Production Car Racing (GT4, CTSCC, PWC GTS/TC, MX-5 Cup, etc)Touring Cars 

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Just a fantastic opportunity to sweep the weekend. Supercars really does prepare racers here to race hard and fair under pressure. Bring back the manual! ;)
 
Best thing is any budding racers kind of don’t have to wait for Supercars seats. If someone can get the sponsors and a good enough budget to run GT4 and/or GT3, it’ll keep them racing here instead of having to shell out so much to afford racing abroad.

On a side note, this can also help Ford with the Super Ute program. Let’s say going from Karts, to GR86s and then some options to pick with Super Utes, DH, GT4, GT3, before (maybe)the ultimate dream of Supercars.

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The Group S racing at The Bend are cool. Nice seeing the 911s on the track. They just got pushed out in the Muscle Car Masters series.
 
The Group S racing at The Bend are cool. Nice seeing the 911s on the track. They just got pushed out in the Muscle Car Masters series.
Muscle Car Masters has just gone too far with the allowable mods, and as a result, costs have gone through the roof.

Group S (a, b, or c depending on the age of the car) is a much tighter controlled class.
Think of it as Group N for sportscars.
The racing is a lot better to watch too.
 
Yeah, seems like Grand Sport rather than Group S. Good that the powers that be made a category for passionate owners that don’t want to keep their cars in their sheds.
 
I've seen it mentioned elsewhere that, because of the fact that Max only has a B-Class Nordschleife Permit, the Cayman GT4 he'll be driving will be nerfed in terms of power, down from the ~450 HP the car normally makes to around 300 HP.

Given Max's knack for being fast in a variety of cars outside of F1, I'm interested to see how his lap times stack up relative to the other GT4 cars present.
 
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Spec Miata

How this never became a big thing in Australia, I'll never know.
How many one make series have we seen locally since the mid/late 90s that have all fallen by the wayside? Some memorable, some not.

Suzuki Swift
Daewoo Lanos
MG F
Lotus Elise
 
Indeed! I can only think of the number of MX-5s compared to other brands. E30 Cup is big in Victoria. The Excels do well because so many and so cheap. I guess Mini Coopers are an outlier, but that’s been going for seventy years.
A series that really should have taken off is B-Spec. There are plenty Mazda2, Jazz, Yaris, MINI, Barina to keep that running.

Spec MX-5 here would sky rocket prices for cars in any condition. It would be awesome to see Spec Miata/MX-5 locally, but at a cost to the road car market too. For as many youth, here, I currently see in NB MX-5s like mine, I seems there are more people our age that own all generations of MX-5.
 
It’s funny though. Look how strong RX-8 series are. There are way few numbers compared to MX-5, but it’s been thriving.
Maybe if Mazda Australia gave it the same passion as Toyota have since the first 86 landed, there might have been a different outcome.
I remember when MX-5 Club of NSW were doing MX-5 races, but that was about 10 years ago. Today, Mazda aren’t even promoting Global MX-5 Cup(Japan & USA) for a possibility here.

Well hey, at least we have a new series to look forward to. ;)
 
Indeed! I can only think of the number of MX-5s compared to other brands. E30 Cup is big in Victoria. The Excels do well because so many and so cheap. I guess Mini Coopers are an outlier, but that’s been going for seventy years.
A series that really should have taken off is B-Spec. There are plenty Mazda2, Jazz, Yaris, MINI, Barina to keep that running.

Spec MX-5 here would sky rocket prices for cars in any condition. It would be awesome to see Spec Miata/MX-5 locally, but at a cost to the road car market too. For as many youth, here, I currently see in NB MX-5s like mine, I seems there are more people our age that own all generations of MX-5.
Yes, the E30s are a strong State-based series along with the Porsche 944s, and how could I forget about the kamikaze Kingswoods.
Add to that we had Commodore Cup for a while in the 90s until they tried updating to the 2nd generation body. That killed it quick.
If you watched yesterday's stream from Phillip Island, you would've seen the Mini races.
Even though I watched it too, I still forgot about the Mini Challenge of about 15 or so years ago.
What you've described as B-spec, does run as the Nuggets with a 1500cm³ limit and strict budget, on a very low key basis.

You are right about racing pushing up the average price of cars on the market.
NBs are the cheapest available unless you've found a very tired NA or NC.
I would dearly love to play with an NA as a weekend cruiser and/or track toy, and I've always had an appreciation for a clever driveline swap such as the Flyin' Miatas or the V6 swaps I've seen in the U.K.
Makes me wonder why the rotary swap has never taken off. 13B or Renesis.
Do you remember the locally made, in very limited numbers, NB turbocharged SP variation?
 
Do you remember the locally made, in very limited numbers, NB turbocharged SP variation?
Yes. Since Mazda Australia made their own(and more powerful) ”MazdaSpeed” MX-5, that would have been the ripe time to promote one make MX-5s. Then again, with regards to racing, I believe the history of the rotary in Australia pretty much overshadowed every piston engined Mazda car sold here.
Probably makes more sense to go racing in a rotary than a turbo 4-cylinder.
 
Yes. Since Mazda Australia made their own(and more powerful) ”MazdaSpeed” MX-5, that would have been the ripe time to promote one make MX-5s. Then again, with regards to racing, I believe the history of the rotary in Australia pretty much overshadowed every piston engined Mazda car sold here.
Probably makes more sense to go racing in a rotary than a turbo 4-cylinder.
Almost 100% rotisserie motivation when it comes to Mazda motorsport down under.
I can only think of a handful of times when that wasn't the case.
The rare as hen's teeth piston powered outlier in the Bathurst 500s of the late 60s, early 70s.
The female-only, and mercifully short-lived 121 bubble car series.
The 626 V6 in the Procar-run days of the late 90s.
The 3MPS in Production Cars still seen sporadically. Won last time out at Willowbank.
Finally, the last two years of the Bathurst 6hr have been dominated by SP25 & SP23 versions of the 3.
Oh, and the diesel Ute's were dominated by Ryal Harris in a 5-cylinder BT50.
 
Good to seethe mash of TCM/TCM NZ.
That looked like one of the most orchestrated races I've seen since the 1994 Australian Super Touring season.

Fogg was able to come through from almost the back of the grid yesterday, such was his car speed advantage.
Once he got to the front, he hovered around the front to make a race of it and/or get exposure for the names on his car.

He should've won this morning's race by 10, 15+ seconds at a canter.
As for the rest (the Aussie contingent), I've never seen a TCM race like it, and I've been watching the category since it's inception.
 
That looked like one of the most orchestrated races I've seen since the 1994 Australian Super Touring season.

Fogg was able to come through from almost the back of the grid yesterday, such was his car speed advantage.
Once he got to the front, he hovered around the front to make a race of it and/or get exposure for the names on his car.

He should've won this morning's race by 10, 15+ seconds at a canter.
As for the rest (the Aussie contingent), I've never seen a TCM race like it, and I've been watching the category since it's inception.
Like he said, cruising at 270+kmh and there's more to go. It'd be like a video game on Easy.
 
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