Merc for Stone Brothers Racing

[itsnotagsr]

Group Nb at MC was a standout. Mini vs Mustang for lap after lap.

Yeah that was great!

Even the Group C and Group A races were good. The DJ Mustang was good to watch through the new corkcrew section. Plenty of passing.

[260BC]

Some interesting reading here, good stuff blokes

One question. Claims that the V8SC's is a very successful series, what facts and figures support those claims? Keeping in mind that it is the only AU motorsport series with full TV coverage which of course guarantees sponsorship and continuity and promotes the series to potential fans.

I reckon NASCAR pisses all over V8SC's for close racing excitement as do some of the historics, particularly the old V8's, for example.

[DrNick]

I went past Sandown last week on race day in the arvo. The car park from the train line was full, very full.. All the way back to the houses on the city side. Based on that, I reckon they are doing not too badly... That is a big fooken car park, empty it is huge.

S

[Nafe]

Sandown had about 57,000 attend oer the 3 days from what I heard. Physcially it's nowhere near the size of EC so the crowd gets quite dense. Crowd figures however are down on previous years across the board except for the marquee events like Clipsal, Bathurst, Townsville.

[Momus]

The fact that the engines have the highest BMEP at max torque and horsepower of any NA's racing circuit anywhere is a huge technical success.

Also this $350 million deal....:
V8 Supercars drivers have had experience driving under lights in the UAE. Picture: Mark Horsburgh Source: The Daily Telegraph


V8 SUPERCARS is set for a scheduling revolution, with up to 16 hours of twilight racing to be shown in prime time next year under a new $350 million media rights deal.

Channel Nine have re-entered the fight to snare the fast-growing sport from Channel Seven, emerging as favourite to secure the Supercars series under a deal which would include at least four live races to be shown after 6pm.

Nine were expected to drop out of the race after paying an estimated $90 million a year to secure free-to-air rights for the NRL, but they held discussions with V8 officials last week and signalled their intent to make a major play for the sport.

With the existing V8 Supercars media rights deal, worth $168 million, to expire at the end of the year, industry insiders have revealed all three major networks are vying to have races shown in prime time next year.



V8 Supercars have committed to moving at least 16 hours of racing into the 6pm-11pm time slot with two early-season and two late-season races to be run at either twilight or at night.

V8 Supercars are also in negotiations with Fox Sports, with the pay TV network vying to gain the rights to show simulcast races live. Fox Sports, through the SPEED channel, have a deal which allows them to show only replays of races.

Fox Sports are exploring the possibility of using red button technology to show multiple race views in High Definition.

Officials have also held discussion with several parties about digital rights, including Telstra, Optus, Yahoo and Sportal.

The combined media rights deal for V8 Supercars is tipped to fetch up to $350 million over five years, with a Commsec report obtained by The Sunday Telegraph claiming that the rugby league rights deal has highlighted the importance of live sport to television networks.

Nine are understood to be interested in broadcasting V8 Supercars races before or after NRL matches in a bid to complement their sporting coverage.

They stopped negotiations while finalising the NRL deal but have since expressed a renewed interest.

V8 Supercars chief executive David Malone was reticent to discuss negotiations but admitted the organisation was in discussions with all major networks.

"We have had constructive conversations with all the players in the market," Malone said.

The normally talkative V8 Supercars executive chairman Tony Cochrane was also holding his cards close to his chest when we approached him about prime-time racing.

"We have spent the last three or four months in detailed discussions," Cochrane said. "The sport is in great shape when it comes to the future. In particular, we want to make sure the sport has a greater engagement through the next rights deal.

"We want to offer them as much as we can."

V8 Supercars have considered night racing in the past but have not been able to justify the expense of lighting up a track

[Uncle]

V8 Supercars have considered night racing in the past but have not been able to justify the expense of lighting up a track

For horror should they have to use their headlights! One of the few parts they have in common with the street car. Oh wait if the track was dark you might not see as many sponsor logo's.

[GTV]

calling bullshit on the lighting excuse - we lit up morgan park for a state round championship so surely they would and could if they could get the primetime tv slot

[Camma]

Group Nb at MC was a standout. Mini vs Mustang for lap after lap.

Amen to that. Now that was racing.

Mate was also in the mix challenging the Mini and Mustang before it shat itself.

[BigMuz]

A couple of flood lights from coates doesn't light a track enough for proper digital tv coverage; our local stadium just put in nrl standard lighting and it is 1500 lux and it is a shocking number of massive lights on a footy field..

[<---cop]

They had a twilight race at EC in the mid 90s when Lowndes first stepped into a HRT full time.
Was awesome. I remember the WGR commodores had the coca cola signage lit up reflective.

[ButtaS15]

They had a twilight race at EC in the mid 90s when Lowndes first stepped into a HRT full time.
Was awesome. I remember the WGR commodores had the coca cola signage lit up reflective.

Pretty sure they raced under lights at Calder back in the early days of the V8's.

[Rona]

Yep Calder use to be night rounds. GRM used moon disc wheels to keep brake temps up from memory, glowing discs looked awesome on the footage.

[sirhsv]

Pretty sure they raced under lights at Calder back in the early days of the V8's.

Yeah they sure did. I've got great memories of being trackside at those night races. Flames, sparks and glowing brake discs made a great spectacle.

[fattima]

Night races at Calder were fantastic, the super tourers raced under lights there too.

Side note: had a couple of club sprints under lights there, it's good fun.

[-Matt-]

Went to both 2 litre & V8SC @ Calder back then Skaife was sponsored by Coopers & Lybrand & Sega....the lights were pretty good but get half the lights Singapore uses and it will be excellent