MOTORSPORT: Wise head explains V8 racing's relevance

Roland Dane says V8 Supercar racing vital to road car sales
Commentary here late last week that, based on last year's VFACTS car sales figures, the "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" adage no longer holds true brought some feedback from V8 Supercar racing's championship-winning Triple 8/Team Vodafone principal Roland Dane.

We were surprised -- pleasantly surprised, we must say -- to receive a lengthy email from Dane on the matter.

Here's what he had to say:
"You make a case that the participation of Ford and Holden in V8 Supercars is not helping them in the sale arena in Australia because their sales of Falcons and Commodores continue to fall.

"My view is actually that without their participation in the championship they would have long ceased to be able to sell the premium versions of these models -- the XRs and the SS models as well as the FPV and HSV ranges.

"I believe that Holden realise this and they have continued to sell meaningful quantities of V8-engined cars as a result.

"These models are the ones that earn the companies money -- clearly the rental ones do not.

"The evidence from Europe is that the mass makers have not been able to sell top-end versions of their 'cooking' cars for some years, whereas here both Ford and Holden have managed to do so.

"In Europe the migration to the premium brands has been almost total beyond a certain (pretty low) price point, whereas there has remained a reasonable market here for the more expensive versions of the Falcon and Commodore.

"That, in my view, is entirely due to the kudos that flows from the racing activities.

"Unfortunately, Ford in particular has done so little to activate its sponsorship of race teams and drivers that they have failed to gain as much traction as they could from the successes they have had.

"They cannot expect to get much from the sponsorship if they don't tell people about their success!

"Not once in three years did Ford shout about winning Bathurst, let alone anything else.

"But my point is: how bad would sales be of the premium versions of the Falcon and Commodore without the racing activities?

"Answer: so low that they would cease to be viable, and if those models cease to be viable then the whole range ceases to be viable (faster than otherwise might be the case anyway), as those are the models with the margins.

"Conversely, how much better would sales of the Falcon be if they properly exploited the successes?

"Racing can sell cars if it is done successfully and exploited correctly and effectively -- ask the likes of Audi, who probably do it better than anyone.

"The real shame right now is that Ford Australia has one of the best model ranges in the world at its disposal (from Europe as well as here) and yet the marketing department here has failed to take advantage of this.

"Why are we not seeing Jamie Whincup being used to market the new Fiesta, for instance, let alone the Falcon?

"A final thought ... I believe that Holden sold around 12,000 V8-engined Commodores in 2007.

"They cost very little more to make than an Omega version, but sell for appreciably more. So the extra margin on those cars might easily amount to $10,000 per unit (and I would think it's more) over the 'cooking' versions.

"But let's be very conservative and say it is $5000 per unit. That's $60 million extra gross per year, so it suddenly makes a racing programme look very cheap."

As we wrote pre-Christmas on the Auto Action V8 Supercar Summit (the third item of the commentary here), Dane is a man with plenty of wisdom worth hearing.

Not only has he raised the standards in V8 Supercar racing preparation, presentation and performance in recent times, these latest comments are a valuable perspective in the debate on the merits of racing as a marketing tool for Australian car manufacturers.

Don't expect Villeneuve to do the whole series, if any rounds.

For starters, he has a commitment with Peugeot for the mid-year Le Mans 24-hour sports car classic that surely is a greater priority for him this year.

The suggestion is that Villeneuve may be tempted to drive a Super Cheap Racing Holden Commodore for Paul Morris as teammate to Russell Ingall.

A full season would almost certainly require the 1997 Formula 1 world champion -- and 1995 Indianapolis 500 and Indy series winner -- to move to Australia for most of the year.

Morris has said that $2 million in sponsorship would need to be found to fund a car for Villeneuve and pay him.

While Villeneuve at his peak was one of the few F1 drivers to provide genuine competition to Michael Schumacher, the Canadian has not exactly had great appeal to sponsors of late.

None were prepared to back him sufficiently to get a regular drive in NASCAR's Sprint Cup in the US.

One or a couple of guest drives in a V8 Supercar as part of a celebrity rotation in the second Super Cheap Commodore may be a possibility, but even such a limited program for Villeneuve could cost Morris the $2 million he has mentioned.

We'll be surprised to see Villeneuve racing in Australia.

The whole business may just prove to be the biggest beat-up since the Polariser.

VW in box seat to take new Dakar glory
The new-look Dakar Rally in South America is past the halfway mark and Volkswagen is looking good for glory with its Touaregs.

VW drivers Carlos Sainz of Spain, Dieter Depping of Germany and Mark Miller of the US are holding the top three spots, while South African Giniel De Villiers has dropped to fifth.

Mitsubishi's campaign with its new Racing Lancer has fallen apart after its seven straight victories when the event was run in Europe and Africa.

Mitsubishi's French superstar Stephane Peterhansel is out after his Lancer caught fire.

The only factory Mitsubishi entry remaining is that of Spaniard Nani Roma in fourth place, ahead of American Robby Gordon in his Hummer.

Qatar's Nasser Al-Attiyah, who shared early stage wins with Sainz, was disqualified last Friday for missing nine checkpoints on a stage as he avoided sand dunes because of overheating fears with his BMW X3.

