CASTROL INTERNATIONAL 25th Anniversary Celebrations.

[Mike Morris]

Will now be held next year!

Bill Dunn and I have been working towards putting together a 25th anniversary for these famous events which we hoped would be held in conjunction with the NATCAP in November.

We have invited and have agreement in principle from many of the past stars and arranged cars for them. We were confident of 10-15 invited classics, running as a group near the front of the State field.

We had a professional film crew from NZ (who do the Otago) ready and willing.

I had the Vikings Auditorium (have you ever checked this out.....incredible what pokie money can buy!!) booked where the Rally would have finished with a spectacular night of Rally entertainment.

However, the event sponsor, despite being very excited about the whole promotion, eventually gave us their stale old line about no funds, because they give it all to Larry. This was a body blow since how do you call the Castrol International anything but?

Many moons ago I used to have sponsorship from Castrol and they suddenly changed their sponsorship policy to exclude all the also rans like me and just give vast sums Larry and Victor. This has been the situation now for probably 15 years and whereas it may achieve their marketing goals, it left a bitter taste in the mouths of many.

The fact that they could not even manage to buy the 1st option naming rights (for a pitifully low amount) to this anniversary of what was undoubtedly the most famous rallies of their era, is a pretty poor effort.

Good news is we have another backer, but because of other commitments he wants to go ahead in 2006, luckily there was an '81 Castrol.

This CASTROL thing has got up my nose though.

CASTROL do not sponsor diddly in Rallying, so why should we support them by buying their products.

I did hear of one crew recently getting something from Castrol, but I think it was on a local level.

I saw this paltry Russell Ingall segment on RPM a couple of weeks ago, about how he was worshipping the great V8 sponsors and how all the fans should get along and buy their products to support V8s.

Well maybe we should do the opposite. Perhaps I should start an anti CASTROL thread/poll and propose that all Rally competitors boycott their products until such time as they put something into our sport????? If we get enough response I'll send it to my Castrol man for him to chew over.

Any takers?

[tortfeaser]

So, I'm trying to figure out what obligation a company has to an entity sponsored 25 years ago. Why shouldn't Castrol be free to spend their money where they think they'll get the most benefit? To be frank, a few hundred rally fans cheering some cranky old 2WDs followed by a pissup doesn't sound like a huge opportunity to promote an oil company's product.

[Kagan]

I am all for that, they want something from us, then they have to give something in return. I guess the other major thing is now there are so many "Castrols" out there that they don't have the market share I assume they used too. I don't think I use anything Castrol anyway so I am happy to sign away!!

[Bogan]

FWIW I use Penrite engine oil, and Valvoline greases, diff and box fluids. I can't remember the last thing I bought that was Castrol, with the exception of some oil for the Range Rover which is usually only a temporary resident in the sump anyway.

I assume you told them what you were doing? The ba$tards.

Hey here's an idea, Caltex and Castrol have the same number of syllables (why was I about to type cylinders?) and both start with C, and to be honest anyone old enough to remember the '80 or '81 event is probably now losing their memory and will think "Meh, maybe it was Caltex after all".



T.

[tortfeaser]

Which isn't to say I won't be one of the fans cheering the stars of yesteryear on. Sounds tops.

[Kagan]

Tort

I guess the same obligation we have to call it the Castrol International, none, but thats not what Mike was commenting on, he said that why should be support them, if they are not going to support us???

[Kagan]

See tony, now thats thinking outside the box, we need more of it!!!!

[tortfeaser]

You like their product, you buy it. If you want to call consumption support, fine. Thus the economy functions, capital is transformed, and we all get to eat.

AFAIK Krispy Kreme don't sponsor rallying but I quite like to buy their product. I've seen a Donut King sponsored rally car about, but don't buy that inferior attempt at a sweet dough treat.

Originally Posted by Kagan

Tort

I guess the same obligation we have to call it the Castrol International, none, but thats not what Mike was commenting on, he said that why should be support them, if they are not going to support us???

[Kagan]

Castrol and Krispy Kreme's... Thats a bit of a strech, one is car related, one is not, and infact Krispy Kreme's are probably a performance inhibator instead of enhancer (unless you go to the Gym to work them off in which case they are null and void)...

But I guess each to their own really, personally I try to support those that support us (when I can), if I need something and someone has that product and supports a local rally person, then i would go with them over anyone else (for instance Rob Nunn, I went to him to get my stickers done for the car even though he was a little more expensive than elsewhere, but hey support those who support us, or in this case, are us).

[Spac]

Look, I'm agreeing with Marc on a political or financial topic - so we MUST be right this time...

Castrol did some stuff many years ago, and we were thankful.
Castrol changed their approach a few years ago, and it doesn't suit some of us.
Castrol has recently made a decision that is in line with their 1990+ approach, and not their pre-1990 approach.

So be it.

I don't particularly like the "all the eggs in V8 Supercars and Doorslammers baskets" approach, but it appears to work for them. We can chose to boycott their products for that reason alone (to any real benefit?), but doing it simply because they don't want to be a part of something they were a part of 25 years ago, is kinda odd.


Having spoken to Bill about the reunion, I think it's a top idea, and I will be there.

[Kagan]

I think the point (well for me anyway) that if they are not going to support us, and others are, then why would you support (or buy their products whatever you want to call it) them, when they are not supporting us.

[Spac]

Originally Posted by Kagan

I think the point that if they are not going to support us, then why would you support them, when they are not supporting us.

Good sentence!
Seriously, you're totally within your rights to do so, and to do so publically.
I agree with your stance in general terms (ie: sponsorship of rallying), if not your actions (hey, I like TTS in my motorbike and rally car, and SAF-XA in my diff, and...).

But to take that stance solely over their refusal to sponsor the Caltex International 25th reunion just seems weird to me.

[bob moore]

Originally Posted by Mike Morris

This CASTROL thing has got up my nose though.

Why? What does Castrol owe us? We're the ones who decided it would be nice to celebrate a rally that occurred 25 years ago. Not Castrol!

Perhaps it's our problem that, 25 years ago, someone decided to call that rally the Castrol Rally, rather than the Castrol Brindabella Stages (these days it would, of course, be called the Brindabella Classic Stages )

Originally Posted by Mike Morris

CASTROL do not sponsor diddly in Rallying, so why should we support them by buying their products.

Perhaps because it's good stuff*?

Originally Posted by Mike Morris

Perhaps I should start an anti CASTROL thread/poll and propose that all Rally competitors boycott their products until such time as they put something into our sport?

Hey, this is a great PR idea! Why don't we call it .................. I've got it! The Blackmail Strategy! Let us know when you're ready to go - we can send Bogan to video the reaction of Castrol's marketing department. The "Dirty Deeds" video needs a comedy section.


* I have no commercial relationship with Castrol. Not since they (graciously) rejected my bid for sponsorship for the 1970 Southern Cross Rally in a Mini K. See later reference to "comedy".

[bob moore]

Originally Posted by Mike Morris

Good news is we have another backer, but because of other commitments he wants to go ahead in 2006, luckily there was an '81 Castrol.

Ahhh, you found the legendary Signor Don Capasco?

How is he these days?

[RD Mullet]

Originally Posted by Mike Morris

This was a body blow since how do you call the Castrol International anything but?

Quite easy really. Call it now what most of us called it then !!

The Carr strol rally !