Konica Minolta cease sponsorship of V8Lites

[GTRMagic]

This rumour has been around for a fair while now, confirmed in Motorsport News this week....

The article suggests that the company withdrew support because when the Konica business was merged with the Minolta business in Japan, and the name of the combined entity became Konica Minolta that the people in and around the series kept calling it Konica and not Konica Minolta, so the Minolta part of the brand was not getting exposure... and that's why they left!

Interesting theory...

Some people still call the secondary series V8Lites....

So how will we differentiate the main series from the secondary series next year?

V8Lites, V8Smiths Crisps, V8Star, V8Swine...

[Henry]

...V8 Vegie Juice?

[D.R.T.]

Yeah interesting news.

The same article said they were negotiating with a few new companies. Should be interesting to see how this pans out, because Procar was just as successful as the v8 lites and has had trouble finding a title sponsor.

[GTRMagic]

I presume the Konica Minolta funding will assist a driver surprisingly well known to the Managing Director of that company to get a competitive 2005 drive

[pete55]

Where will he go even if he does get that money. The likely team will have trouble getting a franchise in the current bidding war.

[Crash Test]

DRT- hrmmm, I would have to say that the V8 Lites have better crowd pulling ability and a fair bit of depth...

[Racer Dude]

What about......V8 Demo Derby series!! That's if they keep the reverse grid.

[DAVID PATERSON]

I'm assuming they don't want to be called V8 Supercars reserve grade........

[Just Do It!]

I am guessing you mean Mr Gurr? Does it have to be a Holden?

[D.R.T.]

Originally posted by Crash Test
DRT- hrmmm, I would have to say that the V8 Lites have better crowd pulling ability and a fair bit of depth...

I'd have a closer look. Procar has many times got more people to their races say at Wakefield, Oran Park (2003), Winton etc. I suppose the real answer could be the upcomin Mallala meet, which is being apparently promoted well by event organisers.

Depth wise, well I guess its who u comopare it to. In the whole Procar circus I'd say it would have more depth than the lites, but compared to NC, i can see your point

[Crash Test]

Just having a look at the last rounds respectively, there seemed to be a few more people at Mallala than the ghost town at Eastern Creek... time will tell, ey?

[StuiE]

Originally posted by GTRMagic


The article suggests that the company withdrew support because when the Konica business was merged with the Minolta business in Japan, and the name of the combined entity became Konica Minolta that the people in and around the series kept calling it Konica and not Konica Minolta, so the Minolta part of the brand was not getting exposure... and that's why they left!

Interesting theory...

Well if they rename it something harder(longer) to say, of course people will still call it Konicas, especially since Konica was still in the name. I only started to call it Konicas last year, finally letting go of V8Lites name. I suspect next year lots of people will still call them Konicas...will that make the next sponser pull out?

[Racer Dude]

I wonder how this will effect teams on the search for sponsors. The sponsor asks what series am I giving you this large sum of cash for????????

Maybe we may see a few of the current team sponsors disappear, then again most of the Konica sponsor aren’t blue chip types, normally some connection with drivers. So the status’qoe will probably stay for teams and sponsors 2005.

[275 GTB-4]

Originally posted by gtr69
Well if they rename it something harder(longer) to say, of course people will still call it Konicas, especially since Konica was still in the name. I only started to call it Konicas last year, finally letting go of V8Lites name. I suspect next year lots of people will still call them Konicas...will that make the next sponser pull out?

Too true, however, sponsors come and go, the Lites need a catchy title like the V8 Supercars and V8 Brutes and stick with it for the sake of both sponsors and fans!

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by pete55
Where will he go even if he does get that money. The likely team will have trouble getting a franchise in the current bidding war.

The Rt Hon. Mr Ray Kershler mentioned in the Daily Telegraph today that future Konica Minolta motorsport sponsorship budgets were being accumulated in order to run a racing car as opposed to sponsoring a motor racing series.

Given that the Konica Minolta sponsorship seems to follow Mr Gurr around to the different teams he has driven for (Smiths Trucks, IMS, SAE Racing, HYL & PMM...), it could easily be construed that the accumulation of sponsorship could continue to be used to support this driver in some capacity in 2005.

(EDIT: MODIFIED FOR CLARITY...... AND TO FIX AN ERROR MADE BY THE POSTER THAT BOMN HAS KINDLY POINTED OUT. THANK YOU BOMN.)

WARNING: FOR ALL OF YOU WHO READ ON FROM HERE, THIS THREAD WILL PROBABLY MAKE NO SENSE AT ALL.

[TSR]

GTR do not forget that Ray Kershler only write what Aussie Bernie tell him to.

[FatBoy]

Geez, talk about fast editing !! Ignore my last post as it makes about as much sense as the rest of my posts...

[GTRMagic]

Nah, I just put it with the other stuff.... there is another thread with all the original stuff....

I thought we could keep this one to talk about series sponsorship, not whether GTRMagic was a f***** or not....

[laser]

I thought this thread was 3 pages before, and I'm DEAD sure I posted on this thread as well ... seems the current moderator group here have been infected the same disease as another forum site

Goodonya GTR

[laser]

Actually, I've been told there were a few more comments on this thread that seemed to have disappeared into the ether as well pity I didn't get a chance to read them all.

[GTRMagic]

Actually laser the thread in its previous entirity is Here

And you shouldnt be so harsh about your own webforum!!

What this has to do with Konica Minolta not renewing its deal I dont know...

[laser]

Actually laser the thread in its previous entirity is Here

My apologies ... I was confused when both pages of this thread were almost identical to the other one.

And you shouldnt be so harsh about your own webforum!!

This bit I don't get, maybe I am just as thick as others

What this has to do with Konica Minolta not renewing its deal I dont know...

Yes, apologies again for being offtopic, but the disappearing posts got me a bit wound up - maybe that is what you are eluding to (above), and I was meaning another site, not "mine"

[Elwood]

And speaking of series' names can anyone think of a worse one than the old (Amaroo in the early 80's I think):

"Art Carved Diamonds / Permanent Pantry Clubman Series"

Now that rolls of the tongue...

[rdmdog]

Im glad that Konica, and therefore this year Minolta too, have been supporting the feeder category, and I certainly hope someone picks up where they have left off.

Konica seemed to have supported Steve Ellery for a while too, Id hate for everyone to think that there was only one person recieving the benefits of Konica's support.

[David Towe]

Back to the possible names for the 2 series how about.."Taxis" and "Old Taxis"?