The SCV8 Supercar Championship

[Notso Swift]

I asked about the way they do measurements today. No alternator or power steering (mainly because of packaging), but includes water pump, full induction and exhaust system, air cleaner to tip.
Interestingly when the formula started a few people got 700 hp "nascar spec" motors created out and fitted them with injection, at the time locals had about 540 hp. Surfice to say it is all done locally now.

[Al Weyman]

yes but what is the form of measurement of BHP is it the same as used in the US as I believe there are different standards.

[Notso Swift]

I don't think the US have exhausts, air filters, water pumps or oil pumps or any other ancillaries.
Our standards for manufactures is the same as for the UK, which is basically as the motor is fitted.

[R59]

I'll have to dig through some old books, but from memory, it's not just a case of ancillaries on, or off. SAE horsepower was without ancillaries like alternator/dynamo, starter, PAS pumps, etc...

The air filter exhaust issue makes an effect, as open headers may not produce as much power as a well tuned exhaust system, the same goes for no air filter..

I'll have a search and see what I can find.

There's SAE, BS, as well as PS, and others.

Now, RAC horsepower - that'll confuse you...

Rob.

[R59]

Found it on the wikipedia site. Rather than cut and paste it here, I'll include the site address so you can look at it yourself.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsepower#PS

Some concise, but interesting reading.

Rob.

[Al Weyman]

Decipher it for us Rob, whats the bottom line, do horpower ratings these days show as more or less than they did before and if so by how much.

[R59]

Reading between the lines, some show more, some show less.

As it shows, SAE could be anything you feel like!!

Manufacturers seem to choose the method that makes their engine look better....

[Al Weyman]

... tuners??

[Notso Swift]

Originally Posted by Al Weyman

... tuners??

Most of the quote what they find on the local (freindly) dyno, usally a rolling road, and we know how acurate they are

[G.Walker]

It would be good to see some of the old Formula Saloons entering this championship. There was the Ric Wood Calibre V8, Andy Chesters Camaro V8and Mackenzie V8 Omega. Very quick cars who often beat the super tourers!!

I hope it can muster some decent sized grids, fingers crossed!!!

[Al Weyman]

Andy Chester's car was infact a Firebird, I have the only circuit racing 3rd Generation Camaro over here (I believe) . His was also sold to a guy in Holland as I understand it.

[Neil Adams]

when you say it was infact firebird, do you mean the mechanicals where a firebird? and the shape of the car was a camaro? because i remember for sure andrew chester racing a camaro in the formula saloons championship

http://www.btcc-racing.com/images/pr...e-oth-out-.jpg

probably gonna be shot down here with your knowledge of all things V8

[Al Weyman]

No it was a Firebird body shape definitely, I have one of his promotional cards here somewhere. In fact it is all a bit irrelevant because the two cars share exactly the same mechanicals but that car did'nt have much of the original car left on it anyway if any. I had a good look over it at Donnington one year and as I recollect the only original thing was the actual centre and rear section of the bodyshell and that may have only been roof and rear quarter panels with a special chassis bit like my Penske Banjo Matthews car which he originally owned I believe and may have well copied parts of.

Opps ignore that we are both right, I was talking about an earlier car the blue and white 3rd gen car, that yellow car which I admit I did not know about is a 4th gen car so mine is still the only 3rd gen in captivity:-)

[R59]

Originally Posted by G.Walker

It would be good to see some of the old Formula Saloons entering this championship. There was the Ric Wood Calibre V8, Andy Chesters Camaro V8and Mackenzie V8 Omega. Very quick cars who often beat the super tourers!!

I hope it can muster some decent sized grids, fingers crossed!!!

Ric will be there, but with the DTM Astra. Ric's using his Calibra in the NW Sports & Saloons, and was out with it today.

Andrew Mackenzie's Omega - not sure if he still has it.

Andy Chester's Camaro.. was it? Yep, it was a Z28 Camaro (sorry Al)
Here's a pic from our ol' mate Redshoes...

http://www.redshoes-archive.co.uk/in...e366bd876ac8d4

I was hoping to be there this weekend for the first round, but sadly, my new headgaskets are still stuck in customs at East Mids Airport, and there's not much I can do about it until monday at the earliest. Therefore, I won't have my car anywhere near ready to roll.

I WILL be there for round 3/4 at Donington in August (providing I don't kill it beforehand!)

Rob.

[Al Weyman]

Andy Chester's Camaro.. was it? Yep, it was a Z28 Camaro (sorry Al)
Here's a pic from our ol' mate Redshoes...

Alright, alright don't rub it in I have already admitted I was mistaken:-)

[R59]

Another car that "could" come out of the woodwork, if we could entice him is Nick Crocker's - now was that a Camaro or a Firebird, or was it a TransAm?

I wasn't rubbing it in Al, I started my post at around 9:15, but was watching 24, so it took a little while to finish... then I pressed the post button, and up popped those replies!

Doh!

[G.Walker]

Cheers guys

Both the Pontiac and Camaro were race winners in Formula Saloons

Any pictures of Chesters Pontiac V8 out there, it ran in 1997 -1999 FS. It was awesome, i remember it lapping Mallory in 47/48 seconds, but was a handfull around the hairpin....

[Al Weyman]

It was originally fitted with twin turbo chargers and rated at 1000bhp, I remeber seeing at the Racing Car show years ago, I think he took them off because it was a bit power mad not sure.

[Neil Adams]

Originally Posted by racing59

Ric will be there, but with the DTM Astra.

glad to hear hes got it back after it being stolen, this v8 championship should be cool with the variety of cars, i remember seeing a britcar race with a btcc spec car, an ozzie v8 and a dtm car all in one race.

