Holden V Ford V Nissan!!!

[HandyNZL 1]

V8 Supercars have drawn the line at no more than five manufacturers in the championship series after Nissan confirmed it would enter and take on Holden and Ford next year.

Nissan will join the series from 2013, with Rick and Todd Kelly's Kelly Racing defecting from Holden to become the Japanese giant's factory-backed team.

And Chrysler is expected to announce in the new few months it will become the fourth make on the grid as V8 Supercars' Car of the Future blueprint allows other manufacturers to join Holden and Ford from next year.

But V8 boss Tony Cochrane said the series needed to be sensible about the number of manufacturers allowed into the sport - saying five was the maximum they would consider.

"We would be very reluctant to go above five manufacturers," Cochrane said in Melbourne today.

"At the start of 2013 there'll be at least four manufacturers there. Nothing's happened to change my view on that."

Nissan has not competed in Australian touring car racing since the early 1990s, when it unpopularly dominated the sport.

The powerhouse R32 Nissan Skyline GT-R known as Godzilla gave Holden and Ford a torrid time, winning the Bathurst 1000 twice and dominating the championship with now V8 Commission chairman Mark Skaife at the wheel.

But they were unpopular with traditional Aussie motor sport fans - the nadir coming with a Bathurst win in 1992 when Skaife's co-driver Jim Richards labelled a booing crowd "a pack of arseholes".

[HandyNZL 1]

Godzilla was one awesome car back then...I remember Jim Richards lapping the entire field at Bathurst in the rain, as he had 4WD and the Holdens and Fords only spin-wheel drive...

[JHS18 0]

Good news for the series. I'm not a huge fan of V8 Supercars (but I won't start ranting ) but it is nice to hear of manufacturers confirming new programmes in all different forms of racing.

[Massa 0]

V8 Supercars have gained a lot of traction in the U.S., predominantly with NASCAR fans. I hope when they cancel Austin they find another American round, preferably Watkins Glen on the NASCAR/Grand-Am weekend to get some crossover among the three series (since that damn Surfers' race is on the same weekend as a NASCAR one).

Good to see Nissan involved. I love them because they are supplying the engine to the DeltaWing after Ford refused (who the hell refuses to give Dan Gurney an engine?). V8SC is miles ahead of WTCC, DTM, etc. in terms of fun, so I hope having Nissan and Chrysler only adds to that. The series has a lot going for it, I think.

[HandyNZL 1]

The new cars are more NASCAR-y in that they are going to be skins over a chassis made by the team (or another team can sell a chassis). Plus all the body shapes must be based off a current model, with allowances for larger ducting (although this is mandated between a small window and is the same for every make), rear spoiler, and front splitter, plus diffuser at the rear...however, all cars must have the same downforce (or withing a few points of each other so as to be negligible to the racing).

NZ has stolen a march on the Aussies, with our new V8 Supertourers which has it's first ever race next weekend at Hampton Downs....same chassis underneath, different body on top, about $100,000NZ cheaper to build. Things like suspension are interchangeable between both Ford and Holden cars, and of course teams get to make all the setup changes they want as the suspension systems are not too dissimilar to an open wheeler, and in fact are more akin to a bodied open wheeler , than a souped up saloon suspension.

V8 Supercars are keen on getting lots of racing overseas, and are actually aiming at a 20-round series...the majority in Australia of course, though they only have about 8(?) race circuits, plus Bathurst, Adelaide, and Surfers, so the remainder is to be off shore...they already go to Abu Dhabi, but NZ may be losing our round, which is in fact driven on the streets about 10mins drive from my house, as this is the final year Hamilton will have a race due to the costs being too high (but then what would they expect when every year, they put up the grandstands, block of a business district, put concrete barriers up on both sides of the street with catch fences above, build a pit complex, paint the road markings black, paint chicanes in white and green, repaint ALL the sponsor signage on the concrete blocks, because no one was smart enough to place the same two fence pieces year-to-year next to each other so as to not need to repaint the signage...and then pull it all down again...a cost of some $5-mill every year, all paid by the Hamilton ratepayers (i.e. ME)).

The obvious replacement track is Hampton Downs, but then it all gets political, because the V8 Supercars chief reckons that the only feasible track is Pukekohe, which is so bumpy it might as well be an off-road track, the pit complex has been condemned (though I have it on good authority Puke has bought the Hamilton pits tents and stuff), and for a spectator, you either get to see the cars come around Ford Mountain *cough* bump more like *cough*, along the front straight until your view is blocked by the pedestrian overpass, OR, you sit on the other side of the overpass and you get to see the cars go along about 250m of pit straight, then veer right into turn one, and that's it...plus Pukekohe is being hammered over noise levels, and the V8's are not quiet by any stretch.

Then the d#ckheads in Auckland Council suggest using the Airforce Base (read helicopter (as in singular helicopter) hanger and runways, such is the state of our Air Defense force), whereby they reckon they will have the population to make the event viable, which is a misnomer as it is the same distance from Auckland as Hampton Downs is...AND then they have to build a fully fenced in race track EXACTLY the same as Hamilton does/did, so the build cost every year is $5mil and rising year on year.

And then Tony Cochrane goes on to say that Hampton Downs is no good because it doesn't meet their (V8SC) requirements....you know, things like permanent pit facilities (er, check), grandstands (er, two permanent already there, plus can put up temporary ones as well, so, check on that too), a track spectators can see (er, check, from one grandstand you can see 50% of the track, the other 25%), access for the public (er, check, access straight off State Highway 1 going both North and South), agreeable noise level consents (er, check, the only neighbours are a prison to the South, and two farm houses across the road), VIP hospitality (er, check, over top of pit garages, plus a full convention centre), FIA Grade 2 track licence (er, check), a track of 1min 15 - 1min 30, (currently this is the only one that might not be able to be checked off...expected lap times for the V8 Supertourers is 60-65secs as the track is only built to it's mid-length configuration, but if the true turn 2, 3, 4, and 5 section was built, strangely at a cost of around $5mil-10mil, then lap times would be over the 90-sec mark....)

So options are

Pukekohe - needs money to upgrade track, spectator viewing is Sh#t, noise problems

Whenuapai Air Force Base - flat, a distance from Auckland, poor public access (like old Silverstone access poor), build/pull down costs of $5mil+ per year

Hampton Downs - purpose built track, permanent pits, great public access, great track views etc etc etc..

But then decisions were never made to be easy, yeah?

[JHS18 0]

Seeing as this is the nearest thing to a V8 Supercar thread...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcCSA82HR3w&feature=g-u&context=G2ce70d7FUAAAAAAAAAA

[Massa 0]

You know, it is okay to start threads.

I've been toying with the idea of abandoning the U.S. racing one and just making separate threads, particularly when the racing seasons all begin. It's easy in NASCAR because they race just about weekly, so I can put all the news in. I figure I can just create threads for big news in the series I follow and the races themselves, and not update about every last little thing that happens.

[JHS18 0]

You know, it is okay to start threads.

Yeah, a thread only me, you and Craig are going to use.

[Massa 0]

So why don't we just merge every thread in the whole section?

Maybe some more people would come in if they knew what specifically we were talking about?

[HandyNZL 1]

No. They all hate everything we post about.