2020 VASC Silly Season

[tobyobi]

Originally Posted by Forda

If Mission Winnow didn't go down too well in AU; then how would BAT?

BAT got nixed for 7/11 branding at the Aus GP this year, no chance of them paying for a full season with no exposure.

[one five five]

Originally Posted by tobyobi

BAT got nixed for 7/11 branding at the Aus GP this year, no chance of them paying for a full season with no exposure.

Who nixed the sponsorship?

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by one five five

Who nixed the sponsorship?

The legislation banning cigarette advertising is incredibly broad, and as the stated aim is to promote the companies that sell Tobacco, it wasn't safe to do.

The same way that a Tobacco wholesaler was disallowed as a team sponsor a few years back...

[chavez]

Originally Posted by one five five

Who nixed the sponsorship?

There have been a number of articles in The Age the last 12 months which I have linked to in some of the Formula One forum threads.

Channel Ten and Foxtel also run the risk of penalties if they broadcast F1 with the offending images.

[GTRMagic]

[Mixer]

Surely not. I had an inkling of a GT program and some crossed wires....

[Forda]

BMW set to return in massive Supercars shake-up

James Phelps, The Daily Telegraph
November 30, 2019 6:16pm

Subscriber only

BMW could return Supercars to a three-way fight, with the German car manufacturer considering taking on Holden and Ford in 2021.

The Sunday Telegraph can reveal Walkinshaw Andretti United (WAU) have secretly held discussions with BMW and could take on the Mustang and the Commodore in a fully factory-backed M4.

In what would be the biggest coup since Garry Rogers Motorsport signed Volvo, WAU have been negotiating with BMW as they look to bring a third manufacturer to the Supercars grid and join DJR Team Penske and the Red Bull Holden Racing Team as V8’s only fully factory-backed teams.



A digitally altered image of the new BMW Supercar.Supercars are set to become just a two-make series next year, with Kelly Racing dumping the Nissan Altima for a Ford Mustang after the Japanese company rocked the sport by ending a sponsorship deal.

WAU are determined to return the sport to a three-make category and have been in talks with three separate car manufacturers since abandoning their dream to race a Chevrolet Camaro because of a platform size issue.

BMW has emerged as the frontrunner with WAU co-owner Michael Andretti using his international star power to tempt the German powerhouse into a deal to race in Australia.


The son of Mario Andretti — America’s most successful Formula One driver — Michael already has a BMW deal in the FIA Formula E with his team, Andretti Motorsport, fully funded by the German manufacturer.

Promising to bring a new manufacturer to Supercars when he bought a part ownership of Walkinshaw Racing in 2017, Andretti has instigated the WAU talks with his close contacts at BMW.

WAU’s BMW bid received another boost last week when they signed part-time BMW driver Chaz Mostert to a multi-year deal.


Chaz Mostert has been signed to a multi-year deal. Picture: GettyLike Andretti, Mostert has close ties to BMW, having spent the past two years racing as an international BMW GT driver between Supercars events.

Mostert has raced for BMW in a series of major events including the USA’s IMSA Sportscar Series, Europe’s Blancpain Series and the Asian Le Mans Series.

Knocking back interest from several V8 teams to become WAU’s prize recruit, Mostert has also strapped down for BMW in the Daytona 24-Hour and Bathurst 12-Hour.

Held in such high regard by BMW, Mostert was even offered a full-time deal.

The Sunday Telegraph has been told WAU have been discussing engine and model options with BMW. The two-door BMW M4 and the four-door M3 have both been talked about as potential rivals for the Commodore and Mustang.

It is unclear whether BMW would use a V6 engine or purpose-built a V8 engine especially for the Australian category.

“That is something that is being talked about right now,’’ a WAU insider said. “As is the model that would be used. It could be either an M3 or an M4. Both of those models would fit on the current generation Supercars chassis.’’

Holden Special Vehicles (HSV) owner and WAU co-owner Ryan Walkinshaw has officially abandoned his plan to race the Camaro in Supercars because of a chassis size issue.

Australia’s sole supplier of the road going Camaro through his business HSV, Walkinshaw hoped to put the American legend on the track to race against the all-conquering Mustang.

Supercars CEO Sean Seamer is encouraging companies like BMW to join the sport.

