[V8ST12R01] Hampton Downs - 17-19 Feb 2012

[promax]

Originally Posted by Jerico

Who started the ST thread again???

GTRMagic

he started it using a post of mine from a NZV8 thread

[promax]

Originally Posted by Mr Revhead

Really? Yes there was some good racing, but not many races.
Mate of mine went and is glad he got a deal on tickets as there was not enough races for the full weekend ticket price.

no CC or CMC at the next round either

[Mr Revhead]

No, different classes that seem to be made up for the meeting.

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by promax

nah, that's it.

you and i must be the only two in this thread that saw stuff all racing ha i fell asleep during race 1 and woke up during race 3 to see cars being pushed off the track left, right and centre.

That means you slept for about 24 hours. Quite a stretch by any imagination. Everyone can clearly see which camp you are in. When will you play in the Challenge Cup?

[Biggy G]

Back in Auckland after being at the track Fri through to today, thought the ST boys put on a fantastic event. Those cars are magnificent in person, watching 16 of them from close proximity is a sight to behold. A few teething issues over the weekend experienced by all im sure, but 16 brands new cars its to be expected isnt it?

Also, HD is an amazing facility, really hope they get to finish it as it is a fantastic venue for motor racing, plenty of vantage points to keep you interested too

[promax]

Originally Posted by Just Do It!

That means you slept for about 24 hours. Quite a stretch by any imagination. Everyone can clearly see which camp you are in.

Gillette Motorsport
Sunday 19 February
2pm -5pm V8 Supertourers

Originally Posted by Just Do It!

When will you play in the Challenge Cup?

never

[rik]

Just been watching the coverage on SPEED....

Overall it seems like a really good thing!

However I'll list a few things:

Bad:

Rolling start! What's with that? Watching a lot of swerving and tyre warming was not inspiring!
Some very busy liverys. It's good for people of pickup lots of minor sponsors, but looks crap on TV.
Camera work seemed very poor.... too close, too wide, cutting away at the wrong time... Not enough cameras. Cost a factor I assume, shows we are spoilt in AUS V8s.



Good:

They sound great!
Exhaust flames! Been missing them!
18" wheels really look good.
Some great racing.

[nickyf1]

I caught a bit of the racing last night on an internet stream (admittedly after the Bud Shootout streams got taken down) and it was a good watch!

[Chris - Melb]

Considering the size of the market place I thought the racing and telecast went quite well, judging by what Foxtel showed in Australia.

Obviously the telecast isn't going to be as classy as in Australia, although the producer could have discovered where the replay button was a bit earlier in the telecast.

The racing in the first couple races was pretty average (from what was seen in Australia). The last race was an interesting one although Greg Murphy's penalty stopped him from totally dominating the race and the weekend.

I suppose the last-minute weight change destroyed some people's weekend, but it was bizarre how some cars performance dropped so dramatically. A combination of overheating, gear change glitches and tyres maybe?

Why the rolling starts?

The crowd didn't look quite as big as claimed, but maybe the cameras did not pick up the grandstand/s?

Anyway, well done to the organisers. If they had a mini summer series with some of the Australian stars invited would the V8 Supercar round be missed all that much?

[Club racer]

Originally Posted by Mr Revhead

No, different classes that seem to be made up for the meeting.

This comment cracked me up and actually PROVES you know little or nothing about motorsport in this country. IF you actually followed it instead of being a keyboard warrior intent on 'winning the Internet' you might be able to discover the following:

CMCs have been around A LONG TIME

They raced back to back weekends to be at the SuperTourer meeting - I'd say in the current climate that was quite a commitment

The Honda Cup was on it's first big bill - but they fronted up with 30 cars, a record Honda racing field in New Zealand

They may be front wheel drive and only four cylinders but they lap ALOT quicker than Minis and Suzukis and people ACTUALLY OVERTAKE - remember that. The fastest ones are little more than a second off the NZV8 style cars. We were in the paddock when Greg Murphy came down for a look at them and the CMCs and in between autographing for literally dozens of people he described them as 'f****g awesome'. I think Murph probably has his finger on the pulse a little more than you, wouldn't you say?

