Melbourne Loses The Australian GP

[forza_autodelta]

GP races here are all shown after midnight on Sunday, so I'm hardly going to leap to the defence of the idea that we need a night race. It'll be disappointing if we lose another round of a world class racing series (after WA lost the WRC round) but if those in power make these stupid decision then those who vote them in need to show them how poor they are.

hum you know I lost Motors TV this year, and so the V8 supercars series, and for me it's more important than the Formula one. Anyway, I hope F1 will keep going to Autralia, since every year there's an interesting race there, and the atmosphere is in my opinion more attractive for the viewer than the desert and the empty seats of Dubai

[BarneyBoy]

Please, let's not go on with east coast snobbery that cities like Perth couldn't attract the crowds - quite the opposite, actually. When Adelaide won the right to host GPs, Sydney & Melbourne types squealed that no one would attend and that the race should be closer to the population centres (ie Melbourne & Sydney). Adelaide proved this notion to be nonsense. It continually attracted crowds in excess of predictions and subsequent races in Melbourne struggled to approach the crowds that "little Adelaide" managed, culminating in the final event:

"The crowd was the biggest in history - not just the history of Adelaide but also of modern Formula 1 racing as well. A four-day attendance of 520,000 people and a race day crowd of 210,000 are extraordinary statistics." ("Thank you Adelaide" F1 News - Grandprix.com) Melbourne managed 410,000 in 1996. And giving away 10,000 free tickets to schoolkids this year will only continue to artificially prop up ever dwindling figures.

There's absolutely no reason why a city such as Perth or Hobart or ANYWHERE couldn't or shouldn't host such an event based on its population. Australians have already proved that they are as capable (if not THE most capable) of conducting such events. Le Mans races, V8 SuperCar, World Rally, Indy, MotoGP, Superbike... all successful NO MATTER WHERE they are held.

Bottom line, however:
1] Bernie won't have another circuit. So forget your Sandowns and Simmons Plains. He wants an identifiable, unique backdrop - not some anonymous gravel trap. A street circuit with a city behind.
2] The big TV audience doesn't like getting up at 5am to watch our races. Bernie doesn't give a s*it if a few thousand of us have to do the same. We got no clout as an audience.
3] The big TV audience WOULD watch at 11am (our night time).
4] The noise issues would be too much for the Victorian Government to cope with, so Elbert Park is out.
5] Adelaide hosted a Le Mans race in 2000 at night and was grudgingly tolerated by local residents. I doubt it would ever happen again.
6] Bernie doesn't give damn about anything except emerging markets, and Singapore, China, Russia, Turkey, India &c are all more value to him than Australia ever will be. We need to accept that. We just make it too hard for ourselves.

He hates problems, and when the SA opposition who whined & sniped at the Adelaide event for 11 years were elected, the following day he signed the Melbourne event. If there's even a whiff of trouble, or a backer (government) who's not _100%_ behind the event, he'll cheerfully pull their plug. Like it or not, that's the devil you have to deal with when you sleep with Bernie.

But please, no more rubbish about population centres, eh?

[fpv_gtho]

Its not rubbish though. The fact is Perth is the most isolated capital in the world. Any locals wanting to travel to the race are probably going to have to spend twice as much in doing so compared to either Adelaide or Melbourne. At least Adelaide is about the same distance from Melbourne that Sydney is.

[BarneyBoy]

Its not rubbish though. The fact is Perth is the most isolated capital in the world. Any locals wanting to travel to the race are probably going to have to spend twice as much in doing so compared to either Adelaide or Melbourne. At least Adelaide is about the same distance from Melbourne that Sydney is.

There's 2 things here:
a) There are more people to consider than Sydney-siders - other Australians also have a right to host and attend these events. What, it's OK for the rest of Australia to travel to Sydney, but not vice versa?
b) It's the 21st century and plane flights are cheap and plentiful.

We all heard the same things said about Adelaide - it's too far, no one will go, what a waste...if Perth can win the race, for god's sake support them - we know it will be world-class. Whether they can plan a circuit than fits Bernie's 'plan' is the hard part. Personally I think Bernie's out of love with Australia.

[nota]

Let me guess .. you're from Perth?

[BarneyBoy]

Let me guess .. you're from Perth?

No, actually. That'd be like me assuming you're from Sydney
I've been to Perth and it's a nice city. They could (and have) host(ed) any sort of event they want. As could any of our capital cities - believe it or not.

I'm just making the point that a city's population has nothing to do with the crowds it attracts. And automatically assuming that Melbourne or Sydney would attract bigger crowds is flawed (F1 GP is proof). So why automatically claim major events, based on population size?

[2ndclasscitizen]

Its not rubbish though. The fact is Perth is the most isolated capital in the world.

Actually, no. It's quicker to fly to Asia from Perth than from Sydney. My parents got to Bali quicker than I got there from the 'Berra.

[fpv_gtho]

I dont see how that changes my point

[Falcon500]

I dont see how that changes my point

Imo it doesnt while your point isnt totally right it reeks of being practical wa state of 3 million people vs sydney city of 3 million people potentioal at the door step and not to mention canberra/costal/country and melbourne isnt that far away.

Given his logic youll be able to run a sucsessful NRL match in adelade or perth and while im a fan of nrl and would like to see it spread again i dont like your chances....

[fpv_gtho]

Well the point i was alluding to was that of Perth being the most isolated capital. Whilst i couldnt find any referance to back that up other than a line from the Perth tourism website, i could only find referances for the furthest capitals apart sharing a border (Russia and North Korea) and furthest capitals of a country (Wellington and Canberra incidently).

Either way, i'm not trying to argue its all about population. Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide are all around the same relative size, and 2 of those produce 300K+ strong weekend attendance figures for motorsport events. The difference i see is even though Perth is a similarly small city to Brisbane and Adelaide, the latter 2 are far closer to Sydney and Melbourne which is arguably where alot of people are going to be coming from. If i was to fly to an event in Perth it'd cost significantly more than to Melbourne, Adelaide or Brisbane. From what i could see on Jetstars website, they dont even fly direct from Sydney to Perth. If the price to get to a Melbourne/Brisbane/Adelaide event wasnt already high enough to convince me to watch on TV, having to travel to Perth would certainly make it so.

[SlickHolden]

Phillip Island is out, After we tried to get out with around 10,000 people there just imagine 100,000 people..
Took us 15min then a dirt road ad another 30min to finally get moving closer to the limit, It's impossible to get out of that track in less then 2 hours if the numbers are above 70,000.

But last herd was we have gone to bernie and said 5.30pm start time next year, Take that because there wont be a night race.

[SlickHolden]

Let me guess .. you're from Perth?

Me tinks SA.

[fpv_gtho]

Lindsay Fox would undoubtedly work on the roads coming out of Phillip Island if Bernie wanted to hold the race there. He's willing to upgrade whatever parts of the track need changing if it means holding an F1 race. Hopefuly whatever might be done to the circuit layout isnt irrepairable for the sake of anybody else wanting to race there.

[SlickHolden]

The track is perfect, I'd love to see the F1's getting around PI, The old F5000's got around the track with some huge speeds looked fantastic.
But getting into the track and then out is misery, There is only one bridge to get out and that is 2 lanes only. Traffic would be a nightmare.

[BarneyBoy]

The track is perfect, I'd love to see the F1's getting around PI, The old F5000's got around the track with some huge speeds looked fantastic.
But getting into the track and then out is misery, There is only one bridge to get out and that is 2 lanes only. Traffic would be a nightmare.

It's a beautiful circuit, that's for sure. Just one thing...
...it's got lights, hasn't it?