Two classes at Bathurst 1000

[peckstar]

It seems some of the DVS boys are looking to get a second class in the 1000km race for development series cars

Its a good idea if the goal is to increase the field size. But naturally has some down sides also

What do others think

TEAMS PUSH FOR TWO-CLASS BATHURST 1000

[Samwhk]

I've been hoping they'd do something like this.

Leaving it quite late to get it all together I would've thought. And what of drivers? I wouldn't think many of the DVS teams would have the budget to get top, or semi-top drivers in, so it could end up being a bunch of pay drivers...

Still, the more cars in the 1000 the better I say. Just hope there's a decent amount of them, 8-10 or so.

[redesp]

Excellent Idea.

25 Cars is not enough!

Where are the other 7 REC's?

Should the DVS group be offered the opportunity to take the "missing" 7 grid spaces in the enduro events?

This would clearly raise the profile of DVS teams / drivers / sponsors.

[GTRMagic]

Some of the people mentioned in the article struggle to get their DVS car onto the grid... how does it bring anything to the event if they are wobbling round the back several seconds off the pace in a car not prepared to its zenith, and drivers not quite good enough to get a main game ride?

Can they run a car in the DVS race and the 1000km race on the same weekend?

[eduardo1]

They've had numours opportunities to do this over the years. V8SC has offered wildcard entries to the DVS teams before and it almost always falls over because of the budget required to run a full enduro.

Also, the only teams that would do this would be the ones that aren't in contention for the DVS championship, so you can remove the best 3-5 teams from the equation.

Then of the teams that could find the budget and aren't in the championship race, they need to be the same teams whose drivers haven't been picked up for main game co-driver duties.

So you start to get a very narrow bunch of options.

The whole story reads that Wayne Russell thinks it is a great idea and is trying to generate a groundswell for it. But I have a hard time seeing 4 more cars being able to make the grid.

And to be honest, while I think 25 is a little low on numbers, a bunch of DVS midfielders adds nothing to the spectacle. I'd much rather see a bunch of factory wildcards.

[Downoz]

Originally Posted by eduardo1

And to be honest, while I think 25 is a little low on numbers, a bunch of DVS midfielders adds nothing to the spectacle. I'd much rather see a bunch of factory wildcards.

I would like to see a full grid of sports car again in February, 2015, bring it on.

[GHOGH]

Could try running the 'GTC' MARC Ford Focus type cars with the v8sc in V8SC endurance rounds.
It puts a few more drivers on the grid as well as those pairing the main-gamers in the v8sc's

plus the factory wild cards as above - do erebus, nissan have spare cotf cars so at least one extra wild card per brand.

[redesp]

I understand the comments above regarding teams / budgets / skill etc.
however 25 cars is not a great number to have i a series.

From what I understand, IF teams can't supply a car for an event they get penalied by V8supercars.
ie BJR would have coped a penalty if they couldn't put a repalcement BOC car on the grid for the AGP.

Shouldn't there a penalty (or conversely an incentive) for REC holders to have a car engaged in the championship?

When was the last time there was a full grid of 32 cars

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by redesp

I understand the comments above regarding teams / budgets / skill etc.
however 25 cars is not a great number to have i a series.

From what I understand, IF teams can't supply a car for an event they get penalied by V8supercars.
ie BJR would have coped a penalty if they couldn't put a repalcement BOC car on the grid for the AGP.

Shouldn't there a penalty (or conversely an incentive) for REC holders to have a car engaged in the championship?

When was the last time there was a full grid of 32 cars

25 cars is fine for the series, given the quality of the cars. But for Bathurst it would be nice to have a few more. I don't think it really needs more than 30, so a few wildcards, either extra factory entries or DVS, would add a different mix to it.

But only quality cars and drivers. I think if V8s wants to go down this route (and nothing in that article suggests they're really keen on the DVS option) then they should not make the DVS one of the support categories. That way the better DVS teams can enter their cars and put some good combinations together.

3 wildcards and 3 DVS entries would be a good addition to the Bathurst field.

[one five five]

When this race was formed in 1997, the V8 fraternity did so crowing about 40+ grid size compared to the 30 cars that turned laps during the traditional Bathurst 1000 event (Mr Cochrane even said at one stage Bathurst wasn't worth having with that 'low' amount of cars).

In the last few years we've been told the field size doesn't matter...... either way running a two-class system is going against the tradition of this race and in all fairness, who noticed less than 30 started last year?

[RedZedMikey]

Originally Posted by one five five

either way running a two-class system is going against the tradition of this race

Depends entirely upon the interpretation of tradition. "This race" is still called the Bathurst 1000, and grew out of the Bathurst 500. Production cars had 5 classes, Group A/C both had 3 classes (from memory). To my way of thinking, the class events are "traditional" seeing as they formed the basis of the Bathurst 500/1000 for the first 30 plus years.

The single class event was introduced with the V8s, and numbers have now dwindled to 25 + wildcards. They don't have 20 years up yet, so the majority of the event's history has been run with classes.

Separate the B1000 from the V8SC championship, and bring back classes. Lets start with V8SC + DVS + MARC and go from there. Yeah, I know ... a pipe dream that will never happen.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by RedZedMikey

Depends entirely upon the interpretation of tradition. "This race" is still called the Bathurst 1000, and grew out of the Bathurst 500. Production cars had 5 classes, Group A/C both had 3 classes (from memory). To my way of thinking, the class events are "traditional" seeing as they formed the basis of the Bathurst 500/1000 for the first 30 plus years.

