WHAT a weekend in Tassie.

Two highly captivating Supercars races at a brilliant old-school track with a brilliant old-school crowd. As always, there was a lot to like – but in the same way there was some eyebrow raising stuff that makes us go ‘huh?’.

Here’s what we think turned out to be the good and bad things from the Apple Isle.

HITS

TASSIE

WHAT a place.

Stunning scenery, great food and drink and a cracking little race track that is perhaps the most underrated in Australia. This writer hadn’t visited the Apple Isle for racing since 2013 and it was a great place come back to. Launceston remains one of the more charming cities around, with a great array of pubs and bars to visit each night.

Even the notoriously unpredictable weather adds another layer of storytelling to a weekend down there. Must visit racing location.

SYMMONS PLAINS

THE Race Torque watched the Saturday race from the hill, on drivers’ right at pit exit. What superb theatre it was: the cars bursting into view over the hill, scrabbling for grip and locking the right front as they try and then rotate the car into turn two. You pick the best drivers too, who did it for fifty laps without a mistake. At the back of the field the story was somewhat more.. ragged with locked brakes and dirt on the exit.

The pit stop shuffle was equally entertaining, as cars on decent tyres emerged from the lane in the path of those already at operating temp. Van Gisbergen and Lowndes running wheel to wheel under the bridge, out of our site, was spectacular, as was the closing stages as Courtney emerged on fresh rubber and mowed that group down en route to third.

Then they bust into view coming through turn five on the back stretch and for lap after lap we watched as Lowndes tried and tried to attack van Gisbergen on the run into six.

Symmons is a spectacular spectator track and a spectacular track for racing. At no point, in our opinion, should it ever be changed from what it is now.

ON THE SHELF

THE decision by GM to bench the V6 Turbo development, at least for the immediate future, has to be considered a win.

While the sport continues to publicly endorse and promote the introduction of alternative engines, there’s a majority in the paddock convinced that remaining with the current V8 formula is the way to go, whether it is ‘relevant’ to the current market conditions or not.

The only major manufacturer investing in the sport – and one with such a brand cache’ as Holden – alienating a significant portion of their significant fan base was not good PR.  So, their decision to remain with what a majority of current fan want – even if it may still be temporary – is a welcome bit of positive news from a brand that must be desperate for it at the moment.

THE PODIUM

FOR years it was baffling that Supercars ran their Tassie podium in pit lane, miles away from the hill at turn three – arguably the best spectator point of any permanent circuit on the calendar.

So the decision to move it to the front of the paying punters on the hill was an excellent decision by the crew at VASC and those fans were rewarded with closer access to their heroes.

CRAIG LOWNDES

IT WAS almost a relief to see Lowndes back at the front of the field, where he belongs, at the weekend. His troubles with the 2017-spec tyre and building the relationship with a new engineer ensured a winless year for Craig last season and the doubters began to suggest that perhaps, just perhaps, his time had come.

Of course, only Craig could offer the complete reply that he delivered on Sunday: pole and a commanding victory wasn’t just a breakthrough after two winless years, but also one of his best overall drives of the last five or six, if not more.

Supercars still needs Craig Lowndes to be a competitive force and the weekend proved there’s live in the old dog yet.. and plenty of it.

JACK LE BROCQ

AFTER two challenging rounds, the Supercars rookie and his Tekno team began to fire in Tasmania with outstanding qualifying performances and a brilliant top five performance on Sunday, one that made the former Formula Ford and GT winner look like he had been racing amongst the likes of Whincup, Courtney and other much more experienced names his whole life.

Easily the best performance by a rookie this year so far and arguably one of the drives of the season to date, full stop.

JASON GOMERSALL

WELL played to the BigMate Racing Touring Car Masters driver, who broke through for his first victory in the category after years of trying, bard luck, misfortune and some major setbacks in recent years. Well earned and immensely popular for one of the sport’s most likable and good blokes.

CAMERON SHIELDS

SURE, he’s easily the most experienced guy in the field and this year is tackling two national and three state championships – but he was still impressive in the way he put together his Formula 4 weekend at the weekend, making measured passes when needed and otherwise blitzing what may be a small yet very talent-packed field.

MISSES

SATURDAY START TIME

WHY Supercars stars the Saturday race at 4:50pm the first week after Daylight Savings ends, we don’t know.