Nissans are now in sixth and seventh and BMWs ninth and 10th.

Australians are doing well in the gruelling event too.

Bruce Garland and co-driver Harry Suzuki are up to 16th outright in their Isuzu D-Max ute built in Sydney after the eighth stage up the Pacific coast in Chile – the first after a day's break.

David Schwarz is 21st in the bike section aboard a KTM, while fellow Aussies Simon Pavey on a BMW and Christophe Barriere-Varju on a KTM are 54th and 88th respectively.

And another Aussie, Richard Hayes, is the mechanic aboard a Mercedes driven by two Spaniards that is 46th in the truck section.

The field has reached La Serena and now heads back into the Andes mountains and tackles the Atacama Desert, reputed to be the driest place on earth, then ventures back into Argentina and the finish at Buenos Aires next weekend.

Garland said he was running as high as 13th on the road before the rest day but lost 20 minutes due to a mistake in sand dunes. However, he is thrilled with his position mid-event.

"There's a few in front of us who I reckon won't make it because they're over-driving and that will soon start to cause problems for them mechanically," Garland said.

"I'm aiming for a finish, not a new land speed record every day and my approach is working.

"The car is running like a dream.

"This must be the most watched sporting event in the world right now.

"We came to one little group of corners the other day and there was a crowd like you would get at the Melbourne Cricket Ground all standing there.

"I don't think the Pope gets as big a crowd as we are. We all feel like rock stars!"

Lots of talk but still no Honda F1 buyer
The men who remain in charge of Honda's F1 team that is on the chopping block claim there are as many as a dozen serious bidders, yet progress seems to be slow with the start of the new season now just two months away in Melbourne.

Ferrari will launch its new car at Mugello in Italy within the next 24 hours, while McLaren and Toyota will unveil their new models this week, but Aussie Mark Webber's new Red Bull racer won't be seen until February 9.

Despite the public optimism of Honda team chiefs Nick Fry and Ross Brawn about a sale, there is no clear timeframe or indication that a serious short list has been framed when our understanding was that Honda wanted a deal within a month of announcing its F1 withdrawal or it would shut down the operation.

Mexican telecommunications tycoon Carlos Slim was a quick scratching and now Prodrive's David Richards, who we have always considered the favourite if he could arrange Middle East finance, has cast doubts on proceeding.

There has been a report -- in London's News of the World newspaper, admittedly not a noted authority on motorsport (although it uncovered the Max Mosley sex scandal) -- that Michael Schumacher may be the figurehead for a rescue.

That sounds like desperation to us.

Richards, who briefly ran the outfit then known as BAR (before it was bought by Honda) and guided it to runner-up in the 2004 F1 manufacturers' world championship, has said he is not convinced a return to the GP paddock is financially viable.

Richards may be just playing hard ball, but he has questioned whether F1 has yet realised the enormity of the global financial crisis and the impact it could have on the sport.

"People are not buying anything that is extravagant, excessive, overtly luxurious or blatantly ostentatious," Richards said.

"There are still many people in F1 for whom reality has not yet sunk in about how bad the situation is out there in the world.

"If F1 does not reconnect itself with its fan base and with the man in the street, and bring itself down to earth, I fear for its future.

"(Despite agreed cost-cutting measures) The teams have still got a burden of overhead that is unsustainable.

"With the window of time for entry, I just question whether it is right at the moment (for Prodrive)."

Richards said the cost-cutting driven by Federation Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) president Mosley were "modest inroads" and would not impact greatly until 2010.
 

>> Renault's new R29 has failed FIA crash-testing.
The car is believed to have failed nose and side-impact tests, with one chassis seriously damaged, autosport.com reported.
A Renault team spokesman claimed the problem had been identified and solved.

>> Scuderia Toro Rosso, the former Minardi, will have the youngest driver on the F1 grid this year.
It has named 20-year-old Sebastien Buemi as one of its drivers.
Buemi was born in Switzerland, has spent a lot of time in France and is now believed to use Dubai as his base.
We suspect Toro Rosso will now retain four-time Champ Car champion Sebastien Bourdais in its other car for at least the start of the season.
Bourdais had his F1 debut season last year and looked to be making strides in the latter races, although he was overshadowed by the brilliance of young German Sebastien Vettel, who won the Italian GP and is now Aussie Mark Webber's Red Bull teammate.
Bourdais has been linked to a return to America if Penske Racing needs to find a replacement for Brazilian Helio Castroneves, who is to face trial soon in a big tax fraud case.
Brazilian F1 hopeful Bruno Senna may find himself on hold unless he lands a seat with any new buyer of the Honda team.

>> McLaren boss Ron Dennis has added his voice to those of many others, including his new world champion Lewis Hamilton, saying that F1 needs to improve its spectacle to avoid "boring" racing.
"It can be pretty boring -- not to me, but for you guys (the public) if the race is a procession," Dennis said at the Autosport International show in Britain.
While we believe the 2008 F1 season was in many respects the best in 15 years there still were still some dreadfully processional races.
The major rule changes this year, especially KERS, may shake up the order and, along with the array of brilliant young driving talent in the sport now, produce something special on the world's tracks.

Images: Roland Dane (and Jamie Whincup) - Robert Cianflone/Getty Images; Dakar - VW Press Services