V8 Supercars
Posted: Sun May 07, 2006 7:33 pm
Anyone here heard about them or seen any of the races?
I was first made aware of them while playing TOCA/DTM Race Driver 2 on the XBox. Interestingly, the game is marketed as V8 Supercars Race Driver 2 in Aus/NZ.
Anyways, I found a copy of the 1991 Bathurst Tooley's 1000km race, which was incidentally won by the unbeatable Skyline, but included such cars as the Ford Falcon V8s, Holden Commodore V8s, M3s, Ford Sierra Turbos and even some old AE86 and AE92 Hatchback Corollas.
I then looked for more recent Bathurst events, because Bathurst is the Aussie equivalent to the Nurburgring IMO, and found the 2005 V8 Supercars event. I grabbed it, and immediated became even more interested in the cars. I was able to get the Phillip Island and Symmons Plains events from 2005, and the first race of the 2006 season at Adelaide.
The cars appear to be factory line chassis, with roll cages, and even include such stock items as the headlights, tail lights and whatnot.
Technically they're similar in a lot of ways to NASCAR in the drivetrain department, with big pushrod V8s and live rear axles, but I think the street-going Falcons and Commodores are likewise equipped.
They do road and city courses, no stupid ovals. Lots of front camber, no ABS and seemingly only basic traction control. 7500RPM redline on the engine, 6MT Hollinger trannies, and 9inch rear diffs (at least on the Fords). Some of the courses will see them getting to 260-280KPH (180MPH), followed by hairpins.
On the long events, like Bathurst, they'll run two drivers, sometimes changing twice. Many events have qualifying and a top-10 shootout on the first day, followed by one 100km race. The next day they do one or two more races, depending on the format. The results of the races determines the grid for the following races, though they're going to experiment again with reverse grids in at least one even this season. Also, they have a fixed number of tires for the whole event, and depending on the length of the race, have at least one required stop for tire changes.
It's good racing.
V8 Supercars Homepage
I was first made aware of them while playing TOCA/DTM Race Driver 2 on the XBox. Interestingly, the game is marketed as V8 Supercars Race Driver 2 in Aus/NZ.
Anyways, I found a copy of the 1991 Bathurst Tooley's 1000km race, which was incidentally won by the unbeatable Skyline, but included such cars as the Ford Falcon V8s, Holden Commodore V8s, M3s, Ford Sierra Turbos and even some old AE86 and AE92 Hatchback Corollas.
I then looked for more recent Bathurst events, because Bathurst is the Aussie equivalent to the Nurburgring IMO, and found the 2005 V8 Supercars event. I grabbed it, and immediated became even more interested in the cars. I was able to get the Phillip Island and Symmons Plains events from 2005, and the first race of the 2006 season at Adelaide.
The cars appear to be factory line chassis, with roll cages, and even include such stock items as the headlights, tail lights and whatnot.
Technically they're similar in a lot of ways to NASCAR in the drivetrain department, with big pushrod V8s and live rear axles, but I think the street-going Falcons and Commodores are likewise equipped.
They do road and city courses, no stupid ovals. Lots of front camber, no ABS and seemingly only basic traction control. 7500RPM redline on the engine, 6MT Hollinger trannies, and 9inch rear diffs (at least on the Fords). Some of the courses will see them getting to 260-280KPH (180MPH), followed by hairpins.
On the long events, like Bathurst, they'll run two drivers, sometimes changing twice. Many events have qualifying and a top-10 shootout on the first day, followed by one 100km race. The next day they do one or two more races, depending on the format. The results of the races determines the grid for the following races, though they're going to experiment again with reverse grids in at least one even this season. Also, they have a fixed number of tires for the whole event, and depending on the length of the race, have at least one required stop for tire changes.
It's good racing.
V8 Supercars Homepage
I'm not sure if it's used, but I dont see why they wouldn't... I've a friend who's obsessed with this car.