V8s in low gear until September
The V8 Supercar Championship reaches its halfway mark at Queensland Raceway this weekend -- pretty limply, it must be said.
It's been quite good so far, but heading to Willowbank near Ipswich the series hardly seems to be registering on the national sporting consciousness.
Perhaps that's because of Australian cyclist Cadel Evans leading the Tour de France, the Beijing Olympic Games being less than a month away now, and the AFL and NRL seasons approaching the business ends of their seasons.
We seem to recall a somewhat similar lull around this time last year, when all the efforts to stoke the round along centred around criticizing Queensland Raceway.
Thankfully there hasn't been a repeat of that this year.
We say thankfully not as any accolade for Queensland Raceway, but in the sense that we find distasteful the V8 Supercar community bagging circuits that, somewhere along the line, people -- whether taxpayers via governments, motoring clubs, or individual promoters -- have shelled out a lot of money to provide a venue for this community to strut its stuff.
Some tracks aren't great, and heaven knows that Queensland Raceway is not the greatest, but without it the greater Brisbane area would not have a round of this national championship.
Unless, of course, there was a street race somewhere around the Brisbane capital, but don't start us on that one.
The virtual invisibility of this weekend's seventh round in the national sporting consciousness is in part a factor of a calendar inevitably disjointed by the upcoming Olympics -- and V8 Supercar broadcaster Seven's commitment to those Games.
As top gun driver Jamie Whincup (pictured) has said: "There has not been any rhythm to the 2008 championship with big gaps between rounds".
And Whincup points out that "after (the eighth round at) Winton there is a six, repeat six-week break until the next round at Phillip Island in September".
Far from ideal, but a fact of life in an Olympic year.
But, again as Whincup points out: "From there (Phillip Island), the back half of the season really takes off, pretty much from Bathurst in early October onwards."
Very true, and by then we don't doubt the Australian public will be hungry for racing -- particularly at Mt Panorama.
Then will come the Gold Coast Indy, always popular with the punters; Bahrain, which despite being on the other side of the world with next to no crowd comes up well on TV; Tasmania's Symmons Plains, the island state's biggest annual event; and then what we are sure will be a grand Grand Finale at Sydney's Oran Park, one of our very favorite circuits, even if not the most glamorous.
So a lot to look forward to a bit further down the track.
And, as we head there, the Ford announcement of its revamped motorsport program beyond this season now seems to have pretty much washed through the system and Holden is saying that the Blue Oval's approach will not be any template for it.
We don't doubt, though, that the General will be very careful with its spending, and we can't see it supporting Triple 8/Team Vodafone in running even one Commodore -- as some in the paddock would have us believe might happen as soon as next year.
A Triple 8/Team Vodafone tie-up with Toyota makes a lot more sense, if the Japanese manufacturer can ever be convinced to get involved in V8 Supercars -- which, as we've pointed out several times, we can't see any need for it to do.
A smoky might be Hyundai, we hear -- but again a very, very long shot, we reckon.
Aside from a new manufacturer entrant, all teams ought now have come to the realization that Holden and Ford are going to be wanting more leverage for whatever they spend -- or other support they provide -- in the sport.
That is a factor that has been too much overlooked within the sport in the past as cars run around promoting all manner of brands other than the car makers which are so central to the circus.
And, it ought also be remembered, it is those car brands -- as much as, and in many cases more than, individual driver personalities -- that the fans love.
Speaking of personalities, we must say that Dick Johnson's public handling of the Ford cutback announcement, that will see his team gets only equipment but no financial backing from the Blue Oval beyond this year, has been brilliant.
Old Dick can have a very sharp tongue, and he must feel immense disappointment at this turn in a 35-year association.
It could be said that he had nothing to gain by being anything other than gracious, but his performances in public over this matter have been statesman-like.
There has been a public outpouring of sympathy and goodwill to Dick and his team, somewhat reminiscent of that which followed the famous rock incident at Bathurst in 1980 -- and which saw him come out and win at the Mountain the next year.
He always knew how to play an audience, ol' Dick, but when he calls the recent messages of support "truly amazing and quite humbling" we believe him.
Best of all, Dick has vowed that the team will box on from what he has called "just a minor setback".
And that's after more than his share of other setbacks in recent years.
"We have a massive fan base that has been very loyal over the years; they have stuck by us many times and I would like to assure them that Jim Beam Racing (= Dick Johnson Racing) is certainly going to be around for many years to come," he says.
