Taupo weekend thread

[TR7V8]

[quote=Armco Bender]Why was there another major meeting at Pukekohe on the same day as the A1?..
quote]

Because Auckland wants the A1GP to go to Hampton Downs & they are prepared to sabotage A1GP Taupo do get it. You'd think that Motorsport NZ would control this conflict better & sure enough the Pukekohe permit was issued on the assurance that it wasn't going to be a major event. Since when has a 35 car Formula 5000 race not been major? The cart is leading the horse in NZ motorsport.

[Evomike]

[QUOTE=TR7V8]

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

Why was there another major meeting at Pukekohe on the same day as the A1?..
quote]

Because Auckland wants the A1GP to go to Hampton Downs & they are prepared to sabotage A1GP Taupo do get it. You'd think that Motorsport NZ would control this conflict better & sure enough the Pukekohe permit was issued on the assurance that it wasn't going to be a major event. Since when has a 35 car Formula 5000 race not been major? The cart is leading the horse in NZ motorsport.

Maybe it has something to do with a little spat between NZV8's and A1, hence the non appearance of the V8's at the Taupo round? Just guessing.

Although the bloke who organises the Puke event is a throughly nice bloke who just loves the sport.

[Armco Bender]

Maybe it has something to do with a little spat between NZV8's and A1

Anything to do with money?....

[Evomike]

Originally Posted by Armco Bender

Anything to do with money?....

Dunno, I think it was "We will only come if we are the main billing and A1 are the support race"

Whilst I don't doubt the pulling power of the V8's its a bit like saying you will only go to a mates birthday if everyone gives you the presents.

[socram]

C'mon guys, don't blame a classic meeting for the poor crowd at Taupo and don't you dare suggest that our annual Classic meeting on Auckland's anniversary weekend should be canned!

Just for the uninitiated, the owners of Hampton Downs are now the promoters of that January meeting and have been since we (MGCC) handed it over to them three years ago, so that they could have two weekends on the trot with F5000s before the South Island's popular Southern Festival of Speed. It has been and will remain one of the top meetings of the year for the classic brigade.

We even lent you the Muscle Cars to pad out the A1GP programme!


Face facts. The people who go to the F5000 meetings are not normally that interested in the more modern stuff. There was a great grid of Formula Juniors and historics in addition to the other classes, making 12 grids in all and a 36 race programme over the two days, run brilliantly and in fine weather, all finished by 5pm Sunday.

As a trackside apartment owner at Hampton Downs, I will not be using the apartment if A1GP does get to HD, as I would rather watch the event on TV. I am not really interested in any one/two make racing, whether it be A1GP, the Toyota race series, Holden/Ford V8s, Utes or saloons etc.


A1GP and Classics generally cater for two distinct groups of spectators and we have enough problems getting race dates as it is, with Hampton Downs and Pukekohe already fully booked for the next 12 months. Classic racing is booming and although I agree with the concept of A1GP, a lot of damage was done by the attitude of the circuit last year with overly zealous security stopping people bringing water into the circuit!

We have had a successful classic meeting at Pukekohe for the last ten years so if we get 300 cars and a fairly full grandstand for a $25 weekend ticket, and offer a great spectacle and full grids, why should we suffer? I have never been a fan of meetings that run to the clock with a lot of wasted time and Taupo is too far away for a day trip.

HD has NOT in any way sabotaged A1GP at Taupo and to suggest they have, shows a lack of understanding of the structure of motorsport and the fickleness of the general public, who, by and large, are not purists. Read other messageboards as I have done and you will have seen considerable disenchantment with last year's event from ther locals.

The fact that drivers from the UK, USA, Denmark Canada and Australia head to NZ for the classic series', shows just how strong the classic and historic scene is. It is not beset by financial wranglings and the need for people like Colin Giltrap to keep digging into their own pockets for survival.

[TR7V8]

Can't agree with you Socram. Every bum on a seat at Pukekohe that weekend was a bum that not going to be at Taupo so there is no question that some motorsport fans chose Pukekohe over Taupo. I don't blame them because they got more races for less money - easy decision but if the motorsport organisation in NZ cooperated better there would never have been another significant meeting on A1GP weekend. The fact that there was just makes you ask why.

You can not tell me that Taupo wouldn't have been better attended if there was no choice of motorsport events last weekend. So the conflict can only have come about due to short-sightedness, selfishness or greed unless you want to include ignorance or ego in that list & it could have been coming from both sides, I don't know. I'm just saying that to have the 2 meetings on the same weekend was an own goal for NZ Motorsport. So even if it wasn't sabotage it was stupid.

Haven't said that I don't think the A1GP organisers did themselves any favours. There wasn't as much dead track time as you might think, looking at the fairly meagre schedule but it wasn't a great line-up by any stretch. At the least something like those 30+ Formula Fords should have been at Taupo & there should have been something with bigger feilds than the Porsches & Toyotas. Taupo is a big track so it looks empty with 12 cars on it.

Why can't Motorsport NZ run the sport for maximum success of the industry rather than just administering the rule book.

[Armco Bender]

A1 can't compete with F5000's,who wouldn't rather watch real racing cars with roaring V8's.
It was a pity you had to choose,next year its the F5000's for sure.

