r/v8supercars • u/JustLookingaround18 • 8d ago
Only another month until the next round
I actually forgot about this round in TAS and caught up today.
Such a huge loss in momentum with weeks or a month between rounds.
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u/Redsand-nz 8d ago
I think the gaps in the calendar are sad (because I like Supercars and want more), but also it kind of is what it is with the budgets we have. The only championships of note that have more rounds are NASCAR and F1. Surely we don't all think Supercars can match those billion dollar industries, right? Take a look at the number of rounds for these series which are similar or even more popular than Supercars:
- DTM has 16 races over 8 rounds
- BTCC has 30 races over 10 rounds
- Stock Car Pro Series (South America) has 24 races over 12 rounds
- Super GT has 7 races over 7 rounds
- IMSA has over 11 rounds (although not all classes are in all races)
- TCR World Tour has 20 races over 8 rounds
- WEC has 8 rounds
Supercars has 37 races over 14 rounds (possibly soon 15).
TBH I think the reason why people are saying stuff like this is, it's way more of a marketing and engagement thing. I never see Supercars advertise, and their online content is woeful. Their only real online advertising comes from podcasts (which they either mostly actively work against or simply muzzle and control the content on), or their own content, which is awful.
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u/BoxAdministrative231 8d ago
This is such a good point and wished it was brought up more often, to be honest we are already quite spoiled and it's only going to get better next year. The time between rounds does suck, but it could be much worse!
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u/llewminati 7d ago
Whenever I travel and try and catch a SuperGT race or BTCC I’m always surprised as to how short their calendar is.
There’s some grim patches in our calendar sure but tbh anymore and I wouldn’t have time to enjoy hobbies and live a rich and fulfilling life.
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u/Tiny_Advance_3627 8d ago
Hard though, because teams essentially need to get from Tasmania to Darwin and most likely prepare to do Townsville in the leg as well.
Pretty significant amount of prep and drive time to be able to do 2 rounds in one swing.
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u/LloydGSR BJR 8d ago
The calendar is all over the place like a mad woman's shit. I know Tasmania is the problem, I live here and Symmons is fkn horrible in the colder months, but surely they could make it 'flow' better. Symmons Plains > Darwin > Townsville > Perth > Ipswich.
I'd almost think it'd be better to have the season opener down here in Tassie first, it's still daylight until about 8pm in February.
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u/forumdash 8d ago
Even with a better flow, the teams want/need to go back to their work shops in VIC and QLD to strip and prep the cars in between rounds. So no matter how you do the rounds, there's always going to be that disruption. I think the only exception at the moment is NZ. But I believe they have done perth-darwin previously, although not without teams grumbling.
It's also not exactly a picnic for the mechanics/rest of the team to constantly be on the road.
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u/Cyclist_123 8d ago edited 8d ago
They don't have to schedule Darwin after Tassie
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u/Tiny_Advance_3627 8d ago
They're in Tassie now? They probably do. It's not going to be pay enough to dislodge any of the finals tracks and they've tried going in winter and everyone hated it.
Theres a very small window to make it commercially viable. People seem to act like they can go wherever they want and there's just all this money to make it work.
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u/FFord68 8d ago
This. The amount of prep work these cars required is just silly
Before Darwin most cars will require a Gearbox service, engine change, dampers serviced, wheel bearings serviced, tail shafts serviced, axles serviced, all the suspensions arms need to be checked. Just because they have to get ready for 2 rounds worth of laps
Bodywork especially. The biggest issue with the calendar is the days (day, not hours) it takes to build up a cars worth of front bars, rear bars and side skirts.
You have to remember each car will probably ruin 4 side skirts, 2 front bumpers and 2 rear bumpers a weekend.
But hey, 888 have design a technical amazing car on par with GT3...... A shame it does not handle racing well.
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u/jimnasium_ Kai Allen 8d ago
Hopefully with PI back next year, and up to 15 rounds, it'll be a bit more consistent between events.
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u/mounties66 5d ago
This is why I’ve started to watch NASCAR there’s a race every week. Oh and it’s been fantastic following Giz’s progress
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u/OppositeSun2962 8d ago
I get they need gaps to prep the cars for the next rounds and travel but the whole thing seems on downward spiral.
It's all so bland, no personalities, new commentators are meh and the racing itself is boring. As SVG said, it's just driving around at 40% trying to save tyres.
Have watched for years and used to plan weekends around race schedules but I have tried to watch this year and haven't watched a lap since the first round.
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u/HairlessWookiee 7d ago
The reality is that even if Supercars wanted to run a race every weekend, or even every second weekend, the logistics of it aren't feasible. After every race, the teams need to go back to their workshops to work on the cars.
Think about the turnaround that imposes on teams like T8, DJR, MSR, etc. for the Tasmania round. They have to pack up the truck, ferry it back to the mainland (about half a day), then drive ~1,800km back to Queensland (about a 20 hour drive, not counting traffic or breaks), then unpack. You're going to lose the best part of a working week just getting the cars home. Then you have to carry out whatever repairs they might need (DJR probably has some work to do), rewrap them, and then get them ready to be shipped out again for the next round. Which for Hidden Valley is drive of around 3,500km from Brisbane, around 3,700km from Melbourne.
Three weeks seems like the minimum plausible break outside of cases where the teams are staying locally in between rounds (like the NZ double-header).
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u/[deleted] 8d ago
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