TC's 14 Point Plan

[GTRMagic]

The article is Here

The other, longer article is Here

The short one has been reproduced in its entirety here, as things as controversial as this may disappear if some things are not achieved

Originally Posted by The Article

Action plan announced

Saturday 20/06/2009 12:15

Author: Gordon Lomas | Source: BigPond Sport - copyright

V8 Supercars csar Tony Cochrane released a 14-point plan of action this morning that includes control suspensions and increased engine life which will be rushed into the Championship.

In what is being seen as the most significant developments since Cochrane hatched the series 12 years ago, the action list has been signed off by all of the teams in a comprehensive bid to spark drastic cost reductions.

Among the 14-point list which will be acted upon as soon as possible are the removal of “go fast” non-engine data and telemetry and a control valve train which is expected to increase engine life to 8000km.

It is claimed that some of the engines, in their current form, are squeezing out a maximum life expectancy of merely 2000km.

There were three points pertaining to cost reduction raised by Cochrane at the team meeting which did not get off the ground because they did not attract enough of a show of hands from team owners.

“The 14 points were approved unanimously by the teams and to be honest I can’t even remember what the three items were that didn’t get enough support,” he said.

The 14 points are:

*Remove ‘go fast’ (non engine) data and telemetry.
*Control valve train - increase target life of engine to 8000km.
*Control wheel.
*Control dampers.
*Cap the number of brake discs and pads per season or event.
*Control engine airbox.
*Control radiator duct and cooling system. A common radiator core would be ideal but if this isn’t feasible teams should have to homologate a cooling package for the season.
*Control rear axle housing.
*Control suspension - each team’s complete front hub assembly should be homologated for a two year period. Suspension (wishbones, track rods, push rods etc) should be homologated each year for a complete season.
*Increase the number of composite parts (i.e. current front and rear quarters/fibreglass bonnets).
*Final drive ratio - reduce the number of options to 3.15 and 3.5 only.
*Define centre of gravity of cars (possibly for next generation car).
*Investigate group purchasing and manufacturing (consumables and parts).
*Control fuel system.

And the door may still be left open for Campbell Little to reconsider his resignation as the Category Technical Director.

Little will continue to work at V8 Supercars on this 14-point project for Cochrane over the next 10 weeks during which time the Executive Chairman will look at restructuring the technical department.

“I have absolutely no baggage with Campbell Little,” Cochrane said.

Have we just seen a dumbing down of the category?

[Amaroo Park]

Interesting, maybe they should just buy all Commodores from one builder and Falcons from another all built to the same spec, I mean that seems to be where this is heading.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Amaroo Park

Interesting, maybe they should just buy all Commodores from one builder and Falcons from another all built to the same spec, I mean that seems to be where this is heading.

They could have all saved themselves the hassle and bought up all the orphaned Carrera Cup cars this year and run with that

What is the difference??

[Amaroo Park]

Originally Posted by racer69

They could have all saved themselves the hassle and bought up all the orphaned Carrera Cup cars this year and run with that

What is the difference??

Your right there is none.

so if you want to show your engineering and car building prowess in coming up with radical and intelligent design and car setting up abilities which class do you go to?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Amaroo Park

so if you want to show your engineering and car building prowess in coming up with radical and intelligent design and car setting up abilities which class do you go to?

Go take on the Alfa and Audi and Saabs in Sports Sedans....

[profi]

Great the catagory is going to step backwards and run away, why not have production cars for the top game. Its the national series, the cars should be the fastest in the country, Supercars should be allowed more freedoms so they are the faster then sports sedans. They are boring enough as it is lately, now go and put a bunch of control components in. As for brake discs is he serious???? thats a safety issue not a performance issue. I wouldnt want to run around with rotors that are showing signs of aging.
As for the engine why not allow larger capacity then rev limited to 7k 6 litre would get some good miles compared to these little 5L engines. I think its time to move the series on and head more towards a DTM style car but with a very similar silhouette to a current supercar.

