Clipsal - Nations Cup

[the man]

Originally posted by pplater
If by any means possible, get yourself to the bathurst 24hr. last year, it had a large and diverse field, and aside from the monaros, there were another 13 cars contending for outright position.

Lead driver, Car.

Nathan Pretty, Holden monaro
Peter Brock, Holden Monaro
John Bowe, BMW M3 GTR
Paul Morris, Porsche GT3
Paul Stokell, Lambo Diablo
David Brabham, Ferrari 360GT
Marcus Marshall, Porsche GT3
Peter Floyd, Porsche GT3
Tommy Erdos, Porsche GT3-RS
Martin Short, Mosler MT900
Jurgen Alzen, Porsche GT3
Will Power, Porsche GT3
Alex Yoong, BMW 320i
Adam Sharpe, Morgan Aero8

15 outright contenders, in a field of 44 entrants Not bad.

plus the other cirtek car
Tim Harvey, Porsche GT3-RS

[pplater]

whoops.

I didn't do this from memory, it was from first practise/qual, in the order of fastest cars. (Pretty much the starting grid, too, as 2nd qual was wet, and third was at night)

Peter Floyd's car was an GT3-RS, too.

hopefully this year, entries from the Marcos Mantis of Cor Euser, Freisinger, Alzen-Turbo, and the Nash Saleen may add depth t the field, with a possibility of an M3 GTR for David Searle, who ran the #301 Yoong/Full/Searle/Gurr car in 2003.

[pplater]

not to mention the hopeful addition of the F550GT...

[the man]

Originally posted by pplater
not to mention the hopeful addition of the F550GT...

I think if the car is prepared to it best and drivers, then it could be up there running with the monaros

[pplater]

If the car didn't have the 300kg of lead that was installed for clipsal, it would be moorch faster than the munros.

Natios cup/B24 is still paritised vaguely according to FIA N/GT speed, as opposed to the ALMS GTS class of the 550.

therefore, the f550 had to be hamstrung to race in NC, and probably at bathurst. I think that this year, allowances will be made to the Monaro teams, making them faster through the season and totally unstoppable at B24.

I still think the Monaro is THE perfect car for B24, and an overstressed ferrari revving to the bejeesus while pulling an extra 300kg of lead will probably shat itself sometime before dawn, handing the win to the monaros... again.

I hope i'm wrong though.

[the man]

The monaro's were built for the bathurst 24hr, so they would be unstoppable, but hopefully they can get some more competition like in 2002 with the cirtek porsche leading for 18hrs

[Kerri]

Sorry guys but i still have a problem with the amount of entries at clipsal. I still think they should have combined Nations Cup & Porsches. The spectators like to see full grids after all.

[pplater]

The purpose of the Careera cup is for an entertaining series to follow the V8s. Close competition that follows an international standard of racing, a proven opportunity for fast drivers to shine amongst the wombats.

The Australian Vee Eight Super Car Orginisation (AVESCO) and network ten have the rights to the Carerra Cup, making it hard for the PROCAR/ Nine Network Nations cup seres to accept the field.

However, it worked for B24, where the (ahem) modified GT3 carerra cup of morris and fitzgerald took out P3 after 24hours. Jurgen Alzen and Tony Quinn ran carerra cup cars, though modified slightly for 24hr racing.

If I haven't been clear about it earlier, I'll make it clear:

Procar is run by Ross Palmer (he posts here sometimes) and AVESCO is run by Tony Cochrane.

These guys aren't exactly on each others christmas card list, (very strong cnfrontations go waaaaaaay back) and they aren't too keen on their cars racing in a rival series. I don't know if anything official has been said, but it may be safe (though never is, really) to presume that CC competitors were/are/will be pressured by AVESCO to stay within the series.

Though I agree with you, The CCup would add many quality competitors to a Nations Cup field that needs bolstering.

[mixxer]

Does anybody know how many NC cars are entered for the Oran Park Round ?

please no guess's just actual entrants

[GTRMagic]

No details in PROCAR website land...

I would doubt Murray Carter will show up, and the Koundouris Porsche is unwell after the big hit... while the Koundouris Ferrari 360 Challenge needs a new engine...

When is JR launching the GT2 campaign? Sooner rather than later after being hosed in CC so far?

[gt3cup]

The Koundouris GT3 has been sold (despite its hit at the clipsal)and Theo Koundouris will be running a Cup Car at the Procar round at Oran Park. James will be there in the 360 Challange.

[Just Do It!]

