V8 SuperTourers Round 4 (Taupo) - Pics/Results/Rumour

[NZSTfan]

Was just thinking that biggy....why not put all cars onto a rolling road ant test for bhp and ft lb figures

[DX20VT]

How about a simple solution,

enforce the rules and apply penalties to those who break them,
no matter who they are.

[FIRE]

Is there a way to watch this online? Last year you could on the website of TV3.

[BackSeat Driver]

Originally Posted by DX20VT

How about a simple solution,

enforce the rules and apply penalties to those who break them,
no matter who they are.

I like DX20VT's post.

Andre was known on Sat night to have the wrong plugs in after qualifing, but no change to his starting positions on Sunday?

Did Pederson change his plugs back to standard as well?

Why can't the rubbing blocks be removed off JMac's splitters?


Seems to me that they only download the data maps of the top 3 cars. If the top 3 are all doing the same cheats then how do you know what is going on.

Technical department need to grow some balls and start coming down hard on rule infringements.

[BackSeat Driver]

Originally Posted by Blackpearl

I know of 2 teams last year that imported their own engines as it has a different tag on them.

I hear what your saying, but how do you get around the V8ST seals that were put on the engines when new?

[isoskim]

Originally Posted by BackSeat Driver

I like DX20VT's post.

Andre was known on Sat night to have the wrong plugs in after qualifing, but no change to his starting positions on Sunday?

Technical department need to grow some balls and start coming down hard on rule infringements.

Because the series sporting and technical regulations are not sanctioned they cannot be applied to results, the organisers and officials have to follow the MSNZ Manual. Therefore, they can not adjust grid positions or exclude from any sessions . They are limited to fines and points in their own articles.

It does look like 23 and 96 did get penalties for tech infringements. (http://www.v8st.co.nz/images/assets/V8ST_points_R4.pdf)

[JamesK]

Dyno would be great, but what about all the other tech items.
With the previous V8ST approved shock service agent ripping teams off to clean the shocks(they called it servicing), a week out from Taupo and 3 months since the last meeting, V8ST had no one to service their shocks.
It is a fact some teams serviced their own just to be able to compete.
No doubt these were overlooked at Taupo.
As I said earlier bums on seats comes first.

[JamesK]

Originally Posted by isoskim

Because the series sporting and technical regulations are not sanctioned they cannot be applied to results, the organisers and officials have to follow the MSNZ Manual. Therefore, they can not adjust grid positions or exclude from any sessions . They are limited to fines and points in their own articles.

It does look like 23 and 96 did get penalties for tech infringements. (http://www.v8st.co.nz/images/assets/V8ST_points_R4.pdf)

Thanks for that isoskim
Where did you find the link, I had a good look on the web site and see nothing. Is it available for all ?
It is a shame V8ST don't supply a technical reports after meetings and advise all what happens, being more transparent would go along way.

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by DX20VT

How about a simple solution,

enforce the rules and apply penalties to those who break them,
no matter who they are.

The level of technical checks carried out by Mark Sheehan and his team far exceeds anything MSNZ ever did in the past, and its is not the Tech teams fault that MSNZ still refuse to sanction V8ST, and therefore undermine the authority of the Series management.

With the appointment of Greg Lancaster as the Series sporting director, I believe things will change for the better very quickly, and well in time for the first of the Endurance Series.

Yes, their have been teething issues no body is denying that, but basically thing aint broke. The one thing that is in place and has been since day one is the collection of 100% of all the GPS based data, so the tech team know exactly what the straight line and corner speeds etc of every single car, so in effect the race track is a real time dyno.

As for the haters feeding on this thread here is something for you all to consider, as published on the stuff website a few weeks ago.


Haters really are going to hate.

A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology corroborates the hip-hop and internet truism that you just can't win with some people.

In their paper Attitudes Without Objects, psychologists Justin Hepler and Dolores Albarracin show that those who already hold a lot of negative views are more likely to react negatively to new stimuli.

The pair asked a group of 200 men and women to evaluate how they felt about various subjects, such as camping, health care, architecture, taxidermy, crossword puzzles and Japan.

They took note of the respondents who rated many of these unconnected prompts harshly (the haters).

Then, a month later, they asked everyone to weigh in again to control for the possibility that the grumps were just in a bad mood the first time.

After marking the dependably hateful haters with a scarlet H, the researchers presented participants with information about a new product: the "Monahan LPI-800 Compact 2/3-Cubic-Foot 700-Watt Microwave Oven".

This elaborately titled microwave oven does not exist, but participants didn't know this and were given three glowing fake reviews and three dissatisfied fake reviews.

While people who more or less liked taxidermy and crossword puzzles also liked the oven, the haters drenched their fake consumer surveys in haterade. They were also more likely to hate on recycling and vaccine shots.

To be fair, it's hard to be a ray of sunshine when you've got the measles.

