Shootouts

[marcus]

just wondering what people thought of the top 10/15 shootouts ??

I think they are interesting but only at Bathurst ..having them very round is silly and it doesnt make for good TV..the shootout at Canberra was boring except for Radisich of course.

but is this really needed..it takes up valuable track time for other classes and just bores the pants off me (sorry for that visual image )
I like the shootout at Bathurst because that is a tradition and it was only once a year and you looked forward to it..but now you dont because its the same at every other race.

anyone else feel that they should scrap it and leave just for bathurst ??

[Crash Test]

I'd have to agree with what you said above, but to be honest the Canberra shoot out wasn't too bad. It gives some the blokes a run out in front of the cameras that wouldn't normally get it (McConville, McLean, Ellery etc) and last weekend there were several different strategies in place to warm up their tyres (I think Ellery did an ace job of it). From a TV perspective you get to see some really hot, on the edge laps, which are pretty good.

But as a rule, not at every round please...it just adds to the Cochrane devaluing of Bathurst....

[Diabando]

I find it annoying!! Qualifying is qualifying, and this sort of thing just ruins it - why bother for pole when all you really have to do is make the top ten, THEN do your best?

Still - I have to say it is better than that awful idea they had years ago with the "draw" for the top ten... nothing worse than watching them draw cards with numbers on them - demoralising.

Thumbs down to it all...

[RaceTime]

I wouldn't suggest that any driver was sandbagging, but with a top 15 shootout, why bother risking the car during session when there is a full field of cars on the track?

[Buckshot]

I found the telecast of the Top 15 shoot out incredibly boring on Saturday. Maybe a highlights package would have been better.

I heard there was a 45 minute delay at Canberra due to the Faulkner practise accident for the Saturday program and thought maybe this is why they televised the shoot out in full to fill in time ?

[DAVID PATERSON]

For sure Cochrane is trying to drag Bathurst down to the level of everything else and this is just another example of that. I'm very suspicious as to why he is doing this. Having a top 15 is a bit much when there are only 32 cars in the race. On TV, it's OK as a spectacle but trackside, it's dead boring, and it does take up some time which could be devoted to support events. Though of course, Tony doesn't like anybody who puts on a better show than his.

[Ray Bell]

Have to agree with all that. The top ten is only worthwhile if they have the full lap on camera, so you can time segments for yourself, and if it's just ten and if it interferes as little as possible with others getting races.

Remember, it started at Bathurst back about 1978 when there was nothing else on the programme.

[Amaroo Park]

The Top Ten until 85 was held over 2 runs. As for Cochrane he belives that anything before 97 was garbage end everything since is great. The reson he dose not like Bathurst more than likely is that he is not getting a sqillion dollars for going there. Histroy has no place in Cochranes world of Motorsport

[racer69]

The Top 10 used to be special because it was once a year and it was a challenge because the drivers had to do it one lap and nothing else. Now they get practice all year and it isn't so much of a challenge, and you won't get surprises getting pole, like with Scott in 86,Johnson in 92 and Lowdnes in 95.

Cochrane is trying to devalue bathurst because he wasn't around when it started. He likes to say that it was him who got the races at Canberra, Adelaide, New Zealand and the Queensland 500, he just wants to make races that he didn't have anything to do with, like Bathurst, Sandown 500, Mallala, Symmons, Wanneroo and so onnot look as good so he can make more money. I think one of the reasons he didn't try harder with the Bathurst Consortium in 1996 is because AVESCO had nothing to do with the organisation and therefore couldn't claim any praise for its success so they made their own race, and people still talk about the mountain and the winners before they think about who ran it, and this angers him i'm sure, because he's not making money.

No matter what he says, the championship will never be bigger than bathurst. The Daytona 500 is bigger than a NASCAR champ, and the Indy 500 is more widely known than the CART or IRL winner.

[elephino]

I have to say that the top 15 shootout in Canberra was quite boring. 15 is too many personally. On top of this, most of the time they waited until the previous came in after its cooldown lap before sending out the next car which just wastes time and makes things boring.