2014 V8 Supercars - Discussion

[tigeraid]

So what's all this then?

First off: VOLVO!


http://www.v8xmagazine.com.au/images/2014volvotestday.jpg


Driven by Robert Dahlgren (?) and Scott McLaughlin (!) .... Look pretty, but they don't look like top 10ers yet. Their test times however around the 20th position. Probably enough to beat out the Mercedes team though.

Perhaps more importantly, Will Davison was punted to the Mercedes team so Chaz Mostert could take over the second FPR car. He's sure to win a race or two, but I'll be more interested in seeing what Davison can do for Erebus.

Also, my boy Russell Ingall, for some reason, is no longer retiring and is driving for a crappy single car team. I'm not very hopeful. Then again, he was quickest in testing at Sydney. Weird not seeing him in a Supercheap car.

http://d508o84lonf06.cloudfront.net/live/images/news/fullLargeImage/Ingall_V8Testday-2014-01311.jpg


Season begins next week at Adelaide!

[tigeraid]

Schedule changes:

- They're not coming to COTA this year, but apparently will return in 2015.
- Eastern Creek is back on the schedule!

[Kchrpm]

Is Nissan still in it?

[The359]

Yes, 4 Nissans.

[G'day Mate]

V8 Supercars seems to be shrinking. Only 25 entries this year: 11 Holdens, 6 Fords, 4 Nissans, 2 Mercedes, 2 Ovlovs. At least it's not mostly Holdens again.

The Clipsal 500 creates an interesting situation for us Adelaideans as it's on during our Festival of Arts and its even more popular Fringe Festival. For one confusing week you get all the hipsters and bogans all congregating on the same area of the parklands in the eastern end of the city. It's quite a site

[Yobbo NZ]

I'm picking Volvo to be a dark horse,GRM are no fools and with the polestar backing,I think they may surprise a few bogans this year.Also Nissan are looking a bit better this year.

[Blerpa]

That Volvo should just be handed the championship because of sexy looks.

[G'day Mate]

Well, it certainly is Clipsal 500 week - can tell by the heavy traffic and loud bogans around town.

Actually I saw the Norton Nissan team's truck coming into town down the freeway - that was pretty cool. Big truck!!

[Yw-slayer]

If I had to support a team, I'd pick Volvo. Because 240GLT/850R.

[Dicknose]

I'd choose anyone other than Volvo, because bloody Volvo driver!.

[Yw-slayer]

In that case it's anyone but Merc for me.

[G'day Mate]

Hmmm looks like the Ovlov did pretty well

[Freude am Fahren]

Fantastic Finish. I heard mention of "kerb hops left" or some such (you guys spell curb that way, right?). Do they only allow a certain amount of cutting? I know V8s have been notorious for cutting chicanes and getting great air, and IMO, that's part of the personality of the V8's, so at least it's good if they didn't crack down completely.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hAFRS5r2g8E

[Dicknose]

Great finish.
Tough call for the director, swapped to the leader crossing for the win and in about 5 seconds missed the final pass of that amazing sequence.

[Yobbo NZ]

Here's hoping Scott can take the fight to the red bull steam roller or else its looking a bit onesided after 2 races already.

[Freude am Fahren]

Great finish.
Tough call for the director, swapped to the leader crossing for the win and in about 5 seconds missed the final pass of that amazing sequence.

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. That's when you need the boxes to keep an eye on both.

[tigeraid]

Loved the finish, great to see. Volvo's making a fan out of me quickly.

I'm not worried yet that Red Bull is steam rolling anything, too early to tell. After all, Van Gisbergen dominated Adelaide last year, and didn't do much of anything else for the next 8 months....

[G'day Mate]

Wow, stupidest restart procedure I've ever seen. I'll post a video soon ...

[Yobbo NZ]

You rekon whincup lifted before the 2nd restart causing the penalties? Just seems the gap to lowndes closed up pretty quickly.

[G'day Mate]

Even before that I saw the whole field fan out on the re-start and thought "here comes trouble".

