Bring back the tussles!

The last three or four years has provided us with some classic Ford versus Holden battles, with Ford winning three out of the last four championships by close margins. Why? Because the cars have been so evenly matched in car speed and handling.

Ford won its championships and, I might add, should have won last year as well because it had the best drivers at its disposal, not necessarily because it had a better race car. There is no doubting Rick Kelly and Garth Tander are talented drivers but in my opinion they are definitely not the best drivers in the competition, which goes to show the enormous financial backing HRT and Toll HSV have behind them to allow these guys to win quite easily. The "unfair advantage" is starting to rear its ugly head again and is becoming increasingly boring to watch apart from the talented Winterbottom and Whincup, who are trying their hardest. I also still regard Lowndsey up there with the best but even he is struggling against Walkinshaw’s four-car superteam supposedly owned by Skaife and Kelly (LOL, what a joke).

Yes, I am a Ford fan but, like most people, we want to see close racing instead of the one-sided affair we are starting to see at the moment. We certainly don’t want to get back to the Holden versus Holden days.

Only HRT and Toll Racing seem to have this open chequebook, which no other team can match. Pull the plug on their spending and you will see some great Ford versus Holden battles again.

Rob

I’m in heaven with Seven

After being fortunate enough to experience the immense detail of Seven’s coverage of the 2007 V8 Supercar series, I give my full praise to Murray Lomax and the others involved.

I was rather moved by the extensive coverage and the trouble Seven went to broadcast the support categories (Fujitsu V8 series, FFord). After Seven was responsible for some rather dud coverage in the 1990s, they seem to have lifted their game and have delivered to the fans a truly wonderful and informative coverage of the sport worshipped by many.

Go Skaifey for 2007 and bring home the championship!!

Lolz

Seven sucks, bring back Ten!

I am sending this letter in regards to Channel Seven’s coverage of the V8 Supercars.

New Zealand was on this weekend so I watched Channel Seven to catch up on all the details (Friday, April 20). I switched on the television to Seven at 6.15pm to see an advertisement for the V8s. I thought, ‘Great, the sports will be on next at 6.25pm’ but only got a lousy 35 seconds of V8 highlights.

I kept watching Seven thinking surely something else would come on but only saw another 30-second advertisement for Saturday and Sunday at 8.15pm, followed by another 30-second advertisement at 10.15pm. After wasting an evening trying to find out what’s happening, I thought, ‘Bugger it, I’m going to bed’, still wondering if I would ever see any practice highlights on TV.

Give us back Channel Ten! I’m afraid to say that although the rights to televise motor sports went to highest bidder, it doesn’t mean they have any idea of what the hell the fans want. We want Channel Ten back!

As far as I’m concerned, Seven’s coverage is a great flop. It equals the days of Leo Geoghegan’s coverage, when he raced at Mount Druitt and there was absolutely NONE!

Now I have gone to the extreme of recording Seven’s coverage of the super cars on video and watching it at a later date so I can fast forward all the crap and TV commercials.

Some things are best left alone...

Not happy Jan!

Ed: It seems Channel Seven’s telecasting of V8 Supercar events has split fans right down the middle. We have received letters supporting the new TV arrangement and just as many keen to tear Seven to shreds... which just goes to prove that you can try but you’ll never please everybody all of the time.

The plight of the South Australians concerns us but we believe that it was a position out of everybodies control. We reckon it won’t happen in ’08. God-help-’em if it does.

Leave Lowndes alone!

I’m responding to Darren’s letter (V8X#39), where he referred to the incident that closed the 2006 season at Phillip Island and referred to Craig Lowndes as a Peter Brock wannabe.

I was offended by the comment that the "Ford lot are all irretrievably stupid" and "hypocrites". I’m a proud Ford fan. Fords were always in my family as I was growing up, and I’ve supported John Bowe for a decade. But I also respect a couple of the Holden drivers in the field, most notably Greg Murphy.

Darren seems to hold a very narrow-minded view of Ford fans and our reasons for being upset at how the 2006 season ended. Had roles been reversed and it was Kelly limping back to the pits while Lowndes had a free run to the finish line with trophy in tow, Holden fans would’ve cried foul, too. When the ‘opposing team’ is disadvantaged in some way, you’re going to be upset. What I find amusing is that it’s 2007 and Holden fans continue to bring this conversation back into the fore. Ford fans have moved on and are over it! You should be, too!

As for Craig (I wanna be like Brocky but never will) Lowndes, I think Darren needs to pull his head in! If he witnessed Craig Lowndes at Bathurst during the tribute to Peter Brock, he would know that Lowndesy held Peter Brock in extremely high regard. And, like anyone standing in the shadows of his hero, I’m sure he aspires to reach the levels that Peter Brock did. When you look at the current field of V8 drivers, Craig Lowndes is one of the most personable and talented men out there. At the end of the day, whichever manufacturer he represents, his talent and lust for the sport should be embraced. He is a family man and a brilliant role model for the sport. He’ll have his day in the sun and take home a championship trophy (or two) before his career is finished...

Michelle

Plastic ain’t fantastic

Big Hair Nev. Before you read any further, you should sit down.

