Will the Gold Coast Event Still Happen

[rustyinsthoz]

Originally posted by GTRMagic
Here's hoping the new 7 man TEGA board will be able to control TEGA, and point that business in the direction the owners of the category want to go in....

The question is , do they know which direction they are going in , and in which direction they want to go .

As for the collapse of Cart , it looks like it is inevitable . And as for the IRL not racing overseas , they raced in Japan this year for the first time , taking over an event from the CART championship . So the the precedent has been set . The Surfers event would make a great tv spectacle back home in the US and if the finances were right I think the IRL could be lured here .

[GTRMagic]

Quite possibly the IRL cars could come here, but would they be any good on a street circuit anyway? Oval cars traditionally are useless on a left-right circuit.... especially if they dont have a specific, tuneable aero package that could help with downforce on a road course.

Old TC may have lucked into this one...

[vatuloa]

The Gold Coast will not have Supercars as the leading class but because there are a number of people working for Indy on the Coast full time they will keep the spin coming. If Cart fold the race will fold and they will look for another way to promote the Coast.

[Zinger]

IRL a looking to move to Road Racing about 4 Rounds in 2005. Apparently eyeing Long Beach, Mexico and some Races in Canada, perhaps Gold Coast is on the shopping list.

[Chucky]

CART may fold, technically, but that won't be the end of it. At the moment it just looks like the OWRS boys are about to get a real bargain.

They won't end up spending anywhere near the US$0.56 a share offer they originally made. And look for the deal to be signed, sealed and delivered before Dec. 25 as well.

[gttouring]

so the real christmas present would be a new cart!
I think the V8 race can hold up to not having CART Surfer's is one of the best street course's ever built really-I dunno if F4000holdens will really cut the mustard though, a supertruck race there might, but IRL would be stupid not to fill in this very obvious gap if CART falters

[Chucky]

IRL will not be coming to Surfers Paradise no matter how obvious it seems.

F4000? You must be joking.

I don't think a V8 race would hold up. The locals would not bite their tongue for much longer if they had to put up with a V8's only crowd.

[Crash Test]

I think this year more people went for the party and the V8s than for the Champ Cars. I mean, who even follows the series these days?

[Chucky]

Not people in your neck of the woods, by the sound of it!

[Mattracer]

Isn't that more of a reflection on the crowds who go to Indy though?

[pete55]

The IRL cars don't interest me at all. The Champ cars are miles better, I even follow Champ cars ahead of F1. If Champ cars go i guess i'll just follow F3.

[Crash Test]

Sure the Champ Cars are interesting, but a lot of people don't give a stuff about them now that the field is filled with nevilles and Paul Tracy... And I can only judge by the number of people who waited around for the CART race, and those who were camped in for the V8s and hanging over the fences...

[pete55]

I agree Crash, something has to be done to revive the series. But the cars still look miles better than the IRL ones.

[XR08WA]

What about formula nippon ?

[Phase3]

Don't kid your self for a second that if the CART boys pull out the V8's won't snap up top billing in a heart beat. Hell they already have equall top billing, and are getting a new purpose built pit facility next year.

I'll go sofar as to say that if CART do pull out, it will be a much better event for it!

[vortexo]

Originally posted by pete55
The IRL cars don't interest me at all. The Champ cars are miles better, I even follow Champ cars ahead of F1. If Champ cars go i guess i'll just follow F3.

You have not seen an IRL race then.

[racer69]

The Gold Coast event has been from the start an open-wheel event. Shouldn't this try to be continued rather than just trying to cash in on the taxi's current popularity?

Why not juggle the date abit, and make it an international Formula 3 event, to tie in the with the Macau and Korean Grands Prix? As has been mentioned before, anything could draw abit of a crowd on the Coast for the parties, couple that with it being a completely different type of meeting (as all the other street races lately have been for touring cars), and the government wouldn't have to tip as much in.

It would be good to see the IRL race there when/if CART/OWRS folds/doesn't start. Either that or maybe a return of the ALMS to Australia.

I really think it would be a shame if the Gold Coast meeting became just a local meeting.

[Chucky]

Now your talking!

A late October international F3 event would be great.

[Mark Webber]

If their smart they should make it a international F3 event to assit young Aussie's so they can move on to bigger and better things instead of taxi racing . it could be bigger than Macua or even a F3000 event as part of the world series but it should remain a open wheel event as the main draw card

[Wizzby]

That's a good plan actually

[Gaz170]

F3 sounds great if CART falls over.

Definitely need some premier open wheel class headlining the event.

[mountainstar]

A lot of people flipped when they heard the news the other day that OWRS had changed their proposal. Considering the current circumstances CART is in, the new proposal actually gives OWRS more of a chance of succeeding with the buyout, because of the ways the laws in the USA are set up.

Based on what I know, everything will be status quo next year in regards to surfers so I would not worry unless OWRS says goodbye we quit.

IF by some chance CART expired, Formula Nippon would be a better choice than the IRL.

[vatuloa]

The aim of the Gold Coast event is to get Tourists not just for the race but throughout the year Cart had the sizzle with Paul Newman and Nigal Mansell at differant stages. The numbers have increased because of the promotion and the week long activities. Most people coming away from the event would not be able to tell you who won. I doubt if a formula 3 event could get the same sizzle.

[Jay]

We're going through the same thing for the Molson Indy events in Canada. I just renewed some tickets with a guarantee that if CART is no longer racing there, we'll be offered a refund. Hopefully (and it's looking more likely) there will be an open-wheel racing series next year doing what CART did - and visiting the Surfer's Paradise event in Australia, Molson Indy races in Canada, etc...

However, if it does fail, the IRL won't be taking over any road/street courses until 2005, as they have tested the cars and they are not ready for road/street circuits next year. Even if they were, I'm not sure they'd take the Australian race... of the CART events, the ones mentioned most are Long Beach, Toronto, Elkhart Lake, Laguna Seca and Mid-Ohio. The reason the IRL went to Japan was because the track is owned by Honda, and it was a condition on their competing in the IRL - otherwise, I don't think they would have.

[Phase3]

Originally posted by racer69
The Gold Coast event has been from the start an open-wheel event. Shouldn't this try to be continued rather than just trying to cash in on the taxi's current popularity?

The same could be said of a certain street circuit in Adelaide........