Surfers Paradise Race Weekend Thread

[marcus]

servia is running down in 15th

[marcus]

OHHHH NOOOOOOOOOOO Will Power is up against the tires , contact with Tagliani of all people

oh man what a shame Will has become my new hero this weekend and now its all stuffed into the tires at turn 3

[Nado]

Oh man, Taggy and Power!

[Raglanparade]

The impression i get is that Tag was a bit impatient... because the on board shot from power doesnt show him really cutting the corner off.

[00 XR8]

The main reason that I don't like it when Bourdais wins is that his "donuts" are bloody embarrassing! Seriously, you would think after two championship wins, he would have had enough practice by now

Overall it was a dissapointing race it has to be said, and we can lay most of the blame on Mr da Matta for that.

[D.R.T.]

Disappointing race is probably harsh. The loss of Da Matta who looked good yesterday and Servia at Turn 1 and Tracy's engine problem was a bit sad, but thats Indy a race of attrition.

All that said Bourdai drove a faultless race and deserved the victory and the championship. His 2nd half of the season compared to the first hapf is quite amazing.

Cant wait for Mexico and for Champ Car to be down here next year.

[BootsOntheSide]

da Matta's season has been pretty abysmal really, and a lot of it has been his fault. having not seen the race I can't comment on this incident though.

Congratulations to Bourdais for both the win and the title, nobody has clinched a major champiosnhip by winning ar ace this year, so it's nice that Seb at least won the race afte the title was secure. Well done to Justin for movign up to 3rd overall, even if it sounds like there was an element of fortune to it. A shame the two Team Australia guys came together too.

[Snrub]

While the battles between certain players didn't shape up there was lots of action and fights that were worth watching. I though it was quiet a good race.

Tagliani was phenomonal (which he often is), but I don't know what he was thinking with Power.

Speaking of Power, that was a heck of a debut. He was legitimately quick and it wasn't a case like last year with Besnard where the guy had a decent position, but wasn't that quick. It was probably the worst thing to have happen for Marhsall. He no longer has any excuses. I had cut him some slack assuming that it was too difficult for him to figure out how to use the setup Tagliani created, but Power through that arguement out the window.

McDowell looked pretty good as well, but I don't think his car was as good as Power's.

[indycool]

105,297 for Race Day.......

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...le.asp?ID=9784

[enemy-ace]

Not a bad race! A shame about the first lap incident and I have read that daMatta has accepted fault for the incident. However I have to wonder why Servia seemed so slow at the drop of the green, was he going to let Bourdais through? Maybe he didn't expect Bourdais to challenge him aggressively into the corner, which is a little naive IMO. I think Servia slotting in behind Bourdais caught daMatta out a little.
I am not laying blame at Servia's door here, I just think he needs to be more aggressive.
I don't agree that daMatta's year has been abysmal either. He does have PKV's first win and showed some real pace in the process. The team in general has been finding it's legs this year which in turn has reflected on it's drivers.
Congrats has to go to Bourdais. He has been the class of the field and showed it yesterday. He really has the perfect balance of speed and aggression. He has the benefit of being with the strongest team, and until the other teams become more consistently competitive it is difficult to see who will take his crown.
Finally an excellent debut from Wil Power. Give this guy the second seat beside Tagliani. I must say as well from looking at the photos from Surfers, that you Aussies have a beautiful country.

[Jordi]

It's a bit of a shame that Oriol's first pole ended up in getting hit from behind (not the first time here - got hit by Fernández in 2003 as well), I would guess Oriol excersised some caution into the first corner and da Matta didn't...
A shame for Dominguez, too.

Bourdais said he pushed P2P at the start and maybe Oriol didn't, or so he thought, so perhaps that's why he got the jump. He said the plan was for Oriol and him to be 1-2 so Oriol got maximum points ahead of Tracy, but as it turned out, it's all but wrapped up anyway.

[macdaddy]

Pretty amazing watching Tracy go from P5 to the lead. I think he caught daMatta off-guard, making him lose his concentration and miss the braking-point.

I think that the television-production for this race was one of the best I've ever seen. When the commentators started talking about Vasser, for instance, the camera instantly turned to him. And the camera suspended along pitlane gave some amazing shots. I can't think of a single thing that they did wrong. Kudos!

