Chrysler looking at V8 Supercars

V8 Supercars could return to the 'old days' where multiple manufacturers battle each other instead of just the two we have now. With the introduction of the 'car of the future' in 2013, the V8 big wigs are encouraging other car companies to enter. BMW, Mercedes and Toyota have all been touted as possibilities, but Chrysler are the first to actually confirm V8 Supercars is an option.

Chrysler are getting prepared to launch the next generation of 300C and the V8's are heading to America next year...could be a case of perfect timing.

It wouldn't be the first time the 300C has been used in a touring car series though. Back in 2008, the German group, Zakspeed, raced a 300C SRT 8 in the Italian Superstar Series.

The Aussies Are Coming...

...in 2013 anyway.

It was announced last week that the V8 Supercars have inked a five year deal to race on the new facility at Austin. At this stage, it looks like it'll be a two-race weekend, both races being 124 miles (which, in nice round Australian numbers, is 200 kilometers).

For a brief rundown on the V8's...hmm, I guess you could read the wikipedia page or check out some videos on youtube, but basically the formula is to take a sedan from GM and Ford (that may change soon...other manufacturers are sniffing about as a new style car is launched for 2013), chuck a 5.0 litre engine with 650hp in the front, make it RWD, add a rollcage and some slicks and put it on the track.

One of the most promising 'newbies', Shane 'The Giz' van Gisbergen doesn't do conservative.

I suppose they would be similar to the GT class in the Rolex series except without having to worry about those pesky Prototypes that zoom around the place at the same time. Yes, that means proper head and tail lights, wipers and doors (are you listening, NASC...oh forget it, they never do anyway) for us to enjoy.

My main worry is how you guys will take to the series. I mean, it's not like there's any shortage of motorsport currently available and the last time an Australian sport branched out over this way, it didn't pan out that brilliantly (the 1987 Rugby League experiment in Long Beach) so we'll just have to wait and see I guess.

I wonder if Marcos Ambrose will push for it to be on an off weekend for the Cup guys...

Move Over Race of Champions...

For the Aussies are coming.

As posted a couple of weeks ago, the V8 Supercars have eased up on their 'one off appearances' restrictions. Now while this particular post doesn't validate that fact (it's been that way for the enduros for a while now), I think it certainly might play a part in the aftermath of what is going to happen on the Gold Coast in a couple months time.

Since the Indycars, in their infinite wisdom, dropped Surfers Paradise from the schedule, the V8's picked up the slack by running an extra race. This year though, they've decided to make it an endurance race instead. So how does that previous blog fit into the 'Gold Coast 600' weekend?

Simple really, particularly when you look at the names on the entry list so far; Will Power, Ryan Briscoe, David Brabham, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, Jacques Villeneuve, Scott Pruett...the list goes on. Why did I wait until today to post? Honestly, I didn't know until I saw that Heinz-Harald Frentzen (who so very nearly won the 1999 F1 title...in a Jordan!) had pulled out and some bloke called Helio Castroneves would replace him instead. The full list of international drivers that are pencilled in can be found on this website.

Here is Pruett's take on the event: “I don’t need any excuse to come to Australia, so when I received a call to be part of this program I jumped at the chance. I think the opportunity to drive a V8 Supercar on one of the world’s greatest street courses will be pretty attractive to plenty of the world’s great drivers.”

The race will take place over the weekend of October 24, same weekend as Martinsville. If only the race was shown live on TV here, that weekend would be an absolute blast...maybe someone will pick it up and we won't have to wait a week until Speed shows it.

V8 Supercars Playing Tennis

Well sort of; they're borrowing the idea of the 'wildcard'.

All this means is that they can avoid the situation that came up at the end of last year when the Cup season was over and Ambrose was back home and hoping to drive in the final race...he couldn't due to the rules so the V8 bigwigs changed the rules.

It's posted on the yahoo site and, I reckon, is actually a good idea.

