Bathurst 1000 - is there something wrong with it?

[db120176]

I keep reading that people are disenchanted with the 1000km race. Various posts feature terms such like "boring" "not like the 70s, 80s, 90s" and "they just try and buy a ticket to the last 30 laps". I know that 1000k is not the test on machinery it used to be

Is there something with the Great Race, and if so, how would you fix it?

[formerf1champ]

Is it specifically the Bathurst 1000 there is a problem with? Or is it decisions made to "improve the show", generally speaking, that has then affected the 1000?

[ford71]

Make it longer.

1000 miles?

[dsg]

Originally Posted by ford71

Make it longer.

1000 miles?

1000 minutes.

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by ford71

Make it longer.

1000 miles?

Or 12 Hours? Wait that race exists.

[redesp]

3 drivers: 1 regular, 1 aussie, 1 international = 54(ish laps each)

Pole based on averaged qualifying times

On race day each team has the driver order picked at random.

This gives the ability for regular drivers to drive against the other two and should mix up the feild in respect of competitiveness.

No open pit lane for safety cars.

Bring up the first 4 front running "Fujitsu" (or whatever it will be next year) Series cars to boost the numbers... or at least get 32 Cars on the Grid!

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by redesp

3 drivers: 1 regular, 1 aussie, 1 international = 54(ish laps each)

That's kinda 12 Hour-ish. And hard to police that 54-ish laps becuase based on fuel mileage you will be deliberately crippling some teams when fortunes runs against them they then have to suddenly make an unscheduled pitstop for a driver change? Some lessons from the 1997 Bathurst 1000 should be learnt here.

Pole based on averaged qualifying times

On race day each team has the driver order picked at random.

This gives the ability for regular drivers to drive against the other two and should mix up the feild in respect of competitiveness.

OK, this is fine for amateur level racing but really not for professional racing.

No open pit lane for safety cars.

Craig Lowndes just called for this one.

Bring up the first 4 front running "Fujitsu" (or whatever it will be next year) Series cars to boost the numbers... or at least get 32 Cars on the Grid!

Bit pointless. With all the Fujitsu series drivers (who provide most of the budget) in the top six or seven teams committed to racing in the pro-teams, they have no way of being able to afford an entry other than with pay drivers from the back of the Fujitsu grid or from other series with little V8 Supercar experience. This one couldn't work, and the last few years have proved that.

[GTRMagic]

How about the powers that be separate the event time wise from the Gold Coast Indy race, and stop the commentary team from bleating on about how fantabulous it will be to get to Indy.

The promotion and maintenance of the enigma that is Bathurst has somehow been lost in recent years. Years ago Bathurst was IT! And afforded such status by the Mike Raymond-led #7 crew... Now, its the prelude to the Gold Coast

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

How about the powers that be separate the event time wise from the Gold Coast Indy race, and stop the commentary team from bleating on about how fantabulous it will be to get to Indy.

The promotion and maintenance of the enigma that is Bathurst has somehow been lost in recent years. Years ago Bathurst was IT! And afforded such status by the Mike Raymond-led #7 crew... Now, its the prelude to the Gold Coast

That's because it has always been in V8 Supercar best interests to de-mystify Bathurst in order the get people to pay attention to more than one race per year, which according to TV ratings, is still the standard practice.

This one won't change and likely will get worse.

[Carsandmotorracing]

No.

[Scrut]

More cars.

Less saftey cars.

[Langers]

Too many safety cars

Race not long enough (no car nursing required)

[db120176]

Originally Posted by Scrut

Less saftey cars.

Can this be avoided? Is the use of the safety car mandated by the FIA?

[E36ST]

More types / models of cars racing. That was the drawcard for me of the Group A days etc, so much more variety. And yes even the controversial introduction of cars like the Nissan, they really shook things up... and we're still talking about it 20 years later

[E36ST]

Oh, and the ability for privateers or non-regular teams to enter. To me the special Bathurst events were a Falcon or BMW or something up the front and a guy in a Ford Anglia at the back. Maybe that this approach is just no longer possible, but I personally enjoy watching the Bathurst 12hr (from what little we get of it here) more than the October main event.

