This media release came out of Avesco:
AVESCO chairman, Tony Cochrane, tonight announced a change to the V8 Supercar Schedule.
Planning for the V8 Supercar round at Shanghai was thrown into complete disarray when he announced that due to unforeseen problems, the round would be moved to Bahrain for 2004 only.
Realising the problems that were becoming apparent at Shanghai, Mr. Cochrane said that it was a simple matter to change the transport logistics to move the circus from China 'slightly to the west' to Bahrain.
"I have always had confidence that Shanghai would go ahead, but insurmountable hurdles meant we had to either look to moving the event to a local circuit, which we didn't want to do - or look for another overseas venue - and Bahrain was the perfect venue for us", Cochrane continued.
Logistics for the event were already in place - transport planes had already been booked - therefore it was a simple matter of ensuring the planes could go to Bahrain instead of China.
"Fortunately", Cochrane stated, "our excellent management had ensured we could fly to China via America if we had needed to - in a word - a snap!"
"Our contacts in Bahrain advised us that they believed the Formula One race, which is being held this weekend, would be a perfect preliminary event to precede what will no doubt be the biggest event ever seen at the Bahrain track - 32 V8 Vupercars blasting around the track - it will be a magnificent sight. And we don't have to worry about the sand blowing over the track - that is why we go to Western Australia - to get experince in these types of conditions" Cochrane continued.
Only last week, everyone involved in V8 Supercars were confident that Shanghai would go ahead as planned, however, the past 5 days have seen phone calls bouncing around from the
Gold Coast to Shanghai to Bahrain to such an extent that Telstra have offered to up their sponsorship of the V8's due to the increased income from AVESCO's headquarters.
Leonard
Reid-First, media manager for Telstra's V8 Supercar Division said that Telstra welcomed the change to Bahrain, adding "we are always pleased to enter new markets and Bahrain is one market we have been eyeing now for many years but had never had a legitimate reason to go there before".
AVESCO have arranged for 6 Antonov AN-225 Russian Transport/Cargo planes to move the entire circus from
Brisbane a week before the scheduled November 12th meeting. Each plane is capable of carrying 250,000 kg of cargo and AVESCO believes the 1,500,000 kg should be adequate for the journey. In order to ensure that this overall weight limit is achieved Cochrane has outlined rule changes that will be put in place spcifically for Bahrain - each team will be restricted to one engine, a single overall drive train and 4 tyres only to save space and weight.
"We have tried to cover every single contingency in this race and believe that we can still have our compulsory pit stops, which our fans enjoy so much - each car will come into the pit lane, stop, all four wheels will be removed, placed on the ground and then reattached to the car. For once, flat tyres will mean that unless the team can obtain tyres from someone else, they won't have a replacement. It also means that drivers will, for once, have to be extremely careful driving out there - they will have to make their tyres last for the entire weekend for a change" Cochrane explained.
Full details of the Bahrain scheduled will be issued later today during a televised media conference to be held from the Phillip Island track where AVESCO are currently holding their annual Heads of Government meeting.