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With Supercars chief Barclay Nettlefold identifying a 15-event calendar as an aspiration for the championship, we ask what you think the number should be, in this week’s Pirtek Poll.
The 2023 season will feature 12 events, the bare minimum to satisfy Supercars’ contract with Fox Sports/Foxtel, while last year’s spanned 13.
However, only five years ago, the field took in 16 stops on the calendar, all of which were championship points-paying, thanks to the addition of The Bend and the upgrade in status of the races at Albert Park.
That was regarded as a stretch for some teams, but the landscape has changed since RACE (Racing Australia Consolidated Enterprises), of which Nettlefold is chairman, took ownership of Supercars.
Under the Teams Racing Charter system, charter holders (ie team owners) would receive more income for each event above the minimum 12, and hence the burden is on Supercars to make such initiatives stack up financially.
That figure of 12 is in fact quite low by modern standards.
While the Australian Touring Car Championship itself was a 10-round campaign for much of the 1990s, that was the case when the Bathurst 1000, Sandown 500, Australian Grand Prix, and Gold Coast Indy were non-championship affairs.
The total number of events for the category for most of the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s was 14 to 15, including in 2017, the last year of the stop at Albert Park being a mere exhibition affair, amongst 14 points-paying events.
But what is the magic number for you?
This year, every event is three to four weeks (Sunday to Sunday) after the previous one, making it difficult to sustain mainstream media interest, or even for more engaged fans to develop a routine around watching Supercars.
However, unlike watching one’s football team from week to week, to truly take in a Supercars event (on television or at the track) requires a commitment of 10 hours or more in a weekend.
Is there a point where even hardcore fans find they are at saturation point, particularly with easy access also to other motorsport on television?
Alternatively, maybe you are jealous of Formula 1 fans and would like to see, in an ideal world, a calendar of over 20 Supercars events.
What is the right number of events for a Supercars calendar? Cast your vote below in this week’s Pirtek Poll.
