Thread: Beginning of the end of V8 Supercars?

I dont get time to watch much racing these days, but like many i am a bit tired of watching the v8s on telly (yes pickles, in may have been the lacklustre FTA coverage )

Found this video (might've even been from here) of a young fellow (Jordan cox?) in a civic. Absolutely fantastic driving

Short version
CRAZIEST MOTORSPORT PASS EVER - Honda Civic vs Holden Commodore - Bathurst 12 Hour Support Race - YouTube

Long version
Civic vs. V8 - YouTube

And then this
Improved Production Car Championship 2017. Race 2 Adelaide Street Circuit. Amazing Battle for Win - YouTube

Awesome racing.

Originally Posted by Pickles2

"Skinny" as He was known, he had 126BHP!!
I remember him well, my next door neighbour Alan Braszell ran a sports sedan mini, was VERY good friends with Manton's engineer, who, after Skinny retired, was the source of a good supply of Mk 11 blocks, crankshafts, and all sorts of other "good stuff".
Alan had the quickest "Super Mini" in Aus for a while. Those of you that remember Mini racing in the 70s would no doubt remember him, He also raced a Mini at Bathurst,..not very successfully,....probably because, as is usually the way, He was under funded!...would have to be that, 'çause there was absolutely nothing wrong with his driving ability!
I was fortunate enough to be taken for a few laps around Winton in Alan's Mini, him driving, & me sittiing in the front seat of the Mini hanging on to the roll bar. They were pretty quick around those tight circuits.
Alan ran in Sports Sedans, which for a while was the same class in which Alllan Moffat ran his Mustang. I remember my friend Alan telling me that coming into corners, He was sometimes able to get past Moffat, only to be almost blown off the track when Moffat blasted past him in the straight, ..He said that Moff invariably raised his had in recognition, as He went by!! Like others have said, "Those were the days"!
Pickles.

Those were the days?? I meant Skinny back in the days of the Neptune "Trident" days. Foley, McKeowan (?), Jane, Beechey, Firth, Ian Goeghean, Glenn Seton's dad Barry. The days before Moffatt traipsed all over the countryside trying to attract sponsorship for his Cortina, before Peter and Phil Brock were doing MotorCross.

Oh dear, Moffatt's Mustang.... What a car.

What a car, I prefer it with its original Minilite wheels.
I remember when Moff tried to sell it for $300K in Aus, & the U.S., before it was eventually sold to the Bowdens,....crikey, what would it be worth now, I'm no expert on Mustangs, but I believe it is one of seven (built by KarKraft?), & I also believe that Ford GAVE this car to Moff!!,......as we've said a few times in this thread,.."those were the days"!
Pickles.
MOFF'S MUSTANG:..check this out.

Allan Moffat's 1969 T/A Mustang.

I reckon there's a lesson in that Mustang story for the CAMS administrators. Build a formula that allows companies to race cars that the punters can relate to and it will translate to sales. If Ford see value in partnering with Tickford to add a 2 inch lift and some flares to the Ranger surely there's a promotion possibility in designing a production car race category that encourages manufacturers to build road cars that have more of a relationship to road cars than the current NASCAR clones. The demise of local manufacturing brings a whole raft of new manufacturers who would be able to contribute.

Regards,

Tote

I love watching the supercars racing, but Im stuck watching the average ch10 highlights. I cant personally see the point in paying for foxtel - but thats another story.
I dont mind the fact that the racing is not like it used to be, I enjoy the parity thing and it puts the difference down to the driver/team and strategy rather than all out $$$$ to build the quickest car (which still applies somewhat) which IMHO leads to some boring racing when the leaders just blast away. F1 to me fits into that catergory as the top teams are miles in front of the back markers. To me the V8utes where awesome - bit of biff and barge close door to door racing, could do with a bit more of that style in supercars (acutally just more of racing like scotty mac and jamie whincup when they race side by side - thinking of this 2014 V8Supercars Clipsal 500 Race 2 Finish - Scott McLaughlin vs Jamie Whincup - YouTube)

And theres no requirement yet for the teams to ditch the V8 engines as the configuration rules are allowing for any engine style. With the amount of previous money spent on engine development I dont think the V8's are going anywhere in a hurry just yet. I predict that nissan (providing they stay with the series that is) will be the first team to switch the whole team away from V8 power.

Getting side tracked from V8's - I actually enjoy the concept of formula e (apart from the car swap midway through a race). Its probably on of the few racing series that building a big lead dosent really have much advantage. If a driver can conserve energy early they have more in reserve at the end - again its the strategy that I enjoy. Its actively building on tech that will filter down to road cars too so thats interesting.

Originally Posted by Tote

I reckon there's a lesson in that Mustang story for the CAMS administrators. Build a formula that allows companies to race cars that the punters can relate to and it will translate to sales. If Ford see value in partnering with Tickford to add a 2 inch lift and some flares to the Ranger surely there's a promotion possibility in designing a production car race category that encourages manufacturers to build road cars that have more of a relationship to road cars than the current NASCAR clones. The demise of local manufacturing brings a whole raft of new manufacturers who would be able to contribute.

Regards,

Tote

Well, I think a bit of what you're suggesting is the reason for the new specs of the Ute series which will involve Diesel Twin Cab Utes, and I think it will be good.
I'd like to see what you're suggesting in cars too, but I'm not quite sure how that would work? Of course there's a multitude of makes, models in all manner of configuration available in Aussie, but many of them have a zero performance image, nor are they looking for one.
So, I can't work out which actual models could relate to a racing car formula, involving parity, etc etc, so with that in mind, have you any ideas which specific makes, & models of which, you could see taking part?
In case you think I'm "having a go", I'm not, I love tin top racing, & I'm interested in any thoughts relative to it.
Pickles.

I guess I was thinking of a complete reboot of the old multi class racing, it would not be easy though and would need to be led by CAMS as the manufacturers aren't going to do it. The whole series would need to be pitched to the media organisation televising it, the manufacturers that would be supplying the cars and would need to run for a couple of years. The biggest issue would be the competing requirements of driver safety vs the racing spectacle that led us to a formulaic standards based series today. There are a few vehicles out there like Nissan 370z, Subaru WRX, the Volvo S60 Polestar, the Mustang, Maybe a Hellcat 300C? (if you could get it to go around a corner)

If this is sounding like a pitch for a reality show maybe that's the way it could be done, the issue in the past with production based racing like the Bathurst 12 hour is that they could never get any traction because v8 supercars had all the coverage and the money. One of the best parts of the Group C era was the "innovation " that individual teams came up with to get an edge. Using formula based cars eliminates this, I know a lot of people who think it should be all about the drivers but I'm not one of them.

Regards,
Tote