Moto GP Australia

[Nobby]

It’s been announced that Phillip Island has lost the Moto Gp to Adelaide. Apparently a new “street circuit” in a park.
Social Media here has gone nuts on so many different levels
It will be interesting to listen to the opinions of the riders both on the loss of a much loved Circuit and the safety aspect of the new.
I’ll add, as it was many years ago with the Donnington to Silverstone debacle, the new Street Circuit is just a ruse, and the race will be held at a fairly new (4? years) circuit at the Bend, 30 odd miles from Adelaide, I’ve been there, and though the venue looks promising, it is so short on facilities.
Opinion on the net, is that it could well return to PI in a few years after the South Australian taxpayers realise how much they’re coughing up.

[hawkati]

Phillip Island is an absolute gem of a circuit and it'll be a bloody shame if it does get shifted. Especially to a street circuit - they're shit and with close proximity walls it's a miracle that we've not seen f1 cars bouncing back into the pack so far. The potential for carnage is great and the risk for bikes is too much.

I've not seen any response from PI yet but you'd hope they would fight back to reclaim the race

[mangocrazy]

Proof, if any were needed, that Liberty Media simply don't understand MotoGP and they're in it purely for the revenue it generates. This is a completely bone-headed move with no concerns about safety and fan/rider preferences. PI is unique, and LM want to get rid of it. Idiots.

[Skub]

Did I not read somewhere that the Oz gubbmint had refused to give any funding for the event,unless it was held at Phillip Island?

[mangocrazy]

Did I not read somewhere that the Oz gubbmint had refused to give any funding for the event,unless it was held at Phillip Island?

I think it was the state of Victoria, not central Gubmint. So now Southern Australia have put in a bid for MotoGP on a street circuit that looks sketchy as fuck safety-wise and Liberty Media are all over it. I think it's time for Rider power to make a reappearance and say 'we're not racing there'.

[mangocrazy]

Just read this on FB, from someone who clearly knows. Turns out that the villains of the piece are not just LM, but the local Bass Strait Council and the Australian GP Corporation. Sobering reading...

We fucken told you, bro. We warned you all.

At the last Australian round of the world's greatest sport, we told you all that PI was looking to lose the MotoGP. Many did not believe it. Then mainstream idiot media picked up on it and suddenly they were reporting rumours of news we had broken. Rumours became fact and yes, PI has lost the MotoGP.

To Adelaide. We told you that too, a week before it happened. Carlos Ezpeleta is flying to Adelaide today, so expect an announcement soon. And no, it will not be at Tailem Bend. It will be in Adelaide. Yes, a street circuit.

Do you know why PI lost the MotoGP? Of course, you do. The Australian GP Corporation and the Bass Strait Council also know why. In all the years they have had the rights to host the event, they have done fuck nothing to improve the facilities for the riders. The track is great. No issue. One of the best in the world. But everything around it is shit.

Never mind the woeful crap the punters have to put up with. Consider what international race teams have to put up with out the back in the paddock. Garbage toilet facilities forcing riders to wee in bottles in their ports-cabins. Tiny pit garages. A pit lane that is too narrow. The list is long and shameful. PI deserves to lose the race. It did fuck nothing to hang onto it.

Why? Because the Victorian State government does not give a shit about motorcycle racing. It never has. The crowds are down year on year. Last race, there were more people at a Melbourne footy game than came to the island to watch the MotoGP. Shall I speak about the price-gouging that goes on for stall-holders at the garbage Expo, to the appalling overpriced food and the beer you're served in plastic cups while a security gronk stands over you as you drink it? The mud? The shitty toilets? The lack of a permanent grandstand?

Let's not.

But know the amount of money pissed up against the wall building those temporary grandstands could have seen five permanent ones built. But let's just blame Lindsay Fox, who wanted to do so much (it's his track, after all), but was prevented by the local Bass council - which resembles a clown-car rather than a council.

It is the perfect partner for the Australian GP Corporation - which remains clueless about how to run and manage an international event. It deploys hundreds of cops to torment punters who ride to the event. It employes hundreds of idiot crowd managers who are rude, clueless, and officious. It employs hundreds of Australian GP Corp staff (the ones in the red jackets) to do...well, basically fuck-all except walk around in groups taking selfies. They struggle to know which flag goes on which pole and which way up it is. They could not manage to play the French National Anthem when Zarco won.

We know this because we have seen it first-hand.

Recall the Australian GP Corp somehow manages to lose $40 million hosting the F1 last year. How it thinks it can make money and host a MotoGP event is a mystery. This year will be the Island's last hurrah. Our condolences to all the business that will take a massive economic hit, and no condolences at all to the price-gouging robber-barons who use the MotoGP to destroy our wallets, and made going to Malaysia or Thailand a better deal for Australian fans.

Enjoy the bag of dicks you so deserve to eat.

[weeksy]

Sounds like most/all sports these days in truth, from OldTrafford that is in disrepair to Rugby stadiums falling down and cycling events that have 2 portaloos.
The problem comes is that people don't put on events now for people, they don't put it on for the spectacle, they only put events on for profit. Once the profit goes, the event goes with it.
It's not just MotoGP it's society...

In fairness, a city based track could be AWESOME .... Or it could be a MAcau and kill a couple of riders.

[weeksy]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/ar ... jmly2rgp2o

This article indirectly clearly shows what a lot of my point it... I know it's football and many don't care about it, but it's more about someone at the megacorps just looking to make money without thinking of the bigger picture.

[Count Steer]

If they get the right deal with the TV company and the host nation then actual spectators at the track seem to be little more than an irritation - but you might as well gouge them if they insist on turning up.

See F1 for the business model and play 'spot the spectators' at some sandy oil nation's 'track from a catalogue' venue while the fizzy drink teams go round in circles along with a few companies actually involved in making cars.

[Supermofo]

Massive shame, PI is a proper old school circuit. Might not be such any issue if the new circuit is good, but I doubt it will be. Was well happy when Bruno came back on the calendar, but now we've lost PI. Poop.

[Skub]

You can see a lap here. Doesn't look to be many soft landing spots for a bike rider when it goes wrong. A massive step back 50/60 years to a dangerous circuit. I'll be amazed if the Motogp riders are happy to race there.
https://www.iracing.com/tracks/adelaide-street-circuit/