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Motorsports |OT| of Endurance Racing, Nascar, Rally, Sportscars, MotoGP, etc

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bobnowhere

Member
DD said:
They're going with V6s and Ford is pulling out, right? Or is there something else? I wish I could watch it from here. I instantly fell in love with the series since I discovered it in Toca 2. S2
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It's all a bit up in the air atm. Ford are going, Volvo are going, Merc(customer) went last year and Nissan are non-committal. They are moving to a more open formula, V8, V6, turbos etc... to attract new manufacturers but there is nothing on the horizon. They are keeping the 2 wheel RWD though. Crowds are also dropping, fields are dropping, ratings through the floor due to moving a lot of the races from free-to-air to pay TV and general interest falling to. Outside of Bathurst the series is struggling a bit.
 
D

DD

Member
bobnowhere said:
It's all a bit up in the air atm. Ford are going, Volvo are going, Merc(customer) went last year and Nissan are non-committal. They are moving to a more open formula, V8, V6, turbos etc... to attract new manufacturers but there is nothing on the horizon. They are keeping the 2 wheel RWD though. Crowds are also dropping, fields are dropping, ratings through the floor due to moving a lot of the races from free-to-air to pay TV and general interest falling to. Outside of Bathurst the series is struggling a bit.
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Damn, it's worse than I thought. So, if I get it right, the problem started when they moved to pay TV. Then, the teams and sponsors started losing interest in the series and started pulling out?
 
D

DD

Member
Dan27 said:
The series took the pay tv money over the health of the series, basically.
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Well, in that case...

K1ULiNV.jpg



I hope F1 suffers the same.
 
B

bobnowhere

Member
Dan27 said:
The series took the pay tv money over the health of the series, basically.
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DD said:
Damn, it's worse than I thought. So, if I get it right, the problem started when they moved to pay TV. Then, the teams and sponsors started losing interest in the series and started pulling out?
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The first problem came when Ford, Holden and Toyota all committed to stop making cars in Australia from 2017. The Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores that have been the backbone of the series since forever will not longer be made at all, not even overseas and imported here. Now Ford Australia were a terrible company and took the opportunity to immediately cut and run from the series but Holden should have been saved and even exported Commodores to many countries frequently as police vehicles. So in a few years the cars will be very different, I know ford teams were looking at the new Mustangs but Ford aren't interested.

The above was out of the control of the series but the decision to move all the lesser races to Pay TV has really hurt the series. I can't recall having a conversation with anyone about a race outside of Bathurst in the last two years, it's like the races barely exist. They may have increased revenue to the series but ratings are something like 20-30% of free-to-air and with the less eyes on, sponsors don't see the value and that critical mass of support is gone. The best teams/drivers have canabalised the best sponsors and those at the back are struggling.

There's a race on in Darwin this weekend, who knew?

The series is probably going to fall further before it rebuilds, I hope it does as it's fantastic racing most of the time. Maybe I'm making it sound worse than it is, but it has fallen hard in the last 2-3 years.
 
D

DD

Member
bobnowhere said:
The first problem came when Ford, Holden and Toyota all committed to stop making cars in Australia from 2017. The Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores that have been the backbone of the series since forever will not longer be made at all, not even overseas and imported here. Now Ford Australia were a terrible company and took the opportunity to immediately cut and run from the series but Holden should have been saved and even exported Commodores to many countries frequently as police vehicles. So in a few years the cars will be very different, I know ford teams were looking at the new Mustangs but Ford aren't interested.

The above was out of the control of the series but the decision to move all the lesser races to Pay TV has really hurt the series. I can't recall having a conversation with anyone about a race outside of Bathurst in the last two years, it's like the races barely exist. They may have increased revenue to the series but ratings are something like 20-30% of free-to-air and with the less eyes on, sponsors don't see the value and that critical mass of support is gone. The best teams/drivers have canabalised the best sponsors and those at the back are struggling.

There's a race on in Darwin this weekend, who knew?

The series is probably going to fall further before it rebuilds, I hope it does as it's fantastic racing most of the time. Maybe I'm making it sound worse than it is, but it has fallen hard in the last 2-3 years.
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Man, this sucks, specially because it seems that the locals had a real interest in the series. Here nobody ever talk about Stock Car or any other local series. You're in luck if anyone brings F1 to the table.

But why are these companies pulling out? Too expensive to build in Australia and moving to another place looking for cheap labor?
 
D

dubc35

Member
Wow, it was only 3, 4(?) years ago you could stream V8 races online. The timing was great for me too as the races would start around 8pm here.
 
D

DD

Member
I believe that someone at Audi said some time ago that the V8 Supercars series should become a GT3 series (or something like that), and if they do, Audi might jump in. What do you Aussies think about this idea in order to save it?
 
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bobnowhere

Member
Forgot about MotoGP this week, realised it was Assen and thought I'd missed it. Didn't like the change to racing on Sunday initially but OK with it now!

DD said:
Man, this sucks, specially because it seems that the locals had a real interest in the series. Here nobody ever talk about Stock Car or any other local series. You're in luck if anyone brings F1 to the table.

But why are these companies pulling out? Too expensive to build in Australia and moving to another place looking for cheap labor?
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A couple of reasons. Firstly a new government came in and ended all subsidies to car makers basically telling them to survive on their own from now on. The fact that they can get subsidies from other countries make the choice easy. Though to be fair Ford was already on the way out.

