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Opinion: NZV8s/SuperTourers - it's getting uglier

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Opinion: Gets uglier - NZV8s/SuperTourers

3News NZ

The question: is the SuperTourer what the NZV8 was planned to be? (Geoff Ridder)

The question: is the SuperTourer what the NZV8 was planned to be? (Geoff Ridder)

Opinion by Shaun Summerfield

With court proceedings marching on – and that’s despite signs of a thaw - the battle between NZV8s and the SuperTourers continues.

I'll admit that I've almost forgotten what this fight is about. But, essentially, the bust up came about because the bulk of the NZV8 racers and teams weren't happy with the direction their class was going.

There was a combination of factors and, let's be honest, large egos on both sides of the argument. A new NZV8 was already in the planning, which seems to be the heart of this court case. The question being: is the SuperTourer what the NZV8 was planned to be?

But judging by comments from the NZV8s, their key ingredient is the ‘DNA’ of the racecars. Let’s not get all ‘CSI’ though, they are referring to the engine being sourced from the same car makers who produce the badge.

This is, of course, a departure from the rules, which allowed Paul Manuell to run a Ford engine in his Holden over recent seasons.

Still it’s a noble - if slightly cosmetic - gesture. I’ve never seen a V8-powered Toyota Camry.

Less noble are the actions of Motorsport New Zealand – who instead of taking the high ground here, have picked sides. But let’s be honest, as the major shareholder of the V8s' promotions company they didn’t have much choice.

This was a perfect chance for the national body to prove their worth to the thousands of participants…and hundreds of thousands of fans - who in my mind anyway - are the heart of motorsport.

Comments made by Motorsport NZ president Shayne Harris on Radio Sport, complaining that the V8 SuperTourers have had all the News coverage on TV3 and the NZV8s none, were doubly shameful. Shameful because of Mr Harris’ position as the leader of our sport, and shameful because they didn’t tell the whole story.

For the record, I told the NZV8 bosses in March that as soon as I had a list of names and teams from them – and preferably a couple of finished cars - I would report it. It’s September and I’m still waiting.

A calendar has been announced for the new NZV8 season. Unfortunately, I wasn’t sent that release. I’ve been removed from Motorsport NZ’s approved press list…

The messenger has been shot. Still, I’m proud to wear the scar of that metaphorical bullet wound.

I did notice however, that both V8Utes and Suzuki Swifts are included in the list of support classes on the official NZV8 website. Although if you click on those classes you’ll find yourself on a page announcing them racing with SuperTourers.

Good luck in court!

3 News

Footnote:

All News reporting is approached from a neutral point of view. I ask the same questions of SuperTourers, as I do of NZV8's… V8 Supercars... Formula One. We made no effort to cover up engine failures in the SuperTourers, nor did we shy away from the fallout following SuperTourer Boss Mark Petch's comments about the cost of V8 Supercars coming to Pukekohe. I am happy for any of my stories to be put under scrutiny, and I will vigorously defend any accusations of bias.

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Comments

9/09/2012 10:54:55 p.m.

V8supercars are better than tourers wrote:

Why don't we get better v8supercars coverage first

9/09/2012 3:47:48 p.m.

mal wrote:

shaun did you ever think your comments crossed the line when all this started out.You can't have a foot in both camps.You now know who wants you.

8/09/2012 12:48:38 p.m.

Si wrote:

Ralph wrote: What I don't get is TV3 play the SuperTourers 'LIVE' & yet V8Supercars, a much larger category is delayed, missed & chopped up. Why can't TV3 play the races live or even delayed on the same day evening rather than making us wait 24 hours & until damn near midnight on Sunday (when most of us have to get up for work at 0600). They can't say it's because of lack of interest. Because more of us are interested in V8Supercars than Supertourers. Why are TV3 pushing racing fans away? Hey Ralph, its to do with the Timeslot that the TV3 channel has allocated to the Gillette Motorsport program, its been allocated sunday afternoon, unfortunately because aussie is a few hours behind NZ it cant be live as there are other programs on in those timeslots.. The fact that they do show the V8 Supercar sunday race at midnight is a bonus, because otherwise we would have to wait til next sunday. They are able to show the V8 Supertourers live or only slightly delayed is because it happens to fall in the same time as the program, due to it being local in NZ. Please stop whinging about when the V8Supercars is shown and just enjoy the coverage we do get and the fact that you dont have to wait a whole week to see it..

7/09/2012 9:32:24 p.m.

Mike E wrote:

Shaun, Motorsport NZ need to take a long hard look at themselves, I wonder what the pioneers of NZ motorsport would think of the governing & direction of our sport today? I would bet they would be a lot like me - scratching my head & wondering what went wrong. . anyway i am sorry NZ v8's but i never really got into the series- more huge sedans with ho hum performance that just seemed to be for the benefit of the local panel shops - no wait sorry that's the utes!

7/09/2012 8:31:58 p.m.

Shane Gibson wrote:

Shaun you are the best thing to happen to motorsport on Tv for a long time. Nzv8s have dropped the ball and paid the price. They now need to stop crying and move on and do whats best for the sport. You are right the people that need to be looked after the most are the Fans. I have been in and around the V8 racing scene for a while and seen and heard some things over the years but I am impressed with the way Supertoures are working hard for their fans. The desire to run high caliber meetings even in the middle of winter is ballsy and was great to see a good crowd at Taupo in the cold to see the best line up of drivers outside of a V8 supercar meet. The politics and hidden agenders of people affect most sports but seem to thrive in motorsport, lets hope it dosen't kill off what is looking like a fantastic way forward for v8 racing in NZ. Keep up the great work Shaun. Regards Shane Gibson.

7/09/2012 4:15:48 p.m.

Si wrote:

Good on ya Shaun, as far as we the Diehard fans are concerned its a real shame that NZV8s are acting like a pack of 5 year olds and not coming to the party, we all would love nothing more than to turn up to a V8 Supertourer event and be overwelmed by 3 classes of V8 racing all on the same day,ie V8 Supertourers, V8 Challenge Cup & NZV8s and the Utes thrown in for good measure, but if NZV8s are going to fight it they are just going to have to deal with the lack of gate sales at their meetings as it simply gets to be too much to try to make it to too many different meetings per year, and we all know where our dollars are better spent..

7/09/2012 3:55:14 p.m.

Ralph wrote:

What I don't get is TV3 play the SuperTourers 'LIVE' & yet V8Supercars, a much larger category is delayed, missed & chopped up. Why can't TV3 play the races live or even delayed on the same day evening rather than making us wait 24 hours & until damn near midnight on Sunday (when most of us have to get up for work at 0600). They can't say it's because of lack of interest. Because more of us are interested in V8Supercars than Supertourers. Why are TV3 pushing racing fans away?

7/09/2012 3:54:50 p.m.

Nathan wrote:

This was always going to happen... Unfortunately new Zealand is not big enough to sustain 2 very high profile V8 categories and one of them is going to lose out(ATM seems to be NZV8s) if only everyone could sort their s... Out then maybe new Zealand could have a class of V8s that is more affordable with full grids at every meeting that would be as exciting and enjoyable to watch as the supercars. Me as a participant of Motorsport and a spectator I don't enjoy watching 12-15 cars go round but would much rather watch 35-40! Time for people to pull heads in before we no longer have either!