Hamico
20-02-2009, 09:18 PM
http://au.fastanddangerous.blogs.topgear.com/2009/02/20/new-rules-for-2009-supercar-season-–-confusion-guaranteed/
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Posted by Tim Robson
12:48 pm on Friday February 20, 2009
Really, who thinks up this stuff ?
The V8 Supercar mob has just announced a raft of rule changes for the 2009 season, and some of them just don’t make any sense at all.
Chief among them is the decision to acknowledge the winner of every race with a podium presentation. With every race weekend consisting of two races (one on Saturday and one on Sunday) that means that there could be 26 different winners in 2009.
That’s all well and good, you think; a win is a win regardless, right? Of course it is; but not to the mainstream media folks. All they care about is who won on Sunday night - Saturday’s winner is yesterday’s news. V8s have stuff-all presence in the mainstream now, and this decision will do nothing to improve that.
V8 Supercars Australia is even going to try to get everyone to call a race weekend an ‘event’, not a ’round’. Give me a break. It’s been called a ’round’ of the touring car championship long before V8SCA arrived on the scene.
Other changes include the return of the fuel stop (more expense for the teams) and the removal of the compulsory pit stop window (watch everyone pile in to pitlane on lap 3 to mitigate the risk of a badly-timed safety car ruining their day).
As well, racing will be artificially mixed up with the inclusion of a soft-compound ‘option’ tyre that could be, according to V8SC, up to “several seconds a lap” faster. Several seconds? Add to that the fuel stop equation (one stop in 100km races, two in 200km-plus races), and not even the computer will know who’s in the lead.
That old saying about not fixing broken stuff really applies here. The last two championships have gone right down to the wire, with a tonne of winners across both seasons.
I reckon it’s dead-set simple; a softer tyre, less aero aid and harder brake pads would achieve more to spice up the racing than just about anything else. Those who can manage their machinery the best will come out on top.
The rules are listed below; I’d love to hear your thoughts.
1. Two individual races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, across 12 Championship events.
2. Individual victory to every race winner across 26 races in the season.
3. A podium to duly recognise 26 race winners across the Championship.
4. Qualifying determines both Saturday and Sunday grids.
5. The Top Ten Shootout returns for the final leg of qualifying.
6. The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and the L&H 500 at Phillip Island remain as the only single race events.
7. The L&H 500 will retain two Saturday qualifying races which count for Championship points but not a race result.
8. Removing all reference to the term ’round’ and referring to all race weekends as events.
9. No compulsory pit stop window meaning that teams can stop whenever they choose.
10. There will be at least one fuel stop in every race.
11. A ’soft’ compound tyre at select weekends that teams must use at least once during racing.
12. Each race, outside of the two endurance races, are worth 150 points to the winner on a sliding scale.
13. Teams being free to utilise any tyre from their allocation as they see fit across an event.
.
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Posted by Tim Robson
12:48 pm on Friday February 20, 2009
Really, who thinks up this stuff ?
The V8 Supercar mob has just announced a raft of rule changes for the 2009 season, and some of them just don’t make any sense at all.
Chief among them is the decision to acknowledge the winner of every race with a podium presentation. With every race weekend consisting of two races (one on Saturday and one on Sunday) that means that there could be 26 different winners in 2009.
That’s all well and good, you think; a win is a win regardless, right? Of course it is; but not to the mainstream media folks. All they care about is who won on Sunday night - Saturday’s winner is yesterday’s news. V8s have stuff-all presence in the mainstream now, and this decision will do nothing to improve that.
V8 Supercars Australia is even going to try to get everyone to call a race weekend an ‘event’, not a ’round’. Give me a break. It’s been called a ’round’ of the touring car championship long before V8SCA arrived on the scene.
Other changes include the return of the fuel stop (more expense for the teams) and the removal of the compulsory pit stop window (watch everyone pile in to pitlane on lap 3 to mitigate the risk of a badly-timed safety car ruining their day).
As well, racing will be artificially mixed up with the inclusion of a soft-compound ‘option’ tyre that could be, according to V8SC, up to “several seconds a lap” faster. Several seconds? Add to that the fuel stop equation (one stop in 100km races, two in 200km-plus races), and not even the computer will know who’s in the lead.
That old saying about not fixing broken stuff really applies here. The last two championships have gone right down to the wire, with a tonne of winners across both seasons.
I reckon it’s dead-set simple; a softer tyre, less aero aid and harder brake pads would achieve more to spice up the racing than just about anything else. Those who can manage their machinery the best will come out on top.
The rules are listed below; I’d love to hear your thoughts.
1. Two individual races, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, across 12 Championship events.
2. Individual victory to every race winner across 26 races in the season.
3. A podium to duly recognise 26 race winners across the Championship.
4. Qualifying determines both Saturday and Sunday grids.
5. The Top Ten Shootout returns for the final leg of qualifying.
6. The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 and the L&H 500 at Phillip Island remain as the only single race events.
7. The L&H 500 will retain two Saturday qualifying races which count for Championship points but not a race result.
8. Removing all reference to the term ’round’ and referring to all race weekends as events.
9. No compulsory pit stop window meaning that teams can stop whenever they choose.
10. There will be at least one fuel stop in every race.
11. A ’soft’ compound tyre at select weekends that teams must use at least once during racing.
12. Each race, outside of the two endurance races, are worth 150 points to the winner on a sliding scale.
13. Teams being free to utilise any tyre from their allocation as they see fit across an event.
.