Note: I’m pleased to be able to join our resident motorsport guru, the great Jim LaPlante, and share in my other great sporting passion. This is not a permanent move on my part, more a recurring guest column. Hope you all enjoy.
For many people not in Australia or New Zealand, V8 supercars are something of a mysterious topic. Most, if not all, of my colleagues here at Last Word themselves expressed confusion at my self confessed love of these great monsters of the track. So, this dear readers is going to be equal parts introduction, and future of one of my other great sporting obsessions.
First off, lets cover the basics: What is a V8 Supercar?
Until this year V8 Supercars were one of two things. An Australian built Ford or an Australian built version of (usually) a Chevrolet badged as Holden. Both cars were based essentially on a platform similar to a street legal car. In Ford’s case this was their iconic Falcon. Holden for the last 20 odd years have been building their own iconic vehicle, the Commodore. Historically Holden have used other vehicles, such as the Torana, but this is more of a simple introduction piece, I won’t get too bogged down.
I say iconic, it’s probably better to describe it as tribal. If you were a V8 Supercar fan, then you were Ford, or you were Holden. It wasn’t ‘Well, you know, they both have their good points’ you were definitively one side of the fence or the other. I’m not kidding when I say tribal. Relationships have begun and ended based on whether you were blue (Ford) or red (Holden).
Every year since 1997 these two tribes would go to war, on various tracks throughout Australia. Phillip Island in Melbourne, Barbagallo in Western Australia. For months these battles would ensue, but for one race in particular, the whole nation stopped.Petrol heads all over the world whisper it’s name in reverential tones. It is not a name spoken, it is invoked.
“Bathurst”
The Great Race. Those are deliberate capitals. What used to be a 500 kilometer race fought for by Volvo, BMW and Jaguar changed forever in 1999. After politics, battles and infighting, the public made its voice heard, and what would become the Great Race emerged as the two V8 rivals fought to claim the title of ‘King of the Mountain’ at the Mount Panorama circuit in Bathurst.
Every October Bathurst, in New South Wales, sees its population of around 33,00 swell something well into six figures. The race has occupied an entire generation of Australasian motorsport fans, and is now expanding ever more global thanks to support from the likes of Fuel TV in the USA.
Over 161 laps of one of the most torturous tracks in the world the men are sorted from the boys. In the world of V8’s, this is the Indy 500, the Daytona 500, the Superbowl and the Worlds Series all rolled into one. Drivers become heroes. Drivers become Gods. Drivers with names that leave a legacy long after their final drives, Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Jim Richards, Allan Moffatt. All names that every V8 fan knows and respects. You may not win the series, but there is always something special about conquering the mountain. To come out on top after the various challenges this track can throw at you – sudden weather changes, track debris and wild kangaroos on the track – puts you in very elite company to say the least.
In recent years Holden has dominated the mountain, with the team from Triple Eight racing, Craig Loundes and Jamie Whincup, regularly proving to be the drivers to beat. Ford were certainly competitive, but Holden just seemed to have something almost untouchable.
This all changed at the beginning of the 2013 season.
This year saw the whole vision of V8 Supercars change. Introduction of the ‘Car of the Future’ series now meant anyone with a naturally aspirated five litre V8 engine could have a car on the track. Purists truned their noses up at such an affront, but slowly teams warmed to these new changes. Holden team owner/drivers Todd and Rick Kelly were the first to announce a step away from their marque, putting their names and behind a team of four Nissan Altimas.
More surprising though was the announcement Ross and Jimmy Stone, long time Ford team owners, had sold their team to a new player, Erebus Motorsport. Erebus, owned by German billionaire and racing enthusiast Betty Klimenko, took the Stone Brothers brand in a whole new direction, fielding the second new marque in the form of three E Class Mercedes.
Interestingly, while Ford and Holden both have factory backed teams in the 2013 series, and next year Volvo will be racing their Polestar S60, Mercedes did not want to run a factory team for the V8’s as they believed this would ‘cheapen’ their brand. Thankfully Klimenko was having none of this silliness!
Also, Triple Eight Racing, who had been Team Vodafone for years, changed their lead sponsor and were now Red Bull Racing Australia.
The new changes did not on the surface seem to have much impact on the racing, in as much as the Mercedes and Nissan’s were not hugely competitive. What was having an impact though was the Car of the Future plan that all teams were adhering to was putting more teams on a more level playing field. Roland Dane, manager of Triple Eight Racing flat out stated “We [Red Bull Racing Australia] can’t expect to just come out and dominate this year.”
Red Bull Racing has been solid, and Jamie Whincup looks on target to win another championship series, but the race itself has been vastly different. It’s not a guarantee that Red Bull will cross the line first, and Bathurst this year saw a Ford on top for the first time since 2009. Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom drove one of the greatest races in his career to finish less than one second ahead of Whincup.
V8 Supercars has also become a global brand. Races are held in Dubai, New Zealand, Shanghai, Abu Dhabi and this year Texas. Further expansion looks to take in Korea, India, South Africa and Hong Kong. Drivers are coming from all over the world to test their mettle in this unique and challenging series, expanded where the races are held will only encourage this further.
Of greater interest for the Ford fans though is the news Australia is discontinuing the Falcon brand in 2015. This has lead to a scramble by Ford racing teams to look at new options for the coming years, with Mustang being floated as a potential option.
The 2013 V8 Supercar series wraps up this weekend in Sydney, but it’s only a short pause really more than an end. the 2014 calendar is already out, and big news is already being discussed about new drivers, new teams and new driving conditions.
Once you’ve all digested the introduction, I’m going to recap season 2013, preview season 2014, and also look at some of the big movers and shakers for the coming race season. In the meantime, kick the tyres, light the fires and roll on Sydney!
Thanks for Reading, you can leave your comments below. Feel free to give me a follow on Twitter –@LastWordKyle and the Motorsport master – @JimLaPlante, give the site a follow – @LastWordOnSport and like our Facebook Page.
Interested in writing for LastWordOnSports? Find more info at our “Join Our Team” page.
Main Picture Credit: Kytabu via Wikimedia Commons
