Despite the economic crisis that has devastated other motorsport categories, the V8 Supercars appear to be thriving. Here at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide, crowds are out in force for one of the states most popular sporting events, but is it a true indicator of where the V8 Supercars lie in the sporting landscape?
Judging the popularity of the V8 Supercars is difficult.
V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane has long said the category is poised to challenge the main football codes within Australia.
Fair or far fetched?
According to V8 Supercars the television ratings are on the rise, but unlike with other sports these ratings cannot be tested in the stark reality of prime time.
Based on attendances alone, V8 Supercars is in the upper echelons of codes, able to pull hundreds of thousands to its showpiece events in Adelaide and the Gold Coast.
But the party atmosphere and sideshows of these events inflate the crowds.
The litmus test for V8 Supercars will be the crowd it can generate to the Homebush precinct for the final round of the season in December, a historic round that will give the sport the chance to finally try and crack the Sydney market.
Despite significant developments for what can still be called a developing sport, the V8 Supercars still struggles for significant attention in the mainstream press.
This is obviously difficult for a category that only pops up every few weeks, a dozen plus times from March to December.
It’s easy to stereotype the typical V8 Supercar supporter, male, petrol head, usually clad in red or blue, swearing undying loyalty to a particular car manufacturer.
And herein lies one of V8 Supercars main stumbling blocks in its battle to get on an equal footing with its ball sport rivals. Unlike in the AFL, A-League or NRL, there is no connection to a heartland, be it a city or state team.
Most non-fans couldn’t care less about the performance of a manufacturer.
The category must move away from this Holden V Ford dualism. It’s outdated. It must instead find new ways to promote its sporting contest, namely the individual driver battles.
It must also get rid of the girls, by that I mean the scantily clad grid girls, dancers etc who cheapen the sports image.
It’s no longer the eighties, times have changed but the sport seems to have accepted that such sideshows appeal to the hardcores and readers of Zoo magazine but this limits its wider appeal.
NASCAR for example did away with the grid girls long ago and they can truly claim to be family friendly.
One step in the right direction is the move to an 85% ethanol blend fuel this year.
Motorpsort, in particular V8 Supercars, has the perception of being a gas guzzler to the wider community and it needs to start changing that to ensure it remains relevant in a world embracing green technologies.
Even the name, V8 Supercars, is hardly appropriate in a green world.
The category must find a way to balance this fire breathing, muscle car image to the demands of an environmental conscience world.
On track the absence of Mark Skaife robs the category of one of its most recognisable, household names as the new generation, led by defending champ Jamie Whincup, further cement their place at the forefront of the category.
Whincup looks hard to beat in defence of his crown.
As for V8 Supercars, it must be careful not to oversell itself and try to reach heights that cannot be reached.
Shane Moore
Roar Rookie
Eljay, rather than just dismissing motorsport as an obsolete earth-destroying sport, why not look to the benefits that motorsport can bring? It’s true that over the last decade or so motorsport hasn’t contributed much to road car development, but if you look back to the past, you will see that many major safety and efficiency improvements have come directly from motorsport. This year F1 has introduced KERS (Kinetic Energy Recovery System). Whilst it currently in its very early development, it’s not unreasonable to expect this technology will make its way into road car development sometime in the near future. V8 Supercars are doing their bit by moving to an 85% ethanol blend fuel (as mentioned above) which should help to show Australians that ethanol fuel is a legitimate – race proven – alternative. Motorsport may be one that uses a lot of fossil fuel, but it can also be one that helps to improve motoring in general from not only a technical perspective, but also have an impact on people’s perceptions of alternative fuels and energy sources.
Eljay
Guest
Rabbitz Oh dear. I'm no rabid greenie but as a someone who works in the field of renewable energy I'm certainly entitled to an opinion. What I'm really saying is that the acolytes who worship mindlessly at the altar of motor car racing are on the verge of living in the past. An event like the Clipsal 500 is an indulgent, wasteful and polluting extravagance. Fossil-fueled motor cars are responsible for some 35% of greenhouse gases on this planet; their time is well and truly up. I've driven an electric car around Adelaide and had the scales fall from my eyes. That's where the future lies and the sooner we educate the revheads to that the better.
optimus prime
Guest
No-one outside the AFL fans cares about statistics like how many times a person touches, marks, kicks, or even looks at a ball. The winning team is likely to be found urinating on a nightclub floor that night. Shall we continue with pointless arguments about a sport from people who don't give a rats about that spot?
megatron
Guest
No one outside the V8 fans cares about Holden v ford. The winner from Clipsal isn't even funded by Ford.
The Link
Guest
Adrian - reverting back to Holden v Ford is what made the V8's what they are today, they'll never do away with it. That stereotype supporter went with the 80's/90's as well. As a regular Bathurst goer I can tell you that the general crowd is nothing like what it was even 5-10 years ago, even at the top of the mountain. Much more family and female friendly, even though it still has a way to go. I've read somewhere that V8 Supercars merchandise sales are over and above any other sport in Australia - can anyone confirm?
Michael C
Guest
V8 supercars are glorious proof that the theoretical best in the world is not necessarily the best fun. i.e. F1 GPs are tame and boring compared to the V8s, and the simple reality in Melbourne is without the V8s on the race card, that the F1 'carnival' is very thin for popular appeal.
Papa Romeo
Guest
Um, well of course peddling V8s around with the thottle wide open as often is possible is not exactly the greenest pusruist on the planet. I don't think they are really setting out to be and they have done a little bit (the ethanol blend) to at least try. I think wherever a crowd gathers at all it could be argued that it is anti-green. All that energy expended - be it private cars or p/t - by everyone getting there. Maybe we should outlaw the AFL g/f?? Nice painting of a stereotype there too, btw, but enough of the red herring. "The category must move away from this Holden V Ford dualism." Why? Seems to be doing quite well as it is (as the author indeed suggests in the article). We all remember how wildly successful the 2 litre category was 10 years or so ago. "It’s outdated." So? So is NASCAR but by God it works. I'm not too sure about Tony Cochrane, he is very good at talking big. Doubt that the V8s will ever rival the footy codes but the category does very nicely & I have no doubt will continue to do so for some time to come.
Rabbitz
Guest
Don't feed the troll...Don't feed the troll... Don't feed the troll...Don't feed the troll... Ok I'll bite: 1) "It has no environmental redemption whatsoever" Who cares? Do some research and stop listening to the vested interests - There is no definitive proof as to the cause of "Climate Change" a few car races are going to make didly squat difference when compared to the Carbon outputs of China and India. 2)"watched by brain dead machismo bogans and their sons in their many thousands" This is out and out bigotry. Just because the recipients of this vitriol are not a specific ethnic or religious group does not stop this being bigoted and offensive. May I politely suggest you pull your head in and if you can't you know where you can stick your ill-informed, faux-green, offensive comments. And before you ask, no I do not follow the V8's, I do however rail against bigotry and ill-aimed offensiveness.
Eljay
Guest
I live in Adelaide and I'll tell you plainly that I despise the Clipsal 500. It has no environmental redemption whatsoever. Grunt cars being thrashed mindlessly around the CBS watched by brain dead machismo bogans and their sons in their many thousands; it's environmental genocide of extraordinary proportions. One day we'll be ashamed of events like these.