The good Ol' days of Motorsport - Where winning meant something.

[Holden2003]

This year in Motorsport is set to be the most artificially entertaining formats that Formula 1 and V8 supercars have ever been. Aritificial in that rules/qualifying formats/race formats are dictating race results.

Take Formula 1. The format for qualifying gives an advantage to car 11 as he can set his fuel load to his liking, where the top 10 have to qualify with fuel loads. Less fuel means faster laps so good position, but an early pitstop. More laps means back of the grid but a longer stint, which you will need to pass other cars. Also its quite confusing as well. Plus there was the 1 set of tyres rule, now taken off for this year. That caused the problems like Raikkonen in Europe GP and Renaults in Monaco, making the drivers nurse their cars.

Now to the V8s. REVERSE GRID RACING!!!! - There has been great overtaking in previous races last few years (McConville on R Kelly Winton, Lowndes on Ambrose Shanghai), so why put a format that will cause more (as well as pointless) overtaking? The Shoot-out arguably makes the race more articially entertaining, but the format seems to be good, so dont change it.

The 2 rattlegun rule in pitstops is stupid as well. It makes no sense as drivers have to drive with two hot and cold tyres, both at different stages of wear. The points system too causes the most artificial results on the v8's, where finishes high in the points are more highly regarded then the last ditch effort to win a race.

Whatever happened to the days where Drivers did all they can to qualify well and then Go for broke in the race, in search of the Holy Grail? Whatever happened to the days when drivers thought more about winning, rather then getting a good qualifying spot or race strategy that will post them high in the points, rather then on top of the podium? Whatever happened to the days where the Champion truly deserved to win, as he won the most races and rounds possible, while still getting consistent results?

Lets have motorsport the world round have formats thatr will encourage go for broke racing 24-7! Lets get back formula 1 to the 12 laps/hour system. Sure it may be boring for 45 mins of the hour, but the last 15 mins is bliss. Lets Get back to normal V8 races, with a point system that encourages wins! Lets have motorsport go back to the way it was: Qualify well and win!

[wayno]

Mate, you will never get a job running any motorsport series in the world. You make WAY too much sense! :D

[james]

Time to turn the clock back 10 years for the V8's and 20 for F1!!!!!

[XR8]

Yep, it's truely becoming a joke.
I used to get upset if I missed a race on tele, but not any more.

Ed :)

[Martin Thomas]

Whatever happened to the days where Drivers did all they can to qualify well and then Go for broke in the race, in search of the Holy Grail? Whatever happened to the days when drivers thought more about winning, rather then getting a good qualifying spot or race strategy that will post them high in the points, rather then on top of the podium? Whatever happened to the days where the Champion truly deserved to win, as he won the most races and rounds possible, while still getting consistent results?


Dollars... The drivers represent their sponsors and their sponsors have a lot riding on results/perceptions. Thats why we don't have the characters anymore, because they don't represent themselves, but their sponsors (bosses).

If the Brutes got as cut-throat as the V8's, the fun would dissappear and it would become "serious".

Thats why Bathurst HAS to be stand alone... It seems wrong that a driver crossing the line in 4th can be a bigger "winner" than the guy who wins...

[Holden2003]

Mate, you will never get a job running any motorsport series in the world. You make WAY too much sense! :D

Thanks mate, you have crushed my lifelong dream! ;)

[Holden2003]

Time to turn the clock back 10 years for the V8's and 20 for F1!!!!!

I never experiances motorsport that time, paticularly because I would of been 8 or not even concieved if i followed those years respectively! But I don't think you have to go back that far to when the formats of both series were a free-for-all competition.

You probably have to back to 2002. The year where Red seemed to be the right colour, and points systems were bot different to what they are now. Formula 1 was about fuel strategy (1, 2 or 3 stops) and V8's was in its second year of compulsory pits and first year of pitstops in all rounds (Barbagallo was 3x 100km and Calder was dropped for Indy).

