V8 Supercars / Supertourers

[JHS18 0]

Have to say I've been pleasantly surprised at the different winners so far, especially given last year was a FPR/Triple 8 lock-out.

Lowndes, Van Gisbergen, Fabian Coulthard and Jason Bright have all won races up to now, not including the wins for Coulthard and McLaughlin at the non-championship rounds at Melbourne.

Guess that's down to the COTF and some teams getting a handle on it quicker than others.

Also, glad to see Scott Pye walked away from this nasty crash last weekend. Never nice to see a brake failure like that. Apparently the impact was 100mph. Thank goodness for the HANS device.

Thankfully injured, but won't contest the next round due to the wrecked cars. The COTF is so new that no team has a back-up car at the moment.

[HandyNZL 1]

Auckland this weekend on the modified Pukekohe circuit (that no one I know of actually is too fond of, but even though they have made some dumb changes and missed an opportunity to fix up a dangerous corner just so the track is good for V8's, never mind us open wheelers, motorbikes and clubmans, I'll reserve final judgement till I actually race on it in early May). I won't be attending though as arranging a funeral at this point takes precedence. Could have been there crewing on some F5000's otherwise.

[HandyNZL 1]

Quick update:

Pukekohe: They poked my local race track - improvements for them in the guise of "impact absorbing barriers",ie concrete highway median barriers, all around the track, new, reaised curbs and new roof tile curbing elsewhere, has left regular users of the track, like me, having to face lakes around half the track even in the lightest of rain, as somehow, drainage wasn't included in the $6.6m upgrade plan. And whoever thought concrete was ever going to absorb energy when you hit them, should be forced to pay the 12 BMW E30 drivers who have hit the wall (in one ping pong crash), one of which had the car floor try and reach the car roof subsequently squashing the driver inside, as well as the 8 Honda Cup drivers who all slid off into the same stretch of wall during an endurance race, the two F5000's that are literally wirtten off, and quite a few other cars which now have either broken off suspension (open wheelers), or body work that is more crumpled alloy foil than polished car panel.

Perth: Scotty Pye proved that you can make a car fly...sideways. A short circuit, and one real passing corner, so a little bit processional, but was reasonable entertainment. Craig Lowndes took the record for most career wins.

Austin: Three laps in and Scotty Mac has been knocked off in the first corner, and a few other spins in the first lap. Reasonable crowd, and turn one is looking like a goos banzai overtake corner. That tall tower is missing. Where'd it go? Cars doing 1:32's for full lap. Crowd seems engaged and cheering the action.

[HandyNZL 1]

Mystery solved....tower is still there. Phew.

[HandyNZL 1]

In the news today:

Yet another manufacturer looks set to join V8 Supercars next season, with chairman Mark Skaife expecting an announcement by Christmas.

Chrysler is being heavily linked with upgrading its status from supplier of the safety cars to a full-blown entry.

As the V8s make their American debut at the Austin 400 in Texas this weekend, buoyed by Nissan's start to life in the category, speculation is rife of talks between an existing team and the US carmaker.

Chrysler were also linked with a possible 2013 entry, though it didn't progress beyond the discussion point.

That was before the V8s started a five-year deal to race in the US and the addition of Nissan and Mercedes. Both may be game-changers for an American company trying to grow its brand in Australia.

Skaife has warned any futureinternational V8 expansion must be sustainable and sensible, not the rent-a-category model which took them to the Middle East amid sparse crowds and general apathy.

The five-time V8 champion says going where there are link-ups for sponsors and manufacturers is key to getting expansion right. "If we had a Korean manufacturer, it would make sense to have a race in Korea. I know there's been plenty of discussions with Nissan about having a race in that part of the world.

"If you take it to places like Bahrain and Abu Dhabi, and you don't have people there whoappreciate it, then it doesn't do the best thing for the business. Americans will love this sport."

After the first day of practice it was the drivers who agreed it's America the beautiful.

Holden's Craig Lowndes set the fastest time in practice and the sport's newest venue won rave reviews.

Lowndes, who rocketed around the Circuit of the Americas in 1m 32.9042s - the fastest time in the four practice sessions - likened its spectacular elevation changes to Bathurst.