[Amaroo Park]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Go take on the Alfa and Audi and Saabs in Sports Sedans....

Exactly what I was thinking

[Pro Racer]

it's not going to be touring cars, i mean how can it be when all the cars are the same. i think 2012> will spell the end of Supercars. doing this isn't going to make Toyota, Nissan or any other manufactuer join. i think it will be a snooze fest.

[sizzle]

Let us see, 2000klm per engine, at 1x100 + 1x200klm race per weekend that adds up to approx 3+ rounds per engine currently, they want to go to the equivalent 4xbathursts per engine.

that is about as believable as 275's romantic dalliance with a croc.......not.

[GTRMagic]

Its not like the engine is complete junk after 2,000km either... a rebuild at ~$35k brings it back to square... at its 4,000km service its likely more again depending how much of the original hardware needs replacing.

Ask the teams if they want to show up at Bathurst with an 8,000km ready engine, that has 6,500km on the clock already....

Madness..

[GTRMagic]

More interesting stuff suggesting it is Mr Skaife talking to car manufacturers on behalf of VESA....

But also.. that VESA will overtake NRL, to be this country's second most popular sport

Aspirational goals are important... but not to the point of delusion!

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

[url=http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,25664780-5012691,00.html]

But also.. that VESA will overtake NRL, to be this country's second most popular sport

Aspirational goals are important... but not to the point of delusion!

Such an article is laughable, untill you see the source, the sort of rubbish expected from Phelps and The Telegraph.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Such an article is laughable, untill you see the source, the sort of rubbish expected from Phelps and The Telegraph.

The thing is, the Daily Telegraph readers, unused to the magic that is VESA, will believe it to be true...

Is News Ltd buying into VESA any time soon?

[Amaroo Park]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

The thing is, the Daily Telegraph readers, unused to the magic that is VESA, will believe it to be true...

Is News Ltd buying into VESA any time soon?

Super Leauge, Supercar hmm other than the name Rupert does like the odd monopoly

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

The thing is, the Daily Telegraph readers, unused to the magic that is VESA, will believe it to be true...

And VESA know it aswell.

For the most part no one challenges them on this kind of BS reporting, except for Mr McKay who was then barred from their events.

[Amaroo Park]

Gee certainly a change of attitude from they "we don't need another manufacturer" rhetoric of years gone by.

One thing caught my eye with this

"Moves to split the racing calendar into two phases in 2010, with a mid-year break from July to September to avoid clashes with AFL and NRL finals matches"

Just what the sport needs a period of three months where there is no V8's on tv. I would have though if Cochrane and co want to compete with League then they should tackle them head on on do more races during the middle of the year not have a silly break.

[inpitlane]

Originally Posted by Amaroo Park

Gee certainly a change of attitude from they "we don't need another manufacturer" rhetoric of years gone by.

One thing caught my eye with this

"Moves to split the racing calendar into two phases in 2010, with a mid-year break from July to September to avoid clashes with AFL and NRL finals matches"

Just what the sport needs a period of three months where there is no V8's on tv. I would have though if Cochrane and co want to compete with League then they should tackle them head on on do more races during the middle of the year not have a silly break.

The mid year break has not come entirely from V8 Supercars, it has come direct from the Seven Network.
With HD production becoming the standard the network is having to go to extra expense to get enough equipment to go round.
Seven and indeed other networks no longer have a great stock of their own equipment.
Most of it comes from companies like Global and Broadcast Rentals, just try getting a full HD camera and long lens in September and see how far you get.
Also ratings for Seven dive when the AFL goes off so saving up 6-8 rounds of the V8s will give them extra live sport options till the official ratings break.
It also will take the V8s away from the worst of the Southern Winter, it's a pretty good move I think.

[V8 Fireworks]

I don't think the average fans could care less about the latest 888 fuel system, so making that control is no issue.

Control wheel could cut costs, back to the good old traditional 5-spoke look.

8000 km engine is interesting. Perhaps it will be a 6 litre.

