V8 Supercars may be opened up to other manufacturers

Whats your thoughts on this idea that has been put out there. Other marques may be allowed to compete in the series but still limited to 30 cars and must be a V8. (and no - i'm not taking a shot at the turbo 6 guys)



I personally like the idea, the british touring cars are great to watch and they have works teams from all the major manufacturers ...

What happens if GM bites the dust(which looks more than likely)where will holden source their engines...China?

I think its a good idea but if for instance they all have to be RWD V8's then I reckon if the likes of Toyota made a Camry RWD V8 Supercar then they should also sell a RWD V8 Camry to the public like Ford and Holden do with their cars.

Wotif wrote:What happens if GM bites the dust(which looks more than likely)where will holden source their engines...China?

But thats GM not Holden. The aussie side of the business is still making a profit and doesn't rely on GM to source any parts for the commodore so we will see them for a few more years yet.

ThMule wrote:

Wotif wrote:What happens if GM bites the dust(which looks more than likely)where will holden source their engines...China?

But thats GM not Holden. The aussie side of the business is still making a profit and doesn't rely on GM to source any parts for the commodore so we will see them for a few more years yet.

But arent their engines the same as corvettes?
I have no problem with it, I think it will attract more fans, and that can only be good for the sport

No, the engine in the commodore is a collection of designs from several gm engines and customised to aussie conditions.

ThMule wrote:No, the engine in the commodore is a collection of designs from several gm engines and customised to aussie conditions.

Right, thank you oh great one

ThMule wrote:

Wotif wrote:What happens if GM bites the dust(which looks more than likely)where will holden source their engines...China?

But thats GM not Holden. The aussie side of the business is still making a profit and doesn't rely on GM to source any parts for the commodore so we will see them for a few more years yet.

GM is in his room & says he is NOT going bite the dust but he will vaccuum when he finds the floor...

How is Fred Oscar Raymond David ?????

ThMule wrote:How is Fred Oscar Raymond David ?????

He is all good, unfortunetly he is growing up in all his uncles shadows.... he even washed his car in the dark the other evening...

Oh yeah, that's what his mother does....

I'm leaning towards giving it a go, but only to Toyota since they are the next biggest Aussie manufacturer. Essentially they have taken over from where Chrysler used to be in the "big 3". But in saying that I have to agree ( ) with FJ in that to keep it the same Toyota ideally should be selling V8 Camry's or Aurions.
Thing is that 2012, they are talking about a control underbody everything with different shells similar to NASCAR, to reduce costs, but most teams still want to retain the opening doors, boots, etc.
So who nows?
I would most prefer to return to Production racing or a restricted Group A that cuts out turbo's, superchargers and 4wd vehicles.

ThMule wrote:No, the engine in the commodore is a collection of designs from several gm engines and customised to aussie conditions.

Same as the Boss engines.

The next generation of V8 Supercars could end up being Cruze and Focus models rather than Commodores and Falcons.

Car of the Future is the new buzz phrase in V8 Supercars after Executive Chairman, Tony Cochrane, announced a committee for the next generation of V8 Supercar at Hidden Valley Raceway last month.

Five-time touring car champion Mark Skaife heads the committee, whose only terms of reference are that the next generation car must have a V8 engine and must cost less than $250,000 each.

The July/August edition of V8X Magazine, which hit the newsstands this week, features a six-page spread titled “Future Shock” and brings up some interesting points about the proposed Car of the Future.

While journalist Steve Harkness addresses the possibility of the next-gen Supercars being based off small cars like the Cruze of Focus, he also points out that it would be hard to squeeze a V8 into the smaller engine bays of cars more compact than the Commodore and Falcon.

Cochrane said at Hidden Valley that the first season for the Car of the Future will be 2012, however it may be introduced as early as 2011 as part of a ‘phasing-in’ period.

When BigPond Sport put forward the idea of V8 Supercars becoming smaller, Holden Motorsport Manager Simon McNamara did not totally oppose it.

“With the market as it currently is, the Commodore is the number one-selling car in Australia,” he said.

“We’d be keen on using our flagship bread and butter vehicle (for racing), but if in three or four years time the market starts going that way and Cruze or whatever it is at the time turns out to be the high volume product then yeah, that makes sense.”

But the fans would have to be heavily consulted if such a drastic change was made.

“Right now today, if we turned up with Cruzes and Focuses they’d all be p*ssed off even if they had V8s in them,” McNamara noted.

And if the next generation of V8 Supercar retains the bodyshell of the Commodore and Falcon – which is more likely than not – McNamara agreed that it needed to be cheaper than the current V8 Supercar cost of about half a million dollars each.

“At some point you’ve got to go ‘that’s it’,” he said. “You’re spending $250,000 in developing your engine, that’s got to stop.

“We’ve got to do something else; we don’t have to go that far down the line and they don’t have to be as technical as they are.

“They’re basic engines as in pushrod and all that sort of stuff, but they spend a lot of money on certain little areas of the thing so they can get the power out of it.”

McNamara has acknowledged that the Car of the Future committee does not have an easy job on its hands, but hopes that the committee will get the two manufacturers involved.

“It is their business and that’s up to them if they want to do it, but as a stakeholder now we wouldn’t mind being involved,” he said.

“We’re not Red Rooster as a sponsor where it’s not their core business; our core business is cars because we make cars, we sell cars and we want to learn from these things.”

McNamara believes that the committee should not rely too heavily on Nascar’s Car of Tomorrow.

“If you actually look at the Nascar model of the Car of Tomorrow, it’s cost the teams more money because the cars are all that close they spend an infinite amount of money on these tiny things because they are trying to get the advantage over everybody else,” he said.

“We need to be very careful on how it works and we’ve got to make sure the right people are making the decisions on what it is.”

FJ wrote:I think its a good idea but if for instance they all have to be RWD V8's then I reckon if the likes of Toyota made a Camry RWD V8 Supercar then they should also sell a RWD V8 Camry to the public like Ford and Holden do with their cars.

Holden Australia have recently announced a $70million loss for last year. Really quite tragic and sad. NOT.

Holden have also said that if V8 Supercars chooses the same route as Nascar's Sprint Cup they will pull out of the Championship. In the Sprint Cup, all the cars look the same except for the manufacturers logo painted on the car.
I think the cars need to retain the original look of the road going version.

I don't think the Ford V8 Supercars will ever be raced in a Focus Even if they end up being the biggest selling Ford cars in OZ, the people that are buying them do so to save money on gas and are probably tree huggers who have no interest in V8 Supercars anyway, if the falcon wasn't selling enough numbers I would still buy one and I would still support the V8 Supercars, and I'm pretty sure everyone on this forum would do so too.

Holy Shit FJ said something worth reading

CrazyJeff wrote:Holden Australia have recently announced a $70million loss for last year. Really quite tragic and sad. NOT.

Not as sad as Ford Australia's loss which was 3 x Holdens'