[Swedish Brick]

Good try mark. But no dice.
These are not made up issues. They are factual and several are mentioned in STs own tech reports

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Swedish Brick

Good try mark. But no dice.
These are not made up issues. They are factual and several are mentioned in STs own tech reports

He isn't denying them, but as he says it's not the tech team's fault that MSNZ are still refusing to sanction the series, which I take from comments posted previously here limit the action that can be taken against the cheaters other than docking points post-race.

So does anyone actually know whether/when this series will become sanctioned? Do you think that MSNZ are delaying this in order to not have to include ST on the card for V8SC next year?

Perhaps Raymond or Brian Budd can shed some light on why this process has taken so long when other new series (e.g. Toyota 86) will be up and running and sanctioned from Day 1?

[Swedish Brick]

I think its been touched on in the other thread.
The way they run the rules and inconsistent application of the rules is my bet.

[isoskim]

Originally Posted by JamesK

Where did you find the link, I had a good look on the web site and see nothing. Is it available for all ?

Under the Results > Points - a page should appear with the overall drivers championship, if you click on any of the red links "Round x", it will display the points from that round.

[JamesK]

Originally Posted by isoskim

Under the Results > Points - a page should appear with the overall drivers championship, if you click on any of the red links "Round x", it will display the points from that round.

Thanks, 33 points for a technical infringement is rather small, approx. 3 place drop on the feature race.
If this is the limit of technical penalty then this probably explains the risk teams are taking, certainly worth while. I now assume all teams will run different plugs, and can expect no more than 33 points drop.

Interesting that if this was found after qualifying, why wasn't the 33 points dropped for that session, would have more impact than deduction at the end of the event.

Mark, teething issues, this is more than 1/2 way through the second season. Teams have heard all the excuse and failed solutions before, Its past time V8ST acknowledged the teams investments and pulled finger, it may involve spending money though so we all know this wont happen.

[Southern Man]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

He isn't denying them, but as he says it's not the tech team's fault that MSNZ are still refusing to sanction the series, which I take from comments posted previously here limit the action that can be taken against the cheaters other than docking points post-race.

So does anyone actually know whether/when this series will become sanctioned? Do you think that MSNZ are delaying this in order to not have to include ST on the card for V8SC next year?

Perhaps Raymond or Brian Budd can shed some light on why this process has taken so long when other new series (e.g. Toyota 86) will be up and running and sanctioned from Day 1?

From what I have heard there is in excess of 60 pages of regulations, many with errors or issues that require correction or clarification and that MSNZ was or still is waiting for this to be undertaken and/or completed and submitted by V8ST before they can finish off the process.

[CDM]

Originally Posted by Mark Petch

The level of technical checks carried out by Mark Sheehan and his team far exceeds anything MSNZ ever did in the past, and its is not the Tech teams fault that MSNZ still refuse to sanction V8ST, and therefore undermine the authority of the Series management.

So your saying that without MSNZ Sanctioning you cant make or enforce any rules for any Series? I don't believe that's the case...

If you can write a set of rules that say you must run a certain engine, certain gearbox, this diff, that suspension etc then surely you can include something like "any technical infringments will result in exclusion from race/round etc..."

My understanding is that without being MSNZ Sanctioned you cant rely on the rest of the MSNZ rules such as fine competitors/teams or endorse licence etc but surely you can include penalties for not meeting the actual written rules of the Series you have entered to race in....

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Southern Man

From what I have heard there is in excess of 60 pages of regulations, many with errors or issues that require correction or clarification and that MSNZ was or still is waiting for this to be undertaken and/or completed and submitted by V8ST before they can finish off the process.

Thanks for that!

[Southern Man]

The lack of sanctioning of a set of regulations does not stop the event management & Clerk of Course etc from applying the rules and penalties of those regulations as they see fit but it does stop the competitors from have right of protest to the Stewards of the meeting or an appeal via the Motosport NZ process should they feel aggrieved or disadvantaged.

[bluespur]

Both CotC and Stewards are restricted to penalties and offences in Schedule P.

Also as tech regs not sanctioned they have no authority to even consider any breeches in them.

So for the tech issues ...spark plugs... The MSNZ officials have no authority to consider them

V8ST officials only had the ability to impose loss of championship points or $$$ as this is internal. I understand that they have an internal appeal process.

If the series was sanctioned then a Schedule P penalty could apply, say fine, exclusion from race and perhaps licence endorsement.

From talk I heard in pit lane other competitors were bemoaning the fact MSNZ officials could not be involved......that sure was a change in attitude.