The single class event was introduced with the V8s, and numbers have now dwindled to 25 + wildcards. They don't have 20 years up yet, so the majority of the event's history has been run with classes.

This race started afresh in 1997 on October 19 as a V8 only one class affair entirely seperate from the 'other' 35-year old race

The Bathurst 1000 that grew out of the 500 mile production car races died after the 1998 AMP Bathurst 1000 for 2-Litres.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by eduardo1

25 cars is fine for the series, given the quality of the cars. But for Bathurst it would be nice to have a few more. I don't think it really needs more than 30, so a few wildcards, either extra factory entries or DVS, would add a different mix to it.

But only quality cars and drivers. I think if V8s wants to go down this route (and nothing in that article suggests they're really keen on the DVS option) then they should not make the DVS one of the support categories. That way the better DVS teams can enter their cars and put some good combinations together.

3 wildcards and 3 DVS entries would be a good addition to the Bathurst field.

Isnt the reason the DVS is on the bill at Bathurst is to give the main game teams and drivers the opportunity to field/support cars in that series, to get miles up in that car, while the primary driver bangs around in the main series unit...

We have seen 6 winners in the series so far this year. With 'only' 25 cars on the grid. How many do we want to see?

[RedZedMikey]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

With 'only' 25 cars on the grid. How many do we want to see?

More than 25 cars for a 6-7 hour race on a 6.2km long circuit, especially after the various government investments in the new pit complex.

25 cars is OK for shorter races on shorter circuits.

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Isnt the reason the DVS is on the bill at Bathurst is to give the main game teams and drivers the opportunity to field/support cars in that series, to get miles up in that car, while the primary driver bangs around in the main series unit...

We have seen 6 winners in the series so far this year. With 'only' 25 cars on the grid. How many do we want to see?

Since they removed the option for co-drivers who don't do the previous three rounds to compete in DVS at Bathurst - I'm going to say no, no it's not.

And I'm not quibbling about the number of cars on the grid for the rest of the championship. But at Bathurst, for a 7 hour race, it would be nice to have a few more quality entries.

[Deleted]

http://www.motoring.com.au/news/moto...rst-1000-44501

However, V8 Supercar chief executive James Warburton said: "The interest was significant. Numerous parties contacted us to express an interest in joining the Bathurst grid this year.

"Some had great desire but not the technical backing and personnel required for this year but are putting together plans for next year.

"We also had keen interest from teams in the Dunlop [development] series, however the commission resolved that only current-specification cars [introduced last year] would be eligible to ensure the race continues to set the benchmark of technical parity and competitiveness.

---
At a maximum of 28 cars this October the Bathurst 1000 field will be barely 60 per cent of that of February's lower-profile Bathurst 12-Hour in which exotic GT brands now predominate.

I was really looking forward to the possibility of having multiple class touring cars for the first time in ages @ 1000 but these cowards clearly do not have the wits to do that. "Technical parity and competitiveness", what kind of excuse is that? And if they're really that afraid they could've just slapped BoP penalties for the lower class machinery and be done with that...

Fine, continue having your tiny balanced field restricted to sub 30s

[Umai Naa]

Those 7 RECs are now the property of V8SC.

[RedZedMikey]

Last year's 1000 had 29 cars including the 888 run wild card.
This year we are curremtly at 25, and unless there is enough interest shown from people running COTF wild card entries soon, I think there is some merit in the DVS class proposal - so long as there is a minimum of (say) 5 entries. 25 is just not enough for a Bathurst event which is not in its infancy.

It doesn't sound like there is much interest from DVS teams to put together a budget to lease and run a COTF, so what does it matter if they are running around in the previous cars at the rear of the field, potentially seconds slower than the main game? It would be another class, and would add interest to the event.

Will the fastest DVS car be able to qualify faster than the slowest COTF? Would the DVS cars be exempted from any mandatory fuel fill numbers that the COTF teams will have to adhere to? How will the 17" Dunlops wear compared to the 18"? The concept can be as interesting or as rubbish as the individual makes of it.

Either way, the next time I am at Bathurst will be for a (hopefully) full field of 55 cars over several classes next February.

[bortall]

Given the camping debacle (money grab) at this year’s Bathurst, who cares if they have 2 classes or not.

[MattV]

All sounds like a great idea until one of Dick's cars gets taken out at about 2pm and we have to hear about "once a year drivers" ad nauseam for the next four hours.

[racer69]

I think it's a good idea, but as long as a long-term committment to including the Dunlop Series cars in the race was made and they would actively encourage them to compete in the race, rather than just make them feel like 'grid fillers' (not having a Dunlop Series round at Bathurst in future would help this i think)

In general though the more cars the merrier in my opinion

[GTRMagic]

How do you not hold a Dunlop series race at Bathurst when it has been published, and team sponsorships sold on the back of the teev coverage it brings...

[racer69]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

How do you not hold a Dunlop series race at Bathurst when it has been published, and team sponsorships sold on the back of the teev coverage it brings...

You have to hold the Dunlop round this year, thats why i said "in future"

[peckstar]

Im a bit in two minds about this

It would be great to have more cars out there, but the cars we have out there now are all fast and professional, this means less Safety Cars which results in a better endurance race

[chavez]

Originally Posted by peckstar

Im a bit in two minds about this

It would be great to have more cars out there, but the cars we have out there now are all fast and professional, this means less Safety Cars which results in a better endurance race

No doubt the field is more professional and faster, but I'm not sure this has reduced the number of Safety Cars. Although I am going off memory and don't have any facts at hand.