It leaves us scratching our heads because in almost every respect it’s like shooting yourself in the foot.

Not only did the temperature drop dramatically before the start, as the sun was covered by afternoon cloud it was also pretty dark by the time the race ended.

We watched the first 30-or so laps from turn one and some families with young children packed up and left before the end because it was getting too cold for their kids.

The odd scheduling of this race in particular is, of course, what led to the unfortunate cancellation of last year’s race following that massive crash: Had they started earlier the fans could have got a restart and some value for their dollars.

This year we got lucky with the weather but you’d think they would’ve learned.

And while we praised the impromptu night racing in Melbourne a few weeks ago, Symmons Plains isn’t Albert Park.

Rather, it’s at least 30 minutes from Launceston and noted for being rather cold and blustery more often than not. Add darkness to the mix and trying to sell the positives to 15,000 people sitting in a paddock does not an easy task make.

Start the race at 3:30pm and run some supports afterwards: You’ll get the same TV numbers and the people at the track can be back in their houses at a reasonable time, nor will they be caught in the inevitable traffic jam thanks to the mass exodus following the race.

And you won’t be playing with fire (or frost) risking a race that has dramas or weather delaying proceedings.

Calling a day’s play on account of light is a Test Match Cricket thing: It shouldn’t be a Supercars issue.

MIXED MESSAGING

WE FELT for Chris Stubbs from FOX Sports News, who reported on Thursday night with good authority that Holden’s new V6 Turbo Engine would likely make its racing debut at the Super Night event in Sydney later this year.. only to be gazumped twelve hours later when the brand announced they were shelving the development of the engine.

We understand Stubbsy got the apology he deserved, and that it was only a quirk in timing and all just a bad miscommunication – but it was still pretty #Awkward.

Fortunately, Friday’s announcement pushed Thursday’s quickly into the back blocks but it’s one of those cringe-worthy moments those who work in PR hate..

TICKFORD RACING & NISSAN MOTORSPORT

Completely Missing In Action on Saturday, and not much better on Sunday either. Even if the Commodores were dominating proceedings, the Shell V-Power Racing Falcons were miles in front of their fellow Ford team this weekend, and it’s hard to see that outfit as championship contenders with this continuing, frustrating level of inconsistency.

When your driving squad includes Mostert, Winterbottom, Stanaway and Waters, one singular top-10 finish from both races is a remarkably poor return from two races.

As for the Nissans.. at least in Adelaide and Melbourne they showed that they had pace in qualifying.

In Tassie, that too was gone with not one of the four cars making onto the top five rows of the grid at any point over the weekend.

What’s more, they made Tickford look positively competitive by not featuring inside the top-10 during either race.

We’re stating the obvious by saying that neither team wanted, aimed for nor expected these results.. but the complete lack of performance, relative to the opposition, from two well resourced, talent-ridden teams has to be of concern.

What’s more, at this early point of the year it feels like a cop-out to say that Parity is the issue for either the Nissans or the Tickford Falcons.

Blaming the cars is an easy way out when none of your team is performing. Out of the eight cars those two teams fielded in two races, their total net return was one top-10 finish. One.

There’s no doubt the Commodores are strong and even better than last year. There’s also no doubt they worked particularly well at Symmons.

But Holdens also out-number the Fords and Nissans by two-to-one and there’s going to be a moment here or there where weight of numbers adds up.

And what’s more, you’ll note Scott McLaughlin was second on Sunday, driving that apparently old nail of a Falcon..

TASSIE GRIDS

ONE of the biggest issues racing at Tasmania presents is that it is expensive to get there and, as such, often has a significant influence on support category fields.

Formula 4 had just 10 cars on the weekend and though their racing was decent, the number has to be a concern. We understand two or three more cars are expected to join the grid at subsequent rounds. Fortunately, Symmons is an excellent track for open wheel cars and, thanks to the quick lap times, smaller grids are easy to disguise amongst good racing.

Even Touring Car Masters, which usually sports very decent numbers, was way down; just 12 cars competing the four races after Gavin Bullas’ Mustang blew up in Qualifying. TCM has a lot of traveling to do this year; as well as Symmons, they’re racing in Darwin and Townsville this season so there was always going to be one round that suffered and this time out it was Tasmania.

Still, it’s hard work for the dedicated fans who through no fault of their own have to watch a support program without big grids.