MINI Challenge 2008

[AJB44B]

Just announced today....

MINI CHALLENGE SET TO MAKE AUSTRALIAN DEBUT IN 2008

The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport is pleased to announce the
approval of a new one-make national racing series to be known as the
'MINI Challenge' which will hit Australian circuits starting from 2008.
The series is expected to visit all states and territories around the
country and will join the likes of Formula 3, Formula Ford and Carerra
Cup as domestic racing categories which also have strong links
internationally.

"It is great to welcome the iconic MINI back to the Australian motor
racing scene after so many years," said Graeme Emerton, Chairman of
CAMS' Australian Motor Racing Commission.

"The MINI Challenge, which is already being run in a number of European
countries and also New Zealand, has been an incredibly successful
initiative and MINI's long term commitment to Australian motor sport
with this series will provide confidence to competitors and event
promoters alike."

The MINI brand has had a long association with motor sport in Australia,
particularly in Touring Car racing with their most significant
achievement coming in 1966 with Rauno Aaltonen and Bob Holden at the
helm of the victorious Morris Cooper S at Bathurst, a race in which Mini
cars amazingly filled the top nine places.

More recently, Australian MINI motor sport activities have focused on
tarmac rallying with a three-car team campaigned in 2006 and 2007. The
lead Team MINI racer, driven by Paul Stokell, finished ninth outright in
the 2007 Targa Tasmania rally in April.

According to Justin Hocevar, National Manager MINI, the MINI Challenge
is the most exciting new international series to reach Australian motor
sport for several years.

"We have very solid competition credentials both overseas and here in
Australia thanks to Team MINI.

"Thanks to the gripping on-track action, MINI Challenge is sure to find
a strong and loyal following among racing fans both trackside and on TV.

"The series is the ideal entry point to motor racing with competitors
expected to be drawn from the ambition-rich ranks of go-karting and
open-wheel formulae.

"With MINI Challenge we will be bringing an affordable, competitive and
very exciting series to Australia. It will be good for racers,
spectators, sponsors and for motor sport in general," Justin said.

The series will also mark the international motor sport debut of the
brand new R56 generation MINI Challenge race cars which will be built to
a global racing specification in Germany later this year.

[minigolf]

Wow, that will be awesome!

[MickyD]

emmachizit?

[ZapoMCS]

spensiv!

[Blacky]

How much I'm interested.
We looked at them when we went to Puke for the V8 and they look great and I think will get a lot of interest as a support race.
By this it looks like BMW will be running the show??????

[robbo mcs]

Quote: Originally Posted by Blacky (original)

How much I'm interested.
We looked at them when we went to Puke for the V8 and they look great and I think will get a lot of interest as a support race.
By this it looks like BMW will be running the show??????

Hi,

Sherrin motorsport are running the show. Sherrin motorpsort allready runs the porsche carrera cup series, and the mini series is being piggy backed onto that

It will be very expensive 6 figures ++ per year. However, in return there will be decent media / TV coverage, making sponsorship attractive

Cheers

Robbo

[doona]

That is awesome!!... good to see.. bout bloody time

[minigolf]

I'll donate my, albeit probably medicore, driving services for FREE to anyone willing to provide me a car for the series.

[dsakko]

DAVE WANTS IN!

Can't afford to drive, but hell if people want a service crew I'm there!

[Blacky]

Hi Robbo
Funny you say that, that is exact what I said to the GF when I read the thread.
"Sherrin Motorsport could do the same as the Porsche cup".
I guess the price will be relative to the number of rounds.
Will keep the eye out.

[dsakko]

Can't comment on Carrera Cup or Mini Challenge, but I know that $100k is cheap for entry into the Utes. You've got to remember that $100k is entry level for national circuit racing, whether it be Formula Ford or the Mini Challenge (which I think all here agree is the PREMIERE racing category in 2008 ).

[MAD Always]

Looking forward to see the action next year.

Any mini2er's going to give it a go?

[Quickbrick]

Quote: Originally Posted by dsakko (original)

Can't comment on Carrera Cup or Mini Challenge, but I know that $100k is cheap for entry into the Utes. You've got to remember that $100k is entry level for national circuit racing, whether it be Formula Ford or the Mini Challenge (which I think all here agree is the PREMIERE racing category in 2008 ).

Agree that 100k is probably entry level....but once you do the maths (and factor in the travel, accommodation, workshop fees and damage) you are looking at closer to $200k for the MINI Challenge :-0

Having said that, I can't wait to see it all unfold. Judging from the international coverage I've seen of other MINI Challenges, it appears to be a very competitive and "aggressively fought" series similar to the V8 utes here. Bring it on I say :-D

[ZapoMCS]

Quickbrick, when I saw you had post here I thought you might have been entering :-)

Do you know if Ken is trying to enter?

[Quickbrick]

Quote: Originally Posted by ZapoMCS (original)

Quickbrick, when I saw you had post here I thought you might have been entering :-)

Do you know if Ken is trying to enter?

Ahh Gary, Ive spent many hours trying to work out how to get the $200k together but all of the ways I can think of carry a high risk of imprisonment if things go wrong

You do get to keep the car at the end of the series. And considering it's original value is $85k you would think it would retain 2/3 of that value to sell to another competitor the following year (assuming the series continues) so I guess this makes the series more like $120-150k. Then you just get yourself a couple of $50k major sponsors and maybe sell a couple of drives for $15k each (if you had to) and you get to race the other 5 or so races for free!

Haven't heard from Ken lately. Maybe he's busy chasing up a couple of those $50k major sponsors