[PapaJuliet]

Originally Posted by marcus

RACE RESULTS

CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS

Not Available
1 Sebastien Bourdais 344 Crowned Season Champion
...
3 Justin Wilson 231
...

NATIONS CUP

1 France 329
...
5 England 224

So how does this Nations Cup thing work, then? How come Sebastian Bordais has more points than France and Justin Wilson has more points than England?

PJ

[Kicking-back]

Only race results go to the nations cup, rather than bonus points for poles etc

[Jordi]

Originally Posted by macdaddy

I think that the television-production for this race was one of the best I've ever seen. When the commentators started talking about Vasser, for instance, the camera instantly turned to him. And the camera suspended along pitlane gave some amazing shots. I can't think of a single thing that they did wrong. Kudos!

Ditto!

All important stuff in the race was caught, though I wished they showed more of Oriol tearing through the pack

[Snrub]

Originally Posted by macdaddy

I think that the television-production for this race was one of the best I've ever seen. When the commentators started talking about Vasser, for instance, the camera instantly turned to him. And the camera suspended along pitlane gave some amazing shots. I can't think of a single thing that they did wrong. Kudos!

Indeed, those Ausis knew their stuff! It seemed like there were more cameras and better camera angles. I wonder if much of the difference isn't down to budget. The Surfer's race is well financed and they can likely afford to produce a quality broadcast. The US stuff seems like it is done on a shoestring budget and that likely effects the quality of people running the broadcast.

I think this race wasn't that different from many others where there was lots of action further back in the field. I think the difference was that we got to see it! As you suggest the shots seemed deliberate instead of random.

[enemy-ace]

I think the quality of the production can be accredited to the fact that Champ Car are running in conjunction with the V8 Supercars. My impression is that the series are co-headlining the event.

[Hazza]

I think that Ten just puts alot into this round, as they do for any other V8Supercar round, and the fact that the Champcars are racing here is just an added bonus really!

I do agree the fly cam was a cool addition that they brought from Bathurst, we were a bit unlucky in that PT retired "off camera" whilest we were on an add-break.

As for the Co-Headlining thing, I honestly belive that if the ChampCars didn't come back the race would still run just for V8s, but the Champcars are here and people enjoy watching them even if they didn't exactly know what was going on the year I was there ("Whaddya mean Tracy won? I thought that Hunter-Reay guy won?" or "Not annother saftey car" or "How come they do rolling starts" etc)

But I feel a sense of pride in our production now that everyone loves it

Tell me did you guys have your own commentary team and pit reporters or did you just get ours?

Edit: Da Matta? What a guy! What a champion! "What Happened" "Eh, I just made a stoopid mistake and couldn't slow down quick enough"

[macdaddy]

Going into Australia, Servia was trying to clinch 2nd in the championship with PT his closest competition.

Now, PT finds himself 4th (behind Wilson). Mathematically, he could end the season as low as 8th in the standings after MexicoCity! (Considering 20 starters).

Allmendinger, Vasser, Tagliani and Dominguez all have the possibility of overtaking PT in the final round. There is a good chance the the final standings will be all N/Haas and RuSport!

Servia is secure in P2, though. He'll score a point for starting Mexico, giving him 266, and Wilson cannot score more than 34 on an absolutely perfect weekend, which would give him 265.

The battle for third-overall remains open for 4 drivers. Wilson, PT, Allmendinger and Vasser. (Vasser could end up tied with Wilson given totally-opposite luck).

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Hazza

As for the Co-Headlining thing, I honestly belive that if the ChampCars didn't come back the race would still run just for V8s, but the Champcars are here and people enjoy watching them even if they didn't exactly know what was going on the year I was there ("Whaddya mean Tracy won? I thought that Hunter-Reay guy won?" or "Not annother saftey car" or "How come they do rolling starts" etc)

I couldn't see the Qld Government tipping in that amount of money just for a v8 event.

The addition of the Team Australia certainly added some extra excitement to the race this year. With Will Power signed up for next year the mind boggles of what he might achieve in this race in 06.

Another positive note for ChampCar was that their race headed sports news around the country, which can only be a positive.

[rustyfan]

Originally Posted by macdaddy

I think that the television-production for this race was one of the best I've ever seen. When the commentators started talking about Vasser, for instance, the camera instantly turned to him. And the camera suspended along pitlane gave some amazing shots. I can't think of a single thing that they did wrong. Kudos!

