History of REC's

[SJA]

Racing Entitlement Contract(s) (RECs), have been previously and are sometimes still referred to as Licences or Franchises. For the purposes of this discussion the term REC will be applied as the mutli-era term for ease of reading.

When is it fair to call a team a 2, 3, or 4 car team?

I am of the understanding it has to do with how many RECs an entity utilizes.

In 2009 -
Walkinshaw owns and operates four RECs = 4-car team
The Kelly’s own two RECs and lease two RECs from Perkins = 4-car team
Cruickshank owns one REC and leased one REC from Bright = 2-car team

Conversely –
The Stone’s own and operate two RECs = 2-car team. They neither own nor lease the #25 Britek REC. Britek contract SBRs services for chassis, engine program, preparation and race day assistance. So yes there are 3 SBR Falcons out there on race day, no one is disputing that, but Fujitsu’s deal is with Britek, not SBR. The (race day) staff (mostly) are employed by Britek, not SBR.

Morris owns and operates two RECs = 2-car team. He neither owns nor leases the #12 Triple F REC. Triple F contract PMM services for chassis, engine program, preparation and race day assistance including crew. So yes there are 3 PMM Falcons out there on race day, no one is disputing that, but PMM is not a three car team.

To use Cruickshank as an example again. Bright currently owns two RECs, #25 which he currently utilizes himself as explained above, and the previously known as #26 now known as #333 REC, which he leased to Cruickshank this year to allow him to run two cars.

The reason why we refer to Cruickshank as a two car team is because everything to do with #333 is in PCRs hands, right? The drivers contract, sponsorship arrangements etc. etc. As you can now see the difference, SBR is not a three car team, nor is PMM, as their “3rd” entries are in the control of other entities.

Now consider FPR. In 2003 they leased Rod Nash’s REC to field #19 for David Besnard. I say again, they LEASED the REC – meaning it was a legitimate 3rd entry. The driver was contracted to FPR, the sponsors were FPRs sponsors, the car was officially entered ‘Ford Performance Racing’…

Now consider FPR in 2010. They have neither leased nor purchased the Rod Nash REC this time around. The sponsors deal is with Rod Nash Racing, not FPR. The driver’s contract is with Rod Nash Racing, not FPR.

Now, there might be a deal between FPR and Nash to run #55 a little closer than a traditional satellite operation, but it appears to be a satellite operation none the less.

Now this begs the question surrounding the Rosenberg and Webb RECs (assuming the Webb deal comes together).

Rosenberg plans to run with SBR and Webb with DJR, but in what way? If Rosenberg leases his REC to SBR, SBR will then become a 3-car team in my eyes, but if Rosenberg contracts SBRs services in 2010 ala Bright in 2009, that’s a different story, isn’t it?

Same with Webb. If he leases his REC to DJR, then DJR will become a 3-car team, but if Webb simply contracts the services of DJR, it will/would/should be its own entry?

Your thoughts

[Trevor]

Obviously this post is from someone that is far wiser than the '100 posts' indicates - hmmm.

All I can add is that some REC's are for more than 1 car. GTR, this is more in your field I reckon.

[anthony81901]

IMO if the same person / group of people is making the decisions at a racetrack for a number of cars then these constitute a team, hence I would consider PCR, PMM & SBR 2 car teams, Kelly & Walkinshaw 4 car teams.

PMM & SBR both supply engineering services to customers, but at the racetrack they each do their own thing. Yes there would be some sharing of data, but then the same could be said of TDR, BJR & GRM who also use Walkinshaw engines and 888, DJR & PCR who all use 888 chassis and suspenson. Say for example an upgraded engine was tried in a BJR car and found to offer gains, then this development would flow through to the other users, but you wouldn't group them as a team because of this.

The difference between the RNR FPR relationship of 2003 vs 2010 was that all of the decisions in relation to preparation, sponsorship, drivers etc were the responsibility of FPR in 2003, while next year RNR will be involved in the decision making having contracts with sponsors and driver. Hence while it may be branded as a 3rd FPR car it will actually be a customer car. Likewise would apply to the Rosenberg & Webb entries depending on how the deals are structured.

I'm sure there would be a definition of what constitutes a team in the regs which limit one person / entity to controlling 4 RECs, but agree GTR will probably have the definitive answer at his fingertips.

[SJA]

So, the Webb's have secured the 29th REC and plan to run with DJR... Speedcafe wrote this in a very ambiguous way...

So which is it?
Are the Webb's leasing their REC out to DJR? Or, are the Webb's leasing DJRs services?