Homologated suspension is interesting. Do any teams currently run different suspension geometry at Winton when compared to Phillip Island!?

Control radiator and airbox. Who cares? If it saves hundred thousand dollar wind tunnel trips to optimise the airbox then that's a good thing.

Defined centre of gravity? Will that just make teams bolt ballast somewhere high up on the rollcage?


Fibreglass bonnet will make a mess in a nose to tail collision, I suppose it is cheaper. They could add some vents to get that whole ricer look...

[anthony81901]

So V8s are going to be NSW's number 1 sport in 3 years. And how many people turned up to last year's Eastern Creek round, 2 men and a dog as I recall. The only area that V8SC seems to be challenging the NRL in is in off the park politics.

With Commodore and Falcon now accounting for only 12% of sales and a lot of that is fleet and government, V8s are becoming less and less relevant to the market place.

The other top 10 brands predominately sell 4 cylinder DOHC cars, so why would they be interested in pushrod V8s. How many times have Toyota said 'not interested'.

But if Australia was to move to a 4 cylinder based formula, may be a different story. For everything that was wrong with Group A and 2 litre racing at least it did have variety. As new cars were developed the boundaries of engineering and reliability were pushed, not something that is likely in the proposed format.

[Crash Test]

Originally Posted by anthony81901

The other top 10 brands predominately sell 4 cylinder DOHC cars, so why would they be interested in pushrod V8s. How many times have Toyota said 'not interested'.

But if Australia was to move to a 4 cylinder based formula, may be a different story. For everything that was wrong with Group A and 2 litre racing at least it did have variety. As new cars were developed the boundaries of engineering and reliability were pushed, not something that is likely in the proposed format.

And?

F1 is the most popular form of motorsport in the world, and F1 cars are massively irrelevant to absolutely everything on the road. The number one type of motorsport in North Americia is Nascar, and those rigs don't look anything like the road cars they are supposed to represent, and North Americans are driving a lot of small cars these days...

Racing with 4 cylinders has tried and failed. Even though people might be driving 4 cylinders, punters still aspire to have a V8. If people are happy with their Hyundai Excel, then good for them

With respect to overtaking the NRL in terms of popularity, would they be going off total attendances? I'm not saying that is right or wrong, but as far as national popularity, nationwide sports should always come out on top, AFL, cricket etc. And they are right, does anyone care about Rugby any more? Consistent free to air coverage seems to be quite important.

One bit I do find interesting is the mid season break. Wasn't there a school of thought that the scheduling needs to be consistent, with equal breaks between events? Is there a possibility that people will fall off the bandwagon if there is a mid year holiday?

[chavez]

Originally Posted by anthony81901

The other top 10 brands predominately sell 4 cylinder DOHC cars, so why would they be interested in pushrod V8s. How many times have Toyota said 'not interested'.

Yet, Toyota have invested heavily in NASCAR which run push rod V8's.

Mercedes were only to happy to have their nameplate on a push rod V8 to win the Indy 500.

For a car maker to enter any motor sport the technical regulations, while an important consideration, is not the only factor behind such decisions.

[GTRMagic]

Hmmm, where have I read this?

[Amaroo Park]

wonder what happened to good old Ray Kershler. The Telegraphs expert on Bowls, Sailing, Motor Racing etc

[GTRMagic]

There appears to be one stakeholder group not considered in this whole shebang. A group of people whose only influence is whether they choose to warm up their teevs every couple of Sundays to watch the coverage. Or mortgage the house and go see the racing trackside.

Who am I talking about?

The bloody fans!

I am not necessarily talking about those of us who post here, although they are likely more attuned as to what they would like to see. I am talking about the mum, dad and kids, the single blokes, the blokes weekends, the racer chasers, the ladies... anyone who plonks their hand in their pocket to buy tickets to events, or take the time to follow the broadcasts, the V8Xtras and the like.

It would be nice to be asked for the thoughts of the public...

Or is that too much to ask?

[peckstar]

isnt this for the fans