Track Battle Australian Time Attack Series

[Marlin]

Short term gain for long term loss. Drifting failed largely because of the demographics it appeals to. Sponsors arent interested in swapping product for cracked fish tanks and broken pocket bikes to flat cappers with spastic hands. (see every photo of Mad mike in the sl thread)

It may bring a few extra people to an event but in the long term it will keep a few away too. Like it did to their own series to the point it failed.

That, is farking GOLD!!!! lololol

[evil_weevil]

fkn LOL Noel comes up with the goods again!

I kinda agree with Noel - if its a time attack event - people want to enter for time attack and plenty of track time.

if there is drifting - cuts down their track time!

[Marlin]

I don't mind it at night, I think it worked well this year. I'll admit to sneaking a couple of sherbets in and watching for an hour or so on the hill. Can think of worse things to do after a day in the pits

As long as the track is cleaned and the drift teams and their hangers-on are kept well away from the real cars in the pits then I'm happy

[FineLine]

Bingo on both counts. Someone gets it.

[evil_weevil]

good last point there Ben!

[260DET]

Might be an idea to look at how the yanks arrange their 'road course' circuits which are based on a speedway oval. None of this hard barrier nonsense which may be fine for the top drivers but sucks for those of us are less than perfect and have to pay for our own repairs. Bit of a reality check required here, great idea but get it real.

[GTR32G]

Was reading the latest HPI magazine out, had a small article about the Track Battle & Drift Grand Prix and stated there will only be 2 rounds this year QLD and WA? No Victorian round anymore?

Over the WTA weekend was wondering around and chatting to people and was told the Victoria Calder meeting may get canned, thought it was crap and didn’t take any notice but anyone got any more info?

Don’t want to start a rumour but seemed very odd it was not in the article from HPI

[JET200]

Short term gain for long term loss. Drifting failed largely because of the demographics it appeals to. Sponsors arent interested in swapping product for cracked fish tanks and broken pocket bikes to flat cappers with spastic hands. (see every photo of Mad mike in the sl thread)

It may bring a few extra people to an event but in the long term it will keep a few away too. Like it did to their own series to the point it failed.

Gonna have to pull you up here. Right on some counts, wrong on others.

Yes, many sponsors dont want anything to do with "typical" drifters, which is understandable, but DA failed when Toyo pulled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorship, leaving DA high and dry at the last minute. They then sold it to new owners who ran nightclubs and had no idea about drifting. Lack of fans was certainly not the reason and WTAC proved that.

The reason ADGP and Track Battle are run in parralel to each other is simple. Each sport on their own isn't quite strong enough to hold their own as a national series.....yet.

Simple part is:

Time Attack brings sponsors

Drifting brings spectators

Need both for a successful telvised national series

[JET200]

Was reading the latest HPI magazine out, had a small article about the Track Battle & Drift Grand Prix and stated there will only be 2 rounds this year QLD and WA? No Victorian round anymore?

Over the WTA weekend was wondering around and chatting to people and was told the Victoria Calder meeting may get canned, thought it was crap and didn't take any notice but anyone got any more info?

Don't want to start a rumour but seemed very odd it was not in the article from HPI

that press release was written over 4 months a go before Calder was confirmed. Express has 3-4 month lead times so you shouldnt listen to anything they hav as "NEWS". The website sais its go, there was a testing video and no offical notice it's canned so why would you just presume that? Its on 110% and the track is already paid for.

Ash is entered so come cheer him on

[JET200]

Might be an idea to look at how the yanks arrange their 'road course' circuits which are based on a speedway oval. None of this hard barrier nonsense which may be fine for the top drivers but sucks for those of us are less than perfect and have to pay for our own repairs. Bit of a reality check required here, great idea but get it real.

Kerbing and tyres are being used for most of the course. Water barriers will only be used in a couple of safety concern spots, but will also ahve tyres before them and wont be filled with water. No reality check required, and I've covered numerous Redline Time Attack events on ovals in the US for DSPORT DVD and know a lot about how they are run. We are doing everything we can to exploit the good parts of teh thunderdome and cancel out the bad.

[JET200]

I don't mind it at night, I think it worked well this year. I'll admit to sneaking a couple of sherbets in and watching for an hour or so on the hill. Can think of worse things to do after a day in the pits

As long as the track is cleaned and the drift teams and their hangers-on are kept well away from the real cars in the pits then I'm happy

Funny part is drifters say similar things about time attack drivers............

We have designed all of the track layouts at each venue to have the least amount of impact between the drift course and time attack course, to the point that all three tracks only have one or two corners that are used by both drifters and time attack cars, making clean up procedures quick and easy. Also, the starline for the drifters wont be on a part of the track driven by time attack cars, meaning they wont drip oil and fluids onto the track.

We have taken a lot of this into consideration to make sure everyone is happy. The pits will be separate too.

From all of our research, Time Attack attracts sponsors while drifting attracts crowd. Both are important.

[N1GTR]

I'll be there to watch Ash do another front diff

[The Bogan]

Funny part is drifters say similar things about time attack drivers............

I dont mind drift at night, but then I have never seen it at any event other than WTA in 2010, Seems like its struggling to stay alive at the moment, Super Sprints and Motorkhana is still nice and strong though so plenty of events for them to tag along with, Im seeing alot more "drift" looking cars at the sprints I go to, looks like some smart guys coming over to the "dark side" eh.

Bring this Super Sprint series to NSW.

[R31Nismoid]

I'll be there to watch Ash do another front diff

lol my diff is all run in now, nice and grippy.

