Quote:
Originally Posted by Oldtony
The problem is that the history context really finished with the collapse of Champ Car and the failiure of the Indy series to deliver.
The V8s were only ever a support act, and the past few years have shown that for the Coast they can't deliver the same impact in the markets the original was designed to penetrate.
I was managing the Southport Chamber of Commerce back when it all started. Believe me it was never aimed at the domestic market. The prime aim was to get good pictures of the Coast as a modern high end resort on international TV. Interestingly part of the circuit design brief for Weathered Howe was to ensure that the camera angles which covered the cars presented the Coast as just that. It was a more important priority than the race itself.
The Development business (the white shoe brigade) used their pull to get Government Finance and local business climbed aboard to get a major event which slotted into a quiet tourism season. All the years of Champ Car achieved that sort of result in terms of international exposure. Win Win Win. Locals were (mostly) happy because it brought in big spenders and got the Coast great TV in the US, and particularly Asia. The Govt. was happy because the developers thanked them for the subsidy by making contributions to party funds (both partys) and the fans loved seeing something different racing which they couldn't see anywhere else in Oz.
The demise of Champ Car, the IRL failiure, the A1GP farce and then the gutting of circuit to suit what is just a local event repeated in other parts of Oz, there is no 20 year tradition left.
Sorry, it has gone, and the only thing that you will see on parts of the circuit will be the trams. No International exposure means no subsidy, no support from local business and thus no racing.
Now will everyone get onside and see if we can encourage the Norwell project as a replacement for racing in this part of the world. That would be a way to revive the important tradition that died with the SPIR.
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OT,
I was fortunate enough to be at the first ever event, and we, as a team, competed at two of those events. I agree with you that they were funded by the government to promote the Gold Coast Internationally, and if you watch the first years footage, you can see just how much airtime went into romanticising the Gold Coast as a destination.
I must admit I have not heard of the Norwell project, is this a Morris family proposal?