2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship - Results and TalkTouring Cars 

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Pete05
Why should Todd retire?
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To make room for a factory driver(if there were a spare one). Volvo got it wrong with Dahlgren. Even if Nissan reached out to North America to grab a driver, I think the program would benefit.
 
05XR8
To make room for a factory driver(if there were a spare one). Volvo got it wrong with Dahlgren. Even if Nissan reached out to North America to grab a driver, I think the program would benefit.
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In that case I'd vote for Chiyo. He's a homegrown talent & that would have to please the Nissan head honchos. He'd probably go a long way to giving good reason for Nissan to hang around.
The only reason I wouldn't nominate our own Matt Simmons is, besides being fairly fresh, I want to see him succeed on the international stage. He's got plenty of time to comeback & play touring cars.
 
Chiyo is in GT500. Unless Nissan are running that 4T in the Altima next year or the GT3 R35 in AGT next year, he's staying put in Japan.

Dunno if Buncombe is keen or Krumm for that matter. Ordonez, even with his experience, I can't see him here at all. Jann, forget it. He wants F1. Florian missed the 12H because of R.Kelly. So, would he want to race a V8? I have no idea.

If V8 Supercars were in Gran Turismo, might be a different story.
 
05XR8
Chiyo is in GT500. Unless Nissan are running that 4T in the Altima next year or the GT3 R35 in AGT next year, he's staying put in Japan.

Dunno if Buncombe is keen or Krumm for that matter. Ordonez, even with his experience, I can't see him here at all. Jann, forget it. He wants F1. Florian missed the 12H because of R.Kelly. So, would he want to race a V8? I have no idea.

If V8 Supercars were in Gran Turismo, might be a different story.
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I can't see any of them turning cartwheels at the prospect of being ordered here for a year. Compensation would want to be adequate to say the least.
 
05XR8
Chiyo is in GT500. Unless Nissan are running that 4T in the Altima next year or the GT3 R35 in AGT next year, he's staying put in Japan.

Dunno if Buncombe is keen or Krumm for that matter. Ordonez, even with his experience, I can't see him here at all. Jann, forget it. He wants F1. Florian missed the 12H because of R.Kelly. So, would he want to race a V8? I have no idea.

If V8 Supercars were in Gran Turismo, might be a different story.
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Jann's program this year suggests F1 is not the aim anymore.
 
Pete05
I can't see any of them turning cartwheels at the prospect of being ordered here for a year. Compensation would want to be adequate to say the least.
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V8 Supercars is one of the highest Paying Motorsport Series in the world.
 
mustafur
V8 Supercars is one of the highest Paying Motorsport Series in the world.
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Got any numbers to quote?
Also, what you get paid as a Supercar driver depends on who you are & who you're driving for.
 
mustafur
Jann's program this year suggests F1 is not the aim anymore.
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Maybe the recent video posted of him, need to update that for those not in the know.

Pete05
Got any numbers to quote?
Also, what you get paid as a Supercar driver depends on who you are & who you're driving for.
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Erebus paid Wil Davison $800k. I don't know how much McLaughlin gets paid but, I bet it ain't chips. I'm sure there are higher paid drivers like Lowndes, Whincup and Frosty. There really are only Two 2 teams that are "small". Tekno and LDM. Super Black seem to have money. Wood, Blanchard, Heimgartner, Pye and Percat are probably the lowest paid(add Russell).
 
Pete05
Got any numbers to quote?
Also, what you get paid as a Supercar driver depends on who you are & who you're driving for.
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It does depend on who your driving for, but the incomes do reflect what the top drivers can make.

Whilst transparency on the grids contracts is low we get a few clues in some sites:

http://m.thenewdaily.com.au/sport/2015/02/18/australias-biggest-paid-sports-star/

Lowndes: $2 Million
Courtney: $1.8 Million
Whincup: $1.6 Million

Just for Reference Will Power makes $1.5 Million in Indycar with the biggest team in the series and at the time of this article was the defending Champion.

We also do know that Mostert is making $1 Million a Year with his new contract(no real info on Winterbottom).

You do have to look at it as a whole though and it makes sense, V8 supercars has massive popularity in it's Market compared to other series, the V8s will demolish Average Crowds of series such as DTM, Indycar, Blancpain you name it, Motorsport in Australia is more popular as a percentage then nearly every other series out there in the world, whilst Motorsport popularity has declined in Europe and North America, Australia's popularity hasn't in that same time period.
 
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R1600Turbo
He's still running Formula 3 in Japan though.
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Yes, but to go from a GP3/GP2 Program to a Japanese F3/GT300 program suggests a move away.

The Super License points he would get from the F3 championship wouldn't be even close to enough even if he wins.

F3 Euro/GP3 and GP2 are the only series that will give him enough points.
 
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Does Jann communicate in these forums? I'd like to read his thoughts about his ambitions moving forward. Would be interesting.
 
05XR8
Does Jann communicate in these forums? I'd like to read his thoughts about his ambitions moving forward. Would be interesting.
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He did an interview somewhere recently (can't remember where) that gave us a look into his off-track life.
He's got an R32 GT-R as a road car. No, it's not standard.
 
