Punters at The Island

[Average Punter]

Just home from the Punters trip to The Island and although I'll leave the race reports to "the artist formerly known as PWR Fan", I'd like to make a few observations of the place.

I have to say Phillip Island is absolute paradise for spectators!

I have been to a track or ten in my time, but this joint is sensational. We spent Saturday walking and covered everything from the Southern Loop, up the main straight, around the back to MG and up to Lukey, then down to Siberia, and everywhere was the same. Close to the cars (not close enough to read the stupid names on the back window of course) and they are FAST!!

Top that off with ocean views, green grass to lie on and I swear I'll never go to a street circuit again!

There were plenty of dunnies (and Kenny must have been working there as they were actually clean!), plenty of food stalls (but just how many ice creams did the girl at MG sell on Sunday when it was freezing cold, blowing a gale and raining sideways???) There were grandstands but they were all locked. Looks like they are there permanently for the MotoGP.

The XXXX Retreat was set up opposite pit entry and had a great view almost to the northern tip of Tassie (or was that of the Angels I can't remember...)

Thanks to some advice from a terrific bloke from the Inverloch Apex Club, we parked up behind the loop onto the main straight for free!

Then as a completely innocent oversight, somebody must have accidentally hidden some beers and bourbonskis in my car which we only discovered after passing thru the security check. Was good really as I just can't get my head around paying $5 for XXXX (that's $120/carton) when we can buy Carlton Draught at Coles in Cowes for $42...

The racing program was OK. Biante MCM (John Bowe was fantastic!) Carreras, Minis (they need to take the mufflers off those things, they sound like a sewing machine...) and FFords. And I'm a bit over Mr Mingay and Mr Bolger. I mean when you've seen them shred Dunlops 183 times before, it's hard to get too excited.

The on-track commentary was great. Paul Marinelli and Luke West I think. No big screens for most of the spectators track makes following the race a tad hard but the PA was good. Why can't the other circuits put up a scoreboard like that wonderful tower at Bathurst???

I'll also put in a plug for the wonderful Go-Kart place at Moorabbin we went to on Friday, to the MCG for a fantastic venue for the Swans v Doggies game on Friday night, and to the $2 Happy Hour at the St Kilda RSL. Also to Judith Wright Real Estate in Cowes for finding us a house that sleeps 10 for $180/night, and to The Vic Hotel in Melbourne where we had 3 share rooms for under $100.

And finally, will all the people who lost the pair of Ray Banns that I found at The Island on Sunday form a queue over there please...

[Pro Racer]

great stuff punt, while i have driven past the PI circuit i have never attended a meeting there but i do agree perminent circuits are much better facilities then concrete canyons especially when you get nice and close to the action but without a 10 foot whire fence around it.

[Trevor]

As a former local from down there, it is nice to hear some good reports of the place.

The Sunday crowd didn't look too big, what was your opinion?

It is a picturesque track, but the weather on that side of the island is absolutely ****ful.

[kramer]

Love the place - I go to the historic meeting every March.

Agree about the weather - can be pretty horrid.

Yeah, the crowd didn't look too impressive on TV.

I think those stands are temporary - I'm pretty sure they weren't there early this year.


Kramer

[Denosaur]

Good to see that you had a good time and that Melbourne turn on some reasonable weather for the weekend. Shame about that wind, but you can't have everything.

Those grand stands, plus some other structures down there are being put up for the MotoGP. On TV it didn't look good to see empty grand stands.

[Just Do It!]

Originally Posted by Average Punter

"the artist formerly known as PWR Fan"

.....very funny.

The rest of sounds like a great trip.....but watch out for the coppers chasing you for smuggling

[Average Punter]

Originally Posted by Big_Trev

The Sunday crowd didn't look too big, what was your opinion?

First time there so can't really say, but there were definitely more there on Saturday than Sunday. Although with the weather forecast the way it was on Sunday, I can understand why some stayed home.

Getting out of the carpark is always a good gauge as to the crowd size, and given we got straight out both days, I'd say the crowd was "disappointing..."

The weather for the weekend really was odd. I wore a t-shirt to the G on Friday night, but Sunday at the circuit was particularly nasty with a howling westerly in our faces all day.

As for the 500 itself, we enjoyed it. The things that stood out for me were
1 How much Skaifey has lost it. Watching David Reynolds round him up and pass him, I almost felt sorry for Big Nose (almost...)
2 FPR's lousy pit strategy. Whincup was putting 20 seconds a lap on #6 after changing to wets.
3 Another cr*p safety car call. We heard over the PA that it was the Ellery/Ritter car just as it came past us at full tilt...
4 Tander can steer. Skaife's "ill-handling" car suddenly became a jet after Garth got in.

