2016 V8 Supercar Championship: Clipsal 500 Talking Points

Another year, another mammoth weekend at the Clipsal 500, an event that seems to go from strength to strength. There was plenty going on over the course of three races, and here are my major takeaways:

1. Race Control’s Error

It had been raining torrentially around the circuit for a good five minutes before the yellow flag was called. Neil Crompton and Mark Skaife were harping on about how much rain was falling from the roof of their box into pit lane, the DJR-Team Penske bunker lost power and cars were tiptoeing around like first-timers on an ice rink.

For the life of me, I can’t work out why it took the race officials such a long time to throw the yellow flag and get the safety car out onto the track. That eventual deployment was about thirty seconds too late for James Courtney, whose HRT Commodore whacked the wall hard in the treacherous turn eight, severely damaging his car.

Why Courtney was still being forced to race – if you could call it that – in weather so appalling is beyond me. The race should have been halted as soon as the rain got really heavy. It was madness letting them continue. We’re lucky that no one was seriously injured.

Oh, to be a fly on the wall in the Holden Racing Team garage at that moment. Adrian Burgess must’ve gone absolutely berserk. The race control folks really dropped the ball and cost Courtney any chance of a good finish.

2. LD Motorsport

It was a crazy, weather-affected Sunday race, and sometimes it takes a little assist – or, in this case, a big assist – from Mother Nature to see the minnows of the sport enjoy some time in the limelight. Rain is a great equaliser, for sure, but there was some great strategy calls by the squad, and Nick Percat’s run to an improbable victory in the shortened Sunday race is one of the more memorable Clipsal 500 happenings. LD Motorsport’s first V8 Supercar race victory will not disappear from the memory of anyone who saw it.

I loved seeing the absolute sheer delight on the faces of everyone involved in a team that, to be fair, has been making steady gains over the last twelve months, moving from perennial backmarkers up towards the middle of the field, thanks to Percat’s input and skill. The former Bathurst 1000 champion will savour his first hometown win for a long time to come. And what a popular win it was!

3. Ford Troubles

As the old motorsports adage goes, qualifying is one thing and racing is another. That’s how it was for teams running Ford Falcons this weekend. Three weekend races brought three poles – Scott Pye, Chas Mostert and Fabian Coulthard – for the Blue Oval brigade but none of those head-of-the-field starts were converted into race wins. The good news is that most of the Fords showed good pace throughout what's always a trying and challenging weekend.

4. Nissan’s Speed

Michael Caruso in the NISMO Motorsport Nissan Altima leads the V8 Supercar Series after one race. Obviously, Sunday’s race involved plenty of weather-induced craziness, but even on Saturday, the Kelly boys and Caruso showed enough speed to think that the Altima squad might have really turned the corner as far as consistent race results go.

5. Saturday's Race Format

C’mon, V8 Supercars, give us back a two 250km weekend event. The gruelling races were the hallmark of the Clipsal 500, separating the men from the boys, as the saying goes. For mine, the twin 125km races on Sunday have cheapened what a Clipsal 500 race victory means. Bring back the long Saturday race!

Breaking Down the 2015 V8SC Townsville 400 Television Ratings

With the new era of V8 Supercars television (and online streaming) upon us, I’ve noticed on social media that there’s a lot of conjecture and confusion as to how the final ratings numbers for each V8 Supercars event are arrived at.

Following an article written after the Perth weekend that referred to what appeared to be drastically low numbers for this year’s event on Foxtel as compared to a year previous on Channel Seven, I am now included on the V8SC mailing list for ratings information, receiving an e-mail with a key metrics comparison breakdown after each round of the championship.

I know now that the way ratings are arrived at this year is significantly different this year to previous years. It’s fair to say that singular race numbers – as they are presented by outlets like TV Tonight and others – don’t look that great, but it’s important to remember that this figure is only one part of the total ratings number, which is not always indicated. To that end, I thought I would pass the details as they were presented to me, in an effort to spread awareness of both the figures and how they are split into particular categories.

Summation of ratings to and including the Townsville 400

The two-race Townsville 400 weekend, measured race-on-race, saw a six percent increase on the comparative event in 2014.

Cumulative Total Average Ratings – Year To Date

This number includes all races, practice, qualifying, highlights, and other V8SC programs, both live and replays, and including magazine-type shows like the Ten Network’s RPM, and FOX Sports shows Inside Supercars and Supercars Life. Although it is not specifically stated in the report, it’s fairly safe to assume that this number also includes digital streaming via FOX Sports Go and Play.

To the week ending 12 July 2015, the cumulative total average ratings are as follows:

2014: 20.376 million
2015: 19.419 million

Whilst the number, year on year, is down five percent, it’s important to take into account the fact that, to this point in 2014, there had been seven V8SC championship rounds, but only six to the same date this year.

On a like-for-like basis, comparing events year on year, the 2015 audience is up nine percent.

Cumulative Average Ratings – Weekly (6-12 July 2015)

This figure includes any and all V8SC-branded programs appearing during the week: live races on FOX Sports (including Go and Play streaming figures), FOX Sports race replays, live on-track sessions (measured as a weekend total), replayed on-track sessions, Channel Ten’s live broadcast of Saturday and Sunday, and magazine shows.

Individual figures for each broadcast are:

FOX Sports live races (including Go and Play): 227,000
FOX Sports race replays: 76,000
FOX Sports live other (all weekend sessions): 539,000
FOX Sports other replays (all weekend sessions): 6,000
Channel Ten Live Races: 905,000
Channel Ten live all other (all V8SC sessions): 768,000
Magazine shows: 84,000

[Note: numbers sourced by OzTam and Regional TAM]

Cumulative Average Ratings – Race Weekend (Live and Replay)

These numbers include all races and highlights.

Sydney.com SuperTest: 197,000 viewers (debut broadcast; no available comparison to previous years).
Clipsal 500: 2,335,553 (Up 12% year-on-year event, up 21% year-on-year cumulative).
Australian Grand Prix: 1,170,000 (Up 10% year-on-year event, up 17% year-on-year cumulative).
Tasmania SuperSprint: 791,300 (Down 23% year-on-year event, up 8% year-on-year cumulative).
Perth SuperSprint: 679,000 (Down 30% year-on-year event, up 1% year-on-year cumulative).
Winton SuperSprint: 719,000 (Down 27% year-on-year event, down 3% year-on-year cumulative).
Darwin Triple Crown: 967,000 (Up 4% year-on-year event, down 2% year-on-year cumulative).
Townsville 400: 1,176,600 (Up 6% year-on-year event, down 1% year-on-year cumulative).

[Note: numbers sourced by OzTam and Regional TAM]

Digital Footprint

Website Visits: 8.420 million (up 17% on comparative 2014 figures)
Website Page Views: 22.719 million (up 3% on comparative 2014 figures)
Facebook Reach: 52.589 million (up 16% on comparative 2014 figures)
Facebook Impressions: 226.455 million (up 20% on comparative 2014 figures)
Video Views: 7.630 million (up 187% on comparative 2014 figures)

[Note: numbers sourced by Google Analytics and Facebook Insights]