TCR Australia 2024

[GTRMagic]

And did a Bradbury to finish P8 as the ‘meat raffle’ as Mr Buchan called it saw the field upside down.

Not sure that was a jump start either…

[GTRMagic]

5 Months and it’s BAAAACK

[Tourer]

Bathurst International will run this year but not any more after that. Not surprised - it isn't easy to run commercially viable events at Bathurst, so any event needs to have something special and highly attractive about it - never felt to me that the International had that. The overseas TCR crew losing interest just became the final nail I guess.

[GTRMagic]

Somebody somewhere needs to harness that juicy SuperCheap Auto money for different Motorsport exposure!

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by Tourer

Not surprised - it isn't easy to run commercially viable events at Bathurst, so any event needs to have something special and highly attractive about it - never felt to me that the International had that.

Group A, Supertouring, now TCR. Story seems to repeat itself.

It's a shame, those World Tour rounds were the most interesting TCR races since 2019.

TCR needs a jewel in the crown here but when the cars don't last more than 20 laps of Bathurst what can you do?

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Mixer

TCR needs a jewel in the crown here but when the cars don't last more than 20 laps of Bathurst what can you do?

They can last much longer than 20 laps, TCR do up to 4 hour races in the USA.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by one five five

They can last much longer than 20 laps, TCR do up to 4 hour races in the USA.

Yeah and they do 24hr in Europe, but NONE of the local cars have endurance upgrades, and last time they ran a sprint at Bathurst just about everything other than VAG & HMO were like 80s Renault F1 Turbo engines.

NOBODY locally is going to spend any money on these cars, so any kind of enduro is out of the question, and with that there goes any ability to build excitement around an event.

Especially with World Tour basically dead, I think the writing is on the wall for TCR.

Pull it out of ARG, package it up with GT4 or something. It's got a place but it isn't a headline category. Transam is the best thing ARG has.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Yeah and they do 24hr in Europe, but NONE of the local cars have endurance upgrades, and last time they ran a sprint at Bathurst just about everything other than VAG & HMO were like 80s Renault F1 Turbo engines.

NOBODY locally is going to spend any money on these cars, so any kind of enduro is out of the question, and with that there goes any ability to build excitement around an event.

Especially with World Tour basically dead, I think the writing is on the wall for TCR.

Pull it out of ARG, package it up with GT4 or something. It's got a place but it isn't a headline category. Transam is the best thing ARG has.

Why would you suggest packaging it up with GT4 when GT4 does endurance races which you suggest TCR people won’t spend money on?

Owners will spend money on endurance kits when there is incentive to do so. Where has the incentive ever been? There’s been no prospect of a TCR enduro since covid

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by one five five

Owners will spend money on endurance kits when there is incentive to do so. Where has the incentive ever been? There’s been no prospect of a TCR enduro since covid

You mean other than discussion of it for 2024?

https://www.v8sleuth.com.au/tcr-worl...-of-australia/

Or 2021:
https://www.westernadvocate.com.au/s...ount-panorama/

"TCR enduro to be cornerstone of Bathurst international"

The problem is the really common and well engineered (VAG/HMO) cars will last the distance with no issue, but half the field, even with endurance upgrades, won't last, and the people who run those cars don't want that.

It's also the reason Renaults, Alfas and so on stay parked.

Unfortunately the fact remains that you can't build a following only around short sprint races with minimal cars, Supercars has beens and no big name stars.

So ARG need to give up already and put TCR somewhere else where it will actually be more cost effective to run, and get cars out of sheds or stop them just going back to Europe.

[GTRMagic]

Mr Harris suggested in an interview recently that TCR should be on the V8Supercar undercard to sustain the category.

Given that he/his family own/owned a number of TCR chassis, he would be in a good place to help effect a change no doubt…

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Mr Harris suggested in an interview recently that TCR should be on the V8Supercar undercard to sustain the category.

Given that he/his family own/owned a number of TCR chassis, he would be in a good place to help effect a change no doubt…

Certainly getting paid appearance money and not having to pay punishing entry fees to fund Harry's retirement might help.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Mixer

You mean other than discussion of it for 2024?

https://www.v8sleuth.com.au/tcr-worl...-of-australia/

Or 2021:
https://www.westernadvocate.com.au/s...ount-panorama/

"TCR enduro to be cornerstone of Bathurst international"

The problem is the really common and well engineered (VAG/HMO) cars will last the distance with no issue, but half the field, even with endurance upgrades, won't last, and the people who run those cars don't want that.

