formula one is formula fun

BTCC is stronger than it was 10 years ago but it isn't ideal news. they've had 30 car grids for the past 7-8 years now which are of a pretty high quality, generally speaking. honda, BMW, vauxhall, MG, subaru, toyota have all had factory (or at least factory supported) teams lately although i would still say the majority of drivers are bringing funding and have weekday jobs.

power maxed racing have been around a few years now, joining the series in 2015 and becoming vauxhall's team in 2017. they're generally at the front of the midfield, taking a few wins a season and with their top car generally finishing 4-8th in a given race. they brought jason plato on for 2019 after his stint with subaru went from decent to disasterous and this year signed mat jackson - maybe the finest driver never to win the championship -who is returning after a couple of seasons away. this season was expected to be quite a big one for them so it is somewhat of a shock that they'd pull out. the team intends to run a few guest rides this season, so they aren't pulling out entirely, but it sounds like they are maybe facing a budget issue - the regulations haven't changed or anything so they cost for the season isn't expected to change much though the condensed calendar might produce some challenges. optimistically, i would hope that it is just them saving resources for a hopefully more normal 2021 calendar and series.

i suspect andrew jordan's situation might be budget based as well. 2020 *i think* was to be his first season officially part of west surrey racing (BMW's effective factory team) - before, jordan's always teamed up with other teams (triple 8 when he drove a vauxhall and MG; dynamics when he drove a honda; motorbase with ford) but his entry was owned separately by his family. jordan's alluded to lots of people working to make his entry happen and stuff, which presumably is his various backers: he lost pirtek as a sponsor, which was quite a blow, and it seems that even finishing 2nd in the championship last year (to his team mate) isn't enough to keep him on. WSR already pay big money for colin turkington and BMW are keen on the other driver ,tom oliphant.

the reason i posted about this, but i forgot to actually say why , is that power maxed are an engineering and cleaning company; the jordans make their money primarily from setting cars up for rallycross and historic racing - with coronavirus meaning that firms are shutting down, personal car use is lower meaning cars need cleaned less and the historic and rallycross season running a rump calendar, with i would expect a lower car count because of the same reason these teams have withdrawn from BTCC, there just isn't enough money coming into their businesses to justify putting into a full racing season, either to pay drivers or pay to share resources with another team.

for formula one, i think this could end up being the case for haas - if things weren't already problematic enough for them. we know gene is a billionaire but we also know - from guenther telling magnussen and grosjean every 10 minutes last season - that gene is funding the team. i don't know what sales of CNC machines are going to be like this year and in the next few years to come, while the real economy is utterly fucked. what worries me is for other teams and drivers that are backed by firms that are based in the real economy - lando norris will always be fine, his dad's a hedge fund manager; nicholas latifi's is CEO of a food company: meanwhile in indycar you have several drivers whose backing is from smaller engineering firms, car dealerships and shops - are going to suffer greatly.

if car counts are a worry in motorsport at the moment, i do worry for the next few years from local/national level all the way for formula one.

Eastern Creek round was killer actually. Best racing I have seen from the V8s in a few seasons, not joking.

With limits on crew numbers (13 max inc. drivers for a 2 car team), less sensors, less data, less time between races, 2day event, no supports, no fuel rigs, only 2 rattle guns allowed, and a tyre allocation that barely covered the qualy and races......well, turns out that makes for some great battles and a few unfamiliar podium getters.

Expect the same for the coming round. They are keeping the same circuit config, adding hard compound tyres to the mix and Saturday will be under lights.

Australia good if you forget how fucked up Vic is right now.

Bad management with hotel lock-ins - the freaking guards were letting the people isolating out to go shopping....oh yeah, and banging them . Probably a number of other things contributing to the spreading. Numbers are higher there than they have been since the start but of course more testing will do that too.

Morning news here right now is full of cops and defence at the borders.

Few days ago, 2 clever fellas were told No and to 180 and head back, so they tried to get across into my state through a back way and got their car bogged. Police found them again, should have been fined $10k, silly fuckers.