Here we go - in the video below you'll see six cars trying to get into the first turn. Believe it or not it's from a safety car re-start ...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flCZ_6SAGh4

[Random]

"I just plucked her in first, gave it some jandal... F**K Yeah!"

:lol:

edit: for the non-Kiwis, jandals = flip-flops. Must be the modern version of "give it some Wellie!"

[tigeraid]

Fuck, that could not have been more ironic. Earlier in the race, Larko's all over the garage talking to 888 who correctly followed the rules on the restart, and the broadcast spends 10 minutes telling us why Kelly got the penalty for speeding up too early, and how "888 followed the rules perfectly, and this is why they win everything." Then 888's lollipop guy touches the car during a pit stop, cops a penalty and loses Whincup the lead.

And hands my boy Courtney the win! So fucking awesome. :lol:

[G'day Mate]

Aha - here's a better view of the restart


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsMYCufApIA

[tigeraid]

Some fun racing at Albert Park, but holy shit Race 4 was a dogfight. Volvo gets a win already!

Can someone explain to me wtf was up with the points though? All weekend they keep calling it exhibition, but "double points on offer on Sunday." Confusing...

[Dicknose]

The v8 supercar serious has exclusive television rights with one tv network (7)
But the F1 is shown on another network (10)
So races at the F1 are not "championship races"
The reference to points is purely to decide the winner of the exhibition!

[tigeraid]

Oh. So like an "average" winner. That's fucking dumb.

Entertaining races though.

[Dicknose]

They do that for all rounds, the Round winner is based on points. Some races might be worth more points.
Just that the points normally count towards the championship.

So you can win the last race of the weekend but not win the round.

[tigeraid]

Eh? I remember something like that in past seasons, but not lately. I know JC was considered the "winner" of the Clipsal 500, but I'm pretty sure the two wins on Saturday counted as victories....

[Yobbo NZ]

Probably done that way so Wayne and Sharon don't get too confused in their drunken state,while contemplating where to have a shag on the way home in the Holden HQ.

[Dicknose]

I think they changed the Clipsal to be a "first past the flag in the last race"
It's probably the exception.

[tigeraid]

What a great race at Winton, Holdsworth winning for Mercedes. You cant' help but love the little underdogs, watching the Erubus team go nuts in the garage. Having Whincup racing for 20th was icing on the cake.

[The359]

Team Penske's long-expected entry into V8 Supercars has been confirmed, with the squad preparing to partner with Dick Johnson Racing to field a car for Marcos Ambrose in 2015.

The team, which will be dubbed DJR Team Penske, will continue DJR's long-running association with Ford, with Ambrose to drive its iconic #17 entry.

Can Ambrose still cut it in modern V8 Supercars?

[Kchrpm]

He's out of NASCAR, or their schedules don't overlap?

[tigeraid]

As I fan I am certainly looking forward to it. And frankly if is pace on road courses in NASCAR is any indication, I don't think he's lost "it."

[Random]

[flame bait]Yeah, but that's against NASCAR drivers, not real road racers.[/bait]

:D

;)

[tigeraid]

Bait indeed.

I would also point out that his entire NASCAR career has been spent driving absolute dogshit cars. The fact he won ANYTHING is a miracle. I suppose he was too old for any of the good teams to buy him up from Petty. Which is a shame.

[Random]

Yeah, it would be fun to put him in a Hendrick car and see what's what. :up:

[The359]

He's out of NASCAR, or their schedules don't overlap?

He announced yesterday he was leaving Petty and NASCAR at the end of the year and going back to V8 Supercars, just didn't announce with whom.

EDIT: I wonder who they will put in the car for the endurance races. Will Power?

[tigeraid]

Since he's still linked to Penske, it's conceivable they'd bring him back over to murder everyone at Watkins Glen once or twice a year.

[XHawkeye]

Ever want to see what Supercars is all about?

The series is in the process of sharing the entire catalog from 1997-present on YouTube.

Full races from 1997-2014 are up now.

They'll also stream future racing on YouTube for $6/month for non-Aussies/NZ

https://twitter.com/aaronbearden93/status/1359339021013508098?s=20

https://www.youtube.com/user/V8SupercarsOfficial

[Dicknose]

Damn - missed my work by 1 year. I worked on them for a few years up to 1996.

