V8 Supercars on Speed Channel

[Lynn Larsen]

Speed has started showing the V8 Supercars from Australia again. I have been able to catch a few of them. But, I was wondering if you Southern Cross guys could clue us up here in on any "Gotta Watch Em" races. They are listed by track in the schedule.

Thanks,
Lynn

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

rockonsmile Its leading edge motorsport here in Aus. :zzz: put aside the circus and political activities :lurker: --- Race 1,8,9,10 and 13 probably the most interesting ,Ford 7 wins and "Holden" :shrug: (a GM product) 6

The Official Website of V8 Supercars Australia check here for all you need to know:chug:

 

[Ron McCall]

They are absolutely the best sounding cars out there!!!

 

[Keith]

Unfortunately 2006 season seemed to have adopted an F1 flavour with a few exceptions :zzz: . Bathhurst is always a great meeting and especially since Craigie Boy won it in a Ford last year!

Shame about the Philip Island fiasco at the end. That race was sure shaping up to be a cracker but it only lasted 3 laps.....

 

[Lynn Larsen]

Keith,

In the few races I have seen, the boys were tradin' paint as good as or better than our good ole boys up here in NASCAR. It was kind of fun to watch actually and it seemed to go both ways. One lap a Holden was off in the rocks and the next it was a Ford.

Anyway, thanks for the input. I'm debating about actually checking out the website or not (it's kind of like having someone tell you how the movie ends.) I'll just watch them when I can.

Lynn

 

[Keith]

I sure wasn't trying to put them down by any means and I reckon it's still the best tin top series in the world as DTM has got a bit :zzz: as well. It's just that the series has changed a lot since they brought in the parity rules. It's now a lot like Nascar with the cars very similar under the surface (and on top of it too!), but they sure sound good that's for sure.....

New Zealand has a good V8 series too (at a lower order of performance) with a heck of a lot of paint being traded!

If you like horespower and V8's, Supercars are right up there!

 

[Ron Earp]

What is really cool about it is that there are cars from each manufactuer that you can buy on the street that actually have V8s and rear wheel drive. Wish that were true in the states, we have only the Pontiac GT0 (Holden Monaro) and I think that car is on the chopping block now.

Be nice if Ford US could see fit to bring a good looking four door sedan, with 5/6 speed, IRS, and about 400+ hp to the market. Chrysler manages it just fine, sans the manual tranny.

R

 

[Lynn Larsen]

Ron,

You are right: GM announced the cancellation of the Holden/GTO program. And, about Ford too.

Lynn

 

[flatchat(Chris)]

And we're passionate about the outcome of last seasons winner

 

[Ron Earp]

If they'd bring those Falcon things over here from Australia, as well as whatever they call their 4 door V8 car, I'd buy one of them for sure. However, with the demise of the GTO I doubt Ford would do it as it looks like the risk didn't payoff. That 6L GTO is something else though.

I love that picture Chris, nice sponsors!

R

 

[Paolo-LoveGT40 Modelworks]

I've always told to WTCC ladies the real thing is the Australian V8 serie....
Seems they ignore the show and the beauty of such long fun races.
They still prefer run 9 laps in monza for a 15 minutes boring show (and with only 280 hp cars...and a LOT of electroinc toys and carbon fiber all over)

....the REAL tourism championship is only the australian v8 one..rockonsmile rockonsmile rockonsmile

Paolo

 

[Ron Earp]

I wish I could see more of it, but like Lynn said we take what we can get in the commerical NASCAR country. I don't care for F1 and all the antics with that series, but the V8 Supercar stuff seems cool. Hope it doesn't go like NASCAR did though - all pomp and primp and faces before cars and racing.

A racing buddy of mine familar with V8 Supercar and NASCAR said V8 Supercar it is like NASCAR was in the 60s and 70s (except they do lots of road courses instead of two (I think) which is much better), that is to say cool. Hope it doesn't change for you guys!

NASCAR reminds of country music in a way. Way back in the day you could be ugly and sing country music if that was your inclination. I don't think that is possible anymore. You got to look good, it is a style/looks competition as much as a singing deal, Folks making the dough have figured out that there are lots of singers, so, they might as well just chose the pretty ones. Ditto NASCAR - I think they know lots of fellows can fill that seat, they want the ones good for advertising!

 

[Bill Hara]

They do sound awesome, and Bathurst is a must see at least once in your life.

 

[Dave]

Found this on a Holden forum.
Must admit my daily driver is a V8 5ltr Manual VT Commodore.
I say to my Ford Buddies that I bought one so I can punish it
every day, hurts when it comes to filling it with fuel.

 

[ChrisL]

Holden are usually pretty quick to jump on any publicity they can get from this series. They've been mighty quiet about this year's result though... we might even say embarrassingly quiet

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

I have put on my flame proof suit so here goes. I think Kelly won the Championship fair and square.He was the most consistant performer over the series and that is what counts, not the result of one race. Sure he shunted Lowndes off, but he copped a drive through for that and that is that.
I shall now duck

 

[ChrisL]

I agree whole heartedly that Kelly won the championship because he had the best strategy to do so. His team looked at the rules just as everyone else did, considered all the pros and cons, and came up with a plan that would do it better than everyone else. No doubt.

But did he win it fairly though? I don’t think that there is a sport out there that does not clearly distinguish between “fair play” and “unfair play”. Deliberately taking out the opposition is always unfair play in my book. It is never legal and is always dealt with by the sporting body with a penalty. P. Rick. Kelly’s tactics in the last race amount to a football team winning a Grand Final by breaking the leg of the opposition’s best player. Even though a penalty is applied, it cannot be considered a “fair and square” tactic by any stretch. And it doesn't end there. There was also the assisted blocking by the other Holden teams that allowed Kelly to get back into the race.

The pattern is now set though. Holden's 2005 Bathurst win came as a result of the dubious balaclava incident after the Holdens lacked track speed. To paraphrase SBR's response at the time, SBR also had ample opportunity to play dirty games, but chose not to on the basis that unless they won on the track then it wasn't worth the win.

When all is considered you can start to see a difference in integrity between the Ford and Holden camps. Ford fans can be proud of their champions, win or lose. It’s not a moral ground that the Holden supporters can now hold.

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

High ideals Chris, but unfortunately in today's motor racing at the top level, where $millions are on the line, the attitude is "winning isn't everything, it's the only thing."
Teams have for years pushed the limits "within the rules" of chassis design, weight reduction, aerodynamics etc. And on the track blocking happens, paint is exchanged, people are "brake tested" and shunted up the Khyber.
My cynicism tells me that SBR are no different than the Holden Camp in that regard, they just ain't been caught yet.
The days of the "Gentlemen racers" disappeared about the same time as Nuvolari retired.

 

[ChrisL]

I think that I'm agreeing with almost everything you say Pete. I understand that it is unfortunately the way of the world. And I’m sure that we have all done things in sport that were against the rules just to win. But I don't think that we can extend that argument to the point of saying that winning unfairly maintains the same integrity as winning fairly, or that both should be equally admired. Winning that championship in the way that Kelly did was the best that he could do and so he understandably perused that approach. But I suspect that his win is seen as almost an embracement to all involved in the series, considering also that he did not win a single event throughout the whole season.

... or maybe this just might be the view of a one-eyed Ford supporter

 

[Pete McCluskey.]

Chris, I am a Ford man myself, but just striving to strike a balance. BTW every Holden guy I know insists that Lowndes brake tested Kelly and Lowndes got what he deserved.:dead: