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Old 10 Mar 2017, 13:36 (Ref:3717755)   #10
Mark Petch
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Join Date: Dec 2006
Posts: 968
Mark Petch should be qualifying in the top 10 on the grid
Quote:
Originally Posted by Icarus_nz View Post
Where you do even begin on this subject?

Before leaping to possible 'solutions' I believe it is necessary to ask some pretty fundamental questions first and establish the terms of reference.

Firstly it is critical to realise that this discussion is about what would constitute "Premier Classes" i.e. Classes worth of crowning NZ Champions from.
Implicit in that is ensuring some form of development pathway.



There will always be tensions between what competitors want to race, what competitors can afford to race, what is of interest to commercial partners and finally what is of interest to the viewers.

What competitors want to race is complex. It seems that kiwis love to tinker in their sheds and employ their singular brilliance to compensate for a limited budget. It’s about getting a group of people around you and having a crack.

These people love freedoms.

Unfortunately they are the same people who cry when someone with more resources beats them by being able to better exploit the same freedoms.
It can lead to lesser drivers with a bigger ‘toolbox’ getting crowned. Is this a problem? Not for me to say



Control class racing develops drivers. No question.
But less skilled drivers and teams with the wrong approach rapidly become discouraged.

The viewing public don’t help here. Less than a podium and you’re a w**nker.

TRS this season for example often had the whole field of 20 cars covered by less than 1 sec. In the mid pack 0.2 sec was the difference between 18th and 8th at times.
Hard to call a guy 0.5 sec off pole a w**nker. In a ‘soft’ class he’d look like a star.

The public (apparently) want to see passing. The ‘purist’ public want to see passes earned.
The purists are in the minority so we end up with a situation where many passes are due to massive performance differences.


What do commercial partners want?
Who would know? Usually we just take their money and run…

Actually in this era, what they want it a buzz, lots of ‘clicks’ and exposure.
TV is still King but who is paying?

Where are the celebrities of the sport?

Next time you go to a race meeting, look at the amount of people it takes to simply run the event.
No wonder promotors seem to cover their costs off the competitor (and associated bodies), spectators are a bonus.

To attend an event for a spectator requires quite a commitment in terms of time.
So what makes for a good day out? That alone is worthy of discussion.

Who are we aiming at? There are plenty of folks who enjoy re-living the yesteryears but that is not what Premier classes are about.
Whilst I agree that we must learn from the past to prevent the mistakes of tomorrow, I also believe that the past is no template for now or the future. These are different times.

The recent past was a disaster due to naked, vested self-interest.

No one is blameless in this and I’m not sure that any of those involved really should have a say in where we go from here.

Discuss.
Good post as usual Icarus,

Control class racing develops drivers. No question.
But less skilled drivers and teams with the wrong approach rapidly become discouraged.


In reflection, aside from being undermined by MSNZ, what you espouse is why so many V8St cars are sitting in 'sheds' because the drivers with less skills etc ultimately become discouraged.

Without naming names several of those drivers/Dad's have instead spent some rather serious amounts of money modifying their V8ST's to go Endurance racing, and or GT1 racing, however, despite more BHP and or areo, not one of them have ever got within Scott McLaughlin time of 1minute 2.8 second V8ST qualifying lap at Hampton Downs 4 years ago, or SVG' 1 minute 3.6 second V8ST qualifying lap at Pukekohe 3 years ago.

The point being they lack the ultimate skill to compete against the best or even the next rung down from these two hugely talented Tin-Top drivers, so, discouraged they seek a class with freedoms or pack up and seek greener pastures like the V8 Ute, or 86 Series etc.

Ironically I see exactly the same thing happening in our Ssangyong Actyon Sport Ute series, driver's/Dad's being discouraged because in truth the steerer lacks the skill to be at the front on a consistent basis, so they walk away, and in some case from the sport itself because its been a rude awakening that they lack the skill required to race at the top in a strictly controlled one make race series.

I am not short on idea's to improve Premier categories but I ask were does the money come from? Its a user pays society we live in and thats never more the case than in motor racing.

As far as the Ssangyong SRS utes are concerned we have committed to a 4th season, 2017/18, but thats it for the brand as we have achieved what we set out to do from the brand point of view and continue to have lot of fun doing so to I might add.

GT endurance racing needs to mature in this country and that means new category management and TV exposure and that will come within the next couple of years as the success of the Bathurst 12 hour creates more and more public and sponsor interest in that category, however, it comes at great cost so its never going to become mainstream in the domestic sense here in NZ. Two big Australian GT events here a year is realistically all we can aspire to, at least in my opinion.
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