Bathurst 24 hour - interesting...

[SL]

It is not as bad as what you make out.

Here in the UK we crave for info about Le Mans 24 but there is about the same interestas you have. A mention on the main news and a few lines in the paper.

Work on it. Sounds like it has the idea to be equal to LM if the rules can be made the same. Just imagine 2 events, 2 famous circuits 6 months apart ????

Simon

[RaceTime]

Except next year ProCar have already announced that it will be on New Years Eve....

Hmmm NYE at Bathurst - nearly as bad as NYE in NZ

[mtpanorama]

Hey RT,
At least if they put the race on NYE, there will be something to do here.

[racer69]

According to the on coarse commentary at the race (which i must say was superb, pity it didn't run for the whole race though), the website dropped out because it was overloaded by too many people trying to log on. And also on the Channel 7 coverage, the coarse commentators said that 7 had been rung up and had emails sent to them about people wanting to see more of the race.

This was only the first year, things will be ironed out next year.

[RaceTime]

The reality is, though, that these things should not have happened for this level of event.

The web site being killed is, IMHO, unforgiveable. It should have been anticipated, but wasn't.

Maybe the recent, sudden, personnel changes within ProCar make me wonder if things are realy going well there....this only serves to reinforce that view.

[Dazz]

I really hope that they can get the bugs ironed out because I think that this could be a truely great event on many different levels.

For one it gives a few of the less wealthy (lets go back to Bathurst in the 70's and 80's and call them privateers) teams and drivers a chance to prepare a GTP style car, race sensibly and stay out of trouble and be a real factor in the results.

Having the GTP typ cars might even give someone the chance to get a little backing from an interested manufacturer, or God forbid a manufacturer other than Holden might actually enter their own team of cars to race!

I know this race wasn't perfect, but I think it has a big future and I for one am going to support it.

[RaceTime]

Whilst I think the event deserves support, I have to quesiton that 'teams can afford it' - ProCar, by it's very nature, appears to be pushing the exotic, expensive cars these days, to the detriment of the classes they originally started out to support - the small, cheaper class class.

Even writing that brings out the fact that, in many ways, ProCar is becoming an elitist category - it is an unfortunate truth that they do not actively promote the class D and E cars anywhere near as much as the Class A cars.

[Dazz]

I totally agree that the class cars need much more recognition if people are going to support the category.

In a perfect world it would be nice to have Holden and Ford enter their XR6's/XR8's and SS Commodore's in a semi factory capacity to give a bit more interest in those classes. I'm sure their would be no shortage of drivers wanting to race those cars, and the marketing opportunities must be worth while, provided you do well I guess!

It is sad, but in general, motor racing is run by rich people, who look after their rich mates who want to compete. The little guy is simply filling most of the time to provide a backdrop for the rich boys up front.

[Onlooker]

What ever caused the pull out of the entries by a large number of competitors is the biggest issue for the event.Be it the relisation of the true cost,parity issues what ever these are,or the effect of their actions needs to be avoided.As was the case at the 500 the lack of depth in the field really showed up from the outset.To not have more Porsches,Ferrari,some Vipers and a Lambo there to make a race of it was dissapointing to see. Unfortunaly these were the downfalls at the previus event and many were missing from that some even to prepare for the 24 hour.
More TV,Revamped results,news and info site able to cope is all very well but if the race is drab and spread out people dont watch. A "bigger" race should enjoy much better promotion etc as most of the media seemed either unaware of it's very exsistance,as you got very little info or updated results or chose to ignore them completely.

[Crash Test]

Don't like the internet coverage of the event? Next year, go to the race!

[RaceTime]

There is one major reason people are not going to these events - all you can see is what is front of you. That plus time and cost for places like Bathurst.

[Crash Test]

Hrmmm, if you really wanted to see an event, you would probably go. I always have a radio with me to get commentary, it would be poor of a major event not to have their PA over a local FM broadcast.

[RaceTime]

But then it comes down to what do people want to see at motor racing venues?

Do they want to try and see the enture track or as much as possible (this I classify the General Spectator)

Do they want to watch the spectacle of crashes, biff and barge (the nutter)

Do they want to see teams in action, pit crews working (the general enthusiast)

Or do they want to get right into it - watch, listen, follow the results etc (the dedicated enthusiast)?

The first one is the group Procar and AVESCO should be aiming at - they are the families, the parents, couples etc who have money to spend. The last three groups and miniscule by comparison and would go if the race were held around a roundabout...

