Comments on: V8 promoters overtake NSW’s L-plate Premier

By: santo calabrese

santo calabrese — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Whatever the rights or wrongs about the V8 race at Homebush and V8 supercars in general, can someone with a modicum of knowledge about car racing write about it rather than Alex Mitchel? Yesterday Alex had the V8's rallying around Homebush. Please Alex, a rally is where individual cars compete on timed stages, usually but not exclusively on dirt roads one at a time, not in a pack of 20 or 30 cars at once.
And todays item is about the Bathurst 2000.

Try the Bathurst 1000 Alex. It has been known by various names since it began:

1963-65 ARMSTRONG 500 Miles
1966-67 GALLAHER 500 Miles
1968-1972 HARDIE-FERODO 500 Miles
1973-80 HARDIE-FERODO 1000 Kilometres
1981-87 JAMES HARDIE 1000 Kilometres
1988-95 TOOHEYS 1000 Kilometres
1996-98 AMP 1000 Kilometres
1997 PRIMUS 1000 Classic
1998- 2000 FAI 1000 Classic
2001 V8 SUPERCAR 1000
2002-04 Bob Jane T-Marts 1000
2005-2007 Super Cheap Auto 1000

By: Tom McLoughlin

Tom McLoughlin — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Speaking of history - in summer of 1995-6 the city’s denizens were hot, bored and down at Bondi. They came to see the backpacker in bikinis or less, and when that turned out to a bit blase started making some ‘fun’ of there own. Bottles started smashing on cop cars. Wandering hordes not least the infamous rev heads and “car hoons” were at it till the early hours in a curtain raiser to Cronulla but without the race issues.

Sooo … how did the Bondi Safety Committee resolve this? We got lectures from crowd control academics from Bond University and their case study on how to NOT escalate crowd mayhem? Bathurst car races. Makes you wonder doesn’t it. But as the Daily Telegraph tells us - its all about ‘bogan fun letting the keg run free’ and everyone else can get stuffed. So suck it up Sydney!

By: Jeremy Davis

Jeremy Davis — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Alex, it’s the “Bathurst” 1000 (km) and it was first raced at Mt Panorama in 1963 as the Armstrong 500 (miles). It became the 1000 in 1973. Having explained all that, I’m only a pedant, not a rev-head.

By: John Molloy

John Molloy — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

Apart from Joseph and Jeremy being spot on, where can I hire the V8 Supercar salesmen? What a snow job they pulled on Morris and Nathan. Eastern Creek is good enough AS IT IS to host A1 international racing let alone if they spent the millions on the circuit they are wasting at Homebush. For f_ck’s sake, the government owns Eastern Creek. Nathan should tell them to take their overpowered taxis and put the where the sun don’t shine.

By: Therese O'Reilly

Therese O'Reilly — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

I agree with all the previous comments and also wonder how it is that Alex’s single piece of evidence that the whole city of Bathurst shares no benefits from the V8 race is an unamed, indirect quote? If it was that big a deal could you find noone willing to go on record? Whilst I am not a wholehearted supporter of the race, as someone who grew up in the town I can assure that it does indeed bring a great deal of money into the area, not just on that weekend but throughout the year, as on nearly every day you can find a racing tragic filming their home movie of themselves crossing the finishing line! This topic deserves more informed commentary than this story.

By: Joseph Elliott

Joseph Elliott — Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000

FFS! Alex might be half readable if he avoided kindergarten level factual errors. The race is 1000 kilometres long, hence the title Bathurst 1000. Not 2000, Alex. Oh, and the race is in October, not Easter. And regards yesterday’s story it is not a ‘rally’. If you get these simple things wrong, how can we trust the rest of what you write? PS I do agree that most utterances from AVESCO are utter BS!