05XR8
Does Jann communicate in these forums? I'd like to read his thoughts about his ambitions moving forward. Would be interesting.
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For some insane reason, I seem to remember him being a regular member before he joined the GT Academy.
 
Pete05
He did an interview somewhere recently (can't remember where) that gave us a look into his off-track life.
He's got an R32 GT-R as a road car. No, it's not standard.
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Yeah, that's where ai watched him say he wanted to reach F1.

prisonermonkeys
VESA threatens to quit the Australian Grand Prix support bill after their contract runs out if they cannot run the races as a championship round:

http://m.smh.com.au/sport/motorspor...ns-to-quit-australian-gp-20160227-gn5eg8.html
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So silly. Australian GT is a championship round but not Australia's top tier motorsport. I think Carrera Cup was as well. Each year I attended, the V8s could have raced much longer. No matter, I'm a bit sour that I'll miss the event this year. If (V8)Supercars don't renew, it won't be that great a loss.
 
05XR8
Australian GT is a championship round but not Australia's top tier motorsport. I think Carrera Cup was as well.
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And I think that's the problem - V8 Supercars is our top motorsport. I think Bernie Ecclestone might be concerned that if they can run a championship race, it might overshadow the Grand Prix to the point where the Victorian tourism minister decides not to renew their contract in favour of building the event around V8 Supercars. We have already seen the way the sport kept the Gold Coast 600 alive even after the departure of Indycar and the collapse of the A1GP event. What's to say that the same can't happen with Albert Park? Australian GT and Carerra Cup don't pose that threat because they aren't the same juggernaut that V8 Supercars is.

The Australian Grand Prix is a Formula One race first and foremost, and it should continue to be that way.
 
prisonermonkeys
And I think that's the problem - V8 Supercars is our top motorsport. I think Bernie Ecclestone might be concerned that if they can run a championship race, it might overshadow the Grand Prix to the point where the Victorian tourism minister decides not to renew their contract in favour of building the event around V8 Supercars. We have already seen the way the sport kept the Gold Coast 600 alive even after the departure of Indycar and the collapse of the A1GP event. What's to say that the same can't happen with Albert Park? Australian GT and Carerra Cup don't pose that threat because they aren't the same juggernaut that V8 Supercars is.

The Australian Grand Prix is a Formula One race first and foremost, and it should continue to be that way.
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In that case Mr.Magoo has a choice. Allow the Supercars championship status or call their bluff, risk the perceived threat to crowd numbers & the associated ticket sales.
Does anyone have an idea of what he charges for a gig on the support card at Albert Park?
 
Thing is, this can't happen.


Race 3&4 much of the same.
Albert Park is a tough track to pass without drivers making mistakes. Victorian Gov would have a hard time trying to sell that versus Sandown and PI.
So, would ticket buyers skip the GP and just attend the V8s if the C'hip box is ticked? Probably not.
 
Pete05
In that case Mr.Magoo has a choice.
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No, he doesn't. VESA has a choice. They can agree to the terms offered, or they can go elsewhere. As we established last year with the 12-Hour, they have no right to hijack another event because it suits them. I don't see why that has changed simply because we're talking about Formula One. Like I said, the Grand Prix is a Formula One race first and foremost.

Pete05
Does anyone have an idea of what he charges for a gig on the support card at Albert Park?
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I'm pretty sure that he doesn't charge for support races. The organisers do. Ecclestone has the ability to influence them in such a way that they can't hijack his event, but a support bill is one of the ways promoters turn a profit.
 
It's a no win situation, Albert park is such a poor track for the V8s yet if they leave then it may effect numbers in a way that could damage the Grand Prix.

I think because it's a poor track for the V8s might make it easier to give in to their demands, F1 definitely has more interest then Indycars, especially considering the majority of the time they had it at goldcoast it was Champcar and they where at a pretty weak level at that time, not to mention With Riccardo at F1 the Chances of it over shadowing it would be near impossible.
 
I just want them to be able to live stream the races. Tired of missing them.
 
Qualifying and especially Sunday, are the big ticket days anyway. In saying that, the lines are long for V8 autographs. The stands aren't packed when the V8s race. Which means, it is an F1 event.

I used feel V8s should follow F1 around the globe. Since moving here, I'm glad it is planted at home.
Something does need to be done with those V8 Utes though.
 
05XR8
Something does need to be done with those V8 Utes though.
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As with all touring car type racing, the V8 utes have semi outgrown themselves, its now at the point where they are all but fully fledged race cars when the initial inception was to be able to double as a road car and be driven to and from events with minimal spares and tools,
 
Those cars are so powerful now. They need the proper safety and tyre technology. The serious crashes over the years pretty much warrant them being full on race cars.
If it were like that SSang YYong series, then I'd see the only requirements would be up to date rego and number plates.
 
Darrell Lea renews Tekno deal.

Tekno-Autosport-V8-livery-e1456696730121.png


Would it have killed them to change the livery up a little? It's more or less, exactly the same as last years car.
 
Darrell Lea choose the livery (and VIP Petfoods before it). The designer had some great concepts that were rejected over the last few years because that's how they want the livery. Easily recognisable.
 
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