2018 Australian GT Championship

[mayhem]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Tony Quinn was interviewed on the Inside Supercars podcast on Tuesday evening and shed some light on the current position and developments.

Quinn's comments showed that it all isn't doom & gloom - citing amongst many things that the 2018 calendar is pretty much finalised - inclusive of the Australian Grand Prix, Tailem Bend, Hampton Downs, Phillip Island etc. Roughly 5 sprints and 3 Endurance events.

He also suggested that losing Clipsal wasn't a big loss from his point of view.

Confirmed that he is still running the series in 2018 and that CAMS, VASC and Australian GT were still friends but said he wasn't fussed now that Australian GT and VASC would not be joining together.

He mightn't be fussed, but what about the runners in his series? There was a serious pushback this time last year from the entrants, or a certain section of them at least. Will they be appeased with his 2018 vision?

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Audi factory support brings massive corporate hospitality along... so the event gets paid for the cars showing up, and to entertain the guests.



I thought the ‘Cup’ Audi ran to a different spec to the full house GT3 cars, having me wonder how the cars will be able to run together...

R8 cup cars are GT3 with a few bits changed.

OD Racing used the same car in Blancpain Asia and R8 cup this year, so I assume it's a simple adjustment


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by mayhem

He mightn't be fussed, but what about the runners in his series? There was a serious pushback this time last year from the entrants, or a certain section of them at least. Will they be appeased with his 2018 vision?

Fair point and time will tell. I can't imagine Tony Quinn would be running around with his eyes closed though.

He touched on a few things in the podcast around the costs associated with the VASC program, costs being passed onto entrants and 'whinging' about the entrant fees. Further to that point - he suggested that VASC have their hands full in 2018 and didnt believe that joining the series would magically appease all the concerns/expectations.

Time will tell how this plays out - however this does show there is a relatively progressed plan & schedule for 2018 which dispels some of the fears shared by posters earlier in the thread

[Tourer]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Tony Quinn was interviewed on the Inside Supercars podcast on Tuesday evening and shed some light on the current position and developments.
http://www.insidesupercars.com.au/

Quinn's comments showed that it all isn't doom & gloom - citing amongst many things that the 2018 calendar is pretty much finalised - inclusive of the Australian Grand Prix, Tailem Bend, Hampton Downs, Phillip Island etc. Roughly 5 sprints and 3 Endurance events.

He also suggested that losing Clipsal wasn't a big loss from his point of view.

Confirmed that he is still running the series in 2018 and that CAMS, VASC and Australian GT were still friends but said he wasn't fussed now that Australian GT and VASC would not be joining together.

Well that's good news, provides some certainty for all involved.

Hopefully TQ can improve the relationship with some of the competitors and the series keeps moving forward.

[D.R.T.]

The 2018 Australian GT season will take in a brand-new event as part of a revamped eight event calendar. Australian GT will enjoy strong coverage, with free to air, subscription, and live stream options allowing fans to enjoy every round of the 2018 campaign.

http://australiangt.com.au/2017/11/2...endar-for-2018

CAMS Australian GT Championship
Rnd Date Venue Format
1 March 22-25 Rolex Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, VIC Sprint
2 April 14-15 The Bend Motorsport Park, SA Endurance
3 May 12-13 Sandown Park Raceway, VIC Sprint
4 June 2-3 Phillip Island, VIC Endurance
5 August 4-5 Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW Sprint
6 October 13-14 Hampton Downs, NZ Endurance

CAMS Australian GT Trophy Series
Rnd Date Venue
1 March 22-25 Rolex Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, VIC
2 May 12-13 Sandown Park Raceway, VIC
3 June 1-2 Phillip Island, VIC
4 August 4-5 Sydney Motorsport Park, NSW
5 September 1-2 Winton Motor Raceway, VIC

[Speed-King]

With the exception of The Bend event, the endurance events will return to the 101-lap format at Phillip Island and the season-ending Hampton Downs.

So what format will they have for the race at The Bend?

[peckstar]

2017 14 events
2018 8 events

Probably a wise move to increase some fields, but still massive reduction in events

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by peckstar

2017 14 events
2018 8 events

Probably a wise move to increase some fields, but still massive reduction in events

Only 6 GT proper rounds


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by Bcarr6

Only 6 GT proper rounds


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This year was 9

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by peckstar

2017 14 events
2018 8 events

Probably a wise move to increase some fields, but still massive reduction in events

Quality not quantity yeah?

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Quality not quantity yeah?

has this not gone the other way. Quantity fields and sacrificing quality

[D.R.T.]

Where is the sacrificing of quality?

They are amalgamating 3 separate championships into 2 (or more than likely 1.5) with the co share between Trophy & Championships across some of the sprint events.

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Where is the sacrificing of quality?

They are amalgamating 3 separate championships into 2 (or more than likely 1.5) with the co share between Trophy & Championships across some of the sprint events.

before we had one class of similar cars, now we have mulitple classes of varying speed cars, we have more cars, but the quality has reduced due to varying speeds of cars,

You were the one the made the generalised statement remember

[D.R.T.]

Class racing with multiple classes - GT3 and GT4 sounds pretty good? It seems to work well for Bathurst 12 Hour?

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Class racing with multiple classes - GT3 and GT4 sounds pretty good? It seems to work well for Bathurst 12 Hour?

No, its sounds like you are settling on something inferior to get a quantity field. (although in this case based on 2017, just to get a field)

IE quantity , not quality