Indy, any good this year?

[dirt drifter]

what do people think of this fiasco with the A1GP cars not showing up at the last minute and the V8's doing two races on sat & sun to take their place on the programme?

I for one dont really miss the open wheelers and would rather see the V8's come out twice a day, a fair few of my mates think the same way

[Spexta0ne]

yeh man i went on 2day, i mean yesterday, sunday. it was still a prity good turn out i thought.. mayb if they bring the utes n fujitsu series n that 2 goldcoast next yr itl b a full days entertainment...

[Grennan]

In the long run if the open wheelers pull out its going to hurt the event. I know when I go I always enjoy watching the open wheelers.

But I do agree if this is going to turn into a regular thing they need to bring out the utes. Did they do the Porsche cup or whatever its called this year?

[shiftySLE]

When was it announced that they were not going to be there?

[88GreenVN]

Only the Aussie race cars would have saved the day. They were fantastic around the track.

Mini's = boring.

V8's after a while zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Utes would have been OK

I spent the day fighting off sleeping infront of the telly. If Wincup had not been on a mission to smash cars, the day would have been a complete waste...

[IGNITIONSV6]

Waste of time spending all that money to buid a race track and not to even get a international event to come is a joke wud have cost queensland $1000s mayb more specially with the sponcership etc

[88GreenVN]

$11,000,000 was the sum I heard

[Grennan]

Yeah not to mention to the complete city gets practically shut down. The highway in and out of Surfers Paradise becomes a single lane road. But yeah them pulling out so close to the race wouldve cost the organisers hundreds of thousands, if not millions.

[dirt drifter]

they definitely needed more entertainment on the track, no porsche cup or utes racing, victor and ben bray not doing burnouts on sunday, im not certain the drifters got out sunday either. it made for some lengthy boring moments waiting for some track action.
not the greatest value for money.

i wont believe much of what i hear in the mainstream media in the aftermath of this, we all know how quick they can be to badmouth anything to do with cars and motorsport, being all too quick to report anything bad yet rarely report anything good. Auto Action, V8X magazine etc will most likely be the most truthful of the lot

it will be very interesting to see what happens next year (if anything) if they cant get a decent international open wheeler series. V8 Supercar street races only seem to be sucessful if they have something else going for them, for example:-

Adelaide- first race of the year (on aussie soil next year) with renowned party atmosphere
Townsville- 1500+km from the nearest circiut (QR) lots of people up there cashed up from the mines and not scared to spend $$$$$
Hamilton- only NZ round for the year, good party atmosphere so im told

if they hold a street race somewhere just for the sake of it (canberra) it seems to fold pretty quick. lets hope a V8-only indy can survive due to the whole 'gold coast, party 24-7' vibe the event has. fingers crossed

[BJ31OS]

what do people think of this fiasco with the A1GP cars not showing up at the last minute and the V8's doing two races on sat & sun to take their place on the programme?

I for one dont really miss the open wheelers and would rather see the V8's come out twice a day, a fair few of my mates think the same way

From Memory A1GP are in a lot of financial trouble and thats why they didnt come out here, something to do with owing the transport company alot of $$$$$ so the transport company just left them sitting on the dock over in the UK.

[dirt drifter]

thats exactly what happened. i dunno what A1GP's financial situation was when the deal was done, it must have seemed like a good idea at the time. from memory the CART series was never doing well financially until the merger with IRL last year but that never stopped the indy organisers from signing them on year after year

[Benboy]

It was reported that A1GP owed their engine suppliers (Ferarri) heaps of money. They simply refused to provide any more engines until money outstanding was paid. Money wasn't paid therefore non appearance in Australia. I also believe that several other venues that have previously hosted A1GP have cancelled their appearance. Future for A1GP doesn't sound too promising.

[kyle46]

we go down and volunteer for the 4 days. the gap left by no show of a1gp cars was huge. the legends cars were good,v8's great,mini's well they're mini's, f/ford not my thing and aussie racing cars put on a good show.
the utes apparently aren't that fussed about running there which is a shame!
rumours of 3 day event,maybe shorter track by 2 blocks ?
have to wait till the report's done and the s##t has settled

[Chris E]

If I had of bought tickets or whatever you buy to go see the indy, I would have been incredibly pissed and probably not gone. Indy to me is all about the open wheelers, v8s to me are pretty boring.

I imagine there are some unhappy (understatement) people amongst the organisers as the cost of the open wheelers not showing up would have been massive...

[kyle46]

Cochrane likes the LeMans cars so they might be there next year

[Darren_L]

I only ever went to the Gold Coast Indy to see the V8's. Never was impressed by open wheelers.
So yeah no disappointment for me in regards to the A1's cancelling.

And no probs with it being a standalone V8 event. ALthough would love to see some good support races like the GT production cars, Commodore Cup cars, maybe sports sedans ?