Nice to have money....!

[pplater]

i wonder if the challenges floating around will be permitted mods? if they were allowed to run 19in wheels, have michelotto aero/brake mods (michelotto build the 360 N/GT) than perhaps they might be a more arrtractive proposition.

[Kerri]

I am aware of the problems with the two powers that be, they can not run together, I was just stating a fact that each category that runs at an event like Adelaide should have a minimum of 25 cars for the sake of the paying public.
You would be amazed at the amount of people I have spoken to since Clipsal that have asked why some categories are so low in numbers when they know other Categories (not on at the meeting this year) can give 30+ grids.
Regardless if they are on Channel 10 or Pay TV. 230,000 people want to see racing, not 10 to 15 cars spread out over the circuit.

[mixxer]

Originally posted by GTRMagic
No details in PROCAR website land...

Thats why I asked

[GTRMagic]

Originally posted by pplater
i wonder if the challenges floating around will be permitted mods? if they were allowed to run 19in wheels, have michelotto aero/brake mods (michelotto build the 360 N/GT) than perhaps they might be a more arrtractive proposition.

Of significance, I understand one of the former PHR 360 N-GT cars, claimed to be a genuine Michelotto, started life in Europe as a lowly Challenge car and was materially upgraded.

By the same token, the PHR 360 N-GT freshly back from a stint with Veloqx has had significant upgrades from its original specification too.

[racer69]

Originally posted by pplater
and the Nash Saleen may add depth t the field,

Not unless there are some major changes to the regulations to allow it in.

The Saleen S7R is a purpose-built GTS car (as opposed to the Ferrari 550/575, which is more of a compromise between road and track). They built only 25 to get it homologated.

Unless it gets accepted in Nations Cup and runs a few rounds to get 'paritied', or the Bathurst 24 Hours is now open to GTS-spec cars, which will only happen if Nations Cup rules are 'relaxed' abit more.

Which brings up another question which was never answered on Procar forums, is Nations Cup this year still based to an N-GT 'Speed' formula?

[D.R.T.]

Originally posted by Kerri
Sorry guys but i still have a problem with the amount of entries at clipsal. I still think they should have combined Nations Cup & Porsches. The spectators like to see full grids after all.

Point taken but Im sure the spectators would have taken the racing provided by NC guys that weekend over most other categories on show. Simonsen and Stokell, outstanding

[Kerri]

Everyone is entitled to their opinions, I'm baseing mine on comments made from the meeting. Also the feedback on spectators leaving the stands when certain categories came on track. Not necessarily meaning NC though.

[Onlooker]

Originally posted by racer69
Not unless there are some major changes to the regulations to allow it in.

The Saleen S7R is a purpose-built GTS car (as opposed to the Ferrari 550/575, which is more of a compromise between road and track). They built only 25 to get it homologated.

Unless it gets accepted in Nations Cup and runs a few rounds to get 'paritied', or the Bathurst 24 Hours is now open to GTS-spec cars, which will only happen if Nations Cup rules are 'relaxed' abit more.

Which brings up another question which was never answered on Procar forums, is Nations Cup this year still based to an N-GT 'Speed' formula?

You would think that it was perfect to run against a purpose built car They built only 4 to get them homolagated,it would surely be able to conform to the same parity review process that the Monaro underwent so as not to arrive with a car that could just drop it's lap time at will to recover from a mishap.

[mixxer]

Does anybody know how many NC cars are entered for the Oran Park Round ?

please no guess's just actual entrants

[D.R.T.]

No details available at this time. Keep an ear out though

[the man]

At the moment it is 12 all up, 8 entrants for GT Cars as it says on the procar website, and 4 cars for the trophy class. A good field but could be stronger, Hopefully more cars can come on to the series throughout the year.

[stmookeyj033]

12 entries with at least 3 TBA's and the always entered yet never raced NSX. It's a real worry for the class.

[racer69]

There was mention made over at Procar forums to ban the major 'exotics'.

I'm prepared to go along with this. Ban the Ferrari 550 GTS car, 7 Litre Monaro, Mongrel Porsche etc.... and base the regulations holely and soley to N-GT regulations, by allowing cars to be homologated by Procar to race in Nations Cup, but they have to be built to the N-GT regs.

Sure, you would lose what, 6 cars, but alot of the older competitors would return to the class.

And do away with the whole parity system. Release a set of regulations, then let the teams go at it without the risk of success ballast or parity changes during the year.

What is happening at the moment just can't keep going.