Archive 1 - Guru

China heads OS expansion

The V8 Supercar fight will grow to a 15 round Champioship in the next few years according to avesco boss Tony Cochrane. Most of the growth how-ever, will be directed outside Australia with a second round in New Zealand and another event in South - East Asia in the pipeline.

Cochrane outlined his international expansion plans during a press conference at the Clipsal 500 where the Vice Chairman of the Shanghai Promoters Group confirmed the Chinese round of the Series next year will be contested at the $800 million Circuit that will also host the inaugural Chinese F1 Grand Prix in 2004.

"We are looking to have 10 to 11 rounds of the series here in Australia and four off-shore," Cochrane said. "We certainly won't have any less than 13 rounds."Cochrane virtually conceded another trip across the Tasman is iminent but admitted it won't be held on a street circuit - therefore eliminating a return to the Wellington docks and virtually confirming it will be held at Ruapuna circuit outside of Christchurch.

He also confirmed that former Northern Territory Chief Minister Shane Stone, who was instrumental in bringing the V8 Supercars to Hidden Valley, is working with potential canidates to host a second race in South -East Asia.

The Chinese officials confirmed an official date for the inaugural race in Shanghai has yet to be set, and that confirmation of next year's Formula One calendar, which a draft copy is scheduled to be released mid year, may dictate any decisions.

The Shanghai Circuit is currently under construction and is due to be completed before March 2004.

The Holden Guru

ARE YOU READY FOR THE ONSLAUGHT!

As for the Cabbie he he must be in another world of his own thinking that that this is the 2004, may I just say wishful thinking and keep dreaming.

Now the Clipsal 500 is finally upon us and not before time to, with all the "hype" about HRT/Kmart Racing and Team Brock not been on the grid for Round 1 well the good news is their there so suck on that Ford fans, Yes you heard right TEGA gave them the green light to race this weekend in the eleventh hour. Admittedly the Holden teams have some catching up to do what with Project Blueprint not helping either camps to get some decent testing done but that's what you get when a new model car hits the track.

So Ford have their new wheel BArra big bloody deal but Holdens will make a quick turn around with their VY's and be out on the track and in front 'again' kicking Ford's major butt and as they say "When the Green Flag Drops the Bullshit Stops". With the points structure been so close it will make this season an more interesting affair with neither camp having any advantage in that department.

No one team has the advantage as it will all come down to who has the better setup, fastest pit stops, good team strategy and finally the driver who can navigate his way around the course without any mechanical failures. Expect to see plenty of carnage again this year with enough concrete walls lining each side of the track it should be renamed "The CONCRETE 500" so Fords have plenty to aim at.

HRT will be looking to open their account early by winning this race so don't expect to see Mark Skaife go screaming off into the distance but he should be able to seal this round with a bit of help from his new team mate Todd Kelly and a bit of unfortunate luck from the Ford teams that we commonly seen with blown tyres, overheating and numerous mechanical failures just to name a few.

The Holden Guru

Holden and HRT get Temporary Reprieve

Late today 4th January TEGA announced that HRT/Kmart and Team Brock would be given the green light to compete in the non- championship race at the Australian Grand Prix after much controversy since Holden recently purchased TWR Australia, the company currently managing Holden Racing Team operations and providing engineering design work to Holden and other clients.

The problem started back with the parent company TWR UK which was spearheaded by Tom Walkinshaw who owned the F1 Orange Arrows Team which was put into receivership back in December 2002 due to a 140 million pound deficit which could not be paid, as a result TWR Australia was one of 5 companies to fall into the receivers hands so in mid January of 2003 Holden delegates flew to the UK only to be hopeful of buying the TWR Australia company assets to keep HRT, Kmart and Team Brock alive which Holden were successful at doing.

In the TEGA rules it clearly states that a " Manufacturer (both Holden and Ford) cannot own a team, so special approval must be granted," so now Holden has 14 days to find a suitable buyer for TWR Australia otherwise TEGA has stated that all three teams will not compete at the first Round been the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide which starts on March 21st.