[Woolley]

Originally Posted by E36ST

Oh, and the ability for privateers or non-regular teams to enter. To me the special Bathurst events were a Falcon or BMW or something up the front and a guy in a Ford Anglia at the back. Maybe that this approach is just no longer possible, but I personally enjoy watching the Bathurst 12hr (from what little we get of it here) more than the October main event.

Originally Posted by F J Nedos

Don't make it part of the championship.

As an outsider who first saw this when it was televised by the BBC simply because it was such a great event, I think those two posts sum it up for me. Make it something you can enter without being part of a fairly narrow championship.

[F J Nedos]

Don't make it part of the championship.

[db120176]

Originally Posted by F J Nedos

Don't make it part of the championship.

I think since it has become part of the championship, it has lifted the profile of the championship while the great race seems to have lost some of the lustre.

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by Scrut

More cars.

Less saftey cars.

Originally Posted by Langers

Too many safety cars

Race not long enough (no car nursing required)

Originally Posted by E36ST

More types / models of cars racing. That was the drawcard for me of the Group A days etc, so much more variety. And yes even the controversial introduction of cars like the Nissan, they really shook things up... and we're still talking about it 20 years later

Originally Posted by E36ST

Oh, and the ability for privateers or non-regular teams to enter. To me the special Bathurst events were a Falcon or BMW or something up the front and a guy in a Ford Anglia at the back. Maybe that this approach is just no longer possible, but I personally enjoy watching the Bathurst 12hr (from what little we get of it here) more than the October main event.

Originally Posted by F J Nedos

Don't make it part of the championship.

All of these points are addressed by the Bathurst 12 Hour. You have been given what you want already, why don't you support it?

[Oldtony]

Originally Posted by Falcadore

All of these points are addressed by the Bathurst 12 Hour. You have been given what you want already, why don't you support it?

Exactly Falcadore. It is a much more interesting event to watch even if it has sort of departed from Australian race what you can buy tradition.
The problem is the Media, and thus the sponsorship people haven't cottoned on to the shift in viewre preference as yet.
The next step is live broadcast and watch the ratings grow for a couple of years.
Then as the interest in space frame specials falls off October can go to the longer length and genuine production car status.
Oh well, in my lifetime, just, maybe.

[peckstar]

I think the only way to fix the race is to make it shorter.

its too long for modern times and too many people dont want to spend a whole day watching the race

otherwise, we just have to accept that other rounds are now just as good, and therefore Bathurst no longer shines and really thats no big deal

better 25 good rounds , than 1 great rounds and 24 really bad rounds

Not sure there is anything to be done,

[one five five]

To dedicated fans like us, Bathurst is becoming abit of a shadow of its former self, in that it is all about the last 25 laps nowadays rendering the first 6hrs irrelevant.


To the general public and media though, Bathurst is still the only race in town that matters, and still the pinacle of Australian motorsport as far as they are concerned. No racing event in Australia gets the national media attention, nor the attention of the casual viewer, that Bathurst does.

The likes of the Clipsal 500 are big events in Adelaide, but they don't make the back page of the papers in places like Brisbane or Melbourne though (letalone Sydney), whereas Bathurst always does.


As for the race being too long & people not wanting to watch all days...... the TV figures for Bathurst tell the opposite story. The race rates as high as it always has.... how does this show we need to shorten it??

Channel 7 tried shortening the traditional Bathurst in 1999....look what happened there

[peckstar]

actually it doesnt rate as good as it always had, there has been a drop and a reasonable drop too (but 2011 was better than 2010)

ratings

and i think you over estimate how big bathurst is in the media in other cirties, yes it is big in Sydney papers, but by no means is it as big elsewhere (and if you read the adelaide papers you would see that the clipsal is much bigger in adelaide papers that bathusrt is in NSW)

a longer race, will not really achieve anything, because a SC will come out with 30 laps to go and we will race to the finish, it is just delaying the inevitable,

maybe bathurst needs to turn into two 500km races, one sat and one sunday, wouldnt bother me

that being said, i like it the way it is

[DX20VT]

I would like to see pit lane closed when the safety car goes on track,
stop it just being a race from safety car to safety car,
and strategy would be more complicated than " we will stop when the safety car goes out" like everyone else.

[peckstar]

what benefit does that gain? apart from causing all these cars too run out of fuel because they are not allowed to pit


but more importantly how does it make bathurst better