I basically found that the chassis was not tuneable – it had a fundamental flaw in the car’s handling characteristics – especially around my driving style – it just would not react. I picked up on the issue pretty early on after a few race meetings and they pretty much rode the rest of the year out waiting for this season and just getting their deals in place. Unfortunately, I suppose it didn’t reflect well on me or Andy (Jones) I suppose, but realistically, that will be all forgotten about this season when I expect that they will perform a lot stronger.
Q:
The V8 Supercars have really gone from strength to strength over the past decade, but the past few seasons have had a few negative points. Fans here in Adelaide were especially affected by the change of telecast provider, with Seven prioritising Australian Football League games over live V8 coverage. Other negative points have included the HRT ownership debate, the escalating costs of the series and so on.
Given this, where do you see the series heading in the next five years?
SW:
That’s a pretty tough question I suppose. It’s starting to get too expensive to run the cars and it’s becoming a lot like
Formula One – the rich teams win and seem to get richer and the poor teams are really struggling. I think you are going to find that a lot of teams fold over the next couple of years, they’re just going to have to get out, and it is already looking that way this year with the grid numbers down a little, which is unfortunate.
My personal point of view is that the TV is the one thing that the teams have got to sell to their sponsors. I think that the when the deal was put to the television companies, they were required to show a certain amount of live coverage per team every year, so that they could go to their sponsors and sell it and that would sort of equalise the budgets a little more.
Obviously the manufacturer supported teams are going to have the larger budgets so at least you’d have a fighting chance then.
Q:
Could you perhaps see some of these teams perhaps taking that step back into the Fujitsu Series or just leaving V8 Supercars altogether and looking at other options in other categories?
SW:
I suppose it depends on how far the teams are going to keep fighting. I think some guys are going to get out of the game altogether, look at maybe going on their boats or something totally different. Some other teams will obviously want to keep on going and see where they can get, but I really think that some of them are really starting to struggle financially. I think the bubble is going to burst in the next year or so.
Q:
What does the series need to improve? Obviously cost-cutting is one factor, but is there anything else that you think the organisers can really improve on?