[R59]

No, it's not that one, it's another one.

It'd be nice to see Ric's Holden returned as well as last year's Astra too.....

Although Opel "will not sell" any of their DTM cars, Messrs Hirst and Wood have secured the purchase of yet another elusive DTM car!!

I think it's not a case of what you know, but who you know!

Yes, it should be pretty spectacular.

There are some interesting machines out there, as well as the Marcos' and TVR's, hopefully John Cross will be there with his V8 Focus spitting flames!!

I'm still waiting for my new headgaskets...... darnit! Pesky customs!

Rob.

[R59]

Ahh well, not as many cars as hoped. But what was there, was good.

And Al, TVR Tuscan's whooped by Aussie Falcon!!

It was Tim Hood in the TVR Sagaris that gave the Falcon a run for it's money in the second race, as they traded fastest laps running nose-tail around Snet. The Sagaris won, and the Falcon retired after suffering a right rear blowout.

Both turning in 1m10's within hundredths of a second of each other.

The V8 Star Jag look fab, sounded great too.

Once the air restrictor size is worked out, to level the field a bit more, it'll be even better. There are over 40 registrations now, and lots of cars being worked on. Donington should be very interesting indeed.

Sadly we didn't get to see the Astra DTM or Ric's Calibra out there due to there being problems with both cars.

The seeds are sown, and it will grow.

All being well we should see Andy Rouse with at least one SCV8, and Roger Ectell's Peugeot 407 at Donington, among others. More V8Star's too.

Rob.

[redshoes]

"not as many cars as hoped" is an understatement. From MST it looks like 10 cars for race one and only 6 for the race 2.

I see there is already talk about a full championship next season. On the basis of last weekend there's a long way to go yet before that's viable.

[Tuscan 6]

I will be entering the next one - couldn't do this one due to a prior commitment. Possibly in my Sagaris if finished, more likely in my Tuscan.

I understand that some of the attrition between the two V8 races was due to some of the cars also entering the Britcar races - possibly a little over ambitious?

Seems to me the TVRs had a pretty good showing given their relative simplicity. The Sagaris is now starting to show it is worth about 2 seconds a lap over a standard Tuscan - the aero and sequential 'box are the only significant changes, although visually the cars couldn't be more different.

[yeltneb]

Can anyne tell me why there is a need for a V8 Championship? The way I see it is that Formula Saloons had a home for V8's and had trouble, Andy Rouses V8 series did not get off the ground, Eurocar V8 soon died and the Ascar is almost dead.
I agree V8's are great to watch but untill the Britcar is contstantly full and has reserves why can't they run in Britcar. I applaud James and his crew for all his hard work and a good job done but there is no demand or need for a new series, just consolidate what you have.

[R59]

There are a lot of different issues here.

Formula Saloons died because in the end, it relied on the Super Tourers, and due to the longer races, the cost of running them became too much when there was a down-turn in the amount of money in people's pockets. The V8's had dwindled to stalwarts like Ric Wood, and Andy Chester, with Andrew Mackenzie in his Omega too. I was still buillding my car - to run in FS - when it all folded, even though Garry had worked his wotsits off trying to keep it all going.

SCV8 died a political death. It 'should' have happened, but there were things going on behind the scenes that stopped it.

Eurocar V8's died because the BRSCC fiddled with it and killed it.

Ascar is almost dead because it tried to be too big too quick, and is about to be re-born this season as a much more cost concious, and cheaper formula to race in - cars are available for around £10K now, where just over a year ago, they would have cost you between 30 & 40K. The running costs will be down to that of any decent saloon series, without going mad to a TOCA support.

Many of the cars which will run in the V8's are not suitable for Britcar, and it's 2hour + races. They were never designed for it. No dry break refuelling, no air jacks, etc.... Britcar is about endurance racing, the V8's is about 2 or 3 half hour sprint races, and will run reverse champioship grids to spice matters up.

To that end, there are a lot of cars that are lurking around for a proper championship to run in. Yes, I could run mine in (as I will do) Track & Race Cars, or LMA. As much as they're both good championships to race in, the level of competition for a car like mine won't be there. I want to race against similar machinery, as do the other owners of the V8's.

James Tucker has seen the niche in the market, and has researched it, and siezed it. The way he will run it will make it work. There are allegedly over 40 registrations, and more on the way.

What didn't help the races this weekend were, as someone pointed out, the cars that entered both the V8's and the Britcar races, where mechanical gremlins struck, and there wasn't enough time to make repairs. We lost the Marcos' Peter Seldon's Beemer, Kevin Clarke's "Mercedes". If they all could have been repaired, and got out there, there would have been more in the second race, than there were in the first, thanks to Mr Hood and his Sagaris.

Next season, the V8's will run on a different bill to the Britcar, ie: different meetings, therefore those who want to run in both (like Adam Sharpe, Peter Seldon, etc..) will be able to without much worrying

The second race (Sunday's) took place after the lunch break, with the Britcar 3hr race finishing just before. There wasn't enough time to get some of the cars out in time, perhaps it would have been better to run it after the Production S1 3hr race, but hindsight is a wonderful thing....

Tuscan 6 - look forward to seeing you at Donington, where there should be at least another 8-10 cars making the first start - that's more than a BTCC grid!! (and the V8's sound better!).

To take Yeltneb's last four words above - consolidate what you have - this is - consolidating all possible V8's into one race series on, eventually, a fairly level playing field.