Virgin Australia Supercars Championship - Archive

[evilserpentman]

The Gen 6 NASCAR, however, looks a lot more like it's street-going counterpart than the COT did. Looking at the two series, I'd say its pretty close. V8SC is a bit closer to street, though.

V8SC is much much closer to the street car, it looks like it was based on the car. The Gen 6 is a step in the right direction, but it still looks like a brick, just slightly different dents in the bodywork.

A NASCAR COT (I can't find numbers for a Gen 6) costs about $200,000 USD ( http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/nascar-basics/nascar-race-car-cost1.htm ). I'm not sure what the comparative race weekends cost, but I can't imagine one series costing tons more than the other.

NASCAR has much higher costs than that.
Yes, the actual car is around the same (although with carbon fibre and fuel injected engines, prices have surely gone up since that article was written).

You must remember NASCAR teams go through at least 20 cars a year, plus back-ups. In Cup, they have unlimited sets of tyres, and can easily use at least a dozen sets a weekend. They also change engines each week, due to their fragile nature (although they used to have qualifying specials).

On the other hand, some V8SC teams will only run the same car for the year, repairing it if it gets involved in an accident.
The engines are much, much more durable, and the parts much more reliable.

If I had to guess at it, I would say that Dodge leaving NASCAR was because of a major downswing in popularity, and Chrysler would want to wait and see if the CotF provides a equal and opposite upswing in popularity before joining in.

Well, it's ultimately up to FIAT what Dodge and Chrysler do. Dodge were poorly represented and Penske wasn't interesting in being a stand-alone representative. Plus, Dodge weren't wanting to deal with the few teams that were open to a change. They were committed to building the new car, even without obvious backing, so you can almost guarantee they'll be back in the near-future.

Concerning Chrysler, it would have to be for the reasons I mentioned in an earlier post, they'll either begin to assault the Australian market, or they'll hope that their involvement exposes the sport to their home market via TV deals.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Hoping we'll get plenty of video/photos from the test today.

 

[Northstar]

Really liking the liveries this year.👍

 

[TDZdave]

Gary Rogers is a very big business man, It would have taken a very big sponsorship deal to make things happen, it would require the Fujitsu monies, ( which he is/ was director of Australian marketing of) and the Valvoline monies ( In which he was lead marketing director for) to be cancelled out, plus 5% extra,

As for the Gen6 NASCAR, the Fusion really does look like the ducks gets, perhaps the best looking NASCAR in recent history,

We already had the Chrysler 300C as a pace car prior to the GTR,

The biggest issue for Chrysler/ Jeep/ Dodge in Australia is that they're way over priced, and not very well built, why would you pay $40,000 for a 6 cylinder car in which is second hand and gets a luxury car tax upon registration, when for $30-$36,000 you can get the standard up to sports models 6 cylinder Ford and Holden's with some very good option's all brand new, its pretty clear cut,
As for the look of the new Chrysler it seems somewhat confused,
Is it based on the new Rolls Royce or a butt crack?

 

[05XR8]

The EREBUS cars all look good. The liveries definitely look better on the track.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Patiently waiting for video.

 

[evilserpentman]

Patiently waiting for video.

Of testing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QeSXFMivF8

This is all I could find, but it gives you a great idea what they're going to sound like.
That Merc has got a mean tone to it.

 

[CodeRedR51]

The Mercedes is really high strung! But they all sound great, which is one of the best parts of this racing series. Looking forward to more.

 

[05XR8]

Of testing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QeSXFMivF8

This is all I could find, but it gives you a great idea what they're going to sound like.
That Merc has got a mean tone to it.

The EREBUS sounds like an F1!!!! yes baby! And the Altima sounds more like a V8 than the Holden. The FPR wasn't too bad. Can't wait to hear them in person in March! Thanks for the vid.

 

[TDZdave]

Can't wait for Clipsal,

 

[Spacegoat]

Holy hell. They all sound great, but wow the Mercedes sound is epic.

Thanks for finding the video. 👍

Edit: I'll just leave this here.

 

[Paulie]

The Mercedes sure sounds different, but you can't beat the sound of a muscular V8.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Never been so excited for a season to start. Ever.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Yeah, that Mercedes sounds fantastic! Can't wait to hear it in person in a couple of weeks!

 

[TDZdave]

Does anyone know what engine Ford and Holden are using, Are they using the road car engines or the current customer V8?

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

The Mercedes sure sounds different, but you can't beat the sound of a muscular V8.

I thought the Mercedes-Benz used a V8? German V8s are muscular... What?

 

[TDZdave]

I think he means in terms of note extracted from the exhaust, nothing beats a yankee V8 in that competition, but for what the Erebus sounds like, sure is orgasmic

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

I've always been partial to classic Japanese motors, personally. Skylines (even the 2000GT-R Ken Mari,) Lancers, Subarus...

