Gold Coast's Indy car race axed a1 gp to replace

[thunderbolt]

http://news.theage.com.au/national/g...1111-5lx1.html

The Indy car race will no longer run on the Gold Coast after negotiations with the Bligh government broke down.
After 18 years, the race will be replaced with the A1 Grand Prix series to take its place alongside the V8s next October, Premier Anna Bligh has told the Gold Coast Bulletin.
She said negotiations with the Indy Racing League had broken down due to insurmountable hurdles over funding and dates.
A new five-year deal had been reached with the A1GP for the Gold Coast to join its race calendar

[johnh875]

Heard this on the radio this morning and it makes sense, the only drawback is the lack of exposure in the US.

[Crash Test]

Screw the US... heaps more coverage everywhere else in the world though... and the IRL's new TV deal with Versus was pretty crap too apparently...

[RotorFan]

Good news and bad news. Good that we'll have something relevant to watch, good that it will raise the profile of A1GP. But bad that I won't be able to attend at Eastern Creek anymore.

[Chris - Melb]

I wonder if the Gold Coast event will continue to be known as the Indy 300? Or will the "World Cup of Motorsport" moniker be used? It seems a bit long to put on a billboard though!

I can't imagine V8 Supercar being happy if "A1GP" was used in the title of an event that the V8's are meant to have equal billing with A1GP.

Maybe “Indy” is a neutral term that would be a compromise for both parties?

BTW, the IRL don't own the rights to the term "Indy" in Australia, hence the continued use of the term during the Champ Car era.

[twinwebbers]

Interesting that the a1gp site has no mention of this deal anywhere....

(Not that I doubt the deal, just thought they might crow about it...)

[Peter Ford]

Dont think it will be as good as the indy cars\v8s,,guess i''ll be heading back to melbourne for the grand prix.

[Crash Test]

Originally Posted by Peter Ford

Dont think it will be as good as the indy cars\v8s,,guess i''ll be heading back to melbourne for the grand prix.

Which part won't be as good? Those Dallara chasis this year were shocking... 4.5sec a lap slower than the Panoz from last year... will be very interesting to see how the Ferrari stacks up...

[Muznik]

I dont think it will make much difference.

The QLD Govt wanted (& got) an international open wheel category.

The fans want the Girls, V8's & something to compare them too (A1).

And thanks to Mr Gore & his Team Australia the last few years have been prettymuch like A1 in, thats who (TA) the fans were, dare i say it, "rooting" for !

Business as usual.

The only change, and it cant be down played, is NO MORE MISS INDY ! :-(

[PVDA]

Originally Posted by Chris - Melb

I wonder if the Gold Coast event will continue to be known as the Indy 300? Or will the "World Cup of Motorsport" moniker be used? It seems a bit long to put on a billboard though!

I can't imagine V8 Supercar being happy if "A1GP" was used in the title of an event that the V8's are meant to have equal billing with A1GP.

Maybe “Indy” is a neutral term that would be a compromise for both parties?

Gold Coast Grand Prix has a nice ring to it but I can see Ron Walker heading towards the courthouse already to try to stop it just like the F1 GP Corp tried to get the A1GP to lose the GP moniker when it ran at EC.

[thetormentor]

Who will broascast this event . A1GP is broadcast on Fox Sports whilst the v8's are on 7 ?

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by thetormentor

Who will broascast this event . A1GP is broadcast on Fox Sports whilst the v8's are on 7 ?

This year the Indy series was broadcast on ESPN however for Surfers the race was shown live on 7 while ESPN had replays.I guess the same sort of arrangement will apply to A1.

[Pro Racer]

i will watch the event regardless as i am a motorsport fan but i hope the event dosn't lose to much of the party atmosphere as that is one thing that makes it a great event (and the girls).

[Crash Test]

The things is, the 'party atmosphere' really only kicks in when there is massive down time on the circuit, read 1hr40min gaps in the program... The atmosphere will be great regardless, but the punters get a bit restless when there is nothing else to look at...

[NewsStalker]

Gold Coast Grand Prix has a nice ring to it but I can see Ron Walker heading towards the courthouse already to try to stop it just like the F1 GP Corp tried to get the A1GP to lose the GP moniker when it ran at EC.

And what makes anyone think they will be successful second time around? They lost first time - the words 'grand prix' are not unique to motor racing and, IIRC, the courst stated that before.

[racer69]

Originally Posted by Crash Test

4.5sec a lap slower than the Panoz from last year....

Does it really matter if one car is a few seconds slower than another? Surely its the quality of the racng, not the laptimes

[sizzle]

Originally Posted by RotorFan

But bad that I won't be able to attend at Eastern Creek anymore.

You couldn't anyway they had already canned EC.

[Crash Test]

The cars were noticably slower, and the racing with the Dallara was terrible... apart from the run into the first corner, there was precious little overtaking. Watching a few of those old races on the Indycar site and on video recently, man, there used to be some awesome racing in Surfers... Having spent the early part of race week with the boys from Conquest and Dale Coyne Racing, I could rabbit on about the flaws of the current Indycars, but that is for another time and place.

[eduardo1]

I thought the Dallara's were the ugliest open wheelers I've seen in years. They were absolutely disgusting. I hated even looking at them.

So long as the A1 cars look ok, make lots of noise and are reasonably fast, then they'll be fine for the Gold Coast.

But they need to remember that it's a party with a car race, not the other way around. If they do that, they'll be fine.

[mildura1963]

I hope Alan Jones can lure Will Power back for the Gold Coast round,

[Just Do It!]

V8 Supercars - The World Cup of Motorsport - Powered by General Motors - Holden, Ford, and Ferrari

....a simple solution for everyone.

The only question is will the prim lasses who drive BMWs, Porsches, and Ferraris and watch A1GP/V8s be as wild in the down times as the V8/Indy lasses??

[Oldtony]

Please enhance the display of your frontal mamaries?

[Malfunction Junction]

Originally Posted by Chris - Melb

BTW, the IRL don't own the rights to the term "Indy" in Australia, hence the continued use of the term during the Champ Car era.

I do recall something in the Free Trade Agreement that allowed US companies to litigate in regard to their US Trademarks in Australia. Refer the us company that trademarked the term "Ugg Boot" and then sued everybody in Australia that marketed a product in what was under Australian law a "generic product category".....

Please enhance the display of your frontal mamaries?

Oldtony, I've never heard of them being anywhere else, though I note there have been attempts to promote a "family friendly" atmosphere in the last couple of years. Nothing to do with the QLD premier having a history of campaigning against the availability of "adult" publications......

[Chris - Melb]

That's a different scenario. Anyway, I am sure that the IRL would have taken legal action in a heart beat during the bitter Champ Car/IRL war if they had a firm case, but they obviously didn't.

Originally Posted by Malfunction Junction

I do recall something in the Free Trade Agreement that allowed US companies to litigate in regard to their US Trademarks in Australia. Refer the us company that trademarked the term "Ugg Boot" and then sued everybody in Australia that marketed a product in what was under Australian law a "generic product category".......

[NewsStalker]

Refer the us company that trademarked the term "Ugg Boot" and then sued everybody in Australia that marketed a product in what was under Australian law a "generic product category".....

From memory though - they lost didn't they??