2012 V8 Supercars Discussion

An old article, and it may have been posted before... Could not be bothered searching.

AUDI TO GET SNEAK PEEK INSIDE V8 SUPERCARS. Tuesday 4th October, 2011

If Audi is contemplating a move into V8 Supercars under the new Car of the Future rules in 2013, then this month’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 will certainly provide the decision makers with plenty of experiences to throw into the mix.
Audi power brokers have been delighted with the recent news that their racing ‘God’ Emanuele Pirro will drive a V8 Supercar for the first time on the streets of Surfers Paradise on October 21-23 as a co-driver with Shane van Gisbergen at Stone Brothers Racing.
Pirro accepted the drive this week after the withdrawal of Kiwi Scott Dixon because of the premature birth of his second daughter.
The former F1 driver is worshiped by Audi fans around the world after helping the German manufacturer to no less than five outright victories in the Le Mans 24-hour event in France (2000, 01, 02, 06, 07) – not to mention thirds in 1999, 03, 04 and 05.
Leading the cheers has been the team from the Audi Centre Gold Coast which is entering its second year as the event’s official vehicle supplier, which includes the provision of a sensational R8 course car, RS5 and V12 Q7 course cars for all support category races and A8, A6, A7 and Q7s for VIP transfers.
The German manufacturer has a strong motorsport pedigree globally and in Australia – teaming up with Brad Jones Racing for several years to win two national 2-litre Super Touring championships.
The company has also previously been the supplier for the V8 Supercar Safety Car program.
While a European manufacturer, the inclusion of Audi would fit perfectly with V8 Supercars’ push into the Asian markets.
The Audi Centre Gold Coast is one of the newest and largest of Audi’s new generation lifestyle dealerships in Australia.
Such is the growth of the brand worldwide,  a new dealership twice the size of the impressive Gold Coast operation is scheduled to open each week in China for the next 12 months.
“Audi has such a tremendous racing heritage and when it was announced that Emanuele Pirro would be at this year’s Armor All Gold Coast 600 there was an instant buzz around our dealership and from our customers,” said Audi Centre Gold Coast joint dealer principal, Brett Frizelle.
“The names Pirro and Audi are synonymous when it comes to Le Mans and long distance racing and it would be great to see him add one of those famous Gold Coast 600 surfboard trophies to his cabinet in a couple of weeks time.
“As a local company we have been delighted with our relationship with the Gold Coast 600 and its organisers and the inclusion of Emanuele puts the icing on the cake for us this year.
“I am sure he will find the Audi R8 a very comfortable and familiar ride for the parade lap.”
Queensland Minister for Sport, Phil Reeves, said that while the exclusion of Dixon was regrettable, the addition of Pirro was a coup for the event.
“In the world of motorsports the name Emanuele Pirro is one of the biggest and we are delighted that he will be with us for the Amor All Good Coast 600,” said Reeves.
“It is great that a successful Queensland-based company like James Frizelle’s Automotive Group, which is already a terrific supporter of the event, will receive some extra benefit with the participation of Emanuele Pirro.
“We are counting down the days now and can’t wait for Queensland to be showcased to the rest of the world as the Events State and the Champions State.”
Armor All Gold Coast 600 General Manager Kurt Sakzewski, said that he was delighted that the signing of Pirro added to the experience of being involved in the event for Audi Centre Gold Coast.
“The team at Audi Centre Gold Coast have been terrific partners for our new-look event and the addition of Emanuele Pirro is a well-deserved bonus for them,” said Sakzewski.
“Everything is on target for another great event and we are confident of providing the Gold Coast with one hell of a party and fantastic festival we can all be proud of.”

That, Looks Awesome

Toyota and DJR?

This looks so much better than their current livery.

loving the HRT livery.. hope they run with it.. Bit Brock Autoart or Lotus.. but i like it..

Obviously they held their shakedown at Calder, where there was plenty of v8super rubber laid down for them thanks to a number of teams holding their corporate ride days at Calder on tuesday. Good move HRT!




EDIT: Just noticed my badge of honor... secretly wooting inside my head

sempeR wrote:Obviously they held their shakedown at Calder, where there was plenty of v8super rubber laid down for them thanks to a number of teams holding their corporate ride days at Calder on tuesday. Good move HRT!

Just watched the video, It was raining!!! HAHA Unrucky

Multiple teams eyeing retro liveries for Bathurst

Ford Performance Racing and Dick Johnson Racing are among a number of V8 Supercars teams that will potentially campaign ‘retro’ colour schemes to mark the 50th year celebrations at next month’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

High-profile squads FPR, Dick Johnson Racing, Triple Eight Race Engineering and the Holden Racing Team have all been linked to running retro liveries in the event.

DJR has confirmed that it will reveal its own “distinctive livery” next Tuesday that will mark the occasion and “reflect the rich history of the team”.

