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Peter's been on an anti-V8 crusade for 15 years. He never really got over the Super Tourers losing the 'war'. His problem is that over the years the crusade has simply become more and more fanatical.
I like Peter, know him personally and agree with a lot of what he writes. But there's no mistaking that everything V8 is written with a negative slant. He's almost like a political opposition party - argue against everything.
V8SA have been pigs in their treatment of him at times - but it has to be said that if there's no chance of having anything positive or even balanced in his coverage of their events - why should they make an effort towards him.
As far as the 'taxpayer cost' - the difference between infrastructure for sporting codes and the temporary facilities for street races - the cost of permanent stadiums, race tracks etc are absorbed over decades and generally return a profit and are multi-sport and often multi-use (ie: Rock concerts). The facilities are often used for corporate events etc, so there are multi-revenue streams.
Street races are recurring costs for events that very rarely return an operational profit.
Traditionally, the economic stimulus of having a major event has made the annual cost worthwhile for certain events - Clipsal and, in years gone by, Indy are excellent examples.
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