Shannons Nationals - Morgan Park Aug 8-9

[davo.]

In two Saturdays will be round six of the Shannons Nationals at Morgan Park QLD, does anyone know how the entry numbers are looking so far?

• Australian Manufacturers Championship
• Porsche GT3 cup
• Saloon cars
• Production sports
• Sports sedans
• Superkarts
• Gemini series

[Crash Test]

17 Geminis and 20ish Sports Sedans, and a lot of really glod quality cars thrown in like Kerry Bailey's 300ZX etc.

Bring it on, will be huge!

[DAVID PATERSON]

Sports Sedan entry is very strong, can't wait!

[Falcadore]

Over 20 Superkarts for the Rocklea Pressed Metal Superkart Challenge.

The Prod-sports race is none-other than the Cue 1 Hour co-driver mini-enduro, which always attracts an interesting entry and be a nice prod-sports warm-up ahead of the QR V8 event.

Porsche GT3 entry should be strong, large number of Qld teams run in this series, same with Saloons, who have a healthy local series.

Strong Qld contingent in the AMC Proddies too, home track for Wilson Brothers Subarus and the Grand Prix Mazda 3 MPS.

So while the event may seem down for the lack of F3 & GT (when was the last time Commodore Cup raced in Qld? At Lakeside?) there will still be plenty of fast open wheelers and big sports cars, plenty of great racing to be had. Geminis will more than make up for disappointed fans of old Holden production racers.

Can't wait.

[Belly13]

Sounds like an awesome meeting...wish I could attend
With the farce V8 Supercars has become lately, I think the Shannon's Nationals will become very attractive to fed-up supporters who are looking for a change.

[TCR]

Just got the logbook sorted for my new MX5, so I'll be having a run in the one hour race.

Looking forward to it, should be a good weekend.

[bludvl_x19]

Originally Posted by Belly13

With the farce V8 Supercars has become lately, I think the Shannon's Nationals will become very attractive to fed-up supporters who are looking for a change.

You wouldnt have thought so with the attendance at the last round, both competitor and spectator....

[Belly13]

Originally Posted by bludvl_x19

You wouldnt have thought so with the attendance at the last round, both competitor and spectator....

???

[bludvl_x19]

Originally Posted by Belly13

???

For a series to become an 'alternative to the V8's' in your words, surely it should attract large fields or cars..not 7 F3's, or 8 Saloon Cars...and similarly a large crowd, who numbered less than the officials in pit lane for the weekend I suspect. Not really an alternative...

That said, I believe that we need to have a large national series with no v8's (as such) and with full grids of categories, but that takes commitment from the competitors, financially, time wise and in other ways. That sort of money isn't around the sport right now, unless you are at the pointy end of the V8supertaxi's.

[Belly13]

Originally Posted by bludvl_x19

For a series to become an 'alternative to the V8's' in your words, surely it should attract large fields or cars..not 7 F3's, or 8 Saloon Cars...and similarly a large crowd, who numbered less than the officials in pit lane for the weekend I suspect. Not really an alternative...

That said, I believe that we need to have a large national series with no v8's (as such) and with full grids of categories, but that takes commitment from the competitors, financially, time wise and in other ways. That sort of money isn't around the sport right now, unless you are at the pointy end of the V8supertaxi's.

Are you talking about the Eastern Creek round? Saloon Cars weren't even there!! And the attendance was definately more than there seemed. I don't know where you were standing, but Turn 2 and up near Turn 11 were quite populated. Eastern Creek can be deceiving as well, due to the massive spectator hills, grandstand, etc.
Lack of numbers in F3, I agree. But the racing was top-notch between 4 very talented drivers. All the other categories attracted healthy numbers IMHO.
Also, I agree with your comment about corporate sponsership - it seems to have increased sice the 1st year of the Shannon's Nationals. I think in time this series will become much more appealing (financially) to some of the support categories who are currently involved with the V8 circus.

[bludvl_x19]

Originally Posted by Belly13

Are you talking about the Eastern Creek round? Saloon Cars weren't even there!! And the attendance was definately more than there seemed. I don't know where you were standing, but Turn 2 and up near Turn 11 were quite populated. Eastern Creek can be deceiving as well, due to the massive spectator hills, grandstand, etc.
Lack of numbers in F3, I agree. But the racing was top-notch between 4 very talented drivers. All the other categories attracted healthy numbers IMHO.
Also, I agree with your comment about corporate sponsership - it seems to have increased sice the 1st year of the Shannon's Nationals. I think in time this series will become much more appealing (financially) to some of the support categories who are currently involved with the V8 circus.