Ford driver Will Davison, second fastest for the day, called it a circuit that needed to be driven "balls-out".

Holden Racing Team's Garth Tander was third quickest in a Commodore which will soon be sold in the US as a Chevrolet, and emerged from the car convinced the American experiment will prove a great success.

"For us, it's a massively worthwhile exercise ... it's a great opportunity for us to showcase Australian racing in America at a fantasticfacility," Tander said. "I was absolutely blown away when I got on the plane just how many Australians were on the plane coming to the race. If that's the measure of how this event has got the potential to grow over the next couple of years, it's going to be a winner."

[HandyNZL 1]

Heres Scotty Pye getting his flight licence:

http://youtu.be/NU_uBlXFsHQ

[HandyNZL 1]

End of first race at Austin (of four),,,Whincup takes it over Lowndes for a Red Bull 1-2. And a Nissan in 6th! Highest finish ever for them.

Good race, lots of overtakes, lots of battles all through the field; this track actually works in terms of providing a base for a motor race, which leads me to believe that F1 just sucks in the overtakes department (well, I always knew, but this first race just makes the point)

Second race in an hour....

[Massa 0]

Seemed to me that the F1 race there was pretty exciting, actually.

[HandyNZL 1]

Yes. It was. Some young forum fellow didn't like the hats though. Can't remember his/her name now, but, what a moron....

[JHS18 0]

Really enjoyed following the V8s this weekend. It isn't often that I get to see the races live due to the time difference, but with them racing in America, it was more convenient for me. Saw all four races.

Some really good, hard fought stuff. Arguably these cars are more spectacular on the Aussie circuits than a great big track like COTA, but whatever. Starting to really like the Nissans. They look particularly nice in the Jack Daniels colours.

One thing that did surprise me was the amount of incidents the stewards decided to investigate. I was under the illusion that they were...well, a lot more forgiving and that there wouldn't be so many penalties being handed out. Not saying that is good/bad, just surprising to me personally, probably due to the fact I'm used to BTCC style touring car racing where they hardly ever investigate on track incidents, and if they do, it normally results in a fine/points on the license and not a drive through or whatever.

[jackgarrett 0]

I missed it becuase it was live and not at a decent time, it didnt even get to record it when though i set it to.

[Massa 0]

On the stewards, it may be relevant that IMSA, not the FIA, sanctioned the V8 Supercars races over the weekend.

Of course, IMSA is part of ACCUS, which is part of the FIA, and I can't imagine the stewards were different, but hey, I figured it was worth mentioning.

[JHS18 0]

Big news for the V8s today. Volvo becomes the latest manufacturer to commit to the series:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/108108

Great to hear. It's definitely a lot more appealing to me to see a lot of different makes of car racing, over just the Fords and Holdens.

From what I can gather, there might even be another one yet that we'll see on the start grid come 2014.

[Massa 0]

Awesome. I hope to see Volvo and Nissan be very, very competitive. Mercedes, Ford, and Holden can languish at the back.

[Rainmaster 7]

I'm sort of interested in how Casey Stoner is getting on, he runs in V8's now right? I'm just not interested enough to watch any of the races or Google his results

[JHS18 0]

He's in the development series, or to put it in another way, the V8 Supercar equivalent of GP2.

He's been finding it tough as you'd expect with such a big transition, so his results haven't been much to shout about so far.

Despite that, he'll step up into the big league for the Bathurst 1000/Sandown 500. He'll drive for Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport with Scott Pye.

[Rainmaster 7]

Thank you!

[HandyNZL 1]

So he'll be at the back, and if he doesn't start the race, may not even get a go. Pye has not been having a good season.

Nissan is still way off pace. Merc made some in-roads this past weekend. Volvo gig was known at last weekends race too. Chevvy may join...

[JHS18 0]

Chevvy may join...

Chevrolet? But isn't the Holden a sort of re-badged Chevrolet SS anyway?

I'd love for it to be Audi. This concept image shows that it'd work well.

[Massa 0]

The Chevrolet SS is the re-badged Holden Commodore, but yes, same car.

GM has, at times, run multiple cars in the same class, though.

