For the motorsport which is supposedly the most rapidly growing, V8 Supercars haven’t exactly been roaring into our living rooms too much in recent weeks or months.
Since the Townsville 400 on the second weekend in July, eight weeks ago, there has been only one event — the Ipswich 300 at the controversial Queensland Raceway.
Enough time to watch Collingwood set their premiership ambitions in motion, for Sebastian Vettel to just about wrap up the title and perform the dreaded finger salute (even allowing for Formula One’s own month-long break) and to watch winter turn into autumn bliss.
And still there’s another two weeks to wait before on-track action at the season’s first enduro, at Phillip Island.
Then three more weeks of nothing until the crowning glory, the Bathurst 1000.
It is only following this that the series regains any consistency, with events every fortnight to round out the season, but the question has to be asked, are we still interested?
It is extremely frustrating getting into a series, only to have a six-week break followed by a four-week break.
Removing the stand-alone Queensland event, the enduros and the intriguing Gold Coast 600, there will have been a thirteen-week hiatus between sprint rounds.
That’s a quarter of a year.
You don’t see Formula One going on break at the end of July, resuming at the end of August, then going on another holiday until the start of October.
Fans abroad are hardly going to be endeared to a sport which sticks its ultra-attractive tentacles out, making a case for being the most entertaining motorsport going around, and then disappears for months at a time.
Thankfully, with the impending addition of several international events in coming years, in line with Mark Skaife’s divisive Car of the Future, there will be no room to squeeze in a casual six-week snooze, but for now, it still isn’t good enough.
Enough criticism though. When the V8s actually grace the track, they cannot be faulted, and surely we will not be disappointed when they finally return in two weeks’ time.
Wonder what Skaifey has to say on the Channel 7 intro about this one.
Christopher W Herbert
Guest
its a bit hard to compare European motor sport like Formula One and Moto GP with Australia based motor racing. When there is a reason the Australian Grand Prix has either been at the start or at the end of the season. While in European based sports the Winter is at the end of one year and the start of the folllowing year. Not in the Middle of the Year. However those European sports do take a form of summer break. Try racing the AGP in Canberra in June ... When the V8's failed in Canberra in a mid-winter event, and they can't hardly race in Tasmania in the middle of an Australian winter
djsinnema
Roar Rookie
The only reason they have a long break is to do with the fact that racing cars dont like cold whether, that is why the formula one turns up at the start of the year, and the moto gp come in october. I think its forgivable. Plus the break leads to the phillip island and bathurst enduros.
Mike Jacobson
Guest
You lost all credibility by saying, "Since the Townsville 400 on the second weekend in July, eight weeks ago, there has been only one event — the Ipswich 300 at the controversial [a meaningless description without a reason why it's "controversial"] Queensland Raceway." Why not just say there were six weeks betweeen the Townsville and Queensland Raceway rounds, and another four weeks until the next round at Phillip Island? Obviously V8 Supercars compiles the schedule as best it can, given the constraints imposed by the 7 Network, race promoters, geography and climate, inter alia. I'd like all AFL games to be held on a Saturday afternoon, like in the old days, but I'm not running the show any more than you're running V8 Supercars.
Christopher W Herbert
Guest
there is such a thing as Winter and that is when things are much colder during the year. It also can be an unplesant time for attracting crowds to some places and events. While the Australian television broadcasting is taken up with sharing with events like ARL and stuff like that. And along with such an outcome. The weather in Queensland can be more Summer like than other places in Australia. Or just too damn hot for motor racing in Summer, and rather more cooler in Winter. Such is why the Townsville event is held in July. There being few places in Australia, other than Queensland which could stage such events during the Australian winter months. And well it does make things limited and that is just the way it is On the other hand to host V8 supercar rounds too close together would limit times to make repairs are the cars if they are damaged during the race weekends. While most teams have only one car per driver and if they are lucky. A spare car for the team. So to race more often and closer together in time periods would become more expensive to the race teams. Along with the possibilty of the need for two cars miimum for each driver to compete. And maintain the cars in the intervils between race weekends ... (Like in NASCAR when a team may have 15 cars per driver )
NCB619
Guest
The V8 Supercars series races for 6220 km over 13 weekends through the season. Formula One races for, assuming all Grand Prix except for Monte Carlo (which is a shorter, 260km race) go for a race distance of 310 km, a total of 5840 km over 19 rounds this season. I'm sure that you can grant the V8 Supercars an extra week off, given the fact that V8s will go on for an extra week (granted they did start earlier as well), and the fact there are more cars, drivers, and teams to accommodate, for less commercial gain.