Sensational-Adelaide.com

Should Adelaide put up its hand for an annual Indy Car Race?

It appears the Gold Coast is losing it after 17 years due to an 'unpalatable' date change forced upon them by the US Indy Organisation. The Gold Coast race has traditionally been in October, but from 2009 that's the last race of the season, and Indy Organisers want that one on US soil - makes sense i suppose.

So presumably the requirement is to host the race in the ~September timeframe. Could Adelaide do that? what are the pros and cons?

I was thinking the same thing today, however unfortunately it wouldn't work.

2 annual races wouldn't work at all. In order to have the Indy they would have to down size or
cancel the Clipsal 500. The Clipsal 500 is so successful that they won't tamper with it.

The more the better! We should be having the Clipsal, Indy and F1. Now that'd be eventful!

Oh, please no. The Clipsal 500 and V8 Supercars in general are much, much, much better racing spectacles than the CART/Champ Car/Indy/Whatever We Merged With This Week dross.

Indy seems to suit GC, it comes off as a bit loud and glitzy but hollow with no soul (so yeah very GC then). The whole thing is just so very American (once more fits GC to a glove), and i mean the bad obnoxious traits of America not their gd ones. The sport also seems to be where F1 was 10 years ago, based on car design, and always will play second fiddle in international open wheel racing to F1.

Yes you may have guessed Im a little bias, hence my view is skewed a bit, so Im all for getting our F1 back. F1 is the pure, cutting edge, pushing human technological and engineering ingenuity to the edge in the motor sport world. These verbs we would love to wash off on to the city should the sport return. The much greater international attention with broader viewing audience (than indy) would also be great with millions hearing "and welcome to the Australian Grand Prix here in Adelaide, South Australia". This is an important feat with most overseas people not aware of our city (brand). Also all those internationals used to love our circuit and visiting our town in the good old days, with many still regarding our track as the best city circuit or at the very least second only to Monaco. Victorians too had the attitude that the one time of year they would spend a weekend in Adelaide was F1 weekend. Now they don't bother going to the race in Melb cause the whole city isnt in party mode (hence their constant low crowds), so it was more the whole package that sold the event, it was Adelaide at its best. Oh yeah and Murray Walker ("the voice of f1") loves Adelaide and comes back for the clipsal and classic adel all the time.

The money is the big issue, with Vic losing millions every year. will it be cheaper in Adel? prob not until F1 restrains their costs. that said the millions lost might be the same amount as an equivalent global ad campaign for Adel that the race coverage would produce. I think that is how Vic justifies the losses.

True a race would compete with the clipsal, but if held in Oct/Nov (so Adel can once more be the ultimate(final) race) there is enough time to get over it and gear up for clipsal. Some of the infrastructure could also be left up. ie Vic Park Grand stand used for Classic Adel prologue Oct/Nov, F1Nov, Tour Down Under Jan, Clipsal Feb/Mar, plus any others events that might come up. And F1 needs to be more like a "motor sport festival" like clipsal but not just pinch all its idea like the post race concerts. Instead maybe after the race close off rundle st let the restaurants extend their seating onto the streets, put makeshift bars down alleyways to complement existing pubs and have a big street party. The target audiences for clipsal and f1 are also a bit different so shouldn't compete as much as u think. Clipsal (like indy to a degree) is for lovable bogans, country folk and other mid to low socio-economic members who drive holdens or fords. F1 is for internationals, interstaters, and mid to high socio-economic members who drive ferraris, mercs and bmws.

so that is my very one-sided vision, which is based more on desire than all the facts. if put in such simple terms of should we have indy or f1 you know may answer, but if asked should we have indy or nothing... i would probably say nothing.

peachy wrote:Indy seems to suit GC, it comes off as a bit loud and glitzy but hollow with no soul (so yeah very GC then). The whole thing is just so very American (once more fits GC to a glove), and i mean the bad obnoxious traits of America not their gd ones. The sport also seems to be where F1 was 10 years ago, based on car design, and always will play second fiddle in international open wheel racing to F1.

