Former Supercars team owner Paul Morris says he is waiting on further Gen3 details to be released before looking at a possible return to the championship.
Amid ongoing rumours that the former team owner may return, the 2014 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 winner denied suggestions he would look to revive Paul Morris Motorsport as soon as 2021.
Instead, the former Supercars full-timer signalled plans for a possible return of the team in 2022 should the make-up of the category be to his liking.
Morris said the ongoing costs required to run a Supercars team remain prohibitive for a return, citing a need to reduce personnel.
That, he said, would not only bring him back to the championship, but also attract existing teams from other categories.
“I’m definitely waiting for Gen3 and keen to get back going,” Morris told Speedcafe.com.
“It needs to be a car that you can race and don’t need 40 technicians to make the thing run.
“If it’s a car where you can take two mechanics and a toolbox and an engineer to the track and put a driver in it and be competitive, well, I’ll be in it.”
Morris said more emphasis needs to be on reducing ongoing costs, more so than the initial entry point to the category.
Supercars has this year made rule changes in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic that has seen data restrictions put in place and personnel restricted.
For prospective wildcard entrants Garry Rogers Motorsport, that played a part in their ambition to make a return at this year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.
Morris believes the championship needs to make a fundamental shift away from cars that demand “massive” engineering resources.
“I don’t think the capital cost of the car, whether it’s 250 grand or 350 grand, that’s neither here nor there,” Morris explained.
“It’s just the cost of running the car and what personnel you need to run the car.
“The cars we’ve got now operate in such a fine window. It’s all data-driven. You just need to have a massive amount of engineering power to be competitive.
“If you don’t require that then it makes it easier for people to run cars.
“If you go back to Larry Perkins always said about Supercars when they invented it, and he was one of the guys who invented it, a good tuning shop should be able to run a car competitively.
“They’ve gone away from that and that’s where they need to go back.
“Your average wage in that category, if you averaged all your wages out, there are blokes on 100 grand a year. Some teams have got 40 people. So there’s $4 million.
“It just can’t happen anymore. The manufacturer money isn’t there to drive it, and the sponsorship money isn’t there to drive it, unless you’ve got wealthy individuals that want to drive at that level, which we don’t, something needs to change.
“I think it’s all pointing in the right direction.”
Paul Morris Motorsport made its debut in the Supercars Championship (then V8 Supercars) in 2000.
The team ran as a single-car entry until 2006 before expanding to a two-car operation, running Holden Commodores throughout.
The team contested its final Supercars season in 2011 before Racing Entitlements Contracts were sold to Tekno Autosports (now Team Sydney) and the now-defunct Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.
Should Paul Morris Motorsport be revived, the team would run out of the Norwell Motorplex as it used to.
“It’d be pretty similar to how we used to run; hands on,” said Morris.
“I wouldn’t hire anyone to run it for me. I’d be running it at the coal face. Find the best drivers that I can and let her rip.”
Discussion about this post