Shell pulls the pin - is this the beginning of the end?

[Michael H]

Is V8Supercar on the decline now??

Why on earth would Shell quit?

I don't understand their decision.

[RaceTime]

Simple - AVESCO.

And probably having the priced hiked higher than they believe the series to be realistically worth (make a bit sense now when you consider there was no naming rights sponsor fr Bathurst???)

[Ray Bell]

Shell have quit before...

[RaceTime]

Not in V8's/ATCC they haven't.

Guess we could say they have decided to clam up then? :confused:

[Crash Test]

Put it this way, the price would have to be completly out of reach for them not to keep going- they get some incredible coverage these days through the idiot box etc.

Then again, could it simply be a case of CUB out bidding them?

Also, from what I can gather, Konica were getting an almightily good deal these last 2 years....are their rates being bumped up according to the rate of 'inflation' too? (inflation of ego??)

[RaceTime]

Note this bit from their announcement:

[B]Shell will still have a prominent role, having recently secured a new deal that will see Shell Optimax remain as the official fuel of V8 Supercars. Shell will also continue as major sponsor of the Dick Johnson-run Ford team.{/B]

So they are continuing their sponsorship of the DJR team until at least 2004.

But I still maintain they have been priced out by someone asking too high a price.

This is the only reasonable explanation for Bathurst remaining without a naming rights sponsor - it is the biggest Australian motor race event after the GP and Gold Coast events - for it to not have been able to attract a major sponsor says something is very very wrong at present. They had 9 months in which to find that naming rights sponsor.

[Ray Bell]

Shell pulled out of all motorsport previously. Then they came back with the Johnson sponsorship and the ATCC backing.

Their withdrawal from all previous backing was sudden and deliberated.

[RaceTime]

Not like this though in cars - they were never involved to this extent in cars before either.

Now if you had mentioned bikes - that's a different matter...

[sevi]

Well they can call it the ATCC again,
Australian Tony Cochrane Championship.

[D.R.T.]

They had probably thought that sponsoring a team , the championship and being fuel supplier, they probably didn't need quite that much sponsorship in the one event. But you have got to hand it to them , they do support motorsport.

[Ray Bell]

Originally posted by RaceTime
Not like this though in cars - they were never involved to this extent in cars before either.

Now if you had mentioned bikes - that's a different matter...

I'm talking cars... you don't remember Norm Beechey, Jim McKeown and Peter Manton?

[RaceTime]

Norm who? didn't he have something to do with a building union?

No - my referreal was to Shell's involvement as a series sponsor - since they have been involved they have not pulled out from the series until now - Shell Advance, as I said, is however a different matter.

[Ray Bell]

I see what you mean... but their involvement in cars previously was very broad. Beechey and his team mates came over to Shell when it absorbed Neptune, which was a major team in its own right.

It's hard to remember now who else was involved, but there was a move to get Brock under the wing in his Birrana, torpedoed by Castrol... and Bob Jane was a huge team those days, all five or six cars bearing Shell logos, Brian Foley too, I think, and a bunch of Queenslanders including Dick Johnson, Scuderia Veloce in Sydney, there was the Gibson team...

When they pulled out they left a large hole... compared to the times, as big as this is today or bigger.

Now, as for Shell Advance, I wasn't aware that that deal had ended, but as it was a parallel deal to the ATCC, it should have served as a warning sign.

What I'm pointing to is the suddeness of Shell's past pullouts and how they might be seen as a portent of things to come.

[RaceTime]

The Shell Advance deal starting getting shakey in late 1999 - had nothing to do with cars, but more the self destruction of the bike series.

I don't think this could be seen as a sudden withdrawal either - Shell have been known to not be very happy with the series now for at least the last 12 months - the constant threats about losing WA have not, from my sources, gone down too well with the powers that be at Shell.

As I mentioned before though - couple this with the inability for IMG to secure major a sponsor for Bathurst this year even with 9 months lead time to obtain one; the loss of GMC for Canberra - and things aren't looking too rosy over all - not just with Shell.

[DAVID PATERSON]

V8 Supercars are a very big bubble and big bubbles burst, usually all of a sudden without much warning.