Secondly, the car market here is over-saturated with choice. You can probably buy more different brands and models in Australia that any other country in the world. Something like twice the choices of the USA for example. With only 24 million people the economies of scale made it really hard to make models just for the Australian market.

DD said:
I believe that someone at Audi said some time ago that the V8 Supercars series should become a GT3 series (or something like that), and if they do, Audi might jump in. What do you Aussies think about this idea in order to save it?
Click to expand...

GT3 is growing here. The Bathurst 12 hour grows every year and the local series has plenty of Audis, Ferraris, Porsches, Mercs and even the new BMWs. If the V8 drivers moved to GT3 it would probably take off. Never happen though, the V8 organisers have all the events and tracks tied up.
 
B

bobnowhere

Member
Jeez, absolute crash fest since the restart.

Go Jack! Try not to fall off this time.

Edit: Sheet, Rossi down now too! Jorge's plan of staying at the back might pay off.
 
Business

Business

Member
bobnowhere said:
Jeez, absolute crash fest since the restart.

Go Jack! Try not to fall off this time.

Edit: Sheet, Rossi down now too! Jorge's plan of staying at the back might pay off.
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So gutted for Rossi. Great weekend ruined and Lorenzo's abysmal performance will even allow him to extend points.

Fake edit: And here comes the sun now, thanks.
 
B

bobnowhere

Member
Strange, strange race from Lorenzo. Be interesting hear what was going on.

Fantastic from Miller, I was almost tearing up during his post-race interview! Poor old Gary McCoy though, not only did the race commentators forget about him, but even the Aussie commentators including Daryl Beattie forgot about Gary's wins when taking about previous Australian top class winners!
 
T

thefro

Member
Pretty crazy race at Road America for IndyCar already

I can understand why people are ecstatic that it's back on the schedule. Track fits the cars perfectly.
 
S

Shaneus

Member
Do many people care about Pikes Peak anymore since it was paved?

Not saying that isn't a sick effort though. Very cool to see a few drivers start to pop up who can master different classes. Really thought we'd see that with Loeb.
 
D

DD

Member
bobnowhere said:
Forgot about MotoGP this week, realised it was Assen and thought I'd missed it. Didn't like the change to racing on Sunday initially but OK with it now!



A couple of reasons. Firstly a new government came in and ended all subsidies to car makers basically telling them to survive on their own from now on. The fact that they can get subsidies from other countries make the choice easy. Though to be fair Ford was already on the way out.

Secondly, the car market here is over-saturated with choice. You can probably buy more different brands and models in Australia that any other country in the world. Something like twice the choices of the USA for example. With only 24 million people the economies of scale made it really hard to make models just for the Australian market.



GT3 is growing here. The Bathurst 12 hour grows every year and the local series has plenty of Audis, Ferraris, Porsches, Mercs and even the new BMWs. If the V8 drivers moved to GT3 it would probably take off. Never happen though, the V8 organisers have all the events and tracks tied up.
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Man, this sucks, specially because even if the big bosses there decide to go back to free TV, it seems like the damage is kind of irreversible. =/


thefro said:
Pretty crazy race at Road America for IndyCar already

I can understand why people are ecstatic that it's back on the schedule. Track fits the cars perfectly.
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I wish I could watch it, but Band TV always (ALWAYS!) find a f*ckin' football match to show instead of races. -.-
 
E

Elfforkusu

Member
Shaneus said:
Do many people care about Pikes Peak anymore since it was paved?

Not saying that isn't a sick effort though. Very cool to see a few drivers start to pop up who can master different classes. Really thought we'd see that with Loeb.
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I would care more if there was a stream I could watch.
 
B

B.K.

Member
Jeff Gordon is coming back to NASCAR to drive the 88 at Indianapolis next week if Dale Jr. isn't cleared by then.
 
B

bobnowhere

Member
Inters 2 seconds a lap faster now.

Shit Marques flying on slicks. Might be too late to come in, they'll have to hope to hang on till the end or they'll get swamped.

6 seconds a lap faster for Marquez now, he's got this.
 
Business

Business

Member
Unbelievable how everyone else managed to make Marquez strategy look brilliant. How is it possible you have a guy five seconds a lap faster the rest on slicks, all the guys in front have BOX boards to see and nobody pits for five laps? Speechless.
 
N

nature boy

Member
Because there is no communication outside of the pit boards. So they don't know.

Rossi's pit crew were annoyed he didn't come in for like 5 laps at least, but there's no way to tell him the strategy. Rossi decided to stay out, it's his decision.
 
Mastah

Mastah

Member
Superb races in all 3 classes, lovely weekend of MotoGP awesomeness.

What a call by Marquez and his crew, they've pulled this shit off. Congrats.
 
Business

Business

Member
nature boy said:
Because there is no communication outside of the pit boards. So they don't know.

Rossi's pit crew were annoyed he didn't come in for like 5 laps at least, but there's no way to tell him the strategy. Rossi decided to stay out, it's his decision.
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Obviously theres no radio coms so thats why I mention all the boards, you HAVE to see them all, not yours only but everyone's. I understand you miss it once, but that was astonishing.
 
D

DrM

Redmond's Baby
SpeedOfNuts said:
Unbelievable how everyone else managed to make Marquez strategy look brilliant. How is it possible you have a guy five seconds a lap faster the rest on slicks, all the guys in front have BOX boards to see and nobody pits for five laps? Speechless.
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Guys in the group were too focused on each other and probably waited who will go into the pits first.

Marquez gambled and he nailed it. Plus his hop from bike to bike is amusing to watch :D
 
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