The series is actually three years old and has introduced new drivers to racing through its links with NZ Hondas - which just happens to be the biggest car club in NZ with 11,000 membe

The V8 Challenge Cup had a small field for sure , but only one or two cars shorter than the average grid NZV8s have had all season - makes you think does it not? Wonder how many will turn up after BNT V8 season finishes (for the last time?). I'd bet there will be at least 15 cars at Manfeild, a field BNT have only been able to dream about. And you have to ask WHY that is.

All there in your world of Internet if you care to look (Which you don't because your not really a motorsport fan, just an NZV8 competitor or official).

I'm 45 now, have followed motorsport for 35 years in the UK, Europe, the USA and now NZ - where I have lived for six years. It's simply completely illogical to say that the V8ST meeting was anything other than a major shot in the arm for all red blooded motorsport enthusiasts. You only needed to be there to feel the vibe. Sure there were plenty of holes in the execution of it, but hey, give these guys a chance. They were only at Round 1, fronted up with 16 cars that you lot said would never happen, 16 crews who were all absolutely buzzing, 16 drivers (most of whom are champions), three hours of TV coverage, TV coverage in Australia, a genuinely huge crowd by New Zealand motor sport events standards, am army of press from NZ and Australia, a pit walk for the public which was of F1 proportions (And I've been to a few of them too) and drivers who simply couldn't do enough for you.

Now I know what you are going to do, say that I am biased, and a troll or whatever Internet keyboard warrior sh*te you can come up with, but anyone reading this thread or any thread on this forum should rest assured this was the best event apart from the first A1GP here full stop, no matter what drivel Prolapse, Revhead and their sad mates come out with.

If you are simply a GENUINE motorsport fan, you just have to go to one of these rounds atsome stage.

In summary I would say to the detractors, 'What planet are you living on?' because it certainly isn't one occupied by the majority of the country's motorsport fans. They spoke with their feet over the weekend, pure and simple.

Roll on Ruapuna and the rest.

[NZSTfan]

Sounds like a mixed bag of feedback from the heads on here. I thought all in all the whole weekend including TV package was well executed. It made the coverage that we get for BNT's look a bit 'number 8 wire-ish' if you know what i mean. i only made it down for race 2 due to a wedding on saturday (dammit!) and i had to be in chch on sunday evening, and we could see that if we waited for R3 there would be chaos getting out of there.......what was it like at the end? was the traffic mad?

I agree that there are some teething issues with the cars, there will always be in a developing series. I did notice that those rear diffusers would come off if you sneezed in the right direction, so some work needs to be done on those. didn't hear about the overheating, but i guess anything can happen. it was blisteringly hot on the sunday so maybe that would contribute??

I thought the TV commentators were good and it was great to see that an ex V8SC commentator is doing his bit....really added something nice to the mix, and possibly showed a relationship building between the two classes. And was that Campbell Little in the JMR garage? didn't make much difference if it was

I give the ST guys 9/10 for the first event, which is pretty dam good in my books.

What i'd like to see happen from here on: (big wishlist here)

- More incar footage. I believe every car should have more than 2 good quality cameras in it, including foot cam
- The numbers on the car need to be bigger and in a nicer font. Get rid of the names on the windscreen and just copy how the supercars name and number their cars - they have it right IMO
- Rolling starts, I hate them......i imagine this is due to the enormous pressures put on the driveline for grid starts?? please correct me if i am wrong
- Once the series is developed a wee bit further i would like to see centre nut assemblies on the wheels, rather than 5 stud. this will make for cracking pitstops during the enduros and will add a bit more 'cool' to the equation

I liked the TV graphics etc etc, nice and easy to read and quite styley.

Very positive feeling at the Downs on the weekend....no haters there!

