The ongoing NZV8/ V8ST/ MNZ stoush.

[Grrrrrrr!]

Next salvo fired... might be more of a damp squib than the big bang they were hoping for.

A bizarre attempt by MotorSport New Zealand (MSNZ), the sport's governing body, to force two V8 motor racing categories to merge by way of banning them from all race tracks has failed.
MotorSport New Zealand and track owners met at the governing body's recent AGM with its president Shayne Harris delivering a 'unanimous resolution' via email to the bosses of NZ's premier racing category, V8 SuperTourers and the NZV8 Touring cars.
V8 SuperTourers CEO Ray Noonan was shocked when he received the email from Harris last Thursday evening 22 May (below).

read the rest at. http://www.v8st.co.nz/news-3/830-farcical-v8-track-ban-plan-unravels.html


Followed by a response to the V8st letter/ post from NZv8s on their facebook page

"Open letter to V8SuperTourers " Please share this post.
Hi V8ST’s. It’s disappointing that my reply to your open letter addressed to me has been removed twice from your Facebook page.
Firstly yes I have spoken to some V8ST teams. I speak to other teams in other classes also as it’s good to keep in contact and get to know them and them me. This is what sport in all about I thought?
NZV8TC members arranged a meeting with Ray Noonan late last year in Auckland for a round table to discuss ways to move forward. We felt the discussions were good and Ray was going to come back to NZV8TC with a proposal the following week. To date we have not received anything?
We were contacted by Gary Lathrope from Motorsport & Event Operations mid February asking if we could field a grid of TL cars to support the V8ST’s on the weekend of 22-23 March (this was a new date added to the V8ST calendar after the NZGP meeting at Manfeild was confirmed). Unfortunately many of our TL Teams were on tight budgets after travelling down South and the NZGP meeting plus it was in between our Taupo round and the V8 Supercar events. We just didn’t have enough TL cars with budgets to do this extra race meeting.
I visited the V8ST race meeting in March to catch up with the V8ST’s and this was when I also spoke to Lyall Williamson to discuss possible future race meetings together. We had a productive chat and decided to continue discussions the following week at his Auckland office. We met again 2 weeks later at his office. Lyall explained to me that Bevan Trotman (who I met briefly at Lyall’s office) was working on their calendar and he would come back to me within 1 or 2 weeks. NZV8TC still hasn’t received proposal or communication from V8ST’s?
NZV8TC and MSNZ are also working on a workable 2014-15 race calendar and I’m sure most people would like to see both V8 classes race line up at some of those meetings. I seem to be the only one between the two V8 groups actively trying to get something together and now I’m contacted through the V8ST Facebook page via an “Open letter”.
This NZV8TC group that I’m Chairman for are a great bunch of people to be involved with. They don’t have endless pots of money but they are having fun. It’s also very affordable and it allows many young drivers the opportunity to further their V8 careers whether that be in a TLX, V8ST or Australian V8 Supercar.
For those who don’t know me well, in the past I’ve been involved in several other sports at either a competitor or coaching level. This include Yachting (competitive sailor and youth coach), Rugby (player and coach), BMX (rider NZ3 and North Island #1), and Motorsport (Pre65, Targa, OSCAR, GT, North Island Endurance racing + NZV8’s). I was not involved with any of the Bull@#$T that happened in the past and those who do know me over many years of Motorsport know I only want what’s good for the future of V8 racing in NZ.
I look forward in further discussions with the V8ST in the very near future.
Ian Booth
Director (Chairman)

Cooment streams are worth a read (at this stage)

[Mr Revhead]

Oh, you really need to get better sources than just the V8ST page

And you have things in the wrong order, the ST comment is from this weekend (and incorrect in some details from what I've seen elsewhere)

The NZV8 comments are from a couple of weeks ago when the supertourers used their facebook to write an "open letter" having a go at NZV8s. But they deleted anyone commenting and the NZV8s reply, not very open was it?


