E Dogg Capizzle wrote:Anybody else think that Bathurst is a little less epic these days given the reliability of the cars and the professionalism of the teams?

Yep, the lottery of who will actually finish is gone.

More action in the first 5 minutes of the F1 than in the whole of the race at Bathurst

I was hoping a car or two would run out of gas at the end, but no

Maybe they should make the race longer

Colin wrote:Broadcasters can't win

They have to sell ads to pay for the coverage - and the more they sell the more resources they can poor into better coverage.

Put ads in and stay live - whingers whinge 'coz of lost action

Put ads in and slide the action - whingers whinge about not being 'live'

I for one use the rewind on my PVR to revisit action or thing's I thought I might have seen. Having ad breaks lets me catch back up. It's live in my world even if the rest of the world ends up 15 minutes ahead. I'll catch up when they sleep.

I thought the coverage was grand. Was frustrated when we returned from a NZ break that was longer or extra to the channel 7 break with the commentators discussing something they had already updated their viewer about. Channel returning to live coverage appeared to be proceeded by a 5 sec super slo-mo. We didn't get so many of those.

Well done Team Triple 8. Quality act no matter what brand they run.

All very valid points Colin - and I agree, it's "live" as I see it. I often have this attitude with rubgy etc, quite happy to watch hours after the fact as long as you don't know the result. I think they're a bit cheeky in this case though as they brand it as "live". They might appease the fans if they tell them "don't worry, you're not missing out as much as you think in these ad breaks"

As it turns out the time shift/delay wasn't as much as first thought, winning time was 06:12:51:4153 - which would have been a NZ finish time of 6:42pm (assuming they actually started at 12:30pm) - I made it around 6:49 when the crossed the line.... Based on my phone conversations there was a definite delay anyway - but its the Aussie feed not TV3 doing it.

Fantastic coverage all round though, the wee run through at prior to the start really paid tribute to how far the broadcasting has come in a relatively short space of time.

happybaboon wrote:I was hoping a car or two would run out of gas at the end, but no

Maybe they should make the race longer

Make them race it in cars built before 1985.

E Dogg Capizzle wrote:

happybaboon wrote:I was hoping a car or two would run out of gas at the end, but no

Maybe they should make the race longer

Make them race it in cars built before 1985.

Smaller fuel tanks?

And an irascible alligator in the cabin.

At least they still haven't got around to building a fence to keep the 'roos off the track. That always makes it a bit interesting

Agreed, that was one of the most uneventful Bathursts I've ever seen.
Team Vodafone really are in a class of their own.
My 2c, bring back the 2 litres, or allow some other V8 manufacturers in there. I'm a die-hard V8s lover (and Ford fan, damn it!) but I think they need to expand the series somehow. Maybe a spending cap?

Bring back the Touring car rules.
(They probably won't cause the old designed turn of the 20's century push rod V8's wouldn't be competitive).

Check the "Car of the future" project Shoreboy. Will be multiple different manufacturers, but none fully confirmed yet. Apparently all the teams signed on, but some unhappy about it. Basically a standard cage with some tweaks for individual car exterior styling. Must run a V8 from their product line, but I'd say they'd allow some cross polination between vehicles (the promo material had a mock up of a Nissan Maxima and Toyota Aurion, neither of which come with a native V8 I think??). I suspect they are trying to grow into an international racing series, appealing to Aus/NZ, Asia, and Europe (some talk of Mercedes??)

Also, the Ford Falcon is likely to be discontinued within a few (2) years as Ford reduces their internationally specialised models in the aim to promote a smaller, but widely sold core stock of cars. Likely replacement is the Taurus (what is wrong with American styling, it's worse than bland Asian manufacturer offerings!)

Will be some complaints about no Ford vs Holden. It will be sad I admit. Personally I see it as dumbing down some overseas cars so they can't show their superiority to the Holdens/Fords as a package. I think it is a great competitive racing class, and great to watch, but the technology on offer is pretty brutal. Racing large sedans will do that though.

Saying that, the COTF concept should retain the eveness of competition, so hopefully should be just as exciting! And adds some interest to a reasonably processional championship.

As for Bathurst, a little rain always helps to make things exciting, but this event was a pure race as it could be, the cream rose to the top, and few unforseen incidents. Enjoyable nonetheless. Although I can't stand Mark Skaife! Huge effort by Lowndes to pick up his slack

slumdog wrote:I can't stand Mark Skaife!

(though I find it hard to articulate just why. Skaifie being Holden is what helps me Ford)

At least he's not Marcos Ambrose.

If they were to run it multi class, like the good old days it would be more interesting. Nothing like mobile chicanes to get drivers thinking.

BRING BACK THE GTR!