Peter McKay

[bazil]

djt46,
As a journo yourself I can understand your desire to protect your own but as someome that has been involved in motorsport in this country for over 30 years as a competitor, spectator and financial contributer to Australian motorsport I think I am entitlied to comment on the negative gibberings of Peter McKay. I was not commenting on the Ingall article but about his comments in general on Australian Motorsport and in particular his lack of support for Supercars. As for your comments on the state of play obviously you have a connection to a particular class or style of motor racing that perhaps is not doing to well these days, so it is easy to blame someone else like Supercars. The last time I looked Drag racing was enjoying terrific growth with new strips like WSID and more events and entrants, Speedway just enjoyed one of its better summers with the Outlaws. Utes, Aussie Race cars, Porsches, Formular Ford, Developement series,Formular 3 and even Commodore Cup enjoying new growth and exposure. Now I am sure that you will be able to fill us in on the poor showing of other forms but unless they get off their bums and help themselves like the classes mentioned above they will only continue to slide. And finally as to your Basil Faulty jibe I will assume that it is only second hand that you are aware of a clever comedy like that show as I am sure the ABC has far too many words and not enough pictures for a journo like yourself.....

[djt46]

Bazil:In the first place everyone has an entitlement to comment on the writings of anyone else, just as I am able to comment on yours, and you on Peter McKay's, but equally I have the right to put forward my views on this issue; I have done nothing more than that. As to defending Peter I'm pretty sure that he's a big boy and can actually defend himself. While I have pursued numerous forms of motor sport, I don't feel a particularly over powering connection to any, just to the notion of excellent motor racing, technical superiority and cutting edge engineering, all of which I find absent in V8 Supercars. I donlt think we should go down that path too far here. With regard to Australian motor sport poor state it is more the lack of direction from the peak body, CAMS, and its obsessive pandering to the demands of V8 Supercars that concerns me, rather than the performance or otherwise of a particular class or form of motor sport. With regard to the ABC, a former employer and favoured viewing medium, and to Basil Fawlty in particular I have never had too much trouble with the nuances of this excellent example of British comedy.

[stoned pony]

Bazil, I reckon Peter McKay has forgotten more than most of us know and I also reckon that, before he writes anything, he has it all very well researched, rather than just running off at the gob, unlike some who sit at a keyboard and just type.
I reckon Superstars made a big mistake last year by getting Paul Gover on the panel. It should have been McKay. Or maybe even both of them facing-off against Cochrane.
And here's a question you might be able to answer, Bazil: why is it that some of you arc up so much when Peter McKay writes what you think is a negative story about the taxis? Personally, I reckon his story about INgall throwing away points at Adelaide was spot on.

[bazil]

Mr Pony,

Perhaps you will notice from the small number of posts I have made that I dont nessasarily fit your running off at the Gob keyboard type and I have already offered some of my own creds and back ground. As for "why you arc up so much" I dont think you have to look further than the Taxis comment. What constitutes a proper race car with so called racing Purist? Is it the volume of money spent or is it the cutting edge technical stuff as mention elsewhere in this thread or is it the the level of interest by the corporate world? Could it be the standard and class of the drivers involved? All of the above apply to Supercars whether you like it or not and before all the cleverdick purist bash their educated keyboards to tell me about old pushrod engines and single camshafts etc they should remember that to continually improve and better the performance of what is percieved by some as old hat takes a fair dose of technical genius to achieve. Unfortunatley this is an argument destined to nowhere because there are some Supercar supporters as one eyed for as there are agianst like Mr McKay so commonsense gets lost in the middle.

[mac]

Well I like V8Supercars and Peter McKay.

So there.

[djt46]

does that make you half right!!
seriously tho good for you

[bazil]

I dont recall ever being wrong but if I was it must have been someone elses fault!!

P.S Mac, I too like V8 Supercars (and beer and chips and footy and cricket and grid girls and I am an Aries that likes to BBQ.)

[racer69]

Those with an interest in motorsport think McKay's comments are fair enough. At least McKay has been involved in and around motorsport for donkey's years, how long have the likes of Ray Kerschler been involved?

Those with an interest in V8Supercars and thats about it think McKay has it wrong, has it in for V8s etc etc..... If anyone criticises it in anyway these posters are just going to shoot it down saying it's all rosy, people are living in the past and so on....


Lets face it, all the column was about was a racing driver (McKay) commenting on another drivers actions during the previous weekends race (Ingall)!

[djt46]

racer69: well summed up. don't worry there will be another splurge of hysteria from the V8 crowd as a result of your post. A lot of them would not realise the extent of Peter's motor racing, he's been at it for years and was driving in the Nurburgring 24 Hour last year I think, in fact he driven in just about everything worth driving in at some time or other and driven just about everything worth driving, probably not a V8 supercar though! As he's done some Bathurst races I think I could stand corrected on that.

[GTRMagic]

Mr McKay was a member of the factory Corolla Group A team for a number of years, drove with Brian Callaghan one year in the big red Falcon, a Ghostbusters Rx7 in 1984... a Starion or two with KB... not to mention proddie cars on the mountain with Brock, in a Commodore and Peugeot at different times...

I remember all that from my own knowledge, if I could be bothered I would have looked it up in the Great Race book that has a profile of how many seasons Mr McKay has been showing up at the mountain.

But I dont think that is the point.

It is one thing to have the courage of your convictions, to take the view that something is right, wrong or indifferent, and to continue to support that view.

Is the glass half full or half empty though?

