2012 Silly Season

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Mixer

He was fairly burnt by the PWR drive I think, but he's certainly got an odd reputation since - no good in the wet? Difficult to work with? Up himself?

So if he is any of these things-does anyone know this for real or is this just hearsay? Im looking for first hand experiences not what my brother's cousins sister said...

[ForumNick]

From my '1st hand experience' (albeit a few years ago) Andrew was a delight to deal with on every level !
Unfortunately (for Andrew?) the same couldn't be said for Mr Thompson Snr.

Whilst I don't know if Thompson Snr. still has the same level of control over Andrew (and his career)... I'd wager that he still controls the purse strings?


Andrew was definitely 'burnt' in the PWR deal!
IIRC the only reason that PWR persevered through that '08 season (after announcing it would be closing down and selling its RECs) was because of a 'watertight' contract, already in place, to run a car for that season!

[leothedrummer]

Night racing at Adelaide?

http://www.v8supercars.com.au/champi...9/default.aspx

[rich07]

Originally Posted by ForumNick

From my '1st hand experience' (albeit a few years ago) Andrew was a delight to deal with on every level !
Unfortunately (for Andrew?) the same couldn't be said for Mr Thompson Snr.

Whilst I don't know if Thompson Snr. still has the same level of control over Andrew (and his career)... I'd wager that he still controls the purse strings?


Andrew was definitely 'burnt' in the PWR deal!
IIRC the only reason that PWR persevered through that '08 season (after announcing it would be closing down and selling its RECs) was because of a 'watertight' contract, already in place, to run a car for that season!

Thanks for sharing. Maybe he has changed since then, hopefully not.

[GTRMagic]

LDM + Mr Douglas iSelect

You may have thought having a heavily advertised brand like iSelect on the side of the car would have created some genuine media hoopla... instead it comes out from under a dust cover in pitlane

Seem to have gotten the colour right.. just not the ultimate brand...

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by peckstar

your kidding me

Not sure why anyone is really surprised at the vanilla white livery... maybe they are advertising for ice cubes in a snow storm?

Of interest, Tekno's former commercial partner gatherer is now At V8Supercar

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by EBXR8

Going On The New DJR Paint, I also Notice That FORD is off the windscreen and has been places on front splitter and end plates on the spoiler, decrease in funding from FORD this year, DJ was quoted saying that they would recieve backing from ford but the level was yet to be determined. Any one have any insight....GTR you always seem to be in the know of these things...

Stories going around at Homebush time last year suggested that Ford was said to be underpaying for the physical space being taken up on the windscreens of a number of teams' cars.

With the switcheroo of the REC's and cars and whatnot in 2012, the problem largely went away, however a previous Ford strategy in sharing a decreasing budget was to maintain the same financial commitment to the teams, however having to spread that same outright dollar value across the additional cars.

For example, if Ford was spending $1m a season at DJR in 2012, that value would not change if there were 4 cars running there, or two cars running there.

The Ford logos are large and obvious on the race suits of the #12, #17 & #18 pilots (havent seem Mr Owen's 2012 racewear..) so the funding demonstrates the appearance of meaning something to that team

Presumably DJR & friends have onsold the windscreen space for a good price... BJR has been selling the windscreen signage on all 3 of their cars last year for $10k a round (including GST) which offered a couple of ride spots... that makes a nice contribution to budget...

.. if the Ford largesse is maintained in 2012 at 2011 levels...

By the end of this month, I suspect there will be some changes a'coming in the world of Ford Motorsport, and not just because of the latest new boss...

[St00ge]

I thought ford just had a "panel and parts" deal with the teams they didn't have "factory" support with..

[anthony81901]

DJR returned to receiving Ford support in 2010 after being dropped along with 888 and Britek for 2009. Obviously this year's deal doesn't extend to the glare strip as it does with FPR & SBR.

[Axeman444]

Originally Posted by osrg

There has been a lot of chatter throughout pit lane over the last 12 months or so about young Thompson and his...... Errrr.... Attitude.

maybe combined with his...... Errrr.... Latitude...

[yap]

Originally Posted by SilverSpeed

And I believe Thompson would have got the drive at Tekno if had as much money as Patrizi did.

Looking at the cars this weekend, makes you wonder how much coin Patrizi brought along to score the ride

Wonder if the camera's will shy away from the 2 Tekno cars, just so the billions watching around the world don't think that something is wrong with the greatest touring car series in the world when 2 cars aren't able to attract a sponsor

[Mixer]

Originally Posted by yap

Wonder if the camera's will shy away from the 2 Tekno cars, just so the billions watching around the world don't think that something is wrong with the greatest touring car series in the world when 2 cars aren't able to attract a sponsor

If cars can turn up because the appearance money is enough, clearly there is not "something wrong" with the class.

Lots of Nascars run completely bereft of sponsorship... Something wrong with Nascar?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by Mixer

If cars can turn up because the appearance money is enough, clearly there is not "something wrong" with the class.

Lots of Nascars run completely bereft of sponsorship... Something wrong with Nascar?