But my favourite part of the whole weekend was watching 7 News on Sunday night back in Cowes when Tim Watson (ex Essendon legend) pulled off the line of the year. As they showed CL blasting around in front they cut to a shot of Jamie and Tim said "with Lowndes out in front, Whincup spent some time in the pits polishing his helmet..."

[johnh875]

Good stuff & you are right, PI is a brilliant place if a bit inclement at times. The grandstands and likely most of the other facilities are temporary, brought in for the V8's and MotoGP - which makes complete sense of course for a permanent track to have facilities to cater for a "normal" crowd that they supplement for the big events.

Dad & a few of his mates were down there, they said they only got about a minute of downpour at turn 1 so they were lucky.

[PVDA]

Hopefully for next years event they can organise things better to allow the V8 fans to use the MotoGP infrastructure (Grandstands) as it really made the crowd look small with all those disused seats around the place.

Mind you I don't think a large crowd was there anyway.

[Rachel Richards]

Originally Posted by Average Punter

Getting out of the car-park is always a good gauge as to the crowd size, and given we got straight out both days, I'd say the crowd was "disappointing..."

Having sat in the long queue to get out (and over the bridge) many times, if you got out as described above disappointing might even be a generous description.

[V8RYAN]

it was very dissapointing that we couldnt park the truck at the end of the southern loop like normal. i guess they needed good access for all the invisible spectators in the grandstands (it really beered me off all weekend looking over at those disused grandstands, made us feel like us v8 fans are second class citizens)

i got a spot at turn one up the back, there were a couple of buses next to us and a motorhome (was that you average punter?)

crowd was very small but the racing was great, and that is all that matters.

i did however forget to set the box to record, does anybody have a copy of the telecast on DVD?

please please please help me if you can, ill pay $$$$$$ for it..

[Boxy]

Glad to hear the Punters enjoyed PI so much. We also had an awesome time.

I definately agree with the spectating. We were surprised at how much of the track you can see from various vantage points and settled on turn 1 for the big one on Sunday. (and V8Ryan, I saw the truck sitting on top of the hill - looked like an awesome view!) We got there at 7.30am and parked 3 rows back from the fence and in front of the superscreen..very handy for the one minute downpour! And yes, they charged $10 but money well spent.

The other thing I noticed was how different the place looked compared to the tele. It was way better than I expected.

The muscle cars were a real highlight for sure. Great dicing and they sound (the mustangs in particular) unreal. Minis had a couple of good dices, but sound terrible and far too slow. Enjoyed the FF, but my 3yr old daughter cracked me up when they came out and thought they were 'silly' compared to the noisy V8's!

Grog prices were crazy...$8.50 for a Jimmy can! There was some smuggling going on in these parts come Sunday as well..

Those empty grandstands were very hard to look at! What a waste! How hard would it have been to open them up? Like people had said elsewhere, it must have looked terrible on the teev...I'm sure plenty of people would have probably even paid extra to sit in them. Sort it out PI!!

A bit bloody windy at times, but all in all an awesome place to watch motorsport.

[cavvy]

Originally Posted by Boxy

Those empty grandstands were very hard to look at! What a waste! How hard would it have been to open them up? Like people had said elsewhere, it must have looked terrible on the teev...I'm sure plenty of people would have probably even paid extra to sit in them. Sort it out PI!!

A bit bloody windy at times, but all in all an awesome place to watch motorsport.

Its an issue for the promoters, not PI - VESA need to negotiate access with the F1 office who are responsible for MotoGP.

Sounds like VESA didnt cover costs? Mr Fox is canny, not interested in the superprofits/losses, of promoting.

[Average Punter]

Originally Posted by cavvy

Sounds like VESA didnt cover costs? Mr Fox is canny, not interested in the superprofits/losses, of promoting.

Any idea how that works cavvy??? Would Linfox lease the entire joint to VESA for the weekend and let them carry all the risk?

[Trevor]

V8SC carry all the risk.

Fox told them to bugger off when V8SC up'd the price back in 2003, hence no 2004 round, V8SC now go it alone, with a statement like "what, you want ME to pay you to come to MY racetrack?"

V8SC just hire the facility and do all the work themselves, although I am sure PIARC help in some way, their ego's tell them they have to - LOL

[MPA]

Originally Posted by Average Punter

Any idea how that works cavvy??? Would Linfox lease the entire joint to VESA for the weekend and let them carry all the risk?

Yes.