News Just In: "Australian's are whiners!" - Saward

And as I sat there in the ballroom of the Crown Casino, I found myself asking why on earth the vocal locals in the media love to attack this race so much. This is the Grand Prix that everyone in the world wants to emulate. This one and Monaco, I suppose.
Sure, the date was a problem this year. And the national heroes of the V8 fraternity were not there but Melbourne is still a great place. A great event. A great organization. You can always find faults if you want to: the celebrity race may be lacking celebrity (although local weather girls are big for a home audience). The air shows are nothing new, but they are better than having no air shows. The crowds are huge and enthusiastic. The fans are not negative at all. They are loving it.
Jeez. What a week! Hey, but who is whingeing?
Not this Pom.
I'll leave that to the locals.

ps: The thread title was totally a pun, by the way.



http://www.grandprix.com/gt/gt18903.html



So, would you really rate the Australian GP as the 2nd best behind Monacco?



Are we really a bunch of whiners? (Well, yes.)

Excuse my ignorance, but what were we whining about, and did it have any foundation?

This is an internet discussion forum. Everyone in here is whining, complaining, nit picking or bemoaning about something.

Some of them are even valid as well. :p

Excuse my ignorance, but what were we whining about, and did it have any foundation?

I reckon the Author is just trying to "rattle our cages"

Adelaide was a better GP venue because it was "end of season" and the track was nearer the city restaurants, etc.

Mike:)

Its only the Australian media(annoying idiots) that are whining, not the public. We love it, just look at the attendance.

Its only the Australian media(annoying idiots) that are whining, not the public.

Dont forget those that think the V8's are the biggest show on the road....

So, would you really rate the Australian GP as the 2nd best behind Monacco?

Well isnt it widely regarded the 3 M's (Monaco, Melbourne, Montreal) are the 3 biggest events of the year?

Motorsport fans aren't complaining...It's the media who say we can do without this event and the costs it has to the government. Think of the success to our local business, restaurants, hotels, motels (support categories), car rental shops, tyre sales (all the burnouts),etc. The melbourne business do a roaring trade. It's just the anti gp people...well we do all complain about something to do with the gp just not that it shouldnt be here just the v8's not being there or supports etc.
As Saward say's "The crowds are huge and enthusiastic. The fans are not negative at all. They are loving it"

I am a manager of a motel in the outskirts on Melbourne. The event is huge for us. We book out well in advance and we're a good 30 minute train ride and then a 15 min tram ride from the track.

If anything we are busier this year.

It does heaps for the local economy.

Yeah, you know I haven't met anyone who has said anything bad about the GP except for in the media (oh and my friends who think cars "going around in circles" is boring). Media beatup again IMHO.

Absolutely Nado, not doubt the fire was stoked along the way by a few of the v8 fraternity. It was a bandwagon, a poor one at that.

I've got to admit i was expecting a different version of "Australian's are Whiners!" from Mr Saward.....

....but then again i've got a long memory back to Bathurst 1987.....

This is "News Just In" ? :laugh: ;)

There will always be NIMBYS.

I am a manager of a motel in the outskirts on Melbourne. The event is huge for us. We book out well in advance and we're a good 30 minute train ride and then a 15 min tram ride from the track.

That's pretty impressive!

IMO the Aus GP is a key fixture on the calander. Given F1's logic that race should be replaced with by a Mongolian GP or Ethiopian GP. Those are emerging markets, don't you know? ;) I hope Ausis don't take their race for granted or have self loathing like the Europeans who feel that it's only right for races to be pulled out of their countries and replaced in places that don't even know what F1 is.

This is an internet discussion forum. Everyone in here is whining, complaining, nit picking or bemoaning about something.

Some of them are even valid as well. :p

dsg does have a point there. :laugh:

I am just delighted to have caught up with the writings of Joe Saward. I used to love his reports of the European/World Touring Car Championships in the Autosport during the mid-80s. Especially the hilarious exploits he got up to with the drivers before and after the races. All those goings on were often more entertaining than what actually happened on the track.

And then you get these sorts of opinion pieces...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/20/1174153055143.html

My favourite moment of each tour is as we cross Sydney Road and I hold up a stick with a loaf of bread on it and stop the traffic. Not just any traffic but; I tell them all to look out for a 4WD. As the 4WD approaches I walk onto the road and hold up my stick ushering the Loafers across with the words: "Sorry this is an emergency. These people have not eaten for three minutes. You are not a local, please take the next right, which will take you to South Yarra."

One of the Loafers said: "I'm from Brighton, dear, and if you did that where I'm from you'd be run down."