[Rare White Ape]

The 2021 Supercars season is wrapping up this month.

Starting now we have four consecutive weekends at Eastern Creek with various night races and different formats.

Following that there is a week break before the Bathurst race week. Tuesday will see the start of support category racing with various classes coming and going over the next five days until the Bathurst 1000 on December 5th.

COVID obviously brought about this format with a lengthy shut down to racing in Australia across the middle of the year, and I love it.

[Rare White Ape]

Look at these juicy machines


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MDw11RamM

[Random]

Are both of those sold in RHD guise over there?

[Rare White Ape]

Mustang is. Camaro will be.

Edit: Camaro is too!

[Dicknose]

Camaro is here - had a track day with one last weekend.
They are horribly expensive compared to the Mustang. Mustangs are 55k, 65k for v8. Camaro is closer to 90k. 160k for the ZL1

The Camaro is converted from LHD, the Mustang is manufactured are RHD

[Random]

:up:

[Tom Servo]

I think the Monaro was a Holden, which came here as a Pontiac, so that's probably GM, which is like the Camaro...


Holden sucks, Holden sucks!

[Dicknose]

So the race had a pace car because of... echidna on the track!!
These dont move that quick, not compared to a kangaroo and definitely not like a race car!

[Rare White Ape]

How is this for a state election result:

When COVID struck the right wing Liberal South Australian government cancelled the Adelaide street race, and later announced that the race would not return. They planned to rip up the parkland section of the circuit where pit lane lies and turn it into a green space.

State election rolls around and the left wing Labor party candidate promises to reinstate the race should they win. That election was on this weekend and Labor absolutely rolled the Liberals by a huge margin.

The race hasn’t been officially confirmed yet (give it time) but it’ll be on this year in December. Woo!

[Rare White Ape]

The Gen3 Supercars are going to look so damn hot!

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/483506881004830762/972805955987337236/IMG_1771.jpg

[SkylineObsession]

That's more of a proper Mustang shape isn't it, instead of the stretched and squeezed version of today?

I actually thought we'd see the new shape Mustang and the Camaro this year, but from what i've seen they are still using last years cars.

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah that's correct.

COVID was a thing for a while and development was pushed off-track, then they actually had a silly idea of introducing them part way through this year, but the ownership of Supercars changed in the off season and more sensible heads prevailed and they will be introduced starting next year.

[Yobbo NZ]

ThE CamARo Is DeAd AFteR 2023. Says the average knuckledragging Aussie V8supercars fan.
I couldn't care less what they run, so long as the racing is good.

[Blerpa]

Just discovered this.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFBs0REmsMw

Sometimes V8 Aussie fans really look like nascar follower clowns.
Well said by Jim Richards.

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah that's a classic moment! I remember watching as a 10 year old.

[Blerpa]

Also found out Dick Johnson was actually... a dick, I suppose.
(And someone not knowing motorsport rules, as well).

[Yobbo NZ]

Just discovered this.


Sometimes V8 Aussie fans really look like nascar follower clowns.
Well said by Jim Richards.

The reason for that famous quote from Jim, was due to him learning his good friend Denny Hulme had died during the race, he only found out just before going onto the podium. So you could imagine the emotions he was feeling, even without dealing with the bogans.

[Rare White Ape]

Yeah that was a significant race. The crowd was booing because they don’t understand red flag rules and we’re unhappy about Godzilla taking the win again, while Richards was dealing with a personal loss.

It was also the final Group A touring car race at Bathurst, because the next year the Australian Touring Car Championship banned the turbos and switched to new Group 3A rules for V8s (the rest is history there), 2.0 L touring cars and normally aspirated 2WD cars from the Group A category.

[Blerpa]

Yes, I already got all the info about it.
Fascinating. Yeah, bogans may be ignorant of rules, but I guess Dick Johnson wanted to stir trouble with his words.
Ironically enough before Godzilla DJ himself was dominating with a favourable set of rules, I gathered.