“We are actively working with manufacturers on the day to day operations of Supercars via the OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) Council,’’ Seamer said.

“We are also in active discussions with other manufacturers about what they would like to see from our next generation (Gen 3) car. As part of the Gen 3 planning work we are doing we are looking to maximise manufacturer suitability to increase manufacturer participation and market relevance in the medium to long term.’’

[bluesport]

Good move by WAU if true, engine development could be interesting.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by bluesport

Good move by WAU if true, engine development could be interesting.

Dr Higgins’ squad could knock something up out of a BMW V8..

[kittle]

If WAU do land BMW, how long would it be for! BMW don’t seem to stick around for too long..

[rich07]

Given the author it’s got little credibility.

And from a marketing point of view it just makes zero sense. Another join the dots to create a headline simply for clicks. But then again that’s Phelps for you.

[Maggo]

Originally Posted by kittle

If WAU do land BMW, how long would it be for! BMW don’t seem to stick around for too long..

That's what I think as well. Unfortunately BMW has lost its motorsport roots. Look at the LeMans project.

Worst case for me would be:
Introducing a 6-cylinder turbo, then whingin about parity for two years and leave scorched earth behind when exiting supercars. No thanks.

[one five five]

Given Gen3 is meant to come in 2022, where is the logic in BMW entering in 2021 for a single year on the current platform?

Phelps has seemed quiet on the Supercars front for the last year or so, he seems to be back at the forefront over the last few months.....what happened?

[Jack65]

Originally Posted by one five five

Phelps has seemed quiet on the Supercars front for the last year or so, he seems to be back at the forefront over the last few months.....what happened?

Rugby league now in off-season.

[GTRMagic]

[Sandgroper]

Nice to see another brand (if its competitive) Lose Nissan gain BMW

[blaarg]

You don't need any manufacturers directly integrated into the sport. Running BMW cars under license, with Walkinshaw doing all the development/cfd and onselling to other interested teams makes perfect sense. But for this to work, Supercars needs to sort out their parity systems and common parts control. Otherwise you're going to have another Nissan situation where they (BMW) become a field filler and barely competitive.

[Mixer]

The reason the Nissan wasn't competitive was 100% down to Kelly's.

Looks what the Volvo was able to do, and Erebus even was more competitive than Nissan.

All of them lobbied for change because they were smart and savvy enough to do so to their benefit, and that is how the sport works. Erebus ultimately suffered the brain drain of SBR imploding and loss of real driving talent but showed potential more so than the Kelly's ever did.

Very annoying that we saw the Nissans only match the field when Roland effectively lobbied for them.

[blaarg]

Having to lobby supercars for improvements due to parity-creep of other teams sounds to me like a pretty flawed parity 'system'.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by blaarg

Having to lobby supercars for improvements due to parity-creep of other teams sounds to me like a pretty flawed parity 'system'.

I think it has been the result of teams having far more resources than the Governing body, and an almost gentleman's agreement that existed that kept the cars quite equal.

Now with two very technical and internationally connected people responsible, one is hoping the fettled aero for next year means an equal chance for each car type. Of course that can't compensate for one tearaway driver.

I do definitely hope to see less aero influence, a Bathurst with barely any passing was interesting, but also boring.

[Forda]

Originally Posted by Mixer

Very annoying that we saw the Nissans only match the field when Roland effectively lobbied for them.

You're giving Roland too much credit - he is essentially only looking after his own interests.

Any benefit Nissan received was merely a byproduct of that.

[bluesport]

Originally Posted by Forda

You're giving Roland too much credit - he is essentially only looking after his own interests.

Any benefit Nissan received was merely a byproduct of that.

That is so, so true.

[Axeman444]

Originally Posted by Forda

BMW set to return in massive Supercars shake-up

James Phelps, The Daily Telegraph
November 30, 2019 6:16pm

Subscriber only

BMW could return Supercars to a three-way fight

That word in italic/bold/underline should be enough to realise this story is pure fantasy

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Axeman444

That word in italic/bold/underline should be enough to realise this story is pure fantasy

Or a complete smokescreen (just like a similar pronouncement from the same author around Chrysler & GRM) as other negotiations continue in private.

Let’s see

[Mixer]

How many mistubishi and Toyota stories did we get when there were factories to promote?