There is a difference.

[peckstar]

i get the impression that the Webb's will be the owners and it will be similar to the bright deal.

[SJA]

Originally Posted by peckstar

i get the impression that the Webb's will be the owners and it will be similar to the bright deal.

If that's the case, people should really stop refering to (in 2010) DJR, FPR & SBR as three car teams! They are not. DJR, FPR & SBR are two car teams, each with a one car satellite operation - Webb, Nash and Rosenberg respectivly - the fore mentioned have not leased their RECs to their preparers, but have rather themselves leased the preparation services of the larger teams.

Just as Britek has been regarded as a single car team in '09, as should Webb, Nash and Rosenberg in '10.

[Trevor]

Why hasn't GTR responded to this?

[Gaz170]

Since we've covered history of the cars (well getting there anyway), I thought it timely to look at the history of each REC, from when it was granted through various owners until the present.

Some like DJR 17 & 18 are no problem, others seem to have passed through many hands to get to where they are now.

Is anyone willing to try to list them all?

[E36ST]

What is a REC?

[ForumNick]

Racing Entitlement Contract











(ie. a licence to print money?)

[anthony81901]

Not sure of the full history, but as I recall the Race Entitlement Contacts, or franchises as they were known were issued in 1999.

The established teams that contested all rounds were issued a Level 1 franchise which entitled them to enter 2 cars but at various stages teams entered between 1 and 4 cars on one franchise, but by 2005 each Level 1 team was required to enter 2 at all races.

Some of the other teams who competed at select rounds were issued with Level 2 and others issued Level 3, not sure the exact criteria was. Level 1 teams received a bigger share of the revenue pie.

At various times V8SA has purchased back and issued new franchises. A few years ago the franchises were restructured as RECs with all Level 1 franchise holders receiving 2 RECs and all Level 2 holders after making a payment to upgrade, 1 REC.

Level 1s were originally issued to:

Dick Johnson Racing
Garry Rogers Motorsport
Gibson Motorsport
Glenn Seton Racing
Holden Racing Team
John Faulkner Racing
Lansvale Smash Repairs
Larkham Motorsport
Longhurst Racing
Perkins Engineering
Romano Racing
Stone Brothers Racing

A further franchise was later issued to Bob Forbes

The franchises issued to DJR, GRM, HRT & SBR have remained with the teams they were originally issued to even though some of these teams have changed owner.

GSR’s franchise was included when the team was sold to Prodrive.

Gibson Motorsport’s franchise was included when the team was sold to Gary Dumbrell. When Dumbrell sold the team to Bob Forbes at the end of 2000, he sold the franchise back to Fred Gibson. Gibson Motorsport competed under this franchise in 2001. When Gibson left the team he retained the franchise and sold it to John Briggs Motorsport, it being included when the team was sold to 888.

JFR’s franchise was sold to Paul Weel Racing in 2003. PWR sold one to Jason Bright at the end of 2007 and the other to HRT at the end of 2008.

Lansvale’s franchise was included when the team was sold to Tasman Motorsport. After Tasman closed at the end of 2009, one was sold to Tony D’Alberto Racing and the other to Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.

Larkham Motorsport’s franchise was sold back to V8SA when the team closed at the end of 2005.

Longhurst Racing’s franchise was included when the team was sold to Brad Jones Racing.

Perkins Engineering’s franchise was sold to Craig Gore’s WPS Racing at the end of 2004 Perkins purchasing 1 Level 2 from Kees Weel and leasing another from Bap Romano.

Bap Romano’s franchise was leased to TWR Australia for the K Mart cars in 2001, the Romano car being entered as a 3rd car under the HRT franchise. It was sold at the end of 2002 to Team Dynamik, being sold to Tony Longhurst in 2005 who resold 1 license to Paul Morris and the other to Rod Nash. There were legal proceedings brought against Longhurst by Keiran Wills on the basis that he held an option to buy them back, not sure how it all ended up.

Bob Forbes’ franchise was sold to Kelly Racing in 2003 after 00 Motorsport closed, the Kelly’s taking it with them when they split with Walkinshaw Performance.

Of the other RECs in use today, not sure where the 4th Walkinshaw one came from, Kelly Racing lease 2 from Larry Perkins, Triple F are using the REC previously used by Team Kiwi, Jonathon Webb is using a REC purchased from Jason Bright, Karl Reindler is using Bright’s remaining REC and Tim Slade is using the REC James Rosenberg purchased from Paul Cruikshank.