If anyone thinks that the A1GP cars will be missed this weekend at the Nikon SuperGP event on the Gold Coast, let me assure you that they won’t be. In the slightest.
I remember covering the last Champ Car race (before the championship imploded) on the Gold Coast a few years ago. It was a typical Surfer’s Paradise afternoon – scorching hot, brain-meltingly humid, and with the imminent threat of a massive dump of rain not far away. The 600kW Champ Cars were circling the concrete canyon in readiness for the start of the supposed main feature of the weekend… and as far as I could see (which probably covered about 5,000 people) not one pair of eyes was focused on the track.
Instead, all attention was fixed upon the antics of a buxom brunette and a pretty seedy looking bloke, going hard at it on the 16th floor of a high-rise in the centre of the track. The cars could have been shooting fifty-dollar notes into the predominantly young, overwhelmingly inebriated crowd, and they wouldn’t have noticed…
In the heyday of the Champ Car era in the late 1990s, the Indy 300 was a world-class racing event, with top notch drivers hustling screaming turbocharged V8s around a concrete canyon at frightening speed. Over the last few years, though, the imported show has been getting progressively worse, while the V8 Supercar circus has steadily improved.
Leaving aside the pathetic wreckage of the A1GP series for the moment, it’s now clear that the Indy event will become solely the domain of the V8 Supercar. Which, of course, is exactly what Tony Cochrane, the mastermind behind the Supercar series, wanted all along; another state government underwriting another one of his events.
It’s a big ask for the Supercar teams to back up two weeks after Bathurst. Race distance around the streets of Surfer’s Paradise has doubled, with two extra races over the weekend taking the total to 600km. It’s also the hottest, toughest track that the drivers have to contend with, too.
The holes in the program left by the last-minute cancellation of the A1GP races are steadily filling; a hastily cobbled-together Masters race will feature a bunch of old coves in older cars racing their respective sons, so that could be pretty cool. Probably not for the owners of the cars…
I think that the Gold Coast event should have an open-wheeler component to it, but I’ll be buggered to think of one outside of the IRL (which has two Aussies and a Kiwi racing in it) that would fit the bill. Mr Cochroane would be laughing like a drain today…
christ robbo,THAT WAS ME,i didnt know people were watching,oh cheeeses ,the curtains.anyway are the formula holdens still running?last time i saw them in action,they were better then the v8s.
Surfers is a good track – and not as easy as it looks!
Truoble is the dick head population triples!
go there if you wanna party – but if you have anything except the big buck tickets and a loan of a 3rd floor unit-you wont see bugger all!
Good ridance to the A1GP cars. It’s not exactly like they were very exciting anyway. For open wheelers, why ot just take the gaurds of the Brutes & let them go at it? Save them having to smash the gaurds off during the racing. Seriously though, Formula Ford or Formula Holden are heaps better to watch than many open wheeler categories so why not just settle for them?
Poppop, that’s not a visual I needed…
Conman-Open wheeler raceing requires A LOT more skill than tin tops-you simply cant touch the other cars (or anything really)
thats why our v8 drivers never move into opens with any success!!
but your right the a1 series was boreing!!
Wonder why they didnt organise another GT series race for the gc!!
Black Dog, I agree it takes alot more skill to pilot an open wheeler because of the easy to damage factor. I think the GT Series has moved on to thier next location or there simply wasn’t enough time to organise the more proffesional category to get there in time. Would probably have been too last minute for the GT guys to get the cars on transporters & up to the GC. Would have been great to watch them around that track though. It would have been first class racing around there from them.
The RAAF just did a dump and burn fly by in a f111 at the GC race,i just cant remember which is older the tiger moth or the f111.
Hey leave the f111 alone – its an institution!
To use 3ton of fuel to dump 3ton of fuel-!!!
and keep the punters happy!!
Conman-Also i think some of gt teams may have baulked at the concrete barriers!!
The vip pet foods aston db9 would have sounded like thunder between the buildings.
one 9dollar can of aerostart in the tiger moth would have done the same.
Black Dog, good point. I hadn’t thought of that.
Poppop, I think you are looking for the Red Bull Air Race site. Last time I checked cars don’t fly. Well not far anyway. Depends how big the jump is & how fast your going of course, but they don’t really fly.
the best racing iv ever seen in australia was canberra round of the touring cars , only ran it twice due to red tape but it was even better then bathurst,they had formula holdens, wrx vs mitsubishi evos and the rest,and the backdrops and acustics of the track made it even better.
That track around canberry was terribly boring. How can you compare it to Bathurst? Have you been into my JD stash Poppop?
A1 was boring. Good ridance. On the other hand, I love it when the V8s go round indy, always a good, hard race with plenty of damage.
The v8s were good (if your into them in a big way)
but the word around here is that the gc lost s/loads and the event organisers are running for cover in a big way
So the a1s wont be missed – b/s!!
The media,outright LIED about what people thought
The scumbags still made everyone pay full price at the gate on race day!! when every 3rd punter turned around after they were told they were going to be charged full price..
They shoved the v8s down our throat without an apolagy-just like a boofball replay.
Black Dog, what were they supposed to do? I’m no V8SCA apologist, but the fact of the matter is that the A1GP guys pulled out of a contracted commitment with seven days’ notice. A lot of people (inc all the Supercar teams) spent a LOT of money to make sure the program was as full as it could possibly be.
All the infrastructure was in, support staff, etc etc… and it wasn’t V8SCA’s show this time, it was IMG; they could have cut Sunday prices as a sign of good will.
As well, what about all the people who’d pre-bought tickets, accom etc? If they reduced ticket prices at the door, they’d have to recompense everyone else.
It was a shitty situation for all concerned.
stupid recession
so toyota pulled out too,no money in f1 for selling road cars??????????????
actually,when Hamilton won the championship last year in Brazil,thanks to the toyotas,the first thing that came to my mind was,no spannish speaking person will ever buy a toyota again,and that is a massive market,and i will not own a toyota just for that reason,a bit extreme,but so are the latinos.
Tim
all that is correct-however i believe it was a very easily avoided farce!
The a1s were never going to be there -they were in recievership-you cant trade under liquidation-Our qld sports minister knew that but went ahead under whos advice?
he was told/warned for 3mths!
Then did nothing till the last 10days or so
The punters could have and should have had a better backup program than all v8s at the last minute.
The motor racing is over for the year, except for the procession v8’s & there’s no end of year wrap? TGA, have you sacked Robson or did he spit it when he found out the show is going to 9 & quit? Or is he simply on holidays?