But, I'll say that the Plymouth 'Cuda sounded okay, so, the American V8s aren't wrong.

 

[CodeRedR51]

Deep throaty, burbly V8's don't do much for me. High strung V8's on the other hand...

 

[TDZdave]

a genuine Shelby Cobra is epic in the noise department, I put the stacks on a SS Torana hatch with a 350ci, that used to shake foundation's,

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Does anyone know what engine Ford and Holden are using, Are they using the road car engines or the current customer V8?

The Holden and Ford engines will remain unchanged, I believe.

 

[Paulie]

The Holden and Ford engines will remain unchanged, I believe.

At least for the time being, the door is open now for them to change in the future.

BJR were quick today, going 1-2 in both sessions. Nissan cracked the top 5, Ford only barely made the top 10 in the second session with 2 cars and the highest Mercedes could manage was 14th. (Only 25 cars ran today, including only 2 Nissans). So far Holden is the dominant marque, both in numbers and in pace.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

The Godzilla beast is back!

Not bad, not incredible, like the R32, but, not bad.

 

[phil bell]

The Holden and Ford engines will remain unchanged, I believe.

If that is the case, we'll probably still see lots of $$$ spent in the engine department.

Also aren't the current engines iron blocks? Wonder how they're gonna achieve weight parity with the aluminum block Nissan and Mercedes.

 

[TDZdave]

If that is the case, we'll probably still see lots of $$$ spent in the engine department.

Also aren't the current engines iron blocks? Wonder how they're gonna achieve weight parity with the aluminum block Nissan and Mercedes.

It would be balanced in other way's, such as aero shaping, ballast etc, but I don't think the difference between alloy and iron make much of a difference in these cars that already weight slightly more then Jupiter,

what sort of lap times are they doing? if they aren't faster then last year then there is lots of room for improvement,

 

[phil bell]

I think on hards they're as fast as last years car's on softs.
And if the EREBUS video is anything to go by, they look much more stable too, the turn in seems alot more precise.

 

[ITCC_Andrew]

There goes all of the intrigue in the series.

 

[TDZdave]

The whole idea of the new design was to make them less aero dependant, they are still going to move around a hell of a lot,

 

[GOTMAXPOWER]

 1.  Jason Bright         Brad Jones Holden          1m28.9655s
 2.  Fabian Coulthard     Brad Jones Holden          1m29.0057s  + 0.0402s
 3.  Craig Lowndes        Triple 8 Holden            1m29.3610s  + 0.3955s
 4.  Dean Fiore           Dumbrell Holden            1m29.5090s  + 0.5435s
 5.  Rick Kelly           Nissan                     1m29.6220s  + 0.6565s
 6.  Scott Pye            Dumbrell Holden            1m30.3537s  + 1.3882s
 7.  Jamie Whincup        Triple 8 Holden            1m30.4820s  + 1.5165s
 8.  David Reynolds       Rod Nash/FPR               1m30.5174s  + 1.5519s
 9.  Mark Winterbottom    FPR Ford                   1m30.5242s  + 1.5587s
10.  Jonathon Webb        Tekno Holden               1m30.6251s  + 1.6596s
11.  James Courtney       HRT Holden                 1m30.6646s  + 1.6991s
12.  Shane van Gisbergen  Tekno Holden               1m30.6862s  + 1.7207s
13.  Scott McLaughlin     Garry Rogers Holden        1m30.7469s  + 1.7814s
14.  Maro Engel           Erebus Mercedes            1m30.8221s  + 1.8566s
15.  Russell Ingall       Walkinshaw/HRT Holden      1m30.9331s  + 1.9676s
16.  Will Davison         FPR Ford                   1m30.9721s  + 2.0066s
17.  David Wall           Britek/BJR                 1m31.1709s  + 2.2054s
18.  Garth Tander         HRT Holden                 1m31.3342s  + 2.3687s
19.  Alexandre Premat     Garry Rogers Holden        1m31.3776s  + 2.4121s
20.  Tim Slade            Rosenberg/Erebus Mercedes  1m31.3897s  + 2.4242s
21.  James Moffat         Nissan                     1m31.4003s  + 2.4348s
22.  Tony D'Alberto       D'Alberto Holden           1m31.4208s  + 2.4553s
23.  Alex Davison         Schwerkolt/FPR Ford        1m31.4694s  + 2.5039s
24.  Lee Holdsworth       Erebus Mercedes            1m31.7670s  + 2.8015s
25.  Tim Blanchard        Dick Johnson Ford          1m33.7276s  + 4.7621s

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/105586

 

[FahrerGott]

Can't wait for the Clipsal 500.