For the most part I agree (even though the bit about the commentators is rather meaningless for me since I had the usual crappy Swedish commentators). One of the few things I didn't like was the producer concentrating on Bourdais and Tracy following each other without being close enough to make a move during the first 10-12 laps or so (after the initial caution), when there were other, more interesting, stuff happening further down the field.

All in all I thought it was a pretty good race though, and a great example of how street circuits are supposed to be like - long, fast and not too narrow. That a race like San José is on the same schedule as Surfers' Paradise is downright criminal.

[BootsOntheSide]

Looks like the Australian market is big for ChampCars again, judging by the level of coverage and attention it's received. Another very positive sign that 2005 has seen the series regain some of its former status. That tracking camera along the pitlane is a great feature, they had it at the Brazillian Grand Prix, and hopefully at more F1 tracks next year.

[Robert Ryan]

Another positive note for ChampCar was that their race headed sports news around the country, which can only be a positive
The race was so so, better than 2004, but still too many mistakes. Del Monte crashing under the Safety was not good. Well DRT it did NOT head sports news around the country, a vast exaggeration if there is to be one. There seemed to be shortish articles on both V8Supercar and CCWS, with the Sunday Herald here in Sydney having a very large photo of the SBR car(I think) and a smaller article on the CCWS even
Another very positive sign that 2005 has seen the series regain some of its former status. That
It hasn't , a very long road has to be travelled before it gets to the period of the Andretti's, Montoya's etc.
As for the Co-Headlining thing, I honestly belive that if the ChampCars didn't come back the race would still run just for V8s, but the Champcars are here and people enjoy watching them even if they didn't exactly know what was going on the year I was there ("Whaddya mean Tracy won? I thought that Hunter-Reay guy won?" or "Not annother saftey car" or "How come they do rolling starts" etc)
Hazzard totally agree. Probably the fans would like the V8's and some other VARIETY, what was provided over the FOUR days of the event. The Champcar race was one race in those four days.

[mitchie]

Originally Posted by Robert Ryan

Another positive note for ChampCar was that their race headed sports news around the country, which can only be a positive
The race was so so, better than 2004, but still too many mistakes. Del Monte crashing under the Safety was not good. Well DRT it did NOT head sports news around the country, a vast exaggeration if there is to be one. There seemed to be shortish articles on both V8Supercar and CCWS, with the Sunday Herald here in Sydney having a very large photo of the SBR car(I think) and a smaller article on the CCWS even

I have to disagree. Champ Car was generally immediately followed by Supercars on all the TV sports news' (both with the specialist sports stuff like Sports Tonight and Toyota World Sports, and the news bulletins) I saw during the course of the weekend.

The newspaper coverage varied. I havent seen the Herald, but The Gold Coast Bulletin, for instance, had Champ Car all over the front and back covers.

[codename_47]

Originally Posted by rustyfan

For the most part I agree (even though the bit about the commentators is rather meaningless for me since I had the usual crappy Swedish commentators). One of the few things I didn't like was the producer concentrating on Bourdais and Tracy following each other without being close enough to make a move during the first 10-12 laps or so (after the initial caution), when there were other, more interesting, stuff happening further down the field.

All in all I thought it was a pretty good race though, and a great example of how street circuits are supposed to be like - long, fast and not too narrow. That a race like San José is on the same schedule as Surfers' Paradise is downright criminal.

Not that it's entirely relevant, but San Jose has more streets to play with this year apparently........

But you're right, they certainly should look to THIS track on how to set up a street course that has everything, passing zones, high speeds, low speeds, challenging chicanes....the works!
It and Toronto have to be the 2 best street tracks in the world!
(Don't give me Monaco......yeah, glamourous....but raceable? )

A good race I thought. Only gripe I had was (again, agreeing with Rustyfan) that Servia had an on-board camera and was doing a LOT of passing work in the early going (about the only time the race was calm), yet was elusivley off camera.

Aside from that it was great.......I particularly loved the Prost/Senna Suzuka 89 recreation from the two drivers we love to hate!

Del Monte though....WHAT was that all about?
Once again a HVM car crashes under caution......yet no loose wheel to blame this time.......
His performance at Long Beach was atrocious.....here, stupid.....

Hope he's bringing big bucks!