V8 Supercars

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Merk_sfi

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Hey All,
I have known about this forum for so long and have only just made the plunge to sign up (I must apologize but I don't like signing up to forums unless I know I will have the time to post on them).

I was wondering if anyone here had heard, or follows the V8 Supercars? They are the leading motorsport category in Australia and have attempted to take on the world with previous rounds in Bahrain, the Middle East, New Zealand and in 2013 head to the United States for the first time.

What have you heard? And what do you want to know? Hopefully we are able to start some discussions?
 
:wave: Merk_sfi

V8 Supercars? Great series and the V8's make our British Touring Cars look positively pedestrian.Unfortunately I don't get to see many races these days and what I do get to see are usually poorly edited highlights. I'm subscribed up to the hilt so if you know of a free-to-view internet feed I would be really grateful.

Meanwhile, welcome to "Clip" and I hope you get to enjoy some great conversation.
 
Merk_sfi
Welcome to CTA
Unfortunately the only thing I really know about V8 supercars is that they race at Bathurst (partly due to the non-existent television coverage of it in Britain). I would assume it is like Touring car racing? I think I need to learn mor about it - when is it on?
 
Thanks for the welcome everyone,
As I said I only normally sign up to websites that I know I can be a contributing member of, and post on a regular basis otherwise I think it is unfair for the website, and the site management.

Yes the V8 Supercars is definitely a category to watch especially after getting international Class 1 racing clearance from the FIA meaning they are now able to take the competition internationally.

This is the final year that cars in the V8 Supercar Championship will be using production cars (cars you can go out and buy from the showroom floor) as they move to the Car of the Future next year (which makes it the car of the present doesn't it? lol) which is aimed at reducing the costs.

Their calendar is all over the place, most recently we have been having a race every couple of weeks however they are coming up to their mid season break where once they return things are more spread out just to use up as much time on the calendar as possible.

Each year there are three endurance races (for those who don't know), these endurance races a long LONG racers in which two drivers are allocated per car, and the teams need to make a number of pit stops for fuel, tyres.

Usually each car only has the one driver, and depending on how long the track is race about 50 laps per race with normally three races across the weekend.

My favourite part of the racing is the Top Ten Shootout, which unfortunately they have begun to faze out, which is where the top ten cars from qualifying have a 'one lap dash' - one flying lap to try and set the best time to try and earn pole position.

The racing over recent years however has become a little bit stagnant. As with many other motorsport categories the rich teams have the best performing cars, while the poorer teams tend to struggle, the did want to introduce a salary cap to make it fair for all but there was a huge out cry for it.

For our endurance races, which start after our six week mid-season break which is coming out, we have the Phillip Island 500 (which is 500kms) with two drivers (as mentioned above), followed by what I guess is the world famous race in the Bathurst 1000 (which is 1000kms, or 161laps around the Bathurst track) and then two weeks later they head to the Gold Coast (popular tourist destination) for what is the international round where international drivers from Indycar, Nascar, BTCC come and take part (depending on conflicts of calendar).

Dan Wheldon (R.I.P) was meant to fly out for the Gold Coast event immediately after his IndyCar race at Las Vegas in which he was tragically killed, and so the V8 Supercar Championship created the Dan Wheldon Trophy which is awarded to the best performance of an international driver (won in the inaugural year by Sebastian Bourdais) and in 2011 all cars ran a tribute for Dan.

Bathurst is our toughest track, with the turns, the circuit, the speed and the technicality and skill needed by the drivers so many times the best drivers in the world, and in the championship, have headed to the event and failed to finish due to lack in concentration seeing them make what could be described as a rookie mistake on any other track.

I would like to share with you a video from qualifying from the Bathurst 1000 which was done in 2003. While the track record has been broken since this occasion this driver, from New Zealand, Greg Murphy threw everything he had at the track, even made a mistake and still became the first man to fly around the track in under 2:07s

This video shows you how technical the track is, how special the lap was, and how much racing fans and all his competitors actually appreciated the lap. The lap can be seen at youtube it is known as the 'Lap of the Gods' due to how good it was, and is still regarded.

It took a further eight years, and changes to cars etc for anyone to come close to beating this.

 
Hello and welcome Merk_sfi......After F1, the Australian V8 Supercars are next in line for me. The cars sound and look like proper thundering racing cars, the drivers like all drivers from around the world are top rate, and the courses......well like Mt Panorama which is such a spectacular venue, and one that NASCAR veteran Daryl Waltrip will hardly forget, after being taken around by Jason Bright.

