Shop
As those who know me well will attest to, I have a liking for various aphorisms and the one above is a favourite. It’s commonly attributed to a famous 18th Century Irish politician called Edmund Burke, but many other variants of it have been used over the years.
Unfortunately this particular aphorism is very appropriate at the moment in the context of the publicly proclaimed ambitions of the current Supercars owners, RACE, to take the category outside Australasia. Therefore I feel a history lesson is apt.
The failure of Supercars to gain sustainable traction outside Australia and New Zealand is not limited to this category alone. Every touring car series that has tried to spread its wings too far from a home base has ultimately failed.
Wind the clock back to 1987 when, at the height of the Group A era, the first World Touring Car Championship was run including, famously, a round at Bathurst. It lasted precisely one year. The WTCC was resurrected in 2005 and this time lasted until 2017 before being replaced by the WTCR which then folded at the end of last year.
All through this period both these entities only continued to run because of substantial direct manufacturer financial support both into teams and into the promotors. Neither attracted enough money from other sources (commercial sponsorships, gate money, broadcast rights etc) to ever be viable even for a season once those manufacturers withdrew.
It’s also worth recalling the failure of DTM to convert itself into the ITC (International Touring Car Series) with a footprint outside Europe in 1996. That failed after one season and also brought about the demise of the DTM itself for three years.
Now look at the history of Supercars overseas. In 2005 the category famously went to Shanghai. It was a very different experience and good fun for the teams but almost no paying spectators turned up. The ensuing litigation with the promoter (for reasons too complex to go through here) ensured that, not only did we never go back, but that Supercars lost plenty of money fighting a legal battle that was only resolved in 2011.
In 2006, 2007 and 2008 Supercars raced in Bahrain. Again, there were almost no spectators to worry about plus the time zone meant that the broadcasts in Australasia were severely compromised. So, in 2009 there was no Bahrain event. It was resurrected for one further time in 2010, when it was paired with the first trip to Abu Dhabi in order to save logistical costs for both venues, but then evaporated.
Whilst Abu Dhabi continued for two more years, 2011 and 2012, it was increasingly clear to all involved that the local promoters not only no longer wanted to tear up millions of dollars each time paying Supercars to come and race in the Middle East, but that GT events, amongst others, were more and more available to those circuits at a fraction of the outlay. Meanwhile, many Australian sponsors saw little benefit in these races, once the novelty factor had worn off, and also increasingly raised the issue of the time zone impact on the Australasian broadcast.
It also did the category no good at all to be starting the season in Abu Dhabi in 2010 and 2011 despite the short term financial benefits.
There remained one further foray over the water, to Austin, Texas, in 2013. That event was the best fun for all the teams – we all had a ball. But the meagre spectator count was always going to mean that we never returned. It was simply never going to stack up financially. The promoter lost big money and Supercars were lucky to break even or thereabouts.
The side bar story is the trip to a Kuala Lumpur street circuit with five cars for a demonstration in 2015. That wasn’t ever going to work as a race venue, let alone as a financially viable event. But there’s probably a book chapter in that trip!
The fact is that no Supercars event outside Australasia has been sustainable. And nor will one be. The most stable, best supported and most enduring touring car championships in the world are NASCAR, Supercars/ATCC and the British Touring Car Championship. Successful touring car formulae have worked best playing to a national audience. That’s just a fact.
Tell me, for instance, how is a Supercars race going to attract enough spectators to pay its way in the USA (apparently one of the RACE target destinations) when even NASCAR is struggling to fill the grandstands at many events apart from the mega shows like Daytona and Talladega? I’d love to see the Gen3 cars racing around Laguna Seca, but it just wouldn’t be viable.
Even if there is interest from somewhere for a Supercars event, the costs of airfreight are huge these days. The logistics of the alternative, containerised sea freight, anywhere outside Australasia would severely compromise the home calendar purely through shipping times.
Meanwhile, Supercars itself plus the teams will still need to be financially rewarded to a point in excess of that achievable for an event in Australia or New Zealand to make any trip worthwhile.
Hang on – maybe Supercars could sling all the cars and equipment on a rented ferry after the Darwin event and hop across to Mandalika, the MotoGP circuit on the island of Lombok. Again, it’s not clear who’d pay for it all as the locals don’t even turn up in big numbers for the bike events there, against all expectations in one of the largest motorcycle markets in the world. And that’s with General Admission tickets starting at $12 AUD.
Or perhaps go to Singapore as a support category for F1, an event that is so successful now that the cost of accommodation alone will send the teams and any Australian fans running for cover. Throw in highly limited track time in front of almost no spectators (because they don’t emerge until the sun has gone down and by then only F1 is on track) and it would only compromise the series at the expense of a decent event in Australia.
RACE chairman, Barclay Nettlefold, is on the record as saying that the Board of Supercars consists largely of non-motorsport people and, with all due respect, he’s not a motorsport person himself. Therefore, it occurs to me that, for him and, presumably, his fellow directors to be engaged in seeking overseas expansion (as per his recent Auto Action interview), there must be a case of The Emperor’s New Clothes occurring within Supercars HQ.
I really want to see Supercars continue to be a success story and build on the Gen3 product. But that will be compromised by management putting time and effort into pursuing ultimately unsustainable avenues for events. There’s so much to be done here in Australasia to maximise the show for the benefit of all concerned that no diversions from that mission should be entertained.
A strategic plan that endeavours to keep existing events whilst adding New Zealand plus Queensland Raceway and Phillip Island or Winton should be the focus for the RACE and Supercars boards.
Hopefully the investors sitting on the Supercars Board admit someone is naked and steer the ship back on course.
Read the previous Roland’s View here.