[DAVID PATERSON]

You're right RaceTime, the real enthusiasts are vastly outnumbered by the general/casual fan. If you want to make big money, you need to appeal to Joe in the street.

If you held a meeting that was especially dedicated to the real diehard enthusiast, you'd get a tiny crowd. Hang on a minute, those meetings do esxist, they're called State/Club level racing. The crowds are tiny, but the racing is great.

See all you Queenslanders at Qld Raceway this weekend. See my post in Trackside.

[RaceTime]

Hey - why did you have to post that - agreeing with each other?

Next, you'll have people thinking we are both human!

Actually, it would probably be funny if it weren't true!

(BTW - I think you can also understand why I wupport HPV and other events such as Formula SAE - this is where real dedication exists...)

[racer69]

I generally stay at home and watch the races on TV, too many people in the Touring Cars case, too much time between the races, and generally the races aren't long enough to move around, and if you do you either lose your place or miss some action.

The 24 Hour is a perfect spectator race, the turnout wasn't huge but satisfactory for a first event, and it is long enough to move around pretty much the entire circuit and have a good look there, especially at night, i got to just about every place you could during the night, plus you can come and go as you please and still make it worth going (if your from around there, or unlike me had gotten accomodation)

The ironic thing was that i watched the start of the race at the bottom and then went to the top, and missed the MR2 going off, then when i came back down there was a crash at the top.

[elephino]

Of course no one bothered to contact someone who was AT the event.

The night racing was good to watch, even the slower cars were interesting to watch over the top of the mountain. During the day, though, the lack of depth in the field really showed through.

I've only seen the last bit of ch7's coverage as I came back to Sydney in time for the end (I said it wasn't so good during the day) and it showed the difference between the Aus commentators and David Addison from the UK.

[jetsetter]

One way to get more people through the gate is to get things organized & a definate date as soon as possible so the fans can organize holidays, travel arrangements, etc. unlike this year where it was a relatively late announcement.

[RaceTime]

Originally posted by elephino
Of course no one bothered to contact someone who was AT the event.

Not quite correct - I kow I tried to ring a few people who I believed to be up there - pity I couldn't get through though (yep - you were one of them). Took 4 calls to get Procar's media contact as well - that was at 6pm Sat...

[elephino]

Hmmm...I had no problems with my phone and you obviously didn't leave a message (or it was eaten by the phone system).

[Crash Test]

Q. What did people do before the internet/mobile phones/TV?

IIRC race meetings a million miles from anywhere, a long drive and four cut lunches away from a capital city used to get 60,000 people easy for some handicap races. Where did we go wrong?

[RaceTime]

elephino - didn't ring through, didn't go to voice mail (besides, wasn't urgent enough for that). I know what Bathurst and other tracks are like with phones so wasn't overly concerned - the end result achieved what was needed anyway.

Crash - where did we go wrong?

Those same meetings you recall still have the same facilities, the same people running them, the same comentary teams and, in a lot of cases, the same cars still running around

[Big Mac]

Does anyone think that in time the 24 hour could develope into a round of the FIA GT Championship? Seeing a full grid of competitive of those cars, maybe with the "Invitational" class with JGTC, would be unreal. I know this maybe a stupid question but is Bathurst still FIA approved??

[RaceTime]

No way - this is what killed the Light Car Club in Melvourne - the cost of hosting world championship rounds is too expensive.

How would they go, if like at Sandown in 1988 there was fog on the Saturday morning for qualifying holding everything up - meanwhile the LCCA are being fined for every minute they start late (regardless of the cause!)

Once you move an event to a world championship of any type you lose and local flavour whatsoever.

[racer69]

I'm in two minds of it becoming a round of the FIA GT Championship. There is the obvious upside as being a World Championship qualifier, but there are downsides.

Nations Cup runs the effectively N-GT rules, while the main class in the FIA series is the old GT2 (now GT), and the main teams running for the championship would obviously come over and our teams wouldn't have a chance. Also, i don't think the 10 class structure like we had this year would survive, (would an FIA championship race let Mirage's battle with Viper's?)

Plus there is of course the track record, the debacle of the FIA/FISA run 1987 Bathurst 1000 World Touring Car Championship round and the 1998 Bathurst 1000 Asia-Pacific Touring Car Championship rounds, which nearly endangered the event, plus as RT stated the two Sandown WEC races in 1984 and 1988.

Having said that though, Stephane Ratel (the head of the FIA GT Championship) was entered in the Palmer Honda S2000, but for whatever reason didn't race.