If Indy is where F1 was 10 years ago, maybe the fans who've been without this sort of racing in Adelaide for over a decade will be able to pick up where they left off?

If we can get F1 back, we should do so, but Melbourne aren't likely to let it go without a fight. Meanwhile, Indy will do. If nothing else it will prove we still have the ability to host great international motor races.

When does the Melbourne F1 contract expire? I understand they extended it based on the success of the twilight race?

Aidan wrote:but Melbourne aren't likely to let it go without a fight

Are you bloody serious? Nobody gives a stuff about the stupid thing, except a few politicians who say how it's so great cos it's boosting the economy. Waste of a good $50mil of a taxpayer's money per year :wank:

What's with Adelaide constantly wanting B-grade sporting events - first the Indy, now the F1 Grand Prix. But if it makes you feel good inside that you stole a boring, B-grade event off Melbourne then hey, do it. You're more than welcome to take the thing - we don't want it.

Somebody wrote:

Aidan wrote:but Melbourne aren't likely to let it go without a fight

Are you bloody serious? Nobody gives a stuff about the stupid thing, except a few politicians who say how it's so great cos it's boosting the economy. Waste of a good $50mil of a taxpayer's money per year :wank:

If that's the case, why did you take it in the first place?

And when the contract was being renegotiated, it was the politicians who controlled things - hence you still have it, and probably will for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile the Adelaide politicians weren't interested, even though there was strong public support.

What's with Adelaide constantly wanting B-grade sporting events - first the Indy, now the F1 Grand Prix.

It's quite simple: firstly, we want the best sporting events we can get. Secondly we're not snobs. And thirdly, by proving we can host them well, we can not only attract better ones, but also turn what we have into an A grade sporting event, like the F1 Grand Prix was when we had it.

But if it makes you feel good inside that you stole a boring, B-grade event off Melbourne then hey, do it. You're more than welcome to take the thing - we don't want it.

Any idea how we can convince your politicians of that?

If not don't worry - there's plenty of time, as we've yet to convince ours.

Indy racing isn't that all-international, more like Americans-only race events.

I personally do not think it would be of any benefits to SA at all if we were keen to use the Clipsal 500 track.

However, having a dedicated international standard race-track close/around the metropolitan area would create better opportunities of holding more automotive race events, whatever happened to that race-track proposals off Port Adelaide?

Aidan wrote:If that's the case, why did you take it in the first place?

Kennett wanted to use Albert Park for something after he fixed it up - plus he wanted a new event to take off Adelaide

Aidan wrote:Meanwhile the Adelaide politicians weren't interested, even though there was strong public support.

Typical example of what is holding Adelaide back :wank:

Aidan wrote:It's quite simple: firstly, we want the best sporting events we can get. Secondly we're not snobs. And thirdly, by proving we can host them well, we can not only attract better ones, but also turn what we have into an A grade sporting event, like the F1 Grand Prix was when we had it.

If you can take back the F1 Grand Prix and fix it up, then good on ya. It's slowly becoming more of a joke here - the crowd numbers are down every year, but Melbourne's population & visitor numbers are going up.

Even speculating on hosting the F1 in Adelaide is ridiculous - the amount of cash that Bernie Ecclestone is asking to host GP's, plus the cost required to build the infrastructure to continue hosting the GP once you have it - hundreds of millions of dollars for a 5 year race contract. F1 is the form of motorsport to put a city on the map, but unless we built permanent facilities and met Bernie on a very benevolent day, it ain't going to happen.

Indy would leave a bad taste in the mouth for me after the high quality F1 and Clipsal races we've hosted - very very second best.

Heh, the Motorsport Board(SA) love the 500. So I doubt it. Unless it's done without them in the picture, which would be A BLOODY GOOD THING(if anyone knows or remembers what happened regarding the LeMans)

rev wrote:Heh, the Motorsport Board(SA) love the 500. So I doubt it. Unless it's done without them in the picture, which would be A BLOODY GOOD THING(if anyone knows or remembers what happened regarding the LeMans)

A disgrace it was what they did and to think he was going to invest here too. Don Panoz had a real genuine affection for Adelaide.