2019 TCR Australia Silly Season

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Do you mean apart from racing them? Strange question

GRM is a racing manufacturer and engineering company, they basically can't do anything to develop or otherwise add value to the car.

Sure they can turn up and run it for someone, but so can someone else with far less skill, experience and equipment.

Oh one thing I've noticed from UK & WTCR. These are road cars and are very fragile. Doesn't take much nose to tail to hole a radiator and you're out.

Funny the people hating on Supercars who want production racing, be careful what you wish for. We had a lot more DNFs in the Group A days for innocuous things.

[Umai Naa]

They're seeing it as a low risk income generator.

If after the first year or two things aren't stacking up, they can punt them to some schmuck overseas.

They don't absorb a lot of money or manpower between events, if kept straight. The maintenance on a TCR car in general, is pretty low compared to a Supercar, where the cars are virtually getting a full tear-down after every second or third event.

The Alfas have been known to be a little on the fragile side, but the talk out of Romeo Ferraris, the constructor is that a raft of updates are coming online this year, that are due to be ticked off at the mid-Feb homologation test. They have been a little behind the curve in terms of developement, as up until last season, they'd only had 2 cars. Last year they had cars full time in WTCR, TCR Italy, and part time programs in PWC, TCR UK, and TCR Europe, to draw data and feedback from. A big cash injection from selling a few certainly helps.

Getting a well-resourced customer in GRM is a boon for RF.

[V8 Fireworks]

Originally Posted by racer69

Makes you wonder where things might be if they had been more accomodating to Rod Salmon's interest, and opened the grid up for the first year or two to some U2L proddies or U2L IP cars to ensure there was a fuller grid to start with.

I'm not sure (sadly) that TCR organisers would want the "look" of 25-year-old Civics, Pulsars and Silvias making up the grid.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by Mixer

GRM is a racing manufacturer and engineering company, they basically can't do anything to develop or otherwise add value to the car.

Seems to be enough interest and incentive for Garry and Barry to sign up don’t you reckon Mixer?

A shot in the arm for the local TCR series and a great day for Australian Motorsport

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

A shot in the arm for the local TCR series and a great day for Australian Motorsport

A shot in the arm perhaps but a great day for Australian motorsport I hardly think so.

Sad waste of a 6am reveal.

Maybe Barry buying himself a job after Peter Adderton takes over.

Does make me wonder though if Boost might appear on the Alfas.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[D.R.T.]

Yeah such a waste considering we are currently over run by teams collaborating with manufacturers to introduce new cars to Australian motorsport.

New international category in Australia gets a major team to enter - how isn’t it a significant day? Or were you hanging out for news on what shade of blue 888 will run on the cotf this year? I know that gets the heart racing

[Bcarr6]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Yeah such a waste considering we are currently over run by teams collaborating with manufacturers to introduce new cars to Australian motorsport.

New international category in Australia gets a major team to enter - how isn’t it a significant day? Or were you hanging out for news on what shade of blue 888 will run on the cotf this year? I know that gets the heart racing

I hear its 1.5 shades lighter than last year.

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Yeah such a waste considering we are currently over run by teams collaborating with manufacturers to introduce new cars to Australian motorsport.

New international category in Australia gets a major team to enter - how isn’t it a significant day? Or were you hanging out for news on what shade of blue 888 will run on the cotf this year? I know that gets the heart racing

I didn’t see local Alfa Romeo Australia involvement, only a customer going to a bespoke chassis manufacturer and buying 2 cars that just happen to be Alfa Romeos.

No mention of data interchange or blokes and blokettes from the European TCR team hanging around down here to help set up and run the cars. Just GRM running cars they bought virtually out of a catalog.

Anyone else remember GRM’s last foray with the Alfa Romeo 155, when they couldn’t use the Magneti Marelli data system as it was in Italian

New cars and patrons buying them for others to drive is a good thing. If there is a commercial value proposition to attract non-family backing to replenish and develop and run the cars. Anything else may just be fanciful romance...

