2012 V8ST Season Review

[Icarus_nz]

Well the first season is over and is been a ride!
There have been a bunch of threads talking about all the faults/problems with the series but in this thread I'd like people to to think about and celebrate the positives

So here's the rules:
2 x series positives
1 x area to improve

If you have nothing nice to say please stick to the other threads. Wolley has enough to do!

I'll start

Positive One: Some stunning racing from an impressive line up of drivers
http://www.v8st.co.nz/results/points.html

Positive Two:
Taking it to the people.
http://www.v8st.co.nz/gallery/taupo-...ve/friday.html

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?s...2101393&type=1

Exciting for the future of the sport to see small children meeting their (new) heroes and getting close to race cars

Area to Improve:
Get the print media (Papers and Magazines) looking and realising there is a year round story to follow

[flyingduck]

Well I'm going to brake the rules

The good
Think the accessibility to the series is impressive and mark coming on this site with honesty is great.
I think the series has engaged the fans and got good numbers interested with some pretty good crowds.
Great line up of drivers
Good availabity of the drivers through the Friday night events and driver signing sessions.

So to the bad.

I think the officials have been interesting to say the least, we saw incorrect
Writing up of infringements in ruapuna in the first and second time there, incorrect rulings when it came to yellow flags, cars black flaged with one official and then another official saying they did it after the first one realised that they couldn't do it. And 4 or 5 other things that have gone wrong, lot of this boils down not having the Robbo figure that the buck stops with and know the rule book correctly.

Reliability is one thing but know how many laps the fuel did instead of having to throw mystery cautions so they had could get to the end on gas.

Try to add proper enduros with fuel stops and tyre changing even if the stops are given a minimum time that they can take eg 4 minutes so people don't spend moon beams on stuff for them

[socram]

Firstly, I am not a great fan of any one make/model series, but I'll add my two penn'orth anyway...

Agree with post 1.

1) Appreciate Mark getting it off the ground when there were so many who said he couldn't - and getting decent grids of cafrs and drivers.

2) The support classes I gather, have been worth watching. Spectators are not going to put up with tiny grids, either for the feature race or the support races.

Against.

Mark, you can't tell freehold apartment owners at Hampton Downs, (who effectively put up their money for the initial build of the circuit), that they can't have free access to their own property. Get them on side and they'll do the promotion for the series for you, so please don't try and BS them about "substantial income lost" from the "freeloaders in the apartments", without showing them the proof.

[peckstar]

here's my 2 cents worth whos entire knowledge is based on what i read on ten tenths and speed cafe.

1. fields are growing and attracting ausie drivers
2 I'm slightly interested by what i read about it on speed cafe

negative
1. So sick of the arguing by ten tenths posters about it and the other class i know nothing about. It makes me hate all NZ motorsport

and i will add, its a shame the motor issues, hoping the get it sorted for next season

[Chris - Melb]

2 x series positives

The series is on pay TV in Australia, albeit with low production values and no post race interviews usually.

The Falcons are equal aerodynamically with their Commodore cousins with their central mounted rear wing, which also makes them better looking than their distant Ford relatives in Australia.


1 x area to improve

Adopting a standing starts would be good. I imagine that hasn't been done so far due to the reliability problems.

[NZSTfan]

yes a great season for sure.

My two positives are:

1) it got off the ground and all races where completed as planned
2) the huge interest and momentum that this series has developed. To have 20 cars by mid season was a massive coup for the series
3) I'm gunna put a third in here too, which is a repeat from some of the posts above. Having the series 'top dog' on this forum actively communicating in a very proactive manner is to be applauded

my negative is:
1) some minor teething problems mechanically whcih have spread some doubt over the series. I however see the big picture here and believe that these will be sorted in time

Next year will be even bigger and i am 95% confident that there is going to be a big surprise as far as driver line ups for next year is concerned. I have been privy to some game-changing info, but can't divulge any further. But if it happens it will be massive......watch this space

[Club racer]

I think the two big pluses for me have been the drivers and the racing.

Drivers with experience from every single major global category have taken part at some stage and more will come. There are championships elsewhere in the world that would give their right ones for the depth we have seen.

It's a matter of opinion I know - if it is largely also the opinion of the drivers which it is then that's good enough for me - but I think the racing has been brilliant.

The sad, sad tall poppy syndrome in this country and the haters who would love to see it fail are a big negative for me, these people have no place in motorsport and if it wasn't this series, it would be something else they'd find reason to scoff at and knock - largely because they are envious and incapable of doing it themselves.

Hats off to everyone involved in V8ST. I expect there will be much much more to come. Mark may not be everyone's cup of tea, but he's tenacious and a visionary and put his own money where his mouth is. I admire that.

Hats off to the brave bunch who got in behind it too. They've copped a lot of flack as well - with a lot of it on here. I've been to five meetings now, and each has been better. Support classes need a bit of work, but ticks for them too - and well done those guys at Honda Cup who have put out three full grids at the three meetings they have been part of - in my opinion a quiet success story in crap times for motorsport in this country. And I'm a BMW driver too!

All in all a series to follow with the drivers, the drama and the racing. Well done MP.

[nistfan]

V8ST Champion scores 2013 V8ST Drive

http://www.speedcafe.co.nz/2012/12/0...tsu-grm-drive/

[Goat Boy]

You'd be meaning 2013 V8SC drive I suspect

[NZSTfan]

Great news for Scott, well done

GRM seems to have a knack for picking these young guns and turning them into winners.

[nistfan]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

You'd be meaning 2013 V8SC drive I suspect

Thanks GB, spelling never my strong Point

Great News for New Zealand Motorsport