Skaife calls for Supercars cost cap
Supercars legend Mark Skaife says the series needs to get serious about cost reduction – and that means the introduction of a cost cap.
Shane van Gisbergen, Triple Eight Race Engineering, and Fabian Coulthard, DJR Team Penske
Supercars
Skaife reckons Supercars should follow Formula 1's lead in capping team spending capacity, as grand prix racing faces a $145 million limit next season. That will be cut to $140 million in 2022 and then $130 million for 2023-2025.
The six-time Bathurst winner's suggestion for Supercars is a $2 million cap per car, which could be introduced as part of the new Gen3 regulations in 2022.
"We need to be genuine about cost reduction," Skaife told Motorsport.com.
"We haven't been genuine about it, meaning I don't think everybody has applied serious cost reduction to our game. That needs to be a big consideration moving forward.
"I would have thought $2 million a car should win the races for you. That's the per annum spend as a maximum. That takes you back to the mid-1990s as a spend. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't apply a cost cap to that."
Skaife added that concerns over accurate policing such a cap shouldn't act as a roadblock.
"I know everybody talks about it and says 'you can't police it'," he said. "Well even if you don't police it well, even if you can't totally police it, it's better to have it than to not.
"I would put that as a massive consideration [for Gen3]."
Team finances are a closely guarded secret in Supercars, however it's understood modern budgets tend to range from around $1.2 to $3 million per car per season.
Mandated cost containment is commonplace in Australian sport, with all of the major football codes, including the Australian Football League, the National Rugby League and the A-League, all operating under a salary cap system.
The same goes for the Big Bash League cricket tournament.
Supercars is one of the few local professional sports without a maximum spend, with controlled components and strict testing limits traditionally the preferred way to limit costs.
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