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Yeah such a waste considering we are currently over run by teams collaborating with manufacturers to introduce new cars to Australian motorsport.

New international category in Australia gets a major team to enter - how isn’t it a significant day?

GRM are a great team and is this news, that TCR has attracted a team with a great history of diverse motorsport interest to its ranks.
However, this isn't a manufacturer effort, there is no manufacturer involved, and it is less exciting than the so-called factory teams, who are factory in name only.

It's the same bullshit argument calling SRM the BMW factory team, or MPC the factory Audi team - they are the sales outlet for cars sanctioned by the factory, and that is where it starts and ends.

I'm happy that we seem to have most of the marques represented in TCR locally but I'm interested to see what sort of talent is lined up.

"A Great Day" in Australian motorsport was when Garry snagged Volvo for a real factory effort. Barry buying a couple of cars anybody can buy, for an International series with fields the quality of club racing in most places, is not.

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Or were you hanging out for news on what shade of blue 888 will run on the cotf this year? I know that gets the heart racing

redherring.gif

[Umai Naa]

The point of TCR has been completely missed here.

[Mixer]

Not missed, but the significance blown utterly out of proportion.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Umai Naa]

It was a great day for TCR Australia. Nothing more.

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

It was a great day for TCR Australia. Nothing more.

Exactly. Is TCR Aus better off with a high profile respected organisation getting involved be it with a works team or as an agent? Or better of without them
Yes, to the first part. End of.

[Mixer]

Nobody ever suggested they were worse off.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Compromised]

Supercars good

Not supercars bad

[Mixer]

Actually 100% the other way. The posters here who slag off anything that happens in Supercars land are the same ones making a hyperbolic miracle out of what is a solid but unremarkable fact. As they do WITH GT.

I watch this class, I am trying to like it, but a whole lot has to happen for it to be anything other than a curiosity here.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[mayhem]

I'm hoping with the right amount of backing, and some decent talent that the Aussie version of TCR is the best version of TCR in the world. But it's hard to find great racing online from the category.

[Umai Naa]

TCR Germany and TCR Europe are probably the better series to watch.

TCR Italy is ok too, but no English commentary.

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by mayhem

I'm hoping with the right amount of backing, and some decent talent that the Aussie version of TCR is the best version of TCR in the world. But it's hard to find great racing online from the category.

I hope this too. We have talent and presentation that many countries should envy, we have awesome race circuits and even our gentleman drivers can steer.

I am interested to see how long the races are, I think this is part of the story of the desperate overtaking maneuvers OS.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Umai Naa]

It's 3 races per round, so they'd be circa 20mins long.

Any longer than that, and they get boring as they're all nursing tyres. PWC TCR is bad for this. 40min races, where for the first few laps they're shuffling into some sort of order, then the race settles into a holding pattern until the last lap or two, where the top 2 or 3 cars use what's left of their tyres. Everyone else is spread out, or a lap down.

[Mixer]

When the cars are so equal in spec I guess I am dreaming that tyre wear might allow passing opportunities.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Umai Naa]

I'm of the belief that good tyres improve racing, not bad tyres.

[Mixer]

So we have cars that are road relevant and look cool, but don't sound fantastic, and they produce processional racing, that even with the success ballast in play overseas doesn't seem to be able to mix it up.

I guess in order to spice things up, they are going to have to potentially resort to reverse grids, joker laps etc. And people say the main game is contrived, with fuel drops and forced pit stops etc.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by V8 Fireworks

I'm not sure (sadly) that TCR organisers would want the "look" of 25-year-old Civics, Pulsars and Silvias making up the grid.

Under my idea the only U2L proddies or IP cars allowed in to stack the back of the grid would have to be a new-ish model of body style.

[Umai Naa]

Or tell the blokes in production cars with the BMW M4s and Lotii to bigger off to GT4, and run TCR with the proddies.