"We have a number of options in terms of how we structure the team for next year and will ensure we take steps in the right direction for sustained success."
We can't think of anything better for V8 Supercars than seeing Dick Johnson jump this latest hurdle and get his team back to the top -- of the Mountain!
ACCC examines V8 Supercar carbon offsets
Something else in the V8 Supercar "world" has escaped national attention.
But it came to light in Townsville, which is set to host the sport's new street race on July 10-12 next year.
We stumbled on this matter when scrolling back over a few issues of the Townsville Bulletin newspaper from late June.
Remember that about March last year there was quite a lot of noise about V8 Supercars Australia going green with a plan to plant lots of trees to offset the carbon produced by racing and transporting everything and everyone to the various rounds?
Well someone on the Townsville Concerned Citizens Committee pointed out that this commendable plan forgot to include the travel to the two international V8 Supercar events -- in Bahrain and New Zealand.
The "show" flies to and from those overseas rounds in big fuel-guzzling jet planes, of course.
The matter was mentioned to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), which has been asking a few questions about it.
V8SA spokesman Cole Hitchcock told the Townsville Bulletin the organisation had planted 17,500 trees in the first year of its carbon offset program.
Very commendable indeed, but to avoid the kind of embarrassing oversight that the Townsville group has highlighted perhaps V8SA could do with the services of an actuary -- you know, one of those very clever mathematicians.
Such expertise might also be invaluable with crowd and TV audience numbers.
Townsville not music to all ears
Another grumble coming out of Townsville too.
The North Queensland city has been host each July for the past 18 years, it seems, to the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.
Next year the festival looks like being pushed to mid-August to avoid a clash with the V8 Supercar round.
Festival organisers are not happy, particularly as their event's artistic director and world-renowned pianist, Piers Lane, can't do August -- and nor, it seems, can many other international artists.
"We would have liked a lot more consultation," says festival chairwoman Marg O'Donnell, branding the V8 squadron "bullies''.
There's talk the festival might go to any of five other cities.
Now if Townsville gains a V8 Supercar round but loses a chamber music festival will any economic impact report from the new event factor in the loss of benefits from the festival?
Or will any new host city of the chamber music festival attribute some of its good fortune to the V8 show perhaps having squeezed the music out of Townsville?
Perhaps another job for an actuary at V8SA headquarters.
Wonderboy from west going great overseas
We've been a bit concerned for a while that New Zealand has perhaps had more talent emerging on the international open-wheeler racing scene than Australia.
So it was with particular interest that we read a two-page feature in this week's Auto Action magazine headed "Aussies abroad: the midyear report".
Even avid Australian motorsport fans could find it difficult to know which young Aussies are racing overseas, let alone in which categories and how they are faring.
What we gleaned from the AA feature is that the one who has done very well this year yet remains largely invisible to even the motorsport public is 19-year-old West Australian Daniel Ricciardo.
He's leading the Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula Renault West European Cup.
He has four wins from six races in each series.
"Ricciardo is without doubt the most impressive young Aussie racing abroad this year," says the AA article, which tells us that the lad is in his second year in Europe, has Red Bull sponsorship, and has Formula 1 ambitions.
"To arrive in F1 would be great, but to be world champion is the real goal," Ricciardo says.
"Obviously it's not the easiest thing to say and then do, but if everything falls into place maybe I can make it happen."
Lofty ambitions, but this kid might just be one to watch.
Of other Aussies racing overseas, the next best performed has been reigning national Formula Ford champion Tim Blanchard in the British Formula Ford Championship.
Blanchard, 21, has had 17 top 5 finishes in 18 races in that series and been on the podium in 2 out of every 3 races.
Other youngsters reviewed in AA's midyear report are John Martin and Sam Abay in the British Formula 3 Championship and James Davison and Tom Drewer in the US.
Davison is in Indy Lights and Drewer in sports cars.
The article is recommended reading for fans wanting to know who we've got coming through the international ranks.
Aussie open-wheeler car breaks French stranglehold
Junior open-wheeler cars rather than drivers now, and we note that the Australian-made Spectrum won in the British Formula Ford Championship at Brands Hatch last weekend.
It was the first race of the season not won by a French-built Mygale.
The Spectrum is built in Melbourne by Borland Racing Development.
John Martin gave Spectrum a victory on its British debut in 2006, also at Brands Hatch.
The victorious driver last weekend was Adrian Campfield -- not an Aussie -- for Kevin Mills Racing.