ROFLROFL

 
No complaints about the dirvers, lewymp4, :thumbsup:... it's the cars! BTCC is a misnomer as they haven't had proper touring cars in it for years. They're little more than medium sized hatchbacks these days. British Saloon Car Championship would be more honest a title. I miss the days of the TWR Jag's, souped up Cavaliers, Sierra Cosworths, etc. Serious motors that took up space and went like beasts out of Hades (relatively speaking of course). The Aussie V8 Supercars really is more like it and I'd like to see more of it.

Thank you for the nice summary, Merk_sfi. Up until a few seasons ago we did get some coverage of the Bathurst 1000 but I haven't seen it for quite a while. It's a shame because it was one of my all time favourite races.
 
And that's why I like the Bathurst 1000. What a gorgeous circuit with those wicked straights, curves and elevation changes. It's right up there with Le Mans, The Nordshleiffe and the Isle of Man TT circuit.
 
And that's why I like the Bathurst 1000. What a gorgeous circuit with those wicked straights, curves and elevation changes. It's right up there with Le Mans, The Nordshleiffe and the Isle of Man TT circuit.
Completely agree. I never used to watch it when I was younger because of my short attention span but as I got older and watched it seeing the amount of technical skill that goes into just doing a lap of their, and to think these guys do 161 of them AT HIGH SPEED made me appreciate it more.

And its one of those tracks that the race isn't over until the cars cross the finish line, there could be someone winning by 30 seconds or so with 2 laps to go and make a mistake that all of a sudden sends them to the back of the field - I absolutely love it.

Glad that there are others here who are interested in it though, I will come here each round post a track layout picture, put how many laps etc and then come back and update everyone (if I am not beaten to it) with Qualifying and Race Results :)

I forgot to mention earlier the Car of the Future comes in next year and so instead of just being Holden and Ford cars it has been confirmed that Nissan are re-entering the championship next year, and with the new Car of the Future specifications there is opportunity for ANY 8litre car manafacturer to come on board in the future.

Here is a concept design of the Nissan car for next season:
120427080517244741.jpg
 
Last year I found that Speed TV carries the series. Since then I have watched every race and love it. I like the wheel to wheel racing, the access the teams offer to the tv coverage, and the interesting race format. The rivalry between Ford and Holden also adds a great bit of drama to any race. This year is so much more competitive than what I saw last year with Team Vodafone winning comfortably.

Thank you for all of your knowledge on the series, a very valuable resource.
 
Okay so the latest round was held on the weekend and thought I would update you all. Jamie Whncup (racing for TeamVodafone racing and the defending champion) went into the round with a couple point lead over rival Will Davison who had won a few races this year - however in the opening race this happened:
It allowed Mark Winterbottom (team mate of Will Davison) to secure victory. Will Davison won the next race (held the following day), beating home Craig Lowndes (team mate of Jamie Whincup), and Team BOC's Jason Bright. As the championship stands at the moment: Will Davison leads by 10 points on 1216 over Jamie Whincup (1206), Mark Winterbottom (1187), Craig Lowndes (977) and Shane van Gisbergen (953) round out the top five.
 

Reviving this thread because I couldn't find anywhere else to post this. Not V8 Supercars but some sort of junior/feeder series at Bathurst. Bonus points for the crash being caused by his brother. And yes, he is OK, I think he'll count himself lucky with some broken ribs and a punctured lung.
 
Thought I would revive this thread seeing Masi has been heavily involved in Supercars over the years,
The supercars are a support category again for Melbourne this weekend with the 4 races also being a round of the supercars championship. The second race this weekend will be the 1000th SC race since the categories inception in 1993.

There is a bit of movement with engineers and staff between F1 & SC although the million dollar salaries the top supercar drives are on now sees a lot of young drivers now setting a full time SC drive as their career goal. FF to the SC development series is the path more often chosen now instead of heading to Europe to pursue a open wheeler career. A few of the SC drivers in their 30's did try their hand at open wheelers in Europe and got as far as F1 test drivers but never got a drive.
Simona De Silvestro is currently in her 3rd season of SC another that had tests drives in F1 but never made it further.
 
I see Zac Brown was doing double duty today, he is part owner of a supercar team, Walkinshaw Andretti United and spent a bit of time in their garage today. International ownership is becoming more common with Penske buying a controlling share in a team a few years ago.
 
Afraid it has gone the way of most things and apart from highlights packages will be pay to view if you want to watch live.
Even here in Aus we no longer get every round live on free to air about 50% are only live on pay channels. The bonus is you also get practice and quali live as well which we never got with free to air.
 
The new mustangs are proving to be a weapon filling the top 5 places in todays race. Only 6 in the field and the other finished 9th, storming drive by Chaz Mostert from 22nd to 5th in 25laps.
 
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