You can have a begrudging respect for something you dont believe in passionately. You can make positive observations about the good things the sport offers, in bringing success to some genuinely nice people at SBR, or improvements in the demeanours of different people around the place.

Or you can go nitpicking... and while not necessarily outright negative, perhaps best described as sensationalist... which has negative connotations attached.

AVESCO actually did it too with the release about R2 race results in Adelaide, not praising Marcos Ambrose's victory, instead claiming that HRT were back, as was Mr Lowndes.... ho hum about the dominant race winner then.

Of course some of this succumbs to the political interference that often happens when space is compressed. Sexy stuff like fighting and skullduggery and poor performances are said to sell more newspapers...

... so that seems to be the style here.

I enjoy the articles written by Mr McKay, he used to do a lot of road testing for the magazines, which is now lost... and wrote about trips to the Nurburgring, amongst other places, as a competitor...

... but thats not to say I enjoy his views on Supercar. They are always written from the glass half empty standpoint, looking to go for a hunt rather than to praise the best... and the throwaway lines in the Saturday "Drive" section, where comments about the "two make dinosaur series" or words to that effect are used when describing what motorsport is on the box.

It gets a bit tiring after a while....

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by bazil

djt46,
Utes, Aussie Race cars, Porsches, Formular Ford, Developement series,Formular 3 and even Commodore Cup enjoying new growth and exposure

Apart from Aussie Racers, I haven't seen any growth and exposure in any areas of the mentioned categories. F3 and Brutes have come from an unlucky 2004 and are doing their best for 2005, but I haven't seen much growth or increased exposure. FFord remains to be overlooked but just about all parties, Cup Car grids have been decreasing since its inception and Commodore Cup is in the midst of introducing its new vehicles.

BRutes, or more correctly Utes, topped 30 entries in Adelaide and they didn't get near that last year. The category also has a series sponsor (Yokohama) and support from Holden and Ford. I would call that growth. F3 is now officially our premier category with the CAMS Gold Star, Australian Drivers Championship - certainly a step-up from last year. If you don't see growth there, then . . . .

[djt46]

do not confuse increasing stature, in the case of F3, with growth. Neither category is receiving much more exposure on TV than they did last year

[D.R.T.]

In the year 2004 The V8 Brutes highest grid entry was 30 vehicles entered. Lowest was 24. To me that counts as getting near that. If you dont see that, then........
This was pretty fair considering all the uncertainity surrounding Procar at the time. Also V8 Brutes did have a series sponsor, Poolrite.

Gold Star being awarded to F3 was more a relisation of CAMS of the dire situation that faced Australian Open Wheelers, looking at ways to improve this. F3 put on the Grand Prix and Indy Bill, great moves hopefully this will lead to growth and increased exposurew in the championship.

[Crash Test]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Also V8 Brutes did have a series sponsor, Poolrite.

That's a bit like the Tony Cochrane V8 Supercar Championship presented by TEGA

[mixxer]

Who owns Poolrite ?

[D.R.T.]

Yeah I know I thought I'd have a bit of fun with it, see who'd bite.

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by mixxer

Who owns Poolrite ?

The legendary Mr Ross Palmer does

[djt46]

oh and Just Do It went for it hook line and sinker!

[mac]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Mr McKay was a member of the factory Corolla Group A team for a number of years, drove with Brian Callaghan one year in the big red Falcon, a Ghostbusters Rx7 in 1984... a Starion or two with KB... not to mention proddie cars on the mountain with Brock, in a Commodore and Peugeot at different times....

I remember him driving a Merc for Phil Ward in the mid-90s sometime ....... maybe '94.

[Aarrgh8]

I enjoy Peter McKay's writing. I often disagree with him, but unlike a lot of journos who write on motorsport, Peter knows what he's talking about. I'd rather read a specialist motoring journalist who knows and researches his topics - and disagree with him, than endure some of the mindless stuff some papers rehash from media releases for us. Also, Peter is a complete motoring writer, whether it's Speedway, F1, karts, bikes, road tests, general motoring or whatever, he can do it. He's not a sozzled horse-racing journo waffling about Supercars, unlike some.

I do think he banged on about the 2 litres a bit too much, but I always read his stuff. At least he makes me think about his opinion.

[stoned pony]

I wonder if Peter Mackay actually cruises these pages? He might actually be having a good giggle right now!

[kramer]

Originally Posted by stoned pony

I wonder if Peter Mackay actually cruises these pages? He might actually be having a good giggle right now!

Or consulting his lawyer, perhaps?



Kramer

[djt46]

Peter would be having a chuckle I think. Amused that he has generated so much interest

[prn 31]

I'm with GTR and Aarrgh8 on this one. Peter McKay is a fine journalist and he has certainly earnt his spurs, both on and off the track.

It could be said at times that he was in Toyota's back pocket (I recall that was the case with the WRC in the early 90's, where the Lancia ourists complained about lack of exposure - but who was sending out press releases ...)

As for V8Supercar, well McKay is a Europhile (he owns an old Porsche 911 SC) and he has been consistent with his stance from the out. Sure he picked the wrong horse by backing 2 Litre Super Touring - but he wasn't the only one.

Whether we like it or not, V8Supercar is the only game in town. McKay understands that and writes about it well. Doesn't mean he has to be a fan of it as well.

As for that comment about Mark Fogarty in AA. Well I can tell you that having his photo plastered all over his copy wouldn't be Foges idea - more a ****take from the production guys, and a pretty amusing one at that. I think it would be fair to say that Foges is the only Aussie journo who would get Bernie to return his call, or any other high flyer in F1 or stateside. He's not afraid to ask the tough questions, and he does it well.