The major problem in these years was Red was too dominant. Nowadays in V8's you could say there are 5-6 teams capable of winning the V8s (SBR, 888, HRT, HSV, SCAR and possibly Jack Daniels racing). In 2002 it was all Holden and HRT. Formula 1 was just Ferrari in 02 but this year Renault, Mclaren and Honda seem to be setting the Benchmark, with Ferrari close behind and Toyota, BMW and Red Bull in capable striking distance of reaching the top, now or later in the future.

If you had the teams of today run with the same race formats of 2002, Motorsport would be in a healthy state.

[Dingo]

Whatever happened to the days where Drivers did all they can to qualify well and then Go for broke in the race, in search of the Holy Grail? Whatever happened to the days when drivers thought more about winning, rather then getting a good qualifying spot or race strategy that will post them high in the points, rather then on top of the podium? Whatever happened to the days where the Champion truly deserved to win, as he won the most races and rounds possible, while still getting consistent results?
Simple: it runs the risk of one driver/team dominating the series. And those that run the series, sorry, those who make all the money out of the series, don't want that to happen, because the "average fan" doesn't want the best person to win. The "average fan" wants excitement, crashes, fires, explosions, injuries, even deaths if possible. The "average fan" doesn't care about some engineer who has come up with a superior handling setup to the other engineers. The "average fan" today would be similar to the people who went to the Coliseum in Rome to watch the Lions take on the Humans in bloody battle, not because of the skill or bravery of the warriors, but because it's "exciting" to watch people potentially risking their skins to put on a show.

Sadly, the "average fan" is who those in charge are appealing to. They know that motor racing fans will watch regardless, even though they may complain about what is happening to the sport. Frankly, those in charge don't care about the true motorsport fan's opinion, because (a) there's not enough of them, and (b) their dollars aren't enough to keep the sport going long-term. So those in charge do what any pure capitalist would do; they chase the disposable dollar with as much fervour as they can muster.

On a related theme, did anyone see the similarities between what happened to SBR in 2004 with their loose wire at Ipswich, and what happened to Jimmie Johnson's crew chief at Daytona last weekend? In both cases, technical rules were breached, yet the team were allowed to keep their victories. Anyone else of the opinion it was done so that the stars didn't get penalised? That's crap. If you can't, or choose not to, obey the rules of the sport, you shouldn't play, regardless of whether you're a superstar or a battling privateer. Is it that much more important that one big name gets to play than apply the rules equally? Seems in motorsport's brave new world, some are indeed more equal...

[Holden2003]

Simple: it runs the risk of one driver/team dominating the series. And those that run the series, sorry, those who make all the money out of the series, don't want that to happen, because the "average fan" doesn't want the best person to win

I fully Agree with you. I study a Bachelor of commerce and fully agree with what you are saying. Playing devils advocate, you have to agree that competition nowadays in both series is more competitive then ever. You also have to notice in the last few years, the top teams generally have still ended up on top, so all these measures making the sport not only entertaining to the average fan, but below average fan, are to little avail, and just pervert the cause of (justice) true racing.

I became interested in motorsport a few years ago. I thought it would be the last sport on earth I'd be interested. How wrong was I. I was interested at how people give their all 24/7-365/year to win and the struggle and strategy teams go through to win. Thats what makes events like Bathurst so enjoyable.

Forum members have been saying there are 3 rounds of the V8's this year: Adelaide, Sandown and Bathurst. Couldn't agree more

[ratbag-racing]

My useless opinion on the v8's is...

(1)Bigger point spread between positions to actually make passing a worthwile option.

(2)Take away some aero (make them slide around like the good ol days)

(3)Green flag pitting only

(4)Maybe a weight addition for 1st,2nd & 3rd placegetters (like in the brittish champs)

[Nick Short]

Staring into my crystal ball I can see all the current drivers in F1 and V8s removed, as the average Aussie has never heard of them, and replaced by a wide variety of ex-footy stars, TV presenters, very fat people, pop stars and any other dross you can think of. They will then drive around, and during the race the public can phone some very expensive premium rate numbers to vote on who wins. There will also be votes on who crashes and who gets to come back in for a second go, plus (said in a deep dramatic voice over) some shocking secrets revealed and surprise drivers suddenly appearing from the pitlane. That'll get the whole of Australia into motorsport, the money will pour in, and of course the sport will be vastly improved.....