It’s a good time of year to be paying attention to the ebb and flow of politics within the V8 Supercar circus.
My last post, on the recent parity fracas created by Mark Skaife writing to the VESC technical director, claiming aerodynamic disadvantage in comparison to the Ford FG Falcon, alluded to the upcoming and biggest motorsport event on the calendar as a likely cause for complaints arising now, after 37 races in the season. The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000. It’s also pertinent that Holden teams, principally HRT, are doing the whinging.
Determined to follow the news closely in the leadup to this weekend’s opening enduro round, I had a look at V8 Supercar_dot_com_dot_au. Take note of these articles.
- V8 Supercars Australia Board has sought a parity review between the VE Commodore and BF Falcon.
- Holden Motorsport Manager Simon McNamara says a parity review announced yesterday will be a waste of time if outcomes are not acted upon until after the enduro rounds.
- V8 Supercars Australia has moved to clear up a gray area in the rules where teams were potentially able to gain an unfair aerodynamic advantage.
All three articles are undoubtedly interwoven in context, with the ballast plate issue clearly aimed at the Ford teams, raised without any doubt by Holden teams. The bleating by Simon McNamara, if further proof of the aim of all the parity whining was needed, seals for sure the intent of GM-H as a manufacturer behind the Holden runners. Holden sells more than Ford and it looks to me as though GM-H intend to use the age-old "win on Sunday-sell on Monday" modicum to huge effect, should a Commodore cross the line first at Mount Panorama. Right now, despite Garth Tander in a HRT constructed race car holding a 12 point lead in the championship, Holden is out to grind it’s large-family-car rival into the dirt by any means available. Fair or foul.
The parity issue is a complete and utter furphy, as highlighted by Ford’s Racing Manager, Ray Price.
“I would hope that the investigation also compares results against 2007 given that the aero package that is currently in use was validated in 2006 and has not changed.”
A political red herring and distraction being employed by GM-H and it’s minion teams in a bid to unsettle Ford teams in their endurance race preparations. We can be assured that scrutineering of race cars, especially those new cars being constructed for the enduros, will be especially vigilant both before and during this years events. This is certainly a return to the bad old days of the 1980’s where homologation politics before Bathurst ramped to extreme levels in the leadup to the big race. I’d hoped we’d seen the last of those days with the death of Group ‘C’, as much as I enjoyed that class of touring car racing, but sadly, it looks like our premier motorsport category isn’t quite as mature as it’s organisers and participants would like us to believe.