It's also the reason Renaults, Alfas and so on stay parked.

Unfortunately the fact remains that you can't build a following only around short sprint races with minimal cars, Supercars has beens and no big name stars.

So ARG need to give up already and put TCR somewhere else where it will actually be more cost effective to run, and get cars out of sheds or stop them just going back to Europe.

All those stem from the original announcement of the Bathurst International in 2019

There have been no signs since Covid that any effort has been directed on getting the enduro happening.

Who is lining up to take TCR on?

Why would GT4 want them on their grid, theirs is building nicely as is

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by one five five

They can last much longer than 20 laps, TCR do up to 4 hour races in the USA.

One of them won the Silverstone 24hr a few years back. Ran like a train the whole time, didn't miss a beat and was ridiculously quick. Unfortunately with TCR it doesn't look that quick until it goes wrong.

[GTRMagic]

[one five five]

An Australian TCR World Tour round looks to be on the cards for next year according to latest reports from TouringCarTimes……. Will there be a series to support it? And where will they race at?

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by one five five

An Australian TCR World Tour round looks to be on the cards for next year according to latest reports from TouringCarTimes……. Will there be a series to support it? And where will they race at?

Really has to be Bathurst or maybe PI, but in the current economic climate it's a tough ask.

ARG's protestations about TCR "not going anywhere" seem a bit desperate.

But they've also promised more cars every round for the last 2 years and they just never show.

I can't see the current field growing while ARG seems to only be milking the field rather than investing in it. It's far too expensive to enter and the return isn't there compared to other categories.

[GTRMagic]

Perhaps it shall be an undercard to various V8Supercar events to add another national championship to its bow.

Keep a connection with manufacturers and importers, the various sponsor pools and drivers and being able to cater to the TCR tifosi…

A clever marketer might also ponder the possibilities of 2 championships under one roof with vigorous competitors as title brand sponsors.

[Mixer]

It's the right thing to do but ARG will not do it.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Mixer

I can't see the current field growing while ARG seems to only be milking the field rather than investing in it..

With Trans Am going ok maybe GRM should withdraw their entries from that and put them into TCR, a few Corollas and Cupra’swod help

Originally Posted by Mixer

It's the right thing to do but ARG will not do it.

ARG tried to do it when they were part of the consortium that bought Supercars.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by one five five

With Trans Am going ok maybe GRM should withdraw their entries from that and put them into TCR, a few Corollas and Cupra’swod help

They are never going to run anything other than Peugeots, period.

GRM profit from everything in TCR, including refusing to sell the non-Peugeots they own.

Originally Posted by one five five

ARG tried to do it when they were part of the consortium that bought Supercars.

They absolutely did not. They've stubbornly tried to run TCR as a top tier category and never put it on support bill of anything, despite TCM and Transam outperforming it on many fronts. Years later still 13 cars on the grid, and they keep doing the same thing.

[Alan52]

-ARG are on their way out the door having bled everything dry
-Motorsport Australia have lost so much money running the Nationals series this year they are walking away
-Why would Supercars even be interested in a category with grids below 15 and shrinking?
-World Tour can’t happen without government funding for travel costs.After NSW government saw crowds that could be measured in the hundreds at last years 2 rounds they rightfully see no benefit in further support.
-The GT meeting at Phillip Island in a few weeks is probably a precursor to what 2025 will look like.

[Mixer]

I do feel like the TCM and GT returning to competitors and or rightsholder is the right thing to do. Competitors all seem to be saying entry costs and returns are uncompetitive compared to other classes and the numbers bear that out.
When guys who place top 3 in the series don't return you know there is an issue. MPC, HMO at least have locked in contractual arrangements and also charge the earth which doesn't help anybody.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by Mixer

They absolutely did not.

That was literally the whole point of the “Whole of
Motorsport” proposal

Originally Posted by Alan52

Why would Supercars even be interested in a category with grids below 15 and shrinking?.

They’ve run SuperUtes and even Super2 in recent years with less.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by one five five

They’ve run SuperUtes and even Super2 in recent years with less.

The odd time here or there is OK but both those grids are strong now, and TCR has literally treaded water with nothing but excuses for 2 years.

The organisers have done nothing to help competitors get cars out of sheds.

Meanwhile Superutes are delivering pretty amazing racing for what they are and people are looking to build brand new cars because there's not enough to buy.

[GTRMagic]

What’s the resale value of a brand new, new-shape Peugeot TCR race car when there is no place to run them?