It's been one big $&#$% up right from the moment some clowns decided to break off and make them selves some money.
Unles they sort it out before the begining of next summer then they will all be pretty screwed as none of them can get full fields.

But never mind, we stil have the endurance series, classics and the Highlands 101!

[Grrrrrrr!]

Hmm, both only popped up on my farcebook feed tonight.. but you are right, i have missed the earlier round. Oh well, still just as hilarious.

[Mr Revhead]

Facebooks timeline has been just as broken as V8s recently!

[Mr Revhead]

The following quote makes it seem as if MSNZ were not party to the circuits decision, but according to STV8 MSNZ was part of it.
I don't know which is correct, but I do know the source, Autonews (via facebook) is a lot less biased than others.

MORE ON THE V8 SITUATION
It is going to be interesting to see how the decision by circuit owners to insist on a single V8 Championship is going to pan out.
The decision to tell the warring factions to merge ST and TLX or face a ban was unanimous with only Taupo abstaining from the vote because the Taupo representative needed clearance from his board.
It's understood the move has not been received well by ST, but TLX is pleased as are the vast majority of motor racing enthusiasts. MSNZ are understood to have been stunned by the ballsy move by the Circuit Owners Group (COG), but welcomed it with open arms.
Everyone I spoke to last night was rapt and just hope that COG don't blink under pressure.
One of the issues for the investors in ST (Ray Noonan and his team) is how they recoup their investment now that they have effectively had their series taken away from them. Here's an idea. . .
Ray and his team have a fair amount of expertise, so why don't they take over promoting and running the summer series?

Alan Dick (Autonews) is also not what you'd call a fan of MSNZ

[Mr Revhead]

Clarification of the sequence of events as Autonews understands it:

THE V8 SITUATION REVISITED.
Because of the questions that have been raised, here is the situation as I know it.
1. The Circuit Owners Group (COG) met in Dunedin prior to the MSNZ conference and without any involvement from MSNZ decided to issue the ulimatum to V8ST and TLX to get together, seek parity, race as a single field or the the circuit owners would not allow races for the split fields. I was told this was almost a unanimous decision — Taupo hedged as the representative felt he needed approval from his board.
2. The decision of COG was delivered to the MSNZ Executive by Tony Roberts from Hampton Downs who told me they were stunned, surprised, but pleased by the move. It, apparently, came right out of the blue.
3. The decision was then conveyed to Ray Noonan of V8 ST. The rest you know.
Again, a clear lack of leadership and the absence of some sort of defining public statement is apparent.

[Leon]

Yah, I too had read that it was an ultimatum arranged by, and delivered by the Circuit Owners Group.

MSNZ doesn't have the authority to issue such ultimatums so far as I am aware. But the people who own the circuits certainly can simply refuse to allow a category, or categories to run.

Interesting.

Also, highly amusing if V8ST put such a completely wrong statement up saying it was MSNZ That will make them look pretty damn stupid. Not that, by all accounts, they need a lot of help looking stupid.

[pureadrenalin]

I was at the MSNZ agm. Was entertaining talk there too.
I don't expect things to get any clearer via electronic media any time soon.
Too much he says, she says going on.

[Mr Revhead]

Which is a real pity as that's the only place most fans can get any info from.

[VR-4Squid]

Could anybody give a quick re-cap of the history of this stoush for those of us who weren't paying attention in class.

[Mr Revhead]

It depends who you ask!

MSNZ set up a group to develop a new V8 car to replace the old ones.

Some of that group split with the work already done and came up with the supertourers

MSNZ carried on with an new NZV8

Lots of back stabbing/he said/she said. Throw in some big egos, lies and people out to line pockets and ulterior motives and you get the mess we have now

There really is no short accurate version.... It's been a $&#$% up since a certain crook decided he wanted to be the man and make a shit load of money off the teams.

[2jayzgte]

I will say this about the old NZV8 class as the guys that looked after my car looked after one of those POS.

