HPDC Teams - Which is which?

[Falcadore]

Guys, just updaing some material - and I was wondering if you could help me out with just who are the various HPDC teams? Are they new - who ran last year etc..

81/71 are the DJR Falcons of course
Jose Fernandez #26 is run by Britek - but is Greg Smith's #86 AU?
Brett Peters is running Deane's #91AU and Papendalls #80VX (a Holden???)
and what of the rest - where is IRCA and Sydney Star and last years Konica Minolta teams?

Ta Muchly
MAJ

[Peter_Maxwwell]

Luff in ex Ingall BA run under Jim Morton / Paul Cruikshank
Scifleet in ex Stones AU run under Paul Cruikshank

Tony Dalberto in the ex Kmart car

MacDonald in the ex Ellery BA - run by Ellery
Mark Porter - brand new BA - run by Ellery

there are more... but will get back on here later to finish

[B!tchie Renault]

Hey Falc. The Entry List is as follows. There is quite a few absentees from last year namely Young Guns, and Rupprecht Motorsport.

The text in Brackets is my information on the cars, but I am not 100% certain on few of them. If anyone has additional information about these, feel free to add your comments.

19 Brad Jones Racing Dale Brede AU (Andrew Jones' Car from KM2004)
26 Fujitsu Racing Jose Fernandez BA (Thexton's BA run by Britek)
27 Betta Electrical / Breakfree Resorts Adam Macrow BA (ex. 2003 Briggs BA run by Howard Racing)
28 Smartskip Dean Wanless AU (2004 Mathew White's ex. Briggs AU)
30 Dexion Racing Tony Evangelou BA (ex. Anthony Tratt's BA 2003)
31 Hyundai Construction Racing Mark Porter BA (new SER BA debuted at Rd 1 of the HPDC)
32 Dux Hot Water Aaron McGill VX (assume Jay Verdnicks ex. Perkins VX from 2004)
37 Betta Electrical / Breakfree Resorts Mark Howard BA (ex. 2003 Briggs BA run by Howard Racing)
40 Peters Motorsport Wayne Wakefield AU (ex. Greenfield Mowers car as run in KM 2004)
41 Kanga Loaders Racing Gary MacDonald BA (ex. Steve Ellery #31 from 2004)
42 HI - Trans Jay Verdnik VY (ex. Team Dynamick VY, but with 18 degree Chev Engine)
56 Messertech John Henderson AU (assume ex. SBR AU run by PCR in KM 2004)
60 Decina Racing Warren Luff BA (ex. Russell Ingall SBR BA 2004)
62 Motor One Finance Scott Loadsman VX (ex. Lansvale VX 2003)
65 Doric Racing Phillip Scifleet AU (assume ex. SBR AU run by PCR in KM 2004)
66 Rod Lynch Motorsport AU (ex. Craig Harris AU in 2003 Konica)
68 Shane Beikoff Racing Shane Beikoff AU (ex. Rod Salmon / Craig Bastian AU)
71 Gatorz Racing Dean Canto BA (DJR BA)
80 Peters Motorsport Mark Papendell VX (assume ex. Porter Hydralink KM 2004 ex. Team Kiwi Perkins Car)
81 Summit / Jax Racing Grant Denyer BA (DJR BA)
86 Fujitsu Greg Smith AU (ex. DJR AU run by Fernandez or Kelly in KM2004)
91 Peters Motorsport Gary Deane AU (ex. Briggs AU 2002..sister car to #28)
98 MacArthur Fleet Service Grant Elliott VX (ex. GRM VX)
99 Tony D'Alberto Racing Tony D'Alberto VY (ex. Kmart Racing winner 2004 Bathurst (chassis TWR044?))

[Ross Cadell]

Falc

Greg Smith is a novocastrian such as myself who owns a company called Church air conditioning and the Fujitsu deal is through that and seperate from any Britek deal.

In terms of where are the rest, I can tell you that I was on the edge of getting involved but most drivers are saying they want to win but $250-300k will only make you best of the rest with the BA's of Luff, Macrow and the DJR boy's which is a lot of loot to flush. the level One involvement says virtually be ready to get smashed to the rest of the field.

D'Alberto is standing up for the independents but I shudder to think what a Kmart commodore, engines, new transporter and Operation for the year costs.

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by Ross Cadell

Falc

Greg Smith is a novocastrian such as myself who owns a company called Church air conditioning and the Fujitsu deal is through that and seperate from any Britek deal.

In terms of where are the rest, I can tell you that I was on the edge of getting involved but most drivers are saying they want to win but $250-300k will only make you best of the rest with the BA's of Luff, Macrow and the DJR boy's which is a lot of loot to flush. the level One involvement says virtually be ready to get smashed to the rest of the field.