"Yes," I replied, "That's why I live here."


What a barrel of laughs her life must be.

Meanwhile, I will take the GP ta.

Saward's comments reflect on the discussion happening in Victoria about renewing the F1 contract which runs out in 2010.The state government is losing $20-28million annually on the race and there is nothing they can do which would reduce this loss signifigantly.Also the European TV companies who provide Bernie with his greates funds are unhappy about races in the Asian time zone which translate to 3-4am telecasts in Europe.Thus Bernie is talking about night races (impractical at Albert Park between turns 2 and 8) and that the race should be run for V8 Supercars(yuk and also not possible as the Grand Prix act specifies the park can only be used for an F1 event).That the crowd on the weekend was an increase over 2006 came as a surprise to the knockers and even the organisers.I have been to all the Australian F1 events (except 1995) but I get the feeling that forces are conspiring within government in Victoria and within F1 management that will mean 2010 will be the end of F1 in Australia.I hope I'm wrong.

I am just delighted to have caught up with the writings of Joe Saward.
Among other things Joe is the F1 writer for Motorsport News in Australia, the above article also appeared as his opinion column in the same publication. It would be fair to say that he had considered his audience before it was written.

And yes, he is an enjoyable and entertaining scribe.

As for Catherine Deveny (aptly tagged as "Mad women with a major problem for no apparent reason"), if she does that sort of thing on Sydney road she will get run over, mainly because most of the vehicles are un-able to stop in an emergency situation. What an appalling piece of writing, there is no connection between the first four paragraphs and the balance of the article.

To roundly criticise “the Loafer’s” is poor form as well, because, in case you missed it they are her paying customers. Just what every body looks for from a service provider, to be made the object of ridicule, She is supposed to be a comedy writer and stand-up comedian, yet the jokes were obviously too high brow for me. Then again, the quote: “There goes my chance of ever being a grid girl”, was hilarious, actually genetics scampered all chance of her becoming a grid girl.

Yes, I was going to ask Alan52 where he's been all this time - Saward has been the F1 correspondent for Motorsport News for the past decade. His regular column in MN is quite insightful and this week was, as in his similar opinion on his own site, wondering WHY we Aussies (and he does target the daily media) are being so critical of what is in his view the best GP of the year!

Is there a GP anywhere in the world that does not run at a direct loss, I would think that they are all subsidised to a large extent and like Melb get an indirect benefit from tourism and jobs created for the event

I haven't come across a single person critical of the event, Australian media on the other hand is mostly either tabloid garbage or hippy propaganda & is best avoided & ignored.

Dont forget those that think the V8's are the biggest show on the road....



Well isnt it widely regarded the 3 M's (Monaco, Melbourne, Montreal) are the 3 biggest events of the year?


I don't regard Montreal as being "big" at all, and Melbourne would be the same if it didn't come after a 5 month absence of the sport

Is there a GP anywhere in the world that does not run at a direct loss, I would think that they are all subsidised to a large extent and like Melb get an indirect benefit from tourism and jobs created for the event

a lot of events have a loss from the F1 GP. the previous Spa GP organizers have gone bankrupt, and Hockenheim isn't far off

Is there a GP anywhere in the world that does not run at a direct loss, I would think that they are all subsidised to a large extent and like Melb get an indirect benefit from tourism and jobs created for the event

Maybe Monaco. From memory, i'm sure that Bernie doesn't charge the circuit holder's (are there any in Monaco??) to stage the event.

And then you get these sorts of opinion pieces...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/20/1174153055143.html Thanks for this. Good to know you have these useful people in Oz as well as us. Perhaps we could send you a few more? :rotate:

Jim

Is there a GP anywhere in the world that does not run at a direct loss, I would think that they are all subsidised to a large extent and like Melb get an indirect benefit from tourism and jobs created for the eventSilverstone? Position may be different for the future if Bernie's demands have to be met.

Jim

"Yes, I was going to ask Alan52 where he's been all this time - Saward has been the F1 correspondent for Motorsport News for the past decade.

Yes I know who Joe is back to his first visits to Australia in the group A days which included interviews on the 7 Bathurst telecast and I would have read every one of his MN columns.

And then you get these sorts of opinion pieces...
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2007/03/20/1174153055143.html
OMG!!!! Either she's a comedian and that is very tongue in cheek or it's the worst piece of journalism i have ever read. So opiniated, biased and unresearched as to be laughable and definitely NOT fit for print. How could an editor let that through?

She says it herself "left wing (nut) paper." Bracket my addition. It is the same here.