Here's hoping for a better 2004 Season

[mjt57]

Here is my list for what I reckon should make for a better championship next year:

1. Rename the series back to the ATCC. Remove any reference to "supercars". It's a rather puerile concept.

2. Adopt a point scoring system that rewards drivers and teams for effort - not for cruising around. MotoGP is a good example. If you DNF, you DNF. No points. Nothing below 15th. No "dropped rounds". No getting points for coming last, etc.

3. Emphasise the racing, not the pitstops. No more compulsory pitstops for tyres or fuel or brakes. See if the better team can build a car that can go longer on less.

4. Look at the role of the pace car. The end of this series was so boring. If someone farts, the pace car's out there and stuffing up a good race. Bathurst is now a series of sprint races. The quicklift trucks never caused any crashes at Bathurst, did they?

5. Pitlane speed limits - are they too slow? In the past, before speed limits, how many accidents were there in pitlane as a result of high speed?

6. Do we need a top ten shootout? It's great for Bathurst, as it added to the spectacle, and it used to be something uniquely Bathurst. Now it's just another part of the weekend.

7. Decent live timing, ala Raceview (and for that matter, RT and his great IRC service that he used to run).

8. Fixed length races, say 2 x 200 km races at each meeting, Bathurst, Sandown and other "enduro" events aside.

9. Each race, whether it be Bathurst or Barbagello attracting the same points (also helps me make a scoring database...).

10. Finally, Bring back Phillip Island.

[Troy]

Totally agree

[Conrod Kieron]

Agreed
Arguably the QuickLift trucks did cause Johnsons rock incident though, but they are a little to trigger happy with the pace car nowadays, its turned Bathurst into a series of sprints rather than an enduro.

Only thing I could add is Bathurst to be a stand alone race.

[greencardy]

11. The Removal of Matthew White from the commentary Box.

[V8 Superdave]

1) TEGA have some nads and make tough decisions (for either side) which really need to be made. I believe they caused many of the issues this year.

2) Stop the series being Cochrane's personal toy.

3) How about listening to the fans? Ask us what we want, don't tell us what you think we want.

4) A points system which makes sense, and i agree, doesn't award for merely turning up and crossing the line under the chequered flag.

5) Put races where people who live in this country can actually attend. Scrap this China rubbish. One round in NZ ok, i could live with 2 maybe, but China? Please......

6) Bathurst as a stand alone race. Same for Sandown. The enduros aren't the same format, so should be separate.

7) Might be a big ask, but how about better driving standards from the competitors? Some bad decisions made by drivers from both sides. Any chance of cleaning up the racing a bit? It ISN'T dirt-track speedway

[Mattracer]

It's almost too contrived in some respects.

The points system is too complicated to know what's the real picture unless there is a runaway points leader which is the aim of the series not to have anyway.

The "shootout" (Hollywood name for a Hollywood concept that thumbs it's nose at Bathurst tradition) should be scrapped.

The races get decided by weird things like drive thru penalties caused by drivers sneezing and the like.

It's getting too show biz for the hard core tragics like us on here.

[bevans000]

What about having more interesting support races. That Group C touring cars series would do nicely.

[Rebound]

I cant see why they dont have a ATCC and an Enduro championship. Have 9 rounds of sprint races and then 4 races over 500k, make it a bit more interesting.

[racer69]

Originally posted by Rebound
I cant see why they dont have a ATCC and an Enduro championship. Have 9 rounds of sprint races and then 4 races over 500k, make it a bit more interesting.

Because that is too logical, what alot of us seem to want, and not Tony Cochrane's idea.


I could think of a tonne of things, but if i could have 3 changes (excluding technical regulation changes);

1. Bring back proper qualifying, drop the 'shootout'
2. A standard race format for all rounds bar Snadown and Bathurst
3. Dump the contrived and un-needed pitstops. That is not racing....

[HRT #1]

1. Keep the series to "V8 Supercars" only. The ATCC is just history and rather ancient at that.

2. Make it mandatory for 2 cars per team maximum on a L1 franchise only, none of these superteams are necessary.

3. Dump the likes of the fools in race control and replace them with people like Brock, etc who know what racing is like and that know how to apply the correct decision.

4. Adopt a MotoGP points system that rewards drivers and teams for effort if you DNF that's just to bad - get rid of this crummy Drop your worst round system.

5. Stick to the racing and not the pitstops. No more pit windows that's a farce in itself, then we would see who has the best prepared car and can last the distance.

6. Deploy the pace car at the correct point not when Race Control feels like it, and get rid of the safety car there has been way to many stuff ups this season with the safety car.

7. Pitlane speed limits should be raised to 60klm as the current 40klm limit is way to slow

8. Keep the top ten shootouts but let the enduro races have a top 15 shootout.

9. Remove live timing from the net, EC was a good example of power failure and backup generators are still prone to lightning regardless.

10. Make each round a one race fixed length, for example 1 x 350 km race at each meeting, with the exception of the two enduro races been Bathurst and Sandown of course.

11. Keep Bathurst in the Championship but move it to round 13 instead since it's the biggest event and it's only fitting that it should be the final race for the season.

