Slow 2nd car line-ups anyway, so let HPDC's into the 1000!

[deeks6]

What's wrong with bringing back a Qualifying system?

Surely, something like 2.5% is acceptable - that would mean you'd have to run a 2:13 or so to get in the field. They could pay a decent entry fee as well.

Personally, I reckon the first 2 finishers in the HPDC should get an automatic entry along with the best privateer (if there is such a genuine article).

[the man]

didn't a couple of HPDC teams want to race last year in the 1000, but there wasn't enough pit garages available. Can't the new pits fit 80 odd cars? I think a few of the teams say that they would share a pit garage together but
wayne cattach said that it was a professional sport and grass roots so there would be no sharing of pit bays

[Falcadore]

The problem is that AVESCO is promoting a series, no Bathurst. Bathurst's image as one of the great races of the world runs counter to the primary objective of promoting the series. AVESCO want fans to attend ten rounds, not one. Watch 13 rounds, not one.

Strangely enough, the image of the Bathurst 1000 was one of the largest impediments to the growth of the series. AVESCO are right to do what there doing in trying to lessen the importance and impact of the B1000, but that doesn't make it repugnant to me.

What AVESCO wants to do is what Channel 7 for years tried to do. Make the race shorter. Ideally AVESCO would drop two cars to 32 permanent cars, and do away with co-driver races completely.

At some point in the future the Adelaide 500 format will be prposed, then applied to Bathurst. Us fans will complain about the tradition, but its a fight we lost some time ago and we give more ground each passing year.

[Sultan]

Falc, PLEASE tell me this is only a theory & not actual closed door whispers.....

[Razor]

Why don't the main V8 championship Holden teams give backing to HPDC Holden teams, I think only HSVDT/Kelly Racing Team gives a bit of support to Tony D'elberto, with HSVDT giving the 2004 Bathurst winning VY Commodore, and HSV coming aboard for #99 car. Why don't main teams like HRT, SCAR and GRM for example, should help Holden HPDC teams so they can finally get the HPDC title

[racer69]

I certainly don't think D'alberto was 'given' the ex-Kmart machine.


Falc - While that is correct in the way they are doing it, it si worth remembering that in America, NASCAR with the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the Indianapolis 500 still heavily promote these races as the highlight of their calendar years, despite the fact that it is also both their responsibilities for rest of the Nextel Cup and IndyCar Series respectively.

AVESCO seem to be heading the European way of making none more important than the others, for example the Monaco Grand Prix isn't really all it once was, and the Spa 24 Hours is in many ways just a longer round of the FIA GT Championship.

When the FIA was threatening the 'importance' of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the ACO did all it could to not be a part of the World Sportscar Championship in the late 80s, and the wrangles caused from this were only finally settled around the turn of the century, although of course even these days the ACO and the FIA can't agree on a common set of regulations.......

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by racer69

I certainly don't think D'alberto was 'given' the ex-Kmart machine.


Falc - While that is correct in the way they are doing it, it si worth remembering that in America, NASCAR with the Daytona 500 and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with the Indianapolis 500 still heavily promote these races as the highlight of their calendar years, despite the fact that it is also both their responsibilities for rest of the Nextel Cup and IndyCar Series respectively.

AVESCO seem to be heading the European way of making none more important than the others, for example the Monaco Grand Prix isn't really all it once was, and the Spa 24 Hours is in many ways just a longer round of the FIA GT Championship.

When the FIA was threatening the 'importance' of the Le Mans 24 Hours, the ACO did all it could to not be a part of the World Sportscar Championship in the late 80s, and the wrangles caused from this were only finally settled around the turn of the century, although of course even these days the ACO and the FIA can't agree on a common set of regulations.......

I disagree. Almost everything AVESCO does is based on the American model. NASCAR promote the Daytona and Brickyard races, but remember neither of these two events have a format completely different to the rest of the series or are located in a rural township. Have a look at the Clipsal. AVESCO have no problems promoting it as a major event, it complies to their belief of what a round should be, and is held in a population centre. Bathurst is always going to be a marketting nightmare for AVESCO as far as growth for Bathurst goes because the crowd has to be imported from Sydney.

As for IMS and the Indy 500 - they are desperate for any promotional angle they can get, US open wheel is that sick. Just look at the deification of Danica Patrick.

In the end ACO won its battle with the FIA because manufacturers continued to race Le Mans and the World Sports Car Championship died after the 1992 season. Even its shadow series the FIA Sportscar series has died last year, allowing the ACO to set up it's ALMS clone as the LMES.

The sticking point between FIA and ACO these days is almost entirely the MC12. It was never legal for either series, but the FIA bent its regs while the ACO would not. This is the source of the wrangling between ACO and its theoretical ally Panoz/ALMS. With the Americans desperate for glamour entries while NASCAR's underwhelming Grand Am vision continues to inch ground away from them, allowed the MC12 into ALMS, leaving ALMS's ACO affiliated officials to threaten to walk out of the first meet this year.