D'Alberto is standing up for the independents but I shudder to think what a Kmart commodore, engines, new transporter and Operation for the year costs.

Ross, *****ie and Peter, thanks for responding so quickly. In case you haven't guess - its for a VESRIX update - and Im wondering what to call the various HPDC teams - especially those with a previous history in the series.

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by Falcadore

Ross, *****ie and Peter, thanks for responding so quickly. In case you haven't guess - its for a VESRIX update - and Im wondering what to call the various HPDC teams - especially those with a previous history in the series.

Ross, Bichie and Peter, thanks for responding so quickly. In case you haven't guess - its for a VESRIX update - and Im wondering what to call the various HPDC teams - especially those with a previous history in the series.

Because as you know - sponsors come and go, where as the racing goes on. I had:

26 Jose Fernandez Britek Racing
27 Adam Macrow Howard Racing
28 Dean Wanless ???
31 Mark Porter Steven Ellery Racing
32 Aaron McGill ???
37 Mark Howard Holden Racing Team
41 Gary MacDonald Steven Ellery Racing
42 Jay Verdnik ???
56 John Henderson ???
60 Warren Luff Paul Cruickshank Racing
62 Scott Loadsman ???
65 Phillip Scifleet Paul Cruickshank Racing
66 Adam Wallis Rod Lynch Motorsport
68 Shane Beikoff Shane Beikoff Racing
71 Dean Canto Dick Johnson Racing
80 Mark Papendall Peters Motorsport
81 Grant Denyer Dick Johnson Racing
86 Greg Smith ???
91 Gary Deane Peters Motorsport
98 Grant Elliott ???
99 Tony D'Alberto Tony D'Alberto Racing

yours
MAJ

[William Dale Jr]

Originally Posted by Falcadore

37 Mark Howard Holden Racing Team

I think you meant Howard Racing. It was pretty late

[anthony81901]

I think the 91 car is actually the Cat AU that Briggs built in 01, rather than one of the Betta cars from 02.

71 is the ex Steve Johnson from 03/04

[bondy_racing]

#91 is the Car that Max Wilson campaigned in 2002 in Betta Electrical colours. John Henderson's AU is ex Paul Weel Racing, Its the car Tim Gordon did a few rounds Last Season.

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by Ross Cadell

Falc

Greg Smith is a novocastrian such as myself who owns a company called Church air conditioning and the Fujitsu deal is through that and seperate from any Britek deal.

In terms of where are the rest, I can tell you that I was on the edge of getting involved but most drivers are saying they want to win but $250-300k will only make you best of the rest with the BA's of Luff, Macrow and the DJR boy's which is a lot of loot to flush. the level One involvement says virtually be ready to get smashed to the rest of the field.

D'Alberto is standing up for the independents but I shudder to think what a Kmart commodore, engines, new transporter and Operation for the year costs.

A multi-car (3+) could probably run a season on $250-300k each due to some economies of scale. I have been told that some teams are budgeting for $100k per car per round, which makes it simliar money per round as the Supercar Series. If a driver owned the car, then $250-300k is probably not inconceivable, but it would need some crash funds over and above that sum as a buffer.

PCR would be the only team that came close to a 3-car operation I would think. Apparently a walk-up start there starts at $300k, with other things built into it at additional expense.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Just Do It!

A multi-car (3+) could probably run a season on $250-300k each due to some economies of scale. I have been told that some teams are budgeting for $100k per car per round, which makes it simliar money per round as the Supercar Series. If a driver owned the car, then $250-300k is probably not inconceivable, but it would need some crash funds over and above that sum as a buffer.

If a BA costs $300k to buy, second hand... how does a season cost only about that much? Sure, some teams like DJR are running cars paid for out of budgets of seasons past, but they still are maintaining an upkeep on them often beyond the levels available to private teams.

Originally Posted by Just Do It!

PCR would be the only team that came close to a 3-car operation I would think. Apparently a walk-up start there starts at $300k, with other things built into it at additional expense.

And do what? Drive a car that first saw service on Australian race tracks in 1999?

There is no way a second string AU will be a consistent winner in the HPDC series with so many L1-supported BAs running in the series. Unless the usual team/budget/driver equation is perfect... it wont happen.

Money makes HPDC go round... how fast can you afford to go?

[Just Do It!]

Perhaps you better fill us in a little then, GTR. No doubt you have done some figures as a guideline for Team Riva??

[GTRMagic]

A main series team, supporting an HPDC entry, normally has one or two dedicated people looking after the preparation of the car(s) in the workshop... while the regular engineering types, crew chief, team owner and anyone else appropriate ends up coming to a race circuit for a weekend.

