IF I WAS THE SUPERCARS BOSS FOR A DAY: WHAT I WOULD CHANGE TO IMPROVE THE CATEGORY
A background on what this article is all about…
I would like to begin this article by stating that I love watching Supercars, but as a fan I believe the Supercars formula can be greatly improved. The event has changed over the years and not what it once was, so this is my take on what could be done to improve the category to drive bigger crowds to events and bring it in line with other top global motorsports leagues.
Back when my step father raced in the support categories at Supercar events, Tony Cochrane was in charge of the ship leading the championship series in all kinds of interesting and different directions. They had privateers filling grid spots, heat races, privateer cup races and you could even buy a second hand “main game” car for around $70-100,000 as a gentleman driver.
V8 Supercars would even have over-subscribed fields for the Bathurst 1000 during the late 90’s. You had your regular front runners like Mark Skaife, Larry Perkins, Peter Brock, Glenn Seton, John Bowe, Dick Johnson, Steve Ellery, Brad Jones & Craig Lowndes all vying for race wins. Whilst in the midpack you could also support the privateers with names like Mal Rose, Peter Doulman, Greg Crick, Richard Mork, Steve Reed, Trevor Ashby, Anthony Tratt & the one and only David Thexton rounding out the field.
Back then, Supercars just hit differently when I was a kid watching the sport as an avid race fan. Seriously, it’s what got me into motorsports. I’m no superstar driver like Chaz Mostert, Scott Mclaughlin, David Reynolds, Shane Van Gisbergen or anything like that, but for me those boys remind me of the colorful characters we had back in the day and I can see why fans are drawn to the category because of their personalities.
I’ve asked this type of question on my podcast many times to a few of my guests in season one, so the question remains; what would I do if I ran Supercars for a season? Well ladies and gentlemen let's get into it shall we as I break it down into six sections…
Tony Cochrane in my opinion was the best promoter V8 Supercars ever had. I would love to have him as a guest on my podcast one day!
Part 1: Grid Sizes & REC’s
Ah the good ol’ grid size debate that never stops online about what we could have at the Bathurst 1000 if money, television rights and politics wasn't such a big thing in the sport. Well let’s just use the current generation of cars as an example to “beef” up the grid numbers if we upped the REC licenses to 32 entries in the present day to hypothetically fill out the grid spots. You could give Team Blanchard Racing an extra license, give RedBull Ampol Racing back its #888 third entry for a rookie driver like Cameron Hill or Declan Fraser and maybe give some Super2 front running teams such as Eggleston Motorsport two entries, MW Motorsport two entries and Image Racing one entry to fill out the field.
Meanwhile, you could still have wildcard entries flowing in every so often from WAU, Tickford and RedBull rounding out the field to 34-35 cars every couple of weekends. Over the Bathurst 1000 weekend that everyone goes on about online, I’d allow the Super2 and Super 3 teams to boost the grid numbers. The Super 2 & 3’s would have their own Sandown 250 as their own special event to make up for their own Bathurst endurance event. This Sandown 250 will include co-drivers for Super2 & 3 from national & state racing competitors. I’ll elaborate on my own Supercars schedule down below in another paragraph.
I’d also bring back the infamous International Invitational Gold Coast 600 race allowing teams to select any international driver that they choose from the Americas, Europe, South America or Asia to spice up the championship. For the back marker teams who can’t afford internationals they can have Super2 or Super3 drivers to fill the remaining co-driving spots.
A stacked grid back in 1999 for the Bathurst 1000.
Part 2: TV Programming & Trackside Entertainment
Personally for me I would also include a retro style broadcast which would bring back TV shows like the old 2003 show, V8 SuperStars, that could be broadcasted on Channel 7 once a week on primetime television. The Supercar Series would also have a third party Netflix show similar to F1’s Drive to Survive to entice an international viewership.
I’d also bring back the VB Challenge but under a different name where it would be Chevrolet vs Ford in V8 road cars racing around sponsored bins on the mainstraight. Also, I would love to bring in the Matt Mingay Hot Wheels Stunt Team and Stadium Trucks from America just to add that extra bit of excitement every fan needs, so they stay in the stands instead of going for a piss.