The Spectrum is the dominant chassis in the Australian Formula Ford Championship.
Confirming just how the wheel has turned in Formula Ford, there will not be a Van Diemen car on the grid in the category at this weekend's round at Queensland Raceway.
Formula 1's tight tussle goes to Hockenheim
A few F1 perspectives ahead of this weekend's German Grand Prix at Hockenheim, with McLaren's Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari's Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa all on 48 points and BMW-Sauber's Robert Kubica on 46.
McLaren has not won at Hockenheim since Mika Hakkinen's victory there in 1998.
A quarter of the field that has been reduced to 20 since the Super Aguri team's collapse is German.
The 5 German drivers are Nick Heidfeld (BMW-Sauber), Timo Glock (Toyota), Sebastien Vettel (Scuderia Toro Rosso), Adrian Sutil (Force India) and Nico Rosberg (Williams), who we find hard not to think of Finnish because of his 1982 world champion father Keke, winner of Adelaide's first F1 GP in 1985.
Ferrari has won 5 of the 9 GPs so far this year (3 by Massa, 2 by Raikkonen), McLaren 3 (all by Hamilton) and BMW-Sauber 1 (Kubica in Canada).
Hamilton's 68-second win in the British GP at Silverstone 2 weeks ago was the biggest winning margin since Damon Hill finished 2 laps clear in Adelaide's last GP in 1995.
Toyota's Jarno Trulli is the only driver to have scored points in all of the past 3 GPs.
We wonder whether points should only be awarded to the first 6 finishers again now that the field is down to 20.
Fernando Alonso is the only driver to have outqualified his teammate at every GP this year.
His Renault teammate is Nelson Piquet Junior, who has started to show some improvement recently.
Incidentally, Spanish banking giant Santander -- which became a McLaren sponsor when Alonso went there for his ill-fated season last year, and which is also the British GP sponsor -- is reportedly set to switch its allegiance to Ferrari in 2010, according to autosport.com, quoting "high-levels sources".
Surely another pointer to Alonso joining Ferrari that season.
Will Massa get the boot, or will Raikkonen retire? The latter, we guess.
Hockenheim was the scene of Rubens Barrichello's first GP victory, in 2000 with Ferrari.
It was also the circuit at which the great Jim Clark was killed in a Formula 2 race in 1968, and in 1970 the first German GP at the circuit was won -- in the fabulous Lotus 72 -- by another of our favorites, Austrian Jochen Rindt, who was to become F1's only posthumous world champion.
Barrichello's Honda teammate, Jenson Button, has scored points on every visit to Hockenheim, and was second in 2004, while Barrichello has had 8 retirements at this circuit.
Nick Heidfeld has scored only 1 point in his home GP and has retired from the race 4 times.
A few snippets from North America
Pardon us sounding like the ABC at its most formal and conservative, but now: News from America.
<<<Canadian veteran Paul Tracy will be back in IndyCar racing soon -- not at this weekend's Mid-Ohio round but the following weekend at Edmonton, Canada.
Tracy's one-off return will be with Vision Racing, the team bankrolled by Indianapolis Motor Speedway chief Tony George.
Autosport.com says his comeback will have "assistance from (Derrick) Walker Racing", which was associated with Team Australia and Will Power in the Champ Car days.
<<<Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman is on the move in NASCAR from Roger Penske's Dodge team, and is expected to join Tony Stewart -- who is leaving top Toyota team Joe Gibbs Racing for his own Stewart Haas Racing driving Chevrolets.
Teenage sensation Joe Logano is likely to replace Stewart.
The 18-year-old Logano has already done 32 tests in Sprint Cup cars for Gibbs and has won races in the second tier Nationwide Series in which Aussie Marcos Ambrose competes.
Newman, incidentally, has had 243 starts in NASCAR's big league for 43 pole positions, 13 victories and 63 top 5 finishes.
<<<1997 F1 world champion Jacques Villeneuve is to have another crack at getting a NASCAR career off the ground.
Robby Gordon, who raced against Villeneuve in IndyCar before the Canadian went to F1, has offered him a drive in the Nationwide Series round in Montreal on August 2.
This, remember, was the round last year at which Gordon infamously punted Marcos Ambrose out of what might have been his first NASCAR victory -- although they have since made peace.
Like other team owners, it seems that Gordon is prepared to make a Sprint Cup drive available to Villeneuve next year -- if the Canadian can come up with a sponsor.
That is something that, despite his profile and perceived importance, he has not been able to do yet.
To comment on this article click here