At one point in NASCAR, GM had Chevrolet, Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Buick racing against each other. So, it's not totally unprecedented, but I'd be surprised.

I could see it being less of a new manufacturer effort and more of a "we're going to rebadge certain Holdens to Chevrolet" like they did for the Texan race.

[HandyNZL 1]

The rumour has it, is that they will be Cadillacs...currently the safety car is one. So a Caddy body, Chev engine. And another GM.

[JHS18 0]

Reading that they are looking into adopting V6 turbo engines in the future (V6 Supercars doesn't have the same ring to it ) as well as having a cap on manufacturers.

I can't understand the second point. Why would you want to cap the number of manufacturers entering the series? First they wanted new manufacturers, now they don't? Weird.

Ford and Holden aren't going to be around forever. Surely it is a good idea to bring these new brands in for the day when Ford/Holden aren't on the grid.

Maybe a better idea would be to limit the number of cars one manufacturer can run? Reduce the number of Holdens, and bring in Cadillac/Audi whoever, and you've got an incredibly diverse field of cars.

[Massa 0]

V6, for whatever reason, is very boring to me. I'm a small engine guy, to be honest, and I don't actually consider V6 to be small. I just think the I4 turbo is cooler because it's even smaller. But it's not as cool if they all have an I4 turbo. It's cool when an I4 turbo beats an archaic, excessive, mean, bad, petrol-powered V8 as it has in some series.

V6 is just kind of a middling engine to me. It's the Nick Heidfeld of engines. It's not small enough to be impressive to those of us who like small engines (i.e. "holy crap, they're getting so much out of so little"), and it's not big enough to make the people on that side of the spectrum impressed (I don't like big engines, but a lot of race fans do). It's sort of generic...and while it may seem "relevant" now, it's not so much in this discipline. Fewer and fewer sedans (saloons) are being offered even with V6s here (here, of course, is not there). I'm seeing a lot of cars in that segment that only offer an I4 now.

Not that I think they need to go to I4 Supercars. I love small engines, but it wouldn't kill us to have one championship that sort of does things its own way, would it? Nissan and Volvo don't make V8 cars, you know, and that didn't really stop them from joining...

It's an interesting idea, and something that's bound to happen. Still, if engines become universally smaller in racing, you are going to see some series fall away. If they all have the same engine, manufacturers are going to go to high-viewership or low-cost series. That's going to box out some championships that had differentiated themselves. I just think of manufacturers like Ford and Chevrolet in NASCAR; they also race where they can run smaller, turbocharged engines (i.e. Chevy in IndyCar, and Ford with a 2014 USCR program). NASCAR starts using smaller, turbocharged engines, and you can kind of see Chevrolet and Ford pulling out of or decreasing involvement in IndyCar, USCR, etc.

But that's all talk. We'll see. Volvo has me curious about V8SC, now.

[HandyNZL 1]

A quick histoury lesson for the young....(making myself sound old..ewck)

Inline turbo fours have history in Aussie Touring Cars - Nissan with the all conquering Skyline (lapped everyone (or nearly everyone) at Bathurst one year), plus the Ford Sierra. Holden was running around with a V8 and could never match them. This became the precursor to getting rid of the 2000cc cars.

************************

Ford Falcon is a dodo in three years. This effectively has no bearing on the V8 supercars, as they are now bespoke chassis with Ford Falcon panels (before the current cars there really did live a production chassis, albeit modified). Holden has also said that they are on the last generation of the Commodore but have not announced it's official demise.

If news is floating around about V6's then this could be becuase the Aussie car industry is pretty much on it's knees in terms of producing their own car (they still have manufacturing plants for other marquee). If V6 rules came in, then I would say that the title would revert to Australian Touring Cars, and not V6 (slightly less) Super Cars

[Emmcee 0]

Those gtr skylines, I remember them,I have a skyline myself because of these particular cars and races I witnessed as a child. They put 50kg weights in the back to slow them down, and they still blew everyone away. That's what happens when you race on a mountain circuit and drive a cat specifically designed for touge runs in the Japanese hills. Those Japanese sure know how to build a fine machine. The skylines wernt 4 cylinders, there were a 2.6l twin turbo straight 6. The sierras were 4s.