At the same time, the regional tracks could have local car shows down merchandise alley, drawing in all types of car enthusiasts to the Supercars event. This would entice the brand to sell more tickets instead of relying on TV rights to make money for the series.
Fox Sports would still stick to their regular programming of live all day broadcasts, but I would spice up the commentary team a bit with Neil Crompton still at the helm and replace Mark Skaife for someone like a Chad Neylon or even a left of field pick like a Wade Aunger or Richard Craill who could spice up the enthusiasm behind the microphone on the odd occasion. My secondary options would be Russell Ingall, Mark Skaife & Neil Crompton as I did like that trio a few years ago.
Pit reporters for me would include guys like Mark Larkham, Russell Ingall, Brian Van De Wakker, Matt Naulty, Rianna Crehan and Mark Skaife. Whilst at the end of the season during the Supercars Gala Awards I’d also introduce a mini talk show with a legend of the sport during the ceremonies. It’s currently not broadcast on Fox Sports 506 but under my leadership it certainly would be. Much like the Dally M Awards or Brown Low Medal for the NRL and AFL, which would also entice my sponsors from broadcasters outside of the regular TV sponsors in and around Supercars.
Remember this old show?
Part 3: Support Categories
Well of course Supercars needs its siblings, with Super2 & Super 3 backing it up trackside at most events. Outside of that I would have TCR Australia for one or two rounds, whilst the Australian SuperBikes would keep their spot at the Darwin Triple Crown alongside the Top Fuel Dragsters. I would also make the Toyota 86’s and Porsche Cup Australia follow the same support schedule as Super2 & 3.
The Australian Formula Ford Championship would also appear for the regional rounds for maybe three or four races at the most. Then for the rest of their championship they would finish it on the Shannons Nationals Championship schedule. I’d knock the SuperUtes off the Supercars schedule just because it doesn’t bring in a big enough grid capacity and replace it with Aussie Race Cars, Production Cars, Touring Car Masters & GT Challenge Australia.
Whilst the Supercars would give s5000 Gold Star a few rounds if it can keep its grid numbers above fifteen. As much as I love some support categories like s5000 and others (V8 Super Utes), if they can’t keep the numbers above fifteen they have to go to Shannons Nationals or play with ARG Speed Series to regain exposure and hope to make its grid capacity. Otherwise categories such as Radical Australia and local State Championships would be given the support bill.
The Gold Coast 600 and other street circuits would also have the Stadium Super Trucks reappear from the United States, just because it entices the fans to still sit on the fence. I’ll explain each support category with Supercars in a detailed schedule down below.
Chaz Mostert won last years TCR Australian Championship
Part 4: Supercars Schedule
Here I lay out my proposed Supercars schedule below. Note, this is not based on financials (that is a whole other kettle of fish I will look at another time). This is more of a ‘if we could do anything’ proposal.
I’ve added in some nostalgic circuits from the past and even brought in my very own “International Series”. Supercars once did it back in their heyday when they ventured overseas to the Americas and Middle East. Here I combined both the Americas and New Zealand as an international tour.
For me this racing schedule has a bit of everything and is based clearly on economic times before 2020. It focuses on the 2012 schedule with twenty rounds in total, stretching today's calendar by around six races, whilst also exploring the overseas market once again after a huge international hiatus that Tony Cochrane gave us all back in the day.
The Supercars Championship Series has three championships within itself, having the outright, the international and enduro cup being awarded at the end of year ceremonies. I feel this schedule gives our Supercars Championship more recognition to all its viewers whilst also giving it that modern day NASCAR vibe, as they have all different types of tracks on their own schedule.
Part 5: Prize Pool & Purse
The Supercars Championship Series needs to be influenced by Motorsport Australia in terms of purse earnings and having a prize pool. We need to Americanise our major series in some way because at the moment, no one really makes much money from Supercars. I mean the Pole Position Award is worth $500 and that's it. Seriously? Supercars need to entice more sponsors and viewers to get on board so they can pay their stars. Much like in NASCAR and in football codes, those guys get paid big dollars.