FPR is also thought to be particularly keen on the idea, and while its own existence only dates back to 2003, the outfit’s factory Ford status gives it a wealth of history to tap into.

The one-two finish recorded by the Moffat Ford Dealers-entered Falcons XCs of Allan Moffat/Jacky Ickx and Colin Bond/Alan Hamilton in 1977 is considered by many as the Blue Oval’s crowning achievement at Bathurst, and appears the most likely colour scheme to be replicated.

FPR and HRT have both run ‘retro’ schemes in the 1000 in recent years. The Ford squad turned back the clock to 1978 with its ‘Cobra’ livery in 2007, while three years later the Holden outfit repeated the look of its 1990 success.

Ford Performance Racing’s team principal Tim Edwards confirmed that his team is close to making a final call on whether or not it will transform the appearance of its title contending cars for next month’s race.

“We’re weighing it all up at the moment,” Edwards told Speedcafe.com.

“There’s quite a significant cost associated with changing a livery. It’s not as simple as putting a different set of stickers on it.

“It certainly brings some logistical challenges, especially when we get back, we’ve only got a few days to turn the cars around to get the international drivers in them at Queensland Raceway (for the pre-Armor All Gold Coast 600 test).

“Each team has their own situation and decision to make. My understanding is that there’s a couple of teams considering it.”

Fap Fap Fap Fap

V8 Supercars assessing race format changes for 2013

V8Supercars is in the midst of devising its race formats for next season, with radical changes not being ruled out.

A desire for a greater variety of formats is afoot within the paddock – a movement strengthened by the highly entertaining 60 km sprint race run on Saturday at the recent Dick Smith Sandown 500.

In addition to a wider range of race distances, a shift in emphasis back towards the soft tyre has also been mooted.

The widespread use of the mixed tyre format this season has reduced many races to economy runs as teams stretch their fuel windows in order to maximise time on the quicker rubber, often to the detriment of engine life.

While possible format changes were a major point of discussion at the most recent V8 Supercars Commission meeting at Sandown, concrete decisions are yet to be made on the matter.

The sporting regulations do not need to be locked in until December, although a need to confirm tyre allocation requirements to control supplier Dunlop has created some urgency.

Commission member Tim Edwards told Speedcafe.com that calls for new formats are being tempered against a reluctance to deviate too far from the status quo.

“We’ve got some great racing going on at the moment, so it’s not exactly broken how it is, but we are looking at the formats,” said Edwards.

“We’ve got lots of ideas, so now it’s up to the Board and Commission to decide what’s good, bad, ugly and indifferent.

“You have to be conscious of the fact that we have actually got a good product. There are good races and bad races, no different to good and bad football games, and you can’t just have one bad race and start cutting it all to pieces and starting fresh.

“We’re open to a bunch of ideas, but it’s no different to this time any other year – everything is open for discussions. We just have to consider what they all are.

“There is certainly genuine interest in mixing things up, but we might do nothing.”

Although the category will be moving to a new 18-inch wheel and tyre package with its Car of the Future next year, the class has elected to continue with the same hard and soft compounds that are currently in play.

Immensely looking forward to the Merc.

Team Norton DJR Goes Tru-Blu!

DICK Johnson Racing will turn back the clock at this year’s Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, today unveiling a special one-off livery that its Team Norton DJR Falcon entry will carry next week at Mount Panorama.

The team has turned James Moffat’s yellow Norton-backed Falcon into a blue ‘Tru-Blu’ Falcon for the race, paying homage to Johnson’s famous Tru-Blu Falcon XDs of the early 1980s.

The Ford V8 muscle car was made famous by Johnson’s accident with an errant rock at Bathurst in 1980 that wiped him out of the race while leading.

He returned to claim victory with John French in 1981 in a replacement Tru-Blu Falcon, built using funds donated by race fans matched dollar-for-dollar by Edsel Ford II.

To be driven by Moffat and Alex Davison next weekend, the Tru-Blu/Norton Falcon will also carry the famous #17 for the weekend, swapping its regular #18 with the Jim Beam Falcon of Steven Johnson and Dane Allan Simonsen for Bathurst only.

However, it’s not the first time Johnson Jnr has raced under the #18 for DJR at Bathurst instead of the #17 his father made famous.



He ran the #18 Falcon at Bathurst in his debut in 1994 with Allan Grice and carried the number each year at Bathurst through until 1998 when he first drove with Dick in the #17 entry.

In 2008 he also paired with Will Davison in Davison’s #18 Jim Beam Falcon and they finished sixth.

Team Principal Dick Johnson, who ended up winning Bathurst three times over his career as a driver and is still searching for his first as an owner since retiring from driving more than a decade ago, reckons the Tru-Blu Falcon looks sharp.



“I am so thrilled that sponsor Norton want to run my Tru-Blu livery on James and Alex’s Team Norton DJR Falcon at the 2012 Bathurst 1000,” he said.