I mentioned VEEGA once but i think i got away with it

[Biggy G]

I left the track about half an hour after the the final race, got onto the highway easy as, no traffic problems till we got closer to Auckland.

Agree the numbers need to be bigger, the ones on the sides are pointless. Don't mind the 5 studs, save them a lot of coin in the long run. NASCAR can do slick 5 stud stops, and they look mighty impressive when they get it right.

Campbell was in the JMR garage, those cars seemed really off the pace until the last race though? Didn't get a chance to MySky the footage, so look forward to doing that for Round 2 and seeing how the series comes across on TV.

[JC Ohope]

Originally Posted by Biggy G

Campbell was in the JMR garage, those cars seemed really off the pace until the last race though? Didn't get a chance to MySky the footage, so look forward to doing that for Round 2 and seeing how the series comes across on TV.

Wasn't there a story on Speedcafe a while back that Campbell was going to be the Technical Director for JMR? that probably explains why he was there

Yup there he is....

[Point2]

I spent friday Am to Sunday Pm in the pits. (working on car 67)
enjoyed the entire weekend.
Most drivers from V8ST popped in to say hello.
most CC drivers got taken for a spin in a ST.
Foggy had a smile on 3 car lengths wide.

Hampton a exercise for viewing, but we had the yellow scissor platform behind the pits. so good viewing from this

First round for us competing in the ex kayne scott Falcon in the CC.
Hard work. one small change throws the whole car setup.

Great fun. Well Done Mathew for showing how its done.

I think I need to get a paddeling pool in the pit garage and fill it full of gravel so Inkster and Chambers can feel a little more at home.

Well done to both Glenn and Shannon on there first Tarmac round.

8.5 from me.
see you all at Manfeild

[EZY PEEL]

Wasnt the last race supposed to be 35 laps?

[GTRMagic]

Highlights Package

[Tracie]

Last race reduced to 30laps at request of Series Officials - something to do with "fuel burn"

[EZY PEEL]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Highlights Package

Poor picture of Jhonny Reid in the background at 3 min mark.

I don't know these rules but Im pretty sure you aren't allowed to pass the saftey car until it has left the track which I recon is the reason for his hesitant restart at the end or race 3. If he had of kept nailing it im sure the would have been protested out.

[Mr Revhead]

Originally Posted by Tracie

Last race reduced to 30laps at request of Series Officials - something to do with "fuel burn"

Yikes hope they have an endurance spec tank! 500ks at ruapuna will mean a lot of pitstops otherwise

[DX20VT]

Originally Posted by Mr Revhead

Yikes hope they have an endurance spec tank! 500ks at ruapuna will mean a lot of pitstops otherwise

Would imagine they do,
But I think 120L is the max capacity under either MSNZ or FIA rules for any car?

[The Skin]

Contender: Eddie Bell all the way..
This boy and his team have pure drive and passion to win!
Best looking car out there too!

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Mr Revhead

Yikes hope they have an endurance spec tank! 500ks at ruapuna will mean a lot of pitstops otherwise

That's interesting isn't it? With the Safety Car period you would expect they would have had more than enough to do the 35 laps. Could be that HD is a fuel demanding circuit??

[Pseudonym]

Originally Posted by Goat Boy

That's interesting isn't it? With the Safety Car period you would expect they would have had more than enough to do the 35 laps. Could be that HD is a fuel demanding circuit??

I think it was more due to the fact that many cars were using fuel load as a form of ballast to reach the minimum weight. In 35 laps of racing some cars would come in under the minimum weight due to the amount of fuel used. The control ballast would be available for the second round, I assume.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Highlights Package

Thanks

[Goat Boy]

Originally Posted by Pseudonym

I think it was more due to the fact that many cars were using fuel load as a form of ballast to reach the minimum weight. In 35 laps of racing some cars would come in under the minimum weight due to the amount of fuel used. The control ballast would be available for the second round, I assume.

That may explain Johnny Mac carrying lead weight in race 1?