All that's happening back in Australia is you’ve got some paid drivers down the rear of the field and pro’s running up front but no real balance or BOP equalising the grid numbers. So what I do is introduce BOP, much like the TCR Australia Series and give the quick teams and drivers some weight to add to their car and then implement a NASCAR style purse. Using some of that $6 billion dollars that Motorsport Australia has lying around to give the race winners and rest of the field. Meaning the teams and drivers can reinvest with some of that money after they earn it.
This idea for me comes from Bob Jane who helped his NASCAR drivers and teams going to each race with a purse running all the way down to last place on the grid.
See here for how it was done:
Part 6: Gen3 & the Future Generations of Supercars
Since 2013, a lot has changed in the world of V8 Supercars. We have seen the older generation of cars coming into the sport, including Volvo, Nissan and Mercedes joining the Holdens and Fords. Today, the Gen3 Supercars are the next line of chassis to come in since the COTF (Car Of The Future).
Now we’re moving to 2 door “Sports Cars” with the Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro becoming the mainstay of the Supercars landscape. So, what would I do to change it up a little? First off I'd actually make the Super2 Teams be included in the next model of cars and hand over the last of the COFT’s over to Super3 and let the big teams archive their old cars for museum pieces.
That way you can bring back “The Privateers Cup” if they had the Gen3 for more teams to develop up and down the paddock. I think with the way the world is now and the way motorsports in Australia is, you could definitely get more teams on board to buy the current Gen3 model of car to make Supercars more competitive as a whole.
What would be a future generation of car for Supercars to use after Gen3? Honestly, as I’ve spoken about it on my podcast, SuperGT is the way to go. Everything that they do in Japan is fucking awesome. If Supercars and Australian Motorsports followed them we’d be in much better shape, not just commercially but financially also.
Fans go for loud noises and fast cars. In some ways it is like having World Time Attack on nearly every weekend at all different types of tracks with different aero packages. It also entices more international GT drivers to come out and race here. Similar to the 1980’s and 90’s when they had the World Touring Car teams and drivers competing against each other at Bathurst.
The other option would be Supercars to align themselves with NASCAR and build similar chassis for the same designer Dallara, so that we could have a TA2 type of scenario where Australia/NZ could take on the US at some circuits. These are just all the wild and wacky crazy ideas that are coming out of my head to make the Supercar Series more relevant overseas like back in its heyday to what it is now.
I mean MARC Cars Australia could have even built and designed their own V8 Supercar to be a part of the latest Gen3 concept. It didn’t happen but that race team certainly builds some pretty cool shit. There's so many avenues that Supercars could go down and make the series bigger and better than it is currently..
Exciting times ahead for the new Gen3 Supercar
My Final Thoughts
Will my fantasy ideas become a reality? Probably not, but one can dream. Maybe Supercars will see this article and consider some of my ideas, who knows. I understand the budgets are not the same as other global series. Even compared to past eras. For example, the Tony Cochrane era of V8 Supercars was a completely different time, but they had to be more gutsy with promotion because social media wasn’t really a thing at the time. History teaches us lessons, maybe we can take a pause and consider next steps for the future.
These days the crowds have dwindled across motorsports in Australia, even in speedway. Is this due to the ease of access across social platforms to watch online? Covid? Ticket costs? The only large crowds at car events that I’ve seen these days are World Time Attack before COVID and the Bathurst 1000 because of the heritage behind the ‘Great Race’. I think if Supercars added more ‘character’ (aka got its marketing together), cars on the grid, including more “battlers” and maybe reduced the cost of tickets for some events in the interim, we could see a boost to motorsports across the country.
I would love to see sold out crowds at Supercar events, like they had in the 1990’s! Anyways, as far-fetched as some of these ideas are for Supercars and Motorsport Australia, maybe the promotional team could look at this article for some inspirational ideas for years to come.
Let me know your thoughts and what you would love to see changed or introduced. I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
See you next time,