Alot of the equipment used just wasn't up to scratch ie the brakes and calliper packages.The above complained to the organizer's and asked if teams could use an AP package which was quickly denied excuse being they were to expensive.The reply from the above was but they maybe more expensive but they will last 2 seasons instead of replacing 3 sets of rotors and calliper's per season using the cheaper product again they were ignored.

Morale to the story the to expensive line was BS as using 3 sets per season cost a boat load more than the AP package was ever going to cost.

[Leon]

it's politics ego's and money ... nobody is going to win. Other than possibly the man who used to run supercheat racing ... ooops, I mean Supercheap. My bad.

[pureadrenalin]

Quote from Brian Budd, MotorSport NZ General Manager in the Herald

If you go back and look at how this happened there were some personality clashes and issues within the existing NZV8 category and the board members who went to SuperTourers. The issues were with them and NZV8s and TMC (The Motorsport Company, promoters of the sport, in which Motorsport NZ is a shareholder).

"To me, when you own championships it makes sense to have an interest in how they are promoted. We had an arms-length contract with TMC to promote some meetings.

"You have to remember that TMC came about because the affiliated clubs of Motorsport NZ were dissatisfied with the job independent promoters were doing. It was the clubs who asked MSNZ to set up its own company.

"It had 10 successful years and then the financial crises and the split didn't help with TMC, its operation and sponsorship. There hasn't been a promotional arm for the past two seasons and the clubs and circuits who host championship events have taken all the risk.

I won't put up here how much MSNZ wrote off their books with the failed TMC, but believe me, all of us competing in motorsport permitted events are in some way paying for it now.

[Mr Revhead]

Yeah that's the other side of it that has clouded the issue as well.
Lots using the V8 situation to have a go at MSNZ for various errors. Whether real, perceived or outright lies. And in some cases I'm pretty sure personal vendettas have been a driving factor.

Oh well we still have people like Tony Quinn doing good things and classes like the Central muscle cars and sports sedans/SS2000 that make up bloody good racing.
It seems the lower levels are quite healthy. It's the top rung that broken.

[Leon]

I won't put up here how much MSNZ wrote off their books with the failed TMC, but believe me, all of us competing in motorsport permitted events are in some way paying for it now.

I could be wrong (because this is all well and truly years after I left MSNZ), but wasn't MSNZ (which is a representative body) ordered to get out of TMC and promotions by a vote of the member clubs, at the AGCM?

[Mr Revhead]

I recall something like that last year...

[TRD Man]

... but wasn't MSNZ (which is a representative body) ordered to get out of TMC and promotions by a vote of the member clubs, at the AGCM?

No, not quite correct. If I recall correctly, by conference time last year TMC were already in receivership. An occurrence which saw MSNZ lose their $40k shareholding and the $90k they were owed.
During the workshop for the Organisational Review & Restructure at last year's AGCM (2013) there was strong representation from a number of clubs that MSNZ should not be permitted to engage in the commercial promotion of events or championships and that this should be written into the new constitution. Outside of that there was no specific remit.
From memory, it wasn't universally agreed and, as the new constitution wasn't adopted at this year's conference anyway, there has been no black and white directive.

That said, the message from the member clubs is very clear and management would be very foolish to go down this road unless absolutely necessary.

[Leon]

Ah right, for some reason I thought it was directly from a remit I was mistaken.

[pureadrenalin]

... but wasn't MSNZ (which is a representative body) ordered to get out of TMC and promotions by a vote of the member clubs, at the AGCM?

No, not quite correct. If I recall correctly, by conference time last year TMC were already in receivership. An occurrence which saw MSNZ lose their $40k shareholding and the $90k they were owed.
During the workshop for the Organisational Review & Restructure at last year's AGCM (2013) there was strong representation from a number of clubs that MSNZ should not be permitted to engage in the commercial promotion of events or championships and that this should be written into the new constitution. Outside of that there was no specific remit.
From memory, it wasn't universally agreed and, as the new constitution wasn't adopted at this year's conference anyway, there has been no black and white directive.

That said, the message from the member clubs is very clear and management would be very foolish to go down this road unless absolutely necessary.

pretty much correct there TRD man