Quote:
Originally Posted by champcarman
Is it just me or has this event lost a bit of its OOMPH in recent years? We used to have heaps of nice cars coming from around the world (remember the International Sports Car Challenge) but now we are excited by 3 cars? I know we have a lot of great race cars in Australia but this event seems to be relying more on Australia's preoccupation with Touring car racing than it did in the past. maybe this gets people through the gates but is this the way the event should be going?
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Certainly the overseas contingent seems to wax and wane annually, but to be fair many o/s cars are racing without any pre publicity. Of course certain years the entry is spectacular due to a European or overseas manufacturer special anniversary involvement (ie Alfa, who seemed to bring half their museum including WDC winners to their 100th anniversary year.... they also brought a number of factory drivers and engineers that year) Porsche have also supported some of their anniversaries, F5000 is always well supported from O/S as are big sports cars.
The entry is still promised at well over 500 cars (I have heard 540 mentioned) which is no less than recent years.
Of course these anniversaries also feature Touring Cars from time to time, ( I think last year celebrated the 60th anniversary of the first Australian Touring Car Championship) so that would see some focus there. Also last year was a world anniversary for Formula Ford also featured.
It is still a superb meeting on a great track, and there are always a superb variety of local and overseas cars, publicised or not.