“The win in 1981 was an emotional one for me and the team and has never been forgotten by motor racing fans around the world since.



“The car is definitely going to get fans around the world excited, and Norton has done a great job incorporating the historic with the new. I can’t wait to get there and see it racing!”

The melting pot of Johnson, Moffat, Tru-Blu and Norton yellow is indeed an interesting one.



When Johnson was racing his Tru-Blu Falcon in the 1980 Bathurst classic, James Moffat’s father Allan was racing a yellow Falcon that only lasted a handful of laps in that year’s race

Anyone who thought that 32 years later Moffat’s son would be driving for Johnson in a Tru-Blu Falcon which is normally yellow – and with Johnson’s son as teammate - would have been laughed out of town!

MOFFAT MUST WIN!!!!!!!

Go the underdog Tru-Blu Falcon!!!

Holdsworth, Baird sample 1963 Bathurst winner

IRWIN Racing’s endurance pairing Lee Holdsworth and Craig Baird have taken the ultimate Bathurst history lesson, driving a race replica of the 1963 Armstrong 500 winning car around the famous mountain circuit.

The pair travelled to Bathurst recently to sample the Ford Cortina GT that is identical to the one that Bob Jane and Harry Firth drove to victory in the first ‘Great Race’ to be held at the venue 49 years ago.

Holdsworth and Baird both marvelled at the simplicity of the production specification Cortina compared to their current, purpose-built, machines.

“It gives you an appreciation of the era of racing,” said Holdsworth of driving the 1.5 litre, four-cylinder, Ford.

“The race these days is called an endurance event, but it’s a 100% sprint from the word go.

“If you drove the 1963 Cortina the same way we do the modern day V8 Supercar it would be out of brakes after three laps!”

Added Baird: “It gives you a great perspective on how things have evolved with the cars and the track.

“We can re-create what it would have been like to drive the car, but in terms of how the track has changed you can’t go back to the days without fences – thank goodness!”

Car Of The Future To Test At Bathurst

FINAL validation testing of the hard Dunlop tyre option for the 2013 V8 Supercars Car of the Future will get the best test possible next week at Mount Panorama, Bathurst.

V8 Supercars’ prototype Ford Falcon Car of the Future chassis - first unveiled at last year’s Sydney Telstra 500 - will be used for the test which will be held within the pair of Dunlop Series practice sessions next Thursday (October 4) at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000.

The test also marks the final sign-off stage of the entire testing process for V8 Supercars’ 2013 Car of the Future project ahead of its racing debut next season.

“There have been thousands of kilometres already completed in all facets of the Car of the Future prototype testing program,” said V8 Supercars Commission Chairman Mark Skaife.

“This is the final sign-off of the entire process for the new cars for next year.

“The test at Bathurst is all about durability testing of our new specification Dunlop 18-inch tyre at the most demanding and fastest venue on the V8 Supercars Championship calendar.”

IRWIN Racing’s Lee Holdsworth is slated to drive the car and will be the first car out of pit lane in each of the two Dunlop Series sessions.

The car may also appear in the fourth practice session for the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 itself on Friday morning.

That session is limited to co-drivers for the main race, making a primary V8 Supercars Championship driver available to conduct the tyre validation.

The car will be prepared and run by Dunlop Series squad Matt Stone Racing, which has looked after it throughout the course of its testing program since last year.

The test will be the first time a new-generation V8 Supercar has run at Bathurst with the larger 18-inch tyre/wheel package that will become standard in the 2013 V8 Supercars Championship with the new generation cars.

Dunlop has already locked down its hard (and indeed soft) tyre specification for next year’s introduction of Car of the Future.

The opportunity to run on the country’s fastest circuit at Bathurst next week will be used for final validation purposes.

Was just reading Auto Action and it says:
- Moffat is going to Nissan next year taking Norton with him to replace Pepsi Max.
- Murphy and Reindler still in contention for the last Altima seat ( In my opinion, I think Caruso will fill that seat next year)
- Pepsi Max will sponsor both FPR cars next year.
- Jim Beam will most likely withdraw ist's sponsorship of DJR.

I really hope Murph has a ride next year.

Why will caruso leave GRM?

Who will go to GRM if he leaves?

Who even cares about Reindler?

Who will sponsor Charlie Schwerkolts FPR entry, And who is driving it?

Does Dicky give a toss about his DJR?

Is Brock going back to bathurst one last time this year?

Im going to go across the street and get you some orange sherrrrrrrrrr berrrrrrrrrrt.

Not V8 super taxi - but awesome

GT3 Y0!

^ oh...now that is nice!

Its Brocky's mountain. his DNA is in the mountain... Someone could win 10 in a row and it will still be brocky's mountain..

There will never be another like him, his apprentice comes close but there is only one king of the mountain. Gone but not forgotten.