No, I was talking about the Winton round...which I did believe was the last round...

[Belly13]

Not sure about the Winton round. Eastern Creek round was 2 weeks ago.

[gomick]

And what is the manufacturers points score?

[Richard Craill]

Anyway, to get back on topic..

Sitting in the Morgan Park Media Centre at the moment and I gotta say, this place is pretty cool. Nice facility and the new pit lane / buildings are all good. This could end up being a really good round for the Shannons Nats to build and develop and could be really successful.

The undulation looks really good, too. Everyone I've talked to so far has said it's a real drivers track and pretty challenging so it should make for good racing.

Fields aren't massive but they are competitive and on the shorter track the racing should be as good as ever.

Good vibe here so should be a good weekend, I think. Weather looks promising, too.. (touch wood..)

[TCR]

Production Sports Car entries:


1 7 2F Paul Chapman QLD Mazda MX5
2 8 2A Iain Pretty NSW Roaring Forties GT40
3 11 2F Adam Spence NSW &Steven Head NSW Mazda MX5
4 22 2D Brian Anderson NSW &Paul Shacklady NSW BMW M Coupe
5 24 2B Brian Ferrabee QLD Mazda MX5 turbo
6 25 2C Henri Van Roden QLD & TBA Mazda MX5
7 27 2F Anthony Chemello QLD & TBA Mazda MX5
8 29 2B Chris Stannard NSW & Ed Chivas NSW Porsche RSCS
9 31 2A David Mackie NSW & Tim Mackie NSW Lotus Elise HPE
10 42 2B Simon Hogg NSW & Geoff Morgan NSW Lotus Elise
11 44 2C Val Stewart NSW & Melinda Both NSW Porsche 944S2
12 46 2C David Barram QLD Mazda MX5
13 47 2F Andrew Weller QLD & Tony Bonnano QLD Mazda MX5
14 51 2B Andrew Macpherson NSW Lotus Exige S
15 68 2A John Ballard NSW & Jean-Paul Ballard NSW Toyota Supra RZ
16 77 2B Arthur Magaitis NSW Lotus Elise
17 78 2A Justin Levis NSW & Bryan Taylor NSW Lotus Elise HP
18 84 2B Nick Leontsinis QLD & Cal Ballinger QLD Mazda MX5 turbo
19 88 2F Greg Quince QLD & Chris Hatfield QLD Mazda MX5
20 98 2B Nick Martinenko NSW & Matilda Mravicic NSW Mazda MX5 turbo
21 178 2C Gary Harris QLD & Tony Steenberg Mazda MX5
22 777 2F Michael Hall NSW & Daniel Deckers NSW Mazda MX5

Only time I'll be at the top of the list all weekend

[alfacors]

Will come say hi TCR, there's a couple of other MX5 Jockeys I need to catch up with too isn't there Sultan?

Wish I was there already, I hate crack of dawn flights on a Saturday morning!

[ForumNick]

OT:

Dawn's not to happy about it either...

[mtpanorama]

Originally Posted by TCR

Production Sports Car entries:
NSW Roaring Forties GT40

Mark & Nathan, make sure you get some pics of this car. It is awsome, and anyone who is there make sure you check it out.

[Falcadore]

Originally Posted by mtpanorama

Mark & Nathan, make sure you get some pics of this car. It is awsome, and anyone who is there make sure you check it out.

Falcy's Camera is broken

Falcy needs new camera

Falcy has OS trip soon.

Falcy to visit Duty Free shop.

Must ask how they work...

[alfacors]

We'll talk tomorrow mate....

[Prancing Wombat]

Dont get tooxexcited. The GT40 is not coming.
Great track. Had my first run today. Not enuf time to get it right, but looking foward to the weekend.

[rdmdog]

Why is there a lack of timing after 10 O'Clock today?

[davelise]

Originally Posted by rdmdog

Why is there a lack of timing after 10 O'Clock today?

Maybe the hamster fell off the treadmill?

I hope they get the results up because there was some good racing and a few new lap records.

Looking forward to our 1 hour race today.

[Richard Craill]

Originally Posted by rdmdog

Why is there a lack of timing after 10 O'Clock today?

Apparantly there is an issue with the line to Natsoft and they struggle to upload the times every now and then. Results are up from Saturday now.

Cool track, though. Good times.

[gomick]

How long has this track been around?