12. The Gold coast street circuit needs to go and be replaced by another QLD race track.

13. TV coverage should be shared 50/50 between Ch10 and Foxtel as this keeps all viewers happy, and while there at it get rid of the CH10 commentators except cromley and replace them with former V8 drivers who know what their talking about.

[V8 Superdave]

Can live with all of those, HRT, except the last one... i can't get Foxtel where i am, so i'd be screwed... as would many others who live in units.

[face_plant]

Originally posted by HRT #1

9. Remove live timing from the net, EC was a good example of power failure and backup generators are still prone to lightning regardless.
[/B]

How about making it freely available on the net instead of the closed shop V8SC seems to have become? Look at WRC many sites carry the live timing linked back to the wrc.com timing.

[racer69]

Originally posted by HRT #1
1. Keep the series to "V8 Supercars" only. The ATCC is just history and rather ancient at that.

1998 is ancient?

[mjt57]

Originally posted by racer69
1998 is ancient?

Ancient or not, the term "V8 Supercars" sounds like something that a 14 yo kid would make up.

They continue to refer to the ATCC, when they hark back to results from that series when determining the number of "championship wins" that a particular driver has won.

Unless I'm very much mistaken the ATCC title was dropped in deference to Shell's sponsorship of the series, wasn't it?

ie: the Shell Championship Series.

That's a commercial decision. Nothing to do with the type of car being raced, its heritage or the national status of the event.

I s'pose though, an AUSTRALIAN touring car championship wouldnt' sit well with the Kiwis, Chinese or any other Asia/Pacific nation that's silly enough to host this event..

[racer69]

Had nothing to do with Shell, the series was known as the Shell Australian Touring Car Championship from 1987 to 1998.

[Deano]

Originally posted by racer69

I could think of a tonne of things, but if i could have 3 changes (excluding technical regulation changes);

1. Bring back proper qualifying, drop the 'shootout'
2. A standard race format for all rounds bar Snadown and Bathurst
3. Dump the contrived and un-needed pitstops. That is not racing....

Can't agree, Racer69. These are all things which I really like, and IMHO about the only thing I think they've got right.

[Phase3]

Originally posted by greencardy
11. The Removal of Matthew White from the commentary Box.

Have to disagree on that, Matty's got a lot better over the season & brings some personality to the comm box.

Plus I've noticed he's straight onto the "Off camera" action, calling it 3 laps before any of the other guys have realised that a position change has happened in the background.........

[Phase3]

Originally posted by mjt57
Ancient or not, the term "V8 Supercars" sounds like something that a 14 yo kid would make up.

A 14 yo kid with a fantastic future in Marketing. Ok us motorsport tragics know what the ATCC is and used to watch it. The average Joe with little motorsport knowledge wouldn't care less about the ATCC, he's drawn to the "V8 Supercars"

[A9X05]

Firstly, I think the racing should be confined only to AUSTRALIA and N.Z.and should be racing in every state in AUST! the winner is a TRANS TASMAN TYPE of champion!
Maybe have 250 km sprints rounds or similar, but they could all start with different fuel strategies similar to F1,Just start with what your got in the tank, and fuel up when you need more!
No pit windows.
Points the same or similar to MOTO GP as has been stated .
Have a seperate enduro series, because Bathurst should not be a part of the main game !
Also no China whatsoever!!

OK, now tell me I'm dreaming!

[Crash Test]

I like the idea of having races just over the distance of a tank of fuel, and **** off the pit windows etc. Fix up the points, and no China are good ideas.

[woodbine]

I like the idea of standard round formats but I would go for a 100km race and a 200km, both on the Sunday. I would be prepared to accept 2x200km races for Adelaide, but only if I had to.

No forced pitstops. This would help make a 60kph pit lane limit safer

MotoGP scoring.

Sandown and Bathurst as stand-alone races. I know TC wants Bathurst as part of the championship, so why not hold a "regular" round there as well.

Live TV coverage

No Chinese rounds.

Is it me or do most of us want the same things?

[GTRMagic]

All noble pursuits, but the problem is more the process that is in place for all of these things to happen.

We need a TEGA board with teeth, with commercial, legal and technical experience, and a chairman who isnt an active target for a mafia hitman....

Bring some professional management into the category to reign in the AVESCO loose cannon and I think you might find most of these oddball issues will largely go away....

[racer69]

Originally posted by Phase3
A 14 yo kid with a fantastic future in Marketing. Ok us motorsport tragics know what the ATCC is and used to watch it. The average Joe with little motorsport knowledge wouldn't care less about the ATCC, he's drawn to the "V8 Supercars"

If they hadn't changed the name of the series from the ATCC in the first place then the average public would be just as familiar with now. It worked for 39 years after all.......

Championships like NASCAR and Formula 1 place a big emphasis on history & tradition in their racing, it's a pity AVESCO and TC are un-willing to do the same

[GTRMagic]

There was no motorsport in Australia before 1993 was there?

[Mattracer]

It's interesting that when it suits, the tradition barrow is wheeled out right on time. Alot of that might also be due to the TV network change because of the rift between ST and the Supercar series too and the squabble for the historical high ground between the two series.