FOR A nation that has such a spectacular, rich and vibrant history of open-wheel racing, it is always a source of discontent for this writer that this particular discipline within our sport doesn’t have a larger following in Australia.
For all but four days a year, when the F1 circus is in town, ‘wings and slicks’ racing has never been particularly strong, never appealed to more than the hardest of hard-core fans and never grabbed people by the heartstrings like Touring Car racing has.
I am hoping, however, that events of the last few months may be finally on the way to transforming that.
Last weekend’s round of the S5000 Australian Drivers’ Championship was an absolute beauty and it gives me hope that people will gravitate towards Australia’s newest ‘big banger’ open wheel category.
On their first visit to the fastest track in the country, the cars were nothing short of spectacular.
For me, they offered a similar sort of grab-you-by-the-face visceral appeal that only Formula One or IndyCars can offer when you stand on the fence and watch them live.
While they are incredibly safe, I believe big open wheelers should almost create a sense of unease when they pass and make you think; ‘How are they going that quickly?’.
The visceral appeal of S5000 certainly ticks that box, with the thunderous five-litre V8’s rumbling through your chest and into your head as they fly past at 280km/hr. Attention grabbing, they most certainly are.
The cars also look the part; they dance around on tyres that are purposefully too hard and with downforce levels less than a Formula 3 car, which makes for pretty spectacular viewing.
And, this year, though the grid isn’t massive it is stacked with impressive driving talent like Tim Macrow, Joey Mawson, Thomas Randle and James Golding – among others – who only know one way to drive the cars – flat out.
It’s these elements that I hope begin to convince people that there are other open-wheel categories outside of Formula One that they can gravitate to and, in this case, they are in their own backyard.
A full-strength S5000 may never challenge Supercars and it doesn’t need to; but there’s no reason why it can’t become a headliner in its own right, drawing crowds and TV audiences to their feet to experience a truly exciting, visceral wings and slicks category of our own.
PHILLIP ISLAND SUCCESS
ON that note, the S5000 racing at the weekend proved the value of having a packed on-track schedule with quality categories.
Just under 7,000 people flocked to Phillip Island across the Saturday and Sunday of last weekend – the COVID-mandated cap of 3,500 people per day almost met on both of them.
They came because it was one of the strongest non-Supercars events put on in recent times; As well as S5000, TCR Australia was there with 20 cars and some big names like Chaz Mostert. The debut of GT World Challenge Australia had the likes of Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander on track in a field of big dollar and spectacular GT3 cars.
The Trans-Am series had 25 cars and a host of young talent at the front putting on truly spectacular racing while the one-make Porsche Sprint Challenge did the same with another big field.
It’s the kind of race meeting you’d pay money to visit and it’s hopefully the beginning of something positive for the sport.
While there’s always been a solid, healthy ‘second tier’ of events beneath the Supercars behemoth, it’s been almost two decades since there has been one with the potential marketing clout and investment with which to actually grow and develop a program that offers a meaningful alternative to the main game.
With Motorsport Australia, the governing body, and the Australian Racing Group – the organisation behind TCR, S5000, GT, Trans Am and others – there finally could be that alternative and the first two serious attempts at putting together events have proven that.
Certainly, Phillip Island’s crowd was the largest for that kind of event in years, if not ever – COVID capacity or not.
It doesn’t need to be a rival to Supercars – but if this can continue to build it could start a special era for the sport here.
Comments