NASCAR sort of have it already given you can swap drivers about as often as the teams swap tyres, so they probably won't 'borrow' this idea like they have with a bunch of others (the wing, the 'have at it boys' mentality...still waiting on the Cup boys racing in the rain though).

Nifty thinking and could be a great way to boost the international awareness of the series.

The 2009 Motorsport Awards...well, the ones that count anyway

Okey dokey, let's get this thing done...yeah, I know what you're thinking and trust me, I already know so here's the apology; I'm sorry for posting this before the final round of the V8 Supercars is raced.

Rookie of the Year - a reasonably tough choice in the end to be honest as I'm not going to go with logic and, instead, give it to the man who won it last year (albeit in a lower category); Joey Logano. Not only did he have big shoes to fill by stepping into the car that Tony Stewart drove for a decade, he also had the weight of expectation resting on those young shoulders with all the whispers about him being 'the next great thing'. He got off to a slow start, but soon found his groove to put in several strong races, including his win at Loudon. A possible threat to make the Chase next year.

Best Race of the Year - the Indycars at Kentucky. A spine-tingling duel for the win between Ryan Briscoe and Ed Carpenter that lasted the final 10 laps fully justified the mid-season changes to make the oval races more exciting. The final F1 race along with the Bristol night race went close...but not quite close enough.

Qualifier of the Year - Sebastian Vettel knew he had to pull out all stops at Japan to keep his slim hopes alive for winning the championship. He didn't do a whole lot of laps since he was saving his engine but he still easily planted his Red Bull Renault on pole, then set about winning the race the next day.

Team of the Year - Brawn GP for winning both the drivers' and constructors' title after only becoming a team a few weeks prior to the season starting.

Pit Crew of the Year - Brawn GP gets the nod for this as well. Many times Jenson found himself behind a driver, only for his crew to squeak him ahead at the pitstops. Often times it's those vital tenths of a second that win or lose you the championship.

Driver of the Year - Dario Franchitti. Having spent a year trying to make it in NASCAR, he eventually went back to the thing he's best at; winning races, and the title, in Indycar.

Person of the Year - Rick Hendrick...1, 2 and 3 in the points, nuff said?


And now the fun ones -

Personality of the Year - Valentino Rossi. The charismatic Italian just keeps on keeping on in the MotoGP series. His sense of humour can be rather difficult to follow at times but no one can doubt that he is one of a kind.

Crash of the Year - Nelson Phillipe and Will Power at the Sonoma Indycar race during practice. Yes, the Talladega crashes were more spectacular, but nowhere near as horrifying.

Surprise of the Year - that Marcos Ambrose didn't win my RotY award! No, seriously I am giving it to Marcos for his stunning drive at Bristol in March...the first glimpse we got that he was more than just a road course guy.

Miracle of the Year - that, for the third straight year, winning the Daytona 500 seems to be a jinx on that driver. Do you think we could get a petition going demanding Jimmie win it next year just to see if it really is a jinx?

Worst Looking Car Livery of the Year - Jeff Gordon's 'Transformers 2' car at Lowe's. I'm sorry, but Jeff Gordon...as the decepticons...the evil guys? Come on, give me a break!

Bone-headed Overtaking Attempt of the Year - a tough category as there were a few good candidates (Hamlin wrecking both Reutimann and Ambrose on his way to winning at Pocono and Scott Dixon at the start of the Indycar race at Sonoma spring to mind) but it's going to Jarno Trulli. The Italian thought he'd take advantage of Adrian Sutil at the Brazilian GP when Sutil slowed as Kimi had no front wing in front of him. Alas, Jarno didn't get the memo about there being no vision out of the side and back of a F1 car as its mirrors are nothing more than token gestures. So it was no great surprise when he ended up on the grass before careering back on to the track, slamming into Sutil and taking them both out on turn 4...of lap 1. Trulli then had another brainfade as he proceeded to blame Sutil for the whole thing for the remainder of the season.