[HProject]

Now that I've finally sorted out my pics and crap, a report of the weekend:

The Good:

- Great racing all round from the SuperTourers. Relatively speaking, the racing was a step-up over the snoozeathon of round 3 - no wet surface or gimmicky gimmicks necessary. The Utes were also good value despite the low numbers.
- The rivalry between McLaughlin and Heimgartner. Always good to have rivalries. I'm a fan of both of them, but I couldn't help but laugh at the online gamesmanship - McLaughlin pinning the race 3 crash on Heimgartner ("Thanks to Heimgartner for starting this mess, well another mess..."), then Heimgartner cropping McLaughlin out of a podium celebration pic he's used. The sport needs less PR teflon and more of this.
- The crowd. Nothing too flash, but probably one of the better turn-outs of the year - which is surprising since Taupo's usually a little thin on crowd-numbers. How many of those were paying spectators is another question entirely of course. But a full carpark sends a good message regardless of payers versus corporates/give-away receivers.
- The facility. It was my first time at the Taupo circuit, and I thought it was a great track. Excellent for photos, and well maintained. The pits and things were great as well.

The Bad:

- All the background murmuring... Along with the previous chatter in this thread, I also heard a rumour regarding the new refueling systems. Apparently V8ST are forcing teams to buy the product through the category at around $7000 - despite the same product being available from the US for around $1000. Quite a meaty mark-up. Really hoping that one's not true.
- Low numbers in the V8CC's and Suzuki's - which in turn lead to average racing. Although the Lawrence/Barry battle in the Suzuki's was a neat distraction.
- The temperature. Christ.
- The media room. The internet connection was awful - which put most photographers on the back-foot immediately. Thankfully we're returning to decent internet at HD and Puke. The lunches supplied by V8ST were good though.

The Ugly:

- I don't get the inclusion of 'ugly' in these things. Surely if something is 'ugly', it belongs in the 'bad' column. I don't know.

Anyway, enough verbage. Here's some pics. Yes, they're a bit Murph-heavy - deal with it :

[JamesK]

Just been advise V8St's sporting code has the ability to exclude participants from an event, subsequent events or a points penalty for failure of either sporting code or technical regulations. In the case of a technical offense up to 930 points.
So 33 points for illegal plugs, must have been 1 plug only

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by HProject

Now that I've finally sorted out my pics and crap, a report of the weekend:

The Good:

- Great racing all round from the SuperTourers. Relatively speaking, the racing was a step-up over the snoozeathon of round 3 - no wet surface or gimmicky gimmicks necessary. The Utes were also good value despite the low numbers.

The Bad:

- All the background murmuring... Along with the previous chatter in this thread, I also heard a rumour regarding the new refueling systems. Apparently V8ST are forcing teams to buy the product through the category at around $7000 - despite the same product being available from the US for around $1000. Quite a meaty mark-up. Really hoping that one's not true.

HP, as you must be aware I no longer have anything to do with the management of V8 Supertourers Series, and nor am I or my Company involved in anyway with the supply of the refueling equipment that you make reference to above.

However, I am close enough to the majority of the V8ST teams, to know what is going on, and I can say without fear of contradiction, that who ever is telling you the garbage you posted above, is 'just away with the fairy's'

The decision was taken by the Team owners, at Taupo, to proceed with the refueling equipment if it can supplied for a maximum of NZ$4,000 inclusive of GST.

I estimate the cost of that equipment to be very close to NZ$4,000, so who ever supplies that equipment will be doing well to make any money out of the deal at all. Check out Fuelsafe, or any of the other companies supplying double male and female dry break equipment for yourself, on a one off basis the cost is well in excess of $4K!

The only way it will work is because of a 20 car baulk order, so in fact the Teams are getting a bargain in this instance.

[HProject]

Originally Posted by Mark Petch

HP, as you must be aware I have nothing to do with the V8 Supertourers Series, and nor am I or my Company involved in anyway with the supply of the refueling equipment that you you make reference to above.

However I am close enough to the majority of the V8ST teams, to know what is going on, and I can say without fear of contradiction, that who ever is telling you the garbage you posted above, is 'just away with the fairy's'

The decision was taken by the Team owners, at Taupo, to proceed with the refueling equipment if it can supplied for a maximum of NZ$4,000 inclusive of GST.

I estimate the cost of that equipment to be very close to NZ$4,000, so who ever supplies that equipment will be doing well to make any money out of the deal at all. Check out Fuelsafe, or any of the other companies supplying double male and female dry break equipment for yourself, on a one off basis the cost is well in excess of $4K!

The only way it will work is because of a 20 car baulk order, so in fact the Teams are getting a bargain in this instance.

Ta Mark. Very good to know

[Axeman444]

Originally Posted by HProject

this needs to go into the Grid Girls thread

[KLR93]

Hey guys,

Here's the latest from us and Tasman Motorsport, very trying weekend with electrical/gearbox issues.

On this episode of Inside Line we look at a few technical parts of the car and Andrew Waite gives us a rundown of what goes on behind the wheel.



http://youtu.be/hDhIJkRQcno


Cheers,
Kenny Ruddell
OversteerTV