There have been countless times when I have, in the past, told you to ditch the Babewatch pages in your magazine.

However, I would like to thank you, wholeheartedly in fact, for the Babewatch pages in V8X#39.

The selection of pictures was based on an April Fool’s Day gag wasn’t it? Your Art Department had a meeting and decided to put a motorsport spin on cosmetic surgery, didn’t they? I haven’t laughed so much for such a long time, so I thank you.

I thank you for what is, without doubt, the worst collection of surgically-enhanced grid girls ever assembled in the one place, at the one time, for all the world to see.

And the lucky winner of the worst boob job featured is the young lady in Britek colours at the bottom-left corner of page 42 – begging the question, did her breast-augmentation surgery fall off the back of a truck?

Once again, thanks for the laugh!

Frog Queen Elaine

Ed: Sheesh Elaine, tell us what you really think! Next you’re going to be saying that you don’t like Nev’s surgically-enhanced hairdo... shame!

Streets ahead... not

One thing that upsets me about where our beloved sport is headed is the replacing of "normal" circuits with street circuits. This year was our last year at Pukekohe, and now we are off to Hamilton. Now I hear that Barbagallo is going to be replaced, maybe by another street race in Perth. And we all know that V8SA wants a street race in Sydney at the Homebush site, but that didn’t happen, and of course the one at Townsville. What’s with all the street races? Yes, they are great to watch on TV, but that’s about it. Having a few street races each year is great, but we shouldn’t be replacing our old beloved circuits like Barbagallo. I understand that street races would bring in more money but maybe V8SA should try harder to attract crowds at our "normal circuits" first...

Anyway, that’s my rant. Go HRT in 2007!

Shaun

Give Walky the boot

If your report in V8X#39 is accurate, TEGA has concluded that Tom Walkinshaw is not a "person suitable to hold a controlling interest in a licence nor hold a licence in his own right". Strike one. Then there’s the reported "financial dispute" between Skaife and Walkinshaw. Strike two. Add the very shonky infamous 2006 HRT/HSV driver swap. Strike three. For the life of me I can’t see why a very professional outfit like HRT (let alone Holden in an overall sense) would want to continue to be associated with Walkinshaw at all. Holden would be well advised to buy him out and send him packing. Am I missing something?

John

Pick of the mailbag It’s a scam, I tells ya! What is the BigPond 400? 400 of what? It’s not 400 laps or the race distance or even the total of all three race distances added up, which comes to 360km. Once again WA people have been ripped off. We paid top dollar to not get the full show; the omitted 40km added up to 20 more laps of V8 racing Barbagello Raceway may be the shortest track on the V8 calendar but it shouldn’t mean the fans get shortchanged Come on V8 Supercars Australia, do the maths or let us know what the 400 is for besides lightening the average guy’s wallet by 400 bucks over a weekend Wombat

ArmcHair We are witnessing some significant changes in V8s at the moment. Firstly, for several months the Touring Car Entrants Group (TEGA) has been getting its act together as a group and is now starting show its power as 75 per cent shareholder of V8 Supercars Australia (V8SA). The first thing the public knew of what was going on was when the storm crashed down upon the V8 paddock late Sunday afternoon at Eastern Creek. The widely reported controversy involving V8SA Chairman Tony Cochrane and TEGA Chairman John Hewson caught everybody by surprise. Insiders say that there is a push for TEGA to gain more control of how the sport is run, with the possibility of John Hewson becoming the new Chairman of V8SA at the expense of Tony Cochrane. One report wrongly said that Cochrane had already been stood down as V8SA Chairman at Eastern Creek. A Chairman can’t be sacked. The fact is that they either have to resign or get voted off at a board meeting, and the next board meeting is expected mid July. The power struggle may have worked itself out by the time you read this. Regardless of the end result, the fact is V8 Supercars is going through a significant change and the current power struggle is actually one of the growing pains the sport faces if it is to move on and become a proper player in Australian mainstream sport. Television is another growing pain for V8SA and Channel Seven. No one is happy with the current situation facing Adelaide viewers or the debacle of cutting a race short in New Zealand. V8X has never had so much hate mail on these two subjects ever, and rightly so. Believe me, Seven is concerned about pissing viewers off because it impacts on its advertising revenue. Steps have been taken to stop a similar debacle happening again. For Adelaide viewers it is a bit more complicated and it will take longer to fix. The reality is that South Australians will probably have to ride it out until the end of the AFL season as V8SA and Seven work towards resolving this situation for 2008 and onwards. If it does happen again next year then both V8SA and Seven have a case to answer, as the folks in SA will justifiably want to rip somebody’s head off. The other change is the chance of more race rounds for V8 Supercars. If the V8s end up going to the GP in 2008 there will be the challenge over TV. It’s not that Network Ten may telecast the V8s at the GP, more like the fact that Seven has an agreement to televise 14 rounds. It doesn’t want to go back to 13 rounds as that would limit its advertising revenue. The quick fix is to have 14 rounds plus a non-points round at the GP. Remember where you read it first. As I was saying, interesting times ahead, definitely bumpy but never boring.