[Tyrrell]

I don't want to delve into politics here, but surely the bottom line is that every effort should have been made to avoid a clash. Both meetings hold attraction. New Zealanders shouldn't have been forced to decide between the two. It's a bit of a slap in the face for the many competitors in both series who've travelled thousands of miles and spent good money to entertain you, don't you think? Both meetings deserved full houses.

[TR7V8]

My thoughts exactly Tyrrell.

[socram]

Sorry, but if you talk to the spectators at the classics, you'll rarely find that they made a conscious choice to avoid A1GP and go to Puke. Greater Auckland has a population of 1 million people, plus Hamilton and the Waikato region, within an hour of Pukekohe, so that is where the population base is, not Taupo.

The A1GP race itself seemed to have plenty of people in the stands on the Sunday, and according to the newspaper, a crowd of 65,000 over the three days, which seems fair enough to me. (Though I was surprised it was that large.) Note also that the main stands at Pukekohe are covered, but the Taupo spectator facility is open to the very hot sun/wind/rain. If like me you have a pale skin, and are advised to stay out of the sun, where do you think I'd choose all things being equal - which they are not?

At a guess, there would have been about 5,000 or less paying spectators at Pukekohe and the rest were on driver's allocation tickets and the crowd was much smaller than last year on the same weekend, so the meeting to suffer was arguably the classic meeting, not A1GP.

I'm no great fan of politics or MotorSport NZ, but in this instance, I see no reason to have Pukekohe empty on a holiday weekend when the local calendar is quite settled and the Rotary Nationsl (drags) are also on at meremere, next door to HD, the speedway in Auckland has its big meeting on the Saturday night, and the TV company had a total of 9 motoring events to cover.

I have booked Pukekohe for a sports/saloons/GTs race meeting November 29th, so if the A1GP is slotted into that spot, it is my hard luck, as the promoter, and I lose our one and only income earner for the year, and the two long established classic race series I convene, also lose a round.

We have to defer to an international series, and I wouldn't blame anyone or be bitter about it, but our marketing has already started with a meeting to celebrate 50 years of Marcos, but unlike A1GP, we have to book ahead to secure the dates, so to lose out will affect a fair few people who are aleady committed.

That is life, and the circuit/promoters of A1GP in NZ upset a lot of people in previous years, who have long memories, and it is up to them to repair the damage, not for others who run and compete in successful meetings to be penalised, especially when we have to pay for our own TV coverage, with no assistance whatever from MSNZ - even though we add substantially to their coffers through licence, permit and levy fees!

[TR7V8]

Originally Posted by socram

That is life, and the circuit/promoters of A1GP in NZ upset a lot of people in previous years, who have long memories, and it is up to them to repair the damage, not for others who run and compete in successful meetings to be penalised, especially when we have to pay for our own TV coverage, with no assistance whatever from MSNZ - even though we add substantially to their coffers through licence, permit and levy fees!

The A1GP company isn't going to go round apoligising to people so it can run its race. If it isn't wanted it will move on to the next country until the entire series is run in China.

I'm not a cheerleader for Taupo - far from it. My point is the A1GP is NZ's premier motor racing event - at least it should be if it was run right, & in a country this small there ought not to have been any other significant car racing event planned for the same day. I don't believe that the sprints & the drags & especially jet boat racing conflicts with the A1GP because they are very different formats with predominantly different fans whereas a car race at Pukekohe is in direct competition with any car race at Taupo. If the A1GP race landed on the MG Classic weekend it would be a major blow to both events but Motorsport NZ should be doing everything it can to avoid that.

Even before the tickets go on sale, if it is clear that the A1GP is not supported by the local motorsport fraternity it must make Mr. Teixeira wonder if we deserve to have it. Would this be the same attitude if F1 came to NZ?

Look, I shook my head in disbelief when I saw the race program for the A1. After last year's multiple, series points earning race program the '09 line up was poor. As far as I can tell that was the A1GP organisers call & it tells me they don't understand the local market. They were offered other race classes but turned them down so you have to think the same thing would have happened at Hampden Downs. The CART races I've been to had 2 races on raceday & that was it so maybe by international standards they thought 7 races was good. In this country we are used to better & I can't argue that apart from the muscle cars the feilds were too small, however, you can't pin that on Taupo if it wasn't their call.

Taupo has its own problems. I don't have any great criticism of the track but the accommodation is a real sour note. It is peak season so why should they require 3-4 night minimums? With that kind of attitude the Taupo region deserves to lose the race but that is a separate issue. There were other issues with the event promoters not paying for things until suppliers reached the end of their tether. The stands at Taupo were about to be removed on Thursday because of non-payment but I'd lay bets that the same thing will happen at Hampden Downs when the cash flow is thin.

What I can't agree with is the fact that the NZ motorsport industry doesn't unite behind the A1GP event to make the best of it. Hampton Downs isn't even open yet so Taupo was the only choice for the A1 race so get behind it. If the punters don't turn up then so be it but don't give them more reasons to stay away by giving them another big event on the same day. Once we have 2 tracks then the best business case will win the race & that will probably be HD but untill that time let's not give A1GP a reason to take NZ off the calendar.

I guess I speak as a naive motorsport fan rather than a businessman but I live in Wellington which as we all know is an ideal world.