The Holden Guru

The V8 China Syndrome
Back in December 2001 there was a few rumors going around that the V8 Supercars may head to some part of
Asia in the near future, now these rumors slowly started to eventuate in the
gaming industry after I received an email from Codemasters in January 2002
stating that Avesco and the V8's may expand into Asia and if this was the case
then an Asian circuit would be added to the V8 Race Driver 2 game (but not the
current V8 Race Driver game).
At a meeting this week in Shanghai, the
Peoples Republic of China, these rumors were confirmed, when a Heads of
Agreement was signed between Tony Cochrane Chairman of Avesco and Mr Xuan
Guoxiong Chairman of Shanghai Weice Business Company Limited to stage a V8
Supercar race in Shanghai commencing in 2004 over a five-year period. The first
event is to take place at a permanent circuit within the city precinct and will
see a full grid of V8 Supercars line up which will be air freighted to Shanghai
in two 747 freighters.
The way I see it is, Avesco should be able to
maintain all the Aussie circuits currently in use by the V8's then in 2004 just
dump the Eastern Creek Special Event Round to make way for the China race this
way we get to see the V8's racing on our favorite tracks still, as we all know
Avesco has already canned Canberra and Queensland Raceway promoters have now got
to show some sort of financial support and credibility by the end of 2003 to
stay otherwise it's exit stage left for them unfortunately, but I hope Avesco
keeps the QLD track in the championship as it's a good track but only time will
tell.
Another interesting aspect is considering that Shanghai City has a
population of 20 million and that the V8's will receive a very warm reception
upon there arrival as well as collecting some more fans, it will be interesting
to see what the Aussie fans and supporters think of this new concept.
Whilst there is a lot of positives to come out of all of this, it will be interesting
to see what the teams and drivers reactions will be both before and after the
event, anyhow if you want to read more on this just go to Press Releases - V8
and click on the subject Red Racers: V8's to China, I will post more on the V8's
China Syndrome as it comes to hand.
Does this mean we might see a few Asians
driving V8's in the future.???
The Holden Guru

The Guru Groans.... Again

Hi there my name is Ross, I am from Sydney Australia and I have always been a fanatical Holden supporter since the age of 10 and I will continue to back the mighty Holden. My interests includes off shore power boat racing and virtually anything that has either 2 or 4 wheels that can exceed 250 Klm per/hour but the V8 Supercars are my favorite motorsport!

The V8 Ultimate at Sandown, Final Round for 2002

Well with the V8 Ulimate at Sandown only days away and with HRT's Mark Skaife who has already bagged the 2002 Championship, the relentless pressure has now been placed firmly on the shoulders of HRT's Jason Bright to finish the season off in 2nd place.

As for Kmart's Greg Murphy well what can I say.? He performed well at Pukekohe, NZ in front of his home crowd but can he keep the two HRT drivers split apart to claim 2nd position outright in the Championship.??

All will be revealed come this Sunday afternoon at Sandown.!

HRT would like to finish the season on a high by having Mark Skaife win this round and Jason Bright finishing 2nd overall in the Championship, now " if " this eventuates then HRT will go into the record books as been the only team to take out 8 round wins in a season by the one driver and 10 round wins in a season by the one team. " GO HRT "

This track been 3.1 klm in length should provide plenty of fast paced laps and enough carnage to fill a junk yard as you wouldn't find a better place for a Ford than a junk yard. " GO THE MIGHTY HOLDENS "

Drivers to look out for:

#1 Mark Skaife (HRT) will be out to lead the field as usual and collect his all illusive 8th round win for the season.

#2 Jason Bright (HRT) will have to apply the blow torch here as the battle for outright 2nd has been intensified by murf.

#4 Marcos Ambrose (Pirtek) he is fords only chance and should make a strong impression but thats about it for ford.

#15 Todd Kelly (Kmart) has been on the move of late serving it up to his team mate murf, and Toddler won here last year.

#16 Steven Richards (Castrol) is another late charger since Bathurst he also knows how to apply the pressure.

#51 Greg Murphy (Kmart) has a buffer of just 27 points over Bright but can he keep the pressure on to take 2nd overall in the Championship.?

#02 Rick Kelly (HYL) has had a good run of late and if he can get a podium finish here it will be a pretty good finish to the year for him.

The Holden Guru

PS.

Seems theres gonna be some massive changes at TWR for 2003. This includes a name change, seems it will now be known as Holden Racing Organisation, another big change is Team Brock will be run under this banner, as a 2 car team, meaning TWR/HRO will be a 6 or 7 car operation!!!!

There will probably also be some major driver changes within TWR/HRO as well, with a few possibilities,
1. HRT: Skaife/Bright
Kmart: Kelly/Murf
Team Brock: Paul Weel/R.Kelly

2. HRT: Skaife/T.Kelly
Kmart: Murf/R.Kelly
Team Brock: Weel/Bright

3: HRT: Skaife/T.Kelly
Kmart: Murf/Bright
Team Brock: Weel/R.Kelly

4. HRT: Skaife/Bright
Kmart: Murf/Kelly
HYL: R.Kelly
Team Brock: Weel

Anythings possible!!!!

The Boost Mobile V8, Pukekohe, NZ

Well once again we are off across the Tasman to Pukekohe Park Raceway which is located 40 klms south of Auckland, this will be the V8 Supercars second visit to NZ after making their debut here in 2001. Whilst Mark Skaife has bagged the 2002 V8 Championship title don't expect to see him back off the gas just yet.

The battle for outright 2nd and 3rd positions respectively has been taken up a gear, at the Honda Indy 300 Greg Murphy took out race one but failed to continue his on-slaught in race two when he opted for slick tyres. The rest of the field were smart enough to choose wet tyres which saw Jason Bargwanna go on to win race two and take the round win breaking his two year drought.

The Pukekohe Park Raceway is an interesting free flowing track with only three slow parts of the track which are Dennans Corner turn1, the esses leading into the Boost Mobil Corner turn 3 and finally the Holden Hairpin at turn 5. With all of this in mind you can expect to see plenty of hot furious action and a bit of carnage to go with it (Fords mainly).