There will be about 8-10 people from SAU-Vic going, talking to a heap tonight @ our General Meeting, they were just waiting for the issue of the Sat Sandown Round... Now they know it's OK they are coming. I think Snowy & Chris are coming too

Should be a good event spew bucket!

[N1GTR]

Fkn a!

I reckon this will kick ass!

[fatz]

this is hectik

drifting so 2002

superlap so 1990

i would come just to see ash put the f**ker into a wall!

lol

[FineLine]

Gonna have to pull you up here. Right on some counts, wrong on others.

Yes, many sponsors dont want anything to do with "typical" drifters, which is understandable, but DA failed when Toyo pulled out hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorship, leaving DA high and dry at the last minute. They then sold it to new owners who ran nightclubs and had no idea about drifting. Lack of fans was certainly not the reason and WTAC proved that.

The reason ADGP and Track Battle are run in parralel to each other is simple. Each sport on their own isn't quite strong enough to hold their own as a national series.....yet.

Simple part is:

Time Attack brings sponsors

Drifting brings spectators

Need both for a successful telvised national series

Jet you are only reinforcing what I said. It failed because sponsors withdrew...why...because kiddy skidders dont buy product.

look for them ferreting through the industrial bin at your locl bob jane store for tyres.

Hunt up the zip tie manufacturers for drift sponsorship. Theres a product they do buy.

Time attack in my part of the world certainly doesnt need the involvement of kiddyskidders to be succesful. It goes from strength to strength as witnessed by the number of radical builds that have appeared in the se qld corner in the last few years.

The only people who see the need to combine the 2 are those trying to make a buck. Short sightedness imo. They are 2 very different demographics as witnessed by superlap having to change their programme to show a much more defined demarcation between the two disciplines.

rightly or no drifters have bugger all appeal to anyone other than their fully sik mates, The drift spectators you refer to at superlap were made up largely of people who had already paid at the gate to attend the event. If you were to ask them why they went and sat on the hill to watch the skidders 9 times out of 10 the answer wouls simply be "because it was there". They certainly didnt spend plenty to travel interstate with all the ensuing costs to watch the kids slide. They did just that to watch time attack on the other hand.

I stand by my original statement. Short term gain for long term loss. Mixing the 2 will never improve the status of drifters but will drag time attackers down as potential sponors see the 2 being lumped under the one banner.

[ssxRicho]

Yep, good contingent from SAU VIC competing in this event for sure. I'm entered with others filling in forms this and next week.

[Duncan]

....for a successful telvised national series

Sorry, but all you need for a televised series is a willingness to pay whatever they ask for the coverage. Plenty of categories have gone that way over the years, and in 90% of cases they can afford a season or 2, and then if it is successful the tv cost goes too high as the production companies get greedy. Think Porsche cup, mini cup, utes, fford, targa, production cars alone in the last few years.

Long term, seriously large sponsor committments of the sort required to build a $300k $uperlap car require multi year TV committments, and a track record of delivery.

Time attack has a long way to go before it shows it is anything other than the next big fad after hula hoops, yo-yos, and drifting.

There are seriously flawed fundamentals around cost and control competing at the top level, and if only 2-3 cars have a shot at winning a class, the other 10-12 cars spending 50-100k are going to disappear very quickly. Also there is no attempt to link state based feeder series like the existing supersprint/time attack champs, and national travel costs are a killer for most self funded competitors.

[JET200]

Still not quite right

Toyo pulled out when the economic crisis hit in 2008 under dirtect orders from Japan HQ, not becuase they wanted to in Australia. The new owners weren't able to secure any major sponsorship, but we will be announcing very shortly ourt naming right sponsor and they ARE getting behind ADGP. Beleive it or not, not every drifter is a jobless bum ( although won't deny they exist). look at motorcross riders. before the go pro they usually look like broke bums as well.

Your also wrong about combining them to make buck. combining them to ensure the future of both series. Once either one can sustain themselves we are looking at running them separately. If enough poeple supoprt it we will, if they complain on the internet and dont enter, we wont be able to. I don't really like when people presume other people's motives for helping do something. Australia needs a national drift series to grow the sport and time attack drivers were crying out for more than one event to drive their car at, and we're giving TV coverage for both. Its not about cash, its about helping the scene Ive been a part of for a long time, but you do need to make the money back you invest, which is a LOT.

I own a drift and time attack car, so you can do both you know. in fact, drifting has helped me drive a RWD time attack car much better

Your negativity isn't going to help either sport

Jet you are only reinforcing what I said. It failed because sponsors withdrew...why...because kiddy skidders dont buy product.

look for them ferreting through the industrial bin at your locl bob jane store for tyres.

Hunt up the zip tie manufacturers for drift sponsorship. Theres a product they do buy.

Time attack in my part of the world certainly doesnt need the involvement of kiddyskidders to be succesful. It goes from strength to strength as witnessed by the number of radical builds that have appeared in the se qld corner in the last few years.

The only people who see the need to combine the 2 are those trying to make a buck. Short sightedness imo. They are 2 very different demographics as witnessed by superlap having to change their programme to show a much more defined demarcation between the two disciplines.

rightly or no drifters have bugger all appeal to anyone other than their fully sik mates, The drift spectators you refer to at superlap were made up largely of people who had already paid at the gate to attend the event. If you were to ask them why they went and sat on the hill to watch the skidders 9 times out of 10 the answer wouls simply be "because it was there". They certainly didnt spend plenty to travel interstate with all the ensuing costs to watch the kids slide. They did just that to watch time attack on the other hand.

I stand by my original statement. Short term gain for long term loss. Mixing the 2 will never improve the status of drifters but will drag time attackers down as potential sponors see the 2 being lumped under the one banner.