8 support act.
- "V8 drivers love the Perth track, they love coming to Perth, and it is extremely disappointing that an eastern state company has made a decision to remove Barbagallo from its calendar. Even more disappointing is the fact that this was done before its own imposed deadline and while the WASCC was still in discussion with it. It is apparent V8SA simply has been paying WASCC lip service only.
- "WASCC had even taken the initiative to offer V8SA the opportunity to run the event itself (as it does in some other states), on the same terms it wanted WASCC to commit to. V8SA found this to be unacceptable.
- "The WA government has been wonderful in assisting WASCC, as the V8 meeting is merely one event a year on the Barbagallo Raceway calendar. While some will say it is a big event, WASCC's focus is on developing motorsport in WA and attracting new and exciting opportunities, including the upgrade of facilities for use by the sport.
- "WASCC has not approached the WA government for funding, specifically for the V8 events. WASCC does not think it is appropriate to do so.
- "The WA government has a strong commitment to motorsport, demonstrated by the recent $5 million commitment to upgrade facilities at Barbagallo Raceway and the adoption of a longer-term plan for the facility.
- "The V8 Supercar Championship Series is a popular event that we would all like to see continued in WA, but on reasonable terms."
That is a considered and measured response from WASCC, although its points are unlikely to get as much exposure (certainly in eastern Australia) as V8SA's announcement, simply because V8SA beat it to the punch. However, it has provided plenty of food for thought as the issue is worked through -- perhaps over a longer time frame than we earlier envisaged.
WASCC's revelation that the crowd at last year's Barbagallo round of the V8 Supercar Championship was only 32,500 contradicts V8SA's statement at its Sydney launch last Wednesday night that last year's championship "event attendances ranged from 50,000 people in Darwin to around 300,000 in Adelaide" -- a statement which also overlooked that the second Phillip Island round last year, promoted by V8SA, drew barely 15,000.
Even more curiously, last Wednesday's V8SA statement claimed "seven million Australians watched" V8 Supercars live on the Seven Network last year. The previous year it claimed 19 million had watched V8 Supercars on Seven. Are we to take from this latest "seven million" that 12 million Australians turned off or just vanished from the domestic V8 Supercar audience last year?
Or is it perhaps a process of starting -- repeat: starting -- to move towards bringing some sense to these audience numbers?
It made viewing this classic event onerous, particularly when there is work to be done as the telecast eats up the Australian morning, but the finish made it all worthwhile -- although Australia's Marcos Ambrose was out before half distance with engine failure in his Toyota.
Jamie McMurray won a thrilling climax in his first debut for Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, giving team owner Chip Ganassi his first Daytona 500 victory to add to his Indianapolis 500 and Daytona 24-hour successes. And Dale Earnhardt came from 10th to second, right on McMurray's tail, in the last two laps to make it a Chevrolet one-two. McMurray only led two of the 208 laps, but that was enough for one of the most amazing wins in this great NASCAR race.
And, despite all the interruptions, the telecast was a reminder that there's nothing on earth in four-wheel racing that matches -- certainly so consistently -- the spectacle of NASCAR's Sprint Cup.
The event was marred by heavy rain which kept the field behind the safety car for about three hours in eight stints -- the last of them just 11 minutes from the finish, with the field only set free again at the last corner of the event.
The BMW 335i driven by Paul Morris, John Bowe and Sydney owner Garry Holt took the honors, completing 202 laps and 1254.4km. It was the second victory for Holt's team in four years and ended two years of dominance by the Alan Heaphy-prepared Mitsubishi Evos. However, an Evo IX driven by David Wall, his father Des and Trevor Symonds finished second.
Glenn Seton, Neil Crompton and Mark King were third in an Evo X, a lap down, with the Holden R8 Sportswagon of Nathan Pretty, Cameron McConville and Andrew Jones fourth.
Hagon tell us that guest-of-honour Sir Jack Brabham, who also raced an open-wheeler at the 6km high-speed track, was in great form and signed autographs for as long as everyone wanted.
"The 11 guys who were part of the 51-car (original) entry list came up well too," Hagon says.
Brabham was given two rounds of three cheers, as well as numerous standing ovations. Next month 'Old Black Jack' will head off to Bahrain for a gathering of living Formula One world champions at the season-opening grand prix to celebrate 60 years of F1.
"They've organised kidney dialysis for him at the local hospital," Hagon reports.
Hirvonen took the lead in his Focus on stage five from six-time world champion Sebastien Loeb, who finished second, 42.3 seconds behind, in his Citroen C4 WRC. It was the 12th WRC round win for Hirvonen, who was runner-up in the championship last year. He earned the maximum 25 points under the new WRC scoring system that replicates the new F1 system.
"It's a perfect start to my year," Hirvonen said. "I'm really happy it's over after those last few stages -- you can't imagine how nervous I was in there. I've never won the first round before, but after last season I've got one more year of experience. Now I plan to carry on like this. It's a new game in Mexico (round two on March 4-7) and I can't wait to get started again."
Loeb, who lost out to Hirvonen in a tyre gamble on the second leg, began Sunday trailing by 16.1 seconds and for once was content to settle for second and 18 championship points.
"It's been tough -- and Mikko has done a perfect rally," Loeb said. "We made a little mistake Saturday, but even without it I don't know if I would have been able to beat him. He was strong and he deserves his victory."
Ford's number two driver Jari-Matti Latvala, another Finn, was third -- 33.1 seconds behind Loeb, earning 15 points and giving Ford the lead in the manufacturers' championship. Loeb's teammate, Spaniard Dani Sordo, was fourth -- 1 minute 26.2 seconds behind Latvala after a mistake on Saturday when a blanking plate was not removed from the front of his car, causing its engine to overheat.
Sebastien Ogier of the Citroen Junior team put in a strong performance to be fifth on his Rally Sweden debut, 4 minutes 15.3seconds behind victor Hirvonen. Sixth was Stobart-Ford team driver Henning Solberg, tackling his first event with new co-driver Ilka Minor, and adjusting to a new English language pace-note system.
Petter Solberg's first rally in his 2009 specification Citroen C4 WRC was disappointing, with the former world champion only ninth. Another former world champion, Marcus Gronholm, finished 21st in his Stobart-Ford Focus, but he won his favourite Sagen stage on Saturday.
And despite an "off" into a snowbank on the first leg, 2007 F1 world champion Kimi Raikkonen completed his first WRC in 30th -- 37 minutes behind Hirvonen -- in a Citroen C4.
"I was not happy about getting stuck on the first day, but I maybe I've improved a lot since. "This was definitely not an easy rally, but we've got a lot more experience of the car and the (pace) notes now. Mexico is next. I've never driven the car on gravel before, but the grip should be consistent. I'm looking forward to it," the former F1 champ said.
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