A private team by the same token, with the same personnel structure, cannot do it for the same dollars. They can hire 2 people to prepare cars, but would not have the personnel infrastructure of the main series team for development, and on-track knowledge.

Same goes for rent, transporter costs etc etc which the main series team would cover for the most part, and just gets borrowed for race weekends by the HPDC team... something to do with amortising costs across more programs...

If you want to win races in this series, hooking up with a L1 or L2 supported team is the only real way to go, with a sensible budget ($400k+) to do a very good job, in a late model car, supported by the people, team and spare parts kit that such a squad would provide.

What a number of drivers who have made the switch from private teams to main series supported ones have commented on most has been the level of knowledge transfer, of how the driver compares to others who have used the same car, how the tyres perform, what setup differences mean, and even how to adjust the driving style to make the car perform better, and more consistently.

Buying an ex-Fred Nerk AU which has already done loads of race miles for $50k, and thinking that a car of this quality can bring you to the front of the grid isnt exactly grounded in reality...

What is difficult to understand is exactly where AVESCO sees the HPDC series being positioned.. whether it is to run the cars used by the superstars but a year ago, operated by those teams with different drivers... or to get the private teams without the budgets to run a super elswisho campaign back to the weekend warrior ways...

I suspect that once the AU becomes ineligible for HPDC, the TCC will increase in numbers immensely... but that the HPDC series may not see as many replacements to fill the grid gaps....

[cavvy]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

What is difficult to understand is exactly where AVESCO sees the HPDC series being positioned.. whether it is to run the cars used by the superstars but a year ago, operated by those teams with different drivers... or to get the private teams without the budgets to run a super elswisho campaign back to the weekend warrior ways...

....

HPDC was to be an extra income line for L1 fanchises.

[GTRMagic]

There are a couple of people spending more than $400k this year, that dont have a hope of doing any winning....

[v8race1]

Just do it, Peters motorsport operate three cars, 40/ 80 and 91. The team went from a single car operation (peters)to a three car op in 2004 with 40 wakefield, 80 olsen and 91 deane. It is still running as a three car (privateer) team.

[James63]

Yes and I believe the #80 is the ex CAT AU from 2002.

[Just Do It!]

Thanks Spud. My apologies

[v8babe]

Originally Posted by spud1

Just do it, Peters motorsport operate three cars, 40/ 80 and 91. The team went from a single car operation (peters)to a three car op in 2004 with 40 wakefield, 80 olsen and 91 deane. It is still running as a three car (privateer) team.

FYI: at Wakefield Pk this weekend, they had #91 for Deane (no changes from last year), #80 for Tanton (Olsen has garaged his car for the remainder of the season so the team used the car WW drove last year and repainted/re-numbered it) and #40 franchise was leased to Papandell for the weekend who had his own car.

[v8race1]

Thanks v8racer, had trouble working out whos who myself.

[Falcadore]

19AU Dale Brede Brad Jones Racing
26BA Jose Fernandez Britek Racing
27BA Adam Macrow Howard Racing
28AU Dean Wanless Matthew White Racing
30BA Tony Evangelou
31BA Mark Porter Steven Ellery Racing
32VX Aaron McGill MacGill Motorsport
37BA Mark Howard Howard Racing
40VX Mark Papendall Peters Motorsport (?? - who runs the car?)
41AU Gary MacDonald Steven Ellery Racing
42VY Jay Verdnik Jay Motorsport
56AU John Henderson
57VX Dean Savage JPS Automotive
60BA Warren Luff Paul Cruickshank Racing
62VX Scott Loadsman
65AU Phillip Scifleet Paul Cruickshank Racing
66AU Adam Wallis Rod Lynch Motorsport
68AU Shane Beikoff Shane Beikoff Racing
71BA Dean Canto Dick Johnson Racing
80AU Barry Tanton Peters Motorsport
81BA Grant Denyer Dick Johnson Racing
86AU Greg Smith
91AU Gary Deane Peters Motorsport
98VX Grant Elliott Sydney Star Motorsport
99VY Tony D'Alberto Tony D'Alberto Racing

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by v8racer

FYI: at Wakefield Pk this weekend, they had #91 for Deane (no changes from last year), #80 for Tanton (Olsen has garaged his car for the remainder of the season so the team used the car WW drove last year and repainted/re-numbered it) and #40 franchise was leased to Papandell for the weekend who had his own car.

So was Mr Papendell's car a VX Commodore or AU Falcon at the weekend? Natsoft seemingly cant make up its mind...

It is interesting as wlel because the ex-TKR Commodore is for sale in AA...