The drivers to watch out for:

#51 Greg Murphy (Kmart) having the home track advantage and winning all three races last season so 'murf' is going to be very hard to beat.

#2 Jason Bright (HRT) he needs this win to keep the 2 HRT cars 1-2 in the championship so expect to see him knocking on 'murfs' backdoor.

#16 Steven Richards (CPR) now both driver and car have been fast so expect to see him in the the lead group.

#15 Todd Kelly (Kmart) has been in good form of late so expect to see him up there with the lead pack.

#021 Jason Richards (TKR) another team with the home track advantage and have done well this season so expect to see him in the top fifteen.

#00 Craig Lowndes (00 Motorsport) he had a good run at the Honda Indy 300 so expect to see him in the top five.

Some good news for Holden fans, a new team from South Australia has entered the V8 Supercars for 2003, this is the first S.A based team to compete in V8 Supercars. The team Dynamik will field two new VY cars at the start of next season.

And on another note just a week after finishing eighth in the Bathurst 1000, Ford driver Cameron McLean and his Paragon Motorsport team announced today they will quit the V8 Supercar series and sell their Level Two franchise at the end of this season.

" Another Ford bites the dust "

The Holden Guru

Give Ford Teams what they want and shut them up!

I say give Ford what ever they want. What is it this time? Oh yeah, the front under tray is too small. Even though it's the same as the Holden's, let's not let that little fact ruin everything. It seems that the Ford teams can put all of their bad luck and misfortunes down to a few square centimeters of front under tray.

Apparently all of those spins, and blown motors, and crashes, and brake problems, and wheel failures, were all the result of the front under tray not being big enough! Hmm, I was wondering why I never made it as a mechanic, I had never have thought of that.

So I say give them more under tray, bigger rear wing, or what-ever the hell they think they need. And do you know why? Because downforce is not their problem, that's why. It's their pathetic Falcon suspension geometry and just plain ordinary driving, poor pit work, "Hey man wheres my damn car?" strategy and crap reliability that is serving this championship up to HRT on a platter.

You can make up what-ever theory you like from statistics, but the facts remain that Ford has lost every round so far this season! (and last season was not that much better for that matter) and that had nothing at all to do with downforce. Now from memory, correct if I am wrong, let's see...Craig Lownes, Fords multi million-dollar Superstar. Stop go in Adelaide,... 2 blown engines in one day at the Valley,... spun out at the Creek,... more motor problems at Oran Park,.... a spin, faulty shock and a thump into Seton at Winton! Now 5 ton of down force wouldn't have helped in these situations.

As for Marcus Ambrose? Stop goes, poor pit work, spins, fried rear tyres.... And hes the pick of the crop!

Ozemail? Broken exhaust header (after setting the fastest lap in race one at Winton) and then Bowe complains that they should make the HRT cars 150kg heavier?

Not to mention DJR, these guys have actually invented a new meaning in life, in ways to look bad. They make the other Ford teams look like slickly run professional outfits!

So I reckon give them the tray, sit back and watch Holden still win.

But don't worry ford fans, I'm sure the new BA will fix all of these problems next season. It wont spin out or blow motors or let pit crew drop it off it's jacks or cook brakes or.... keep dreaming.

Take pride in your pride.

HRT win races not because of their big budget as so many people are led to believe, but because of their ability to work together as a professional team and to have well prepared cars with talented drivers to back them up. At least HOLDEN and GM have had the balls to continue backing the Holden teams even from the era when Peter Brock started racing with HDT, unlike Ford who have never backed there own cars, or teams, until the last 5 years.

The most ironic part about the Ford teams is they have whined for many years requesting changes be made to give them equal parity to Holden, yet when their requests are given the green light by CAMS, TEGA and AVESCO, formerly known as the ATCC, Ford still can't put back to back round wins together because of their inferior cars and team work.

The V8 Supercar Series and AVESCO

With all due respect, AVESCO has brought our V8 Supercar Series back from the grave, and resurrected the remains of the former ATCC, and generated a new lease of life into the sport. But sadly enough, the CEO and board at Avesco is slowly letting the power of the all mighty buck go to their heads through pure greed, and it's time for a change!

My reason for saying this is basic, get rid of the dead wood and replace the current Board with former V8 Supercar drivers, who know what is needed in this sport, personally Peter Brock would be a fine CEO who fits the criteria with all his knowledge and expertise of the sport along with Larry Perkins, Dick Johnson, Jim Richards just to name a few.

Now if these former V8 drivers who have a wealth of knowledge between them were to take full control of the Avesco Corporation we the supporters would then see this great motorsport grow stronger, with only minimal changes to the rules having to be made. The competition is out there and growing stronger each season and the same can be said for the supporters, but all the current drivers, and the supporters, want to see an level playing field. No more, No less, and unless this happens in the next few years the V8 Supercar Series will end up the same way as the BTCC did.

The HOLDEN GURU

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