The 'appearance money' in V8Supercar is not enough to run the cars... even if you had Mr John's method of debt settling!

NASCAR 'start n park' means a team only has to qualify a car, start the race and put it away before full distance to get their appearance fees... which can become a 7 figure number across the year. If you use the same car and engine each race to practice, qualify & race 1 lap... its rather cheap to run.. compared to running the full season...

[peckstar]

is there still a significant cash penalty for not turning up

[GTRMagic]

Mostert Rules Himself Out Of The Enduros

Interesting from Mr Mostert.. its the 2nd time he has ruled himself out of the enduros for entirely practical reasons...

Presuming Mr Mostert stays at FPR.. and wins the development series in 2012... what role opens up for him there in 2013?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by peckstar

is there still a significant cash penalty for not turning up

Somewhere around $160k per REC...

I wonder if that is now levied for each 'race' that is missing?

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

Mostert Rules Himself Out Of The Enduros

Interesting from Mr Mostert.. its the 2nd time he has ruled himself out of the enduros for entirely practical reasons...

Presuming Mr Mostert stays at FPR.. and wins the development series in 2012... what role opens up for him there in 2013?

is it really a good move though, yesterday he showed a clean pair of heels to last years bathurst winner

[one five five]

Originally Posted by peckstar

is it really a good move though, yesterday he showed a clean pair of heels to last years bathurst winner

Drivers used to sell their left ball to get onto the grid at Bathurst in a little tail of the field Corrolla.... is this a sign of the times that youngsters now only want a Bathurst start if they can win it?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by one five five

Drivers used to sell their left ball to get onto the grid at Bathurst in a little tail of the field Corrolla.... is this a sign of the times that youngsters now only want a Bathurst start if they can win it?

Not sure... I often wondered how a driver was able to switch between cars built by different teams and somehow do ok in them...

...the likes of Lee Holdsworth have come out and said an SBR car is significantly different in feel to his former GRM machine.. in brakes, in engine, in power down, in where you can put it on the road and not lose performance... and he has been racing in the category for some time now..

.. what might you expect of a rookie?

Sounds like a management of expectations, personal ones, and those thrust upon him by media people who like to pump up people's tyres in order to glean a factoid or two...

If the 3 FPR enduro slots are full up, and 4th FPR-assisted team is also full, where might Mr Mostert have ended up anyway?

[Mixer]

Its interesting for Mr Mostert, surely though any miles around Bathurst are good miles?

[Mixer]

Jack Perkins bags a GRM ride for the enduros:

http://www.speedcafe.com/2012/04/13/...rs-motorsport/

Good for all parties I would have thought!

[SJA]

Whats the update on enduro (exclu GC) signings anyway?

888: Dumbrell, Luff
HRT/WR: Percat, McConville & TBA?
TDR: Wood
SBR: Baird, Youldon & Thompson
FPR: S Richards, McIntyre & Canto
KR: Russell, O Kelly, TBA? & TBA?
BJR: A Jones, Besnard & Pither
DJR: Halliday, Simonsen, A Davison & Morris
TEK: McLaughlin & TBA?
LDM: Price?
GRM: Ritter & J Perkins

Anyone shed some light on those question marks? Any word on Marshall and Bargs?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by SJA

Whats the update on enduro (exclu GC) signings anyway?

888: Dumbrell, Luff
HRT/WR: Percat, McConville & TBA?
TDR: Wood
SBR: Baird, Youldon & Thompson
FPR: S Richards, McIntyre & Canto
KR: Russell, O Kelly, TBA? & TBA?
BJR: A Jones, Besnard & Pither
DJR: Halliday, Simonsen, A Davison & Morris
TEK: McLaughlin & TBA?
LDM: Price?
GRM: Ritter & J Perkins

Anyone shed some light on those question marks? Any word on Marshall and Bargs?

I actually thought Mr Perkins may have ended up in his former enduro car at LDM...

On top of these entries... the wildcard thing is coming back... with the Shannons Supercar Showdown attack at the head of the list... for Mr Denyer & some young hopeful.

There was a story to suggest that Mr Waters & Ms Reid in a Dreamtime Commodore... but with the return of the SSS-mobile, KR dont have enough chassis

[peckstar]

are we allowed to start an enduro thread?

just reckon enduro drivers are different to sill season

[GTRMagic]

Rob Crawford Joins Kelly Racing

An interesting aside in the same article relates to father-to-be Mr Bright...

[url=The Article]In other team change news, Brad Jones Racing confirmed yesterday that Jason Bright and Fabian Coulthard will swap engineers. Bright’s long-time wing man Phil Keed will take over duties on Coulthard’s #14 Lockwood Racing entry, while Andrew Edwards will now look after Bright’s #8 Team BOC Commodore.[/quote]

So will Mr Coulthard go faster or slower now? I can recall something similar going on at Tasman a few years ago, swapping chassis, engineers, and anything else that might have given the quicker driver an edge over the household name... none of the swaps helped much... wonder how this one shall go?