The Dental School Award (aka, the award that made the most jaws drop) - Matt Crafton decided the only way he could make points up on Ron Hornaday at Gateway was to barge his way to the front. First he took out Todd Bodine when Todd blocked on a restart, then, after I'm sure most people went "he won't do that again" did the same thing to Hornaday. NASCAR gave him a penalty for rough driving...possibly the easiest decision the officials made this year.

The 'Carved from Stone' Award (aka the person that stood up when the heat was on) - might be a touch early, but it's going to Jamie Whincup. Not only did he have to put up with all the talk about what he'd be doing in 2010, he also had to race with a team who knew they were switching manufacturers for the next season. Despite that, he looks set to repeat as V8 Supercar champion.

The 'Red Bull' Award (since it gives you wings) - Quite a few people clearly wanted to win this award but it came down to three (sorry Matt Kenseth but you missed out); Joey Logano, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman. In the end, I went with Mr Newman for his acrobatics at Talladega. hopefully the US Army will redeem him some frequent flyer points :)

The Lucky Bugger Award - Carl Edwards for being in the right place at the right time when Marcos Ambrose made his one and only mistake at Montreal.

And that's all she wrote for 2009...let me know of any candidates I may have missed :)

Team Vodafone switches sides for 2010

There were grumbling in the V8 supercar paddock last year about the possibility of the Champion team changing from Ford to Holden given that Ford were not putting their support behind them. Indeed, such was the strength of that rumour that Team Vodafone ditched the large blue 'Ford' decal that dorns the front windscreen (Australian sport, Australian terms so deal with it *laugh*).

Fast forward some eight months and we find the rumour to be true.

Jamie Whincup (the 2008 champion and current points leader) and Craig Lowndes (three time series Champion, ironically all with Holden) will be swapping the blue oval for the red lion. Ordinarily this wouldn't be such a huge deal...teams flip flop depending on who looks to be the better option after all (why else would Robby Gordon go through each manufacturer in the last 4 years?)...but this isn't a midfield team. The equivalent would be Rick Hendrick holding a press conference tomorrow saying they'd be using Dodges for 2010.

Lowndes behind the wheel of his Triple Eight Ford.

Now, unlike a lot of V8 fans, I'm not all that fussed over which brand to support as I have my favourite drivers and follow them, regardless of what they drive. But this is a pretty big thing as it also answers the question of whether Whincup would head offshore or stay in V8 Supercars.

Team Vodafone came into the series in 2004, under the umbrella of Triple Eight Racing. They had a proven pedigree in motorsport, having won 12 British Touring Car titles but struggled in their debut year, the drivers finishing 19th (Paul Radisich) and 28th (Max Wilson) in points. 2005 saw Craig Lowndes join the team in place of Radisich and Steve Ellery replacing Wilson. Lowndes nearly snatched the title away from the, at the time, all-conquering Stone Brothers Racing duo of Russell Ingall and Marcos Ambrose but still, second place in the points was a huge form reversal from the year before.

Jamie Whincup was then put in Ellery's seat for 2006, making an immediate impression by winning the first race of the season at Adelaide. This also marked the beginning of their Bathurst domination. 2007 saw no driver changes but the sponsor did; out went Betta Electrical and in came Vodafone. This didn't really slow them down but the championship eluded them yet again, this time Whincup got beat out by Garth Tander.

Whincup leads the field...a usual sight in 2009.

Which leads us nicely to now.

Having thoroughly dominated 2008 and the first half of 2009, why did Ford let them go? Only they know but Holden must be relishing the idea of rubbing Ford's noses in it when the 2010 season opener comes around.

Statistics for Triple Eight Racing/Team Vodafone since 2004:
race wins - 11
round wins - 20
pole positions - 4
driver titles - 1 (2008)
constructor titles - 1 (2008)