VASC(Virgin Aus. SuperCars) 2017 Discussion

[theracer120]

Bottom post of the previous page:

Barbagallo race 1 report.

McLaughlin won from his teammate. Whincup was third.

Brabham finished well down the order.

The most spectacular thing to happen in the race was at the final corner on the last lap, when four cars were side by side in a battle for 17th.

Other then that it was pretty mediocre, at least nothing bad/farcical happened after the last two events.

[Everso Biggyballies]

It was a bit F1 like, with everyone doing delta times to avoid tyre degradation, and then, with a few exceptions, playing follow the leader into the pits to minimise undercuts and overcuts.

It was great to see Roger Penske up on the podium to collect the team prize on behalf of DJR Team Penske's 1-2 finish.... especially when Coulthard sprayed him with champagne in the face from a foot away!

[theracer120]

That was a funny moment.

[theracer120]

Race 2 was a similar story to the previous one.

McLaughlin won from Mostert, making it another Ford 1-2. Whincup was third again, with Winterbottom 4th.

Davison seems to be back on the pace again which is good, he finished 5th in front of SVG. Coulthard was 7th after his tyres went off and Lowndes fought to 8th after suffering issues on the pace lap which resulted in him starting at the back of the grid and then getting turned around by Rullo on the pit entry.

Brabham finished last.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Not the worlds most entertaining race. Had its moments, just not enough of them.

Great drive back through the field from Lowndes after his rear of grid start and being turned round by Rullo (who received a 15 second penalty for his action)

[Everso Biggyballies]

Despite Matt Brabham's slow transformation learning the quick way in the VASC circus last week his performance has been highly rated by Lucas Dumbrell (for what that is worth)... and there is a chance Matt will return to the team in some future Supercars rounds, in the absence of a permanent driver. Also muted is a possibility of Matt joining Alex Rullo as co driver in the other LDM car for the enduro rounds later in the year. Matt is not racing or available to race at the next VASC round at Winton due to other commitments at Indy.

[Everso Biggyballies]

I see that the ex HSV (now Walkinshaw) Holden team are continuing their fall from grace, having been stripped of official factory status by Holden at the end of last year, replaced as the official works team this year by T8, with the news today that Adrian Burgess, the team principal, is leaving the team with immediate effect. The team have had a series of fails this year to date, with lead driver James Courtney having been less than complimentary following his 17th and 22nd place finishes at Perth last weekend.

Burgess joined the team in 2014 after being poached from Triple Eight Race Engineering midway through 2013.

An announcement is expected from the team later today.

The team has slid steadily downhill since the passing of Tom Walkinshaw a few years ago. Sadly, his son and heir Ryan does not seem to have the nouse to run the team like his father did.

[theracer120]

They were doing quite well towards the end of last year and the beginning of this year (at least Courtney was.) I think Courtney may have been correct in his assessment of the chassis he's using at the moment. In any case, I think Tander will be glad that he got kicked out now.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Regarding Burgess/ Walkinshaw Racing.

An announcement is expected from the team later today.

Announcement made:
Walkinshaw Racing has confirmed the departure of team manager Adrian Burgess with immediate effect.

Team owner Ryan Walkinshaw says the time is right for a fresh approach for his squad.
“It has obviously been a difficult start to the year from a racing perspective, and I came to the conclusion that a fresh start was the way forward,” said Walkinshaw.

“We appreciate Adrian’s focus and hard work over the last three years, and we wish him all the best in the future.
“The entire team will continue to work hard and are extremely passionate about achieving success. It is not in our nature to step back from the challenges that racing in such a competitive category presents us.”

Mathew Nilsson will step into the role of Acting General Manager of Motorsport while a search is undertaken for a permanent replacement.

Nilsson who is currently the Business Development Manager with Walkinshaw Racing, has extensive experience across numerous Supercar teams and organisations, and will continue to oversee Walkinshaw Racing’s GT program.
The team has confirmed that no other structural changes have been made following Burgess’ departure.

[theracer120]

Lowndes will be continuing with Triple Eight for another two years.

https://teamvortex.com.au/news/craig-re ... eight.html

[Everso Biggyballies]

Not really any surprise there given his media and fan appeal. An Ad man's dream.

[theracer120]

Macauley Jones's car for his Winton & Darwin wildcards.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Supercars confirms category is up for sale

Supercars has confirmed that major stake holder Archer Capital has formally begun the process of selling Australia’s premier race series.
The procedure started earlier this year with the Sydney-based private equity firm, which owns a 65 percent stake, enlisting investment bank UBS to take the lead on exploring prospective buyers.

It is believed UBS has made several presentations to interested parties this month.

Speedcafe.com understands that interested parties are expected to table non-binding indicative bids by tomorrow’s deadline, before further talks can begin, if offers are deemed acceptable by Archer Capital.

A News Ltd story has claimed there are five corporations including News Corp Australia, Supercars former owners Sports Entertainment Limited and TEG, owners of Ticketek, have registered an interest in purchasing the sport.
The process could take several months while there is no guarantee the sport will be sold.

Archer Capital has held its controlling stake in the business since 2011 with the organisation co-owning the business alongside Supercars’ 26 Racing Entitlement Contract (REC) holders.

Supercars teams have been informed of the process for some time and are closely monitoring the situation.
All REC holders have agreed for an independent firm to be appointed to oversee the possible sale while offering advice.
Any sale would effectively require the support of Supercars REC holders, however there remains the prospect of the teams buying back a controlling stake.

The paddock is populated by a number of influential entrepreneurs capable of tabling such a bid, including American businessman Roger Penske (Owner of DJR Team Penske) and Triple Eight owner Roland Dane, Walkinshaw Racing boss Ryan Walkinshaw and Rusty French (Prodrive).

Supercars CEO James Warburton says the sport will continue to focus on continuing its growth.
“Any sale process is entirely a matter for the shareholders,” said Warburton in a statement provided to Supercars.com.
“Our focus is the continued growth of a thriving business, renowned international motorsport category and tier one Australian mainstream sport; and realising our 2025 vision.”

http://www.speedcafe.com/2017/05/17/sup ... port-sale/

[MonteCristo]

I'm in with $3.5.

An interesting time for the sport. I'm far from a huge follower, but the move to Foxtel seems to me to have hurt hard.

[theracer120]

I don't have Foxtel and didn't like the change so I am quite biased (though it hasn't affected me really, I just watch the non-FTA rounds on live streams now, presuming I can get one to actually work properly), but I've never been convinced that the move to having highlights packages (which are not very good) for half the season isn't hurting the overall audience. Having said that, there are some other issues that might be affecting it (the loss of local manufacturing for one.) This is not to say that it is dying, but I don't think it's where it was in say, 2005.

I think the next couple of years are going to be very crucial and interesting for not just Supercars but motorsport as a whole, because of the change in cars and the growth of events like the 12 Hour and the 6 Hour and the attempts to revive top level open wheel racing, and also because there is an abnormal amount of talented young drivers going around in the Dunlop Series at the moment who are in with a chance of breaking into the big league at some point, if they haven't already.

One thing I will say is the Foxtel coverage is pretty good from what I've illegally seen (even just for not having any ads during the race). The FTA highlights are terrible though, I gave up watching those in 2015.

[MonteCristo]

The Foxtel coverage I've seen has been very good. Highlights always suck.

The direction the series went when they lured Nissan and Volvo was very exciting (and so, so, so long overdue). But that's kind of falling into a heap. And like with F1, if you exist behind a pay wall, it'll hurt you in the long run.