2017 Australian GT Championship

[D.R.T.]

Could it be the promoter of this event? Or the TV deal for this event? Listening to a few posters here - competitors wanted to be at V8SC events. Well here you go - look at Barbagello, Townsville & Sandown.

Or could it be as simple as mechanical or accident damage over the last 9 months? Reference a Speedcafe article not 3 days ago

Reality is - Australian GT has raced across 3 different series in 2017 (4 if you include the B12HR) and probably attracted in the vicinity of 40 - 45 different entries/competitors across the year.

Could it be as simple that running unique Sprint and Endurance Series might not be the answer?

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Could it be as simple that running unique Sprint and Endurance Series might not be the answer?

This to me is nail on the head most likely. Yep, plenty of damaged cars too but ultimately, when semi-pro teams are running a lot of events (including a 12 hour & trip across the ditch) it's unlikely that there'll be strong entries across all events.

It's a big ask to fund that many events & sometimes all it takes is a decent shunt for the person paying the bills to effectively say "enough" for the year.

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by Tourer

This to me is nail on the head most likely. Yep, plenty of damaged cars too but ultimately, when semi-pro teams are running a lot of events (including a 12 hour & trip across the ditch) it's unlikely that there'll be strong entries across all events.

It's a big ask to fund that many events & sometimes all it takes is a decent shunt for the person paying the bills to effectively say "enough" for the year.

Im sure its part of the issue

but the opposite is happening in the GT trophy series, fields have increased onn last year.

Is there an issue with new cars and their cost? Certainly there are much more expensive than the previous generation

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by peckstar

Is there an issue with new cars and their cost? Certainly there are much more expensive than the previous generation

No doubt they are much more expensive and only marginally quicker. If you'd invested hundreds of thousands into your lovely GT car that could still run in the Trophy series, why would you spend even more to run in the main GT series and probably run only marginally faster in a car that outwardly at least looks near identical to your Trophy series car?

Long-standing GT and sports car issue world-wide. Does hamper field sizes somewhat at times.

[Speed-King]

Originally Posted by peckstar

Is there an issue with new cars and their cost? Certainly there are much more expensive than the previous generation

Actually, (other than with the Ferrari, where you pay a high price for GTE-upgrade-ability), costs have not markedly increased compared to the previous generation of GT3s (SLS, R8 ultra, etc). Running costs supposedly even went down due to longer service intervals, etc.

I think the problem is just that people don't want to shell out for new cars as long as their old ones are still perfectly good - even if that means running in the trophy series

[D.R.T.]

The gap isn't people buying cars - look at the local purchases of Mercedes & Audi's in the last 12 months.

Peckstar I am confused by the point you are making with the Trophy Series?
The Trophy Series is Australian GT3 is it not? Is increasing fields a sign of a category on life support?

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

The gap isn't people buying cars - look at the local purchases of Mercedes & Audi's in the last 12 months.

Peckstar I am confused by the point you are making with the Trophy Series?
The Trophy Series is Australian GT3 is it not? Is increasing fields a sign of a category on life support?

yes, thats exataly what it means. Its for older model cars.

If Kumho field was up, but main game supercars had halved, we would be suggesting that there were signifcant issues in supercar land.

This is the same here in Gt3 land

surely you are not suggesting everything is good?

[D.R.T.]

So people are buying new cars and people are racing old cars.

Hardly a category on life support.

As we said earlier - could it be the sprint & endurance races impacting on each other.

Sandown is the example of the proposed model in 2018 - v8sc event and v8sc TV. Why would competitors not turn up if they physically could?

[Matt]

Originally Posted by peckstar

yes, thats exataly what it means. Its for older model cars.

If Kumho field was up, but main game supercars had halved, we would be suggesting that there were signifcant issues in supercar land.

This is the same here in Gt3 land

surely you are not suggesting everything is good?

This is 300% true.

[GTRMagic]

Congratulations to Geoff Emery, 2017 Australian GT Championship Winner!

[rich07]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Congratulations to Geoff Emery, 2017 Australian GT Championship Winner!

A worthy champion. Talbot would've been a deserved winner also. Great comeback from Emery after what happened at Barbagello last year.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Sandown is the example of the proposed model in 2018 - v8sc event and v8sc TV.

Spot on

Major Supercars event, all races shown on TV, competitors cried and whinged to be on the Supercar support calendar this year..... so where were they all this weekend??

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by one five five

Spot on

Major Supercars event, all races shown on TV, competitors cried and whinged to be on the Supercar support calendar this year..... so where were they all this weekend??

not just this weekend, even the non supercars rounds are down, its a trend, each event has less than the previous one

[one five five]

Originally Posted by peckstar

not just this weekend, even the non supercars rounds are down, its a trend, each event has less than the previous one

Of course the non-supercar rounds are down, because the competitors themselves complained at the start of the year that they didn't want to go to them, they wanted to go to VASC events!

And it turns out the smallest grid of the year is at... a VASC event!

Where were all the entries at the start of the year that said they wanted to go to VASC events??

[D.R.T.]

Entries below which despite Peckstar's informed post - round 2 had a higher entry than round 1.

Highest grid the AGP, then Clipsal and then Shannons Nationals event.

Sprint Championship
1) 26 - V8SC
2) 29 - AGP
3) 18 - V8SC
4) 15 - V8SC
5) 11 - V8SC

Endurance Championship
1) 19 - Shannons Nationals
2) 17 - V8SC

[Mixer]

Certainly a massive drop in numbers. Is there a split looming?

Sent from my SM-G950F using Tapatalk

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Certainly a massive drop in numbers. Is there a split looming?

Its almost as if there were a number of significant accidents early in the season

For example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOXbqWPCSdU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEc5nVK6wKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEDOOfEd32I

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Its almost as if there were a number of significant accidents early in the season

Any racer worth their salt would plan accordingly, it is racing and accidents will happen.

Although with the parts made of carbon fiber and unobtanium and an arms race well underway and out of control, you could see why a gentleman racer with a $750k toy might park it.

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Its almost as if there were a number of significant accidents early in the season

For example
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOXbqWPCSdU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEc5nVK6wKE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEDOOfEd32I

thanks for bringing that up, 6 months after some of those incidents, those cars still aren't out there. Thats a concern isn't it, an issue with Gt3 racing.

Not only do cars cost half a million plus but they are difficult to repair, if they are repairable

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Any racer worth their salt would plan accordingly, it is racing and accidents will happen.

Hardly insignificant accidents. Throw in Greg Taylor's fire at Barbagello as well.

Taylor made it out at SMP again however missed Phillip Island and subsequently Sandown. Hardly through lack of trying or part of a revolt.

I think if that is your thought process to competitors not making follow up races - you have missed the essence of what makes up GT racing across the world.

[peckstar]

CAMS knocks back SuperGT plan

no real reasoning in this article though

[peckstar]

Supercars/Aus GT takeover blocked by CAMS

Speedcafe provides a tiny bit more clarity, More infor from CAMS latter this evening possibly

[peckstar]

CAMS reveals reason to block Supercars/GT takeover


from my reading it appears supercars wanted to extend the Category Managment Agreement (CMA) to 2023 (from 2020) and the payment to CAMS was less than CAMS wanted.

[Mixer]

Oh man the ethics of CAMS...

I bet all the car owners who want to work with Supercars love being referred to as a CAMS asset.

[GTRMagic]

What is the alternative offered by CAMS to run an AGT series next year?