[Rare White Ape]

I'm not 100% on 80s ATCC but I am pretty sure that teams at the top suffered in much the same way that they did in other countries with GrA rules. Once a manufacturer found the right combo of 4WD and turbo it was all over. First it was the Ford Sierra Cosworth, then the Nissan GT-R. Nobody else could compete and the usual happened when manufacturers stopped trying. DJR ran the Sierra for a number of years with great success until the Skyline GT-R came along.

One thing that fascinates me is how the various countries' touring car series evolved after the demise of GrA:

Australia went with it's beloved V8 RWD format and that evolved into Supercars, which still exists in a very similar form today.

Japan kept the Skylines and the multi-class structure, but banned the 4WD systems and allowed other manufacturers to build cars that could match the performance, eventually becoming much faster and more high tech. Super GT is probably one of the best examples of early BoP in GT racing.

Germany adopted DTM which was similarly more high tech. Ironically in the mid-2000s DTM needed a reset and based their new performance envelope on being competitive with V8 Supercars, but as they got faster and more expensive ended up unifying their rules with Super GT in Japan.

The UK held onto the 2.0 L touring cars and that became probably the most famous touring car series in the world. It was so popular that it was taken up as a second-tier series in many countries.

But as usual some series found trouble with spiralling costs and ended up dying off before being reborn yet again with tighter restrictions. Nowadays the BTCC is somewhat similar to TCR and GT3 is taking over a lot of series - DTM and GT300 have performance parity with GT3. About the only residual DNA from GrA that still remains is in Supercars, but those are being replaced next year with a new generation of cars, thankfully not GT3s though!

[Blerpa]

I agree with your insight almost completely, but... the main touring car series in Japan was never Super GT (old name JGTC or AJGTC) but JTCC which recently was revamped as TCR Japan.
Otherwise I do not like DTM, Super GT and any non canonical GT series straying from the GT3 standard fare (I've come to loathe IMSA and ACO with their useless GTE too): they all, eventually, exagerate on the aero side, stupid rulings and escalates costs.

Recent and actual Supercars are... Supercars.
To me they are not Touring cars neither GT cars. They are their own thing, same as Stock cars, and that's fine to me.

[Rare White Ape]

Ahh yeah you’re right about JTCC and JGTC being separate entities in the 80s and 90s.

And Supercars evolution has been very minor. They did move away from being heavily production based when they undertook the parity program to equalise the performance between brands. Now each car is built around a tube-frame chassis instead of a production body shell, but at least they are still quite low-tech and difficult to drive compared to other modern categories.

For the Gen3 Supercars, during testing drivers have actually been asking the governing body to make sure they’re still hard to drive!

[Blerpa]

Godzilla!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GsfgKaAU2w

[Rare White Ape]

The car is revered now and spoken of in hushed terms. I saw many a punter staring slack-jawed when the infamous #1 Winfield car was on display at a historic car meeting a number of years ago.

But in 1990-1992 people HATED them! Absolutely despised by the touring car viewing public :lol:

[Blerpa]

5:15 am. Winter weather. Pitch black. Oh, no, wait... deep fog as well!
Goddamn Aussies, you are crazy to race like this LOL

[Rare White Ape]

Somehow I completely missed that Gizzy did this at the Adelaide 500 a few months ago:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pGyoWzO44Iw&ab_channel=Supercars

But anyway I came to post that the Gen III V8s have hit the track for round 1 and they look goooooooooooood


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hywXzc17VkE


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxGLzpVoNK8


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irgU0XczU2Y&ab_channel=Supercars

[G'day Mate]

If anyone has a video of a better motorsports celebration than that SVG one I’d love to see it!

[G'day Mate]

In fact, if I remember I might swing past on my way to work during the week to see if the marks are still there

[Rare White Ape]

Oh yeah they'd still be there. Get a selfie with them!

Surfers Paradise is filthy with tyre marks for months after a race.

[Rare White Ape]

Bathurst dogs yewwwww

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/1089869019684814909/1160105910375559209/RDT_20231007_1637334000413212860858029.jpg

[XHawkeye]

Pole Run <--- Open for video (https://x.com/supercars/status/1710562283305435199)

[G'day Mate]

Only three safety cars!