2001 Power tour

[marcus]

after watching the Champcar race last night I was flipping through the channels and at 1am on channel 10 was the 2001 power tour.

well i didnt know anything about this being on but i watched it anyway.

it was round one from mallala and included Truck racing and the daewoo challenge and Nascar.

the nascar races confused me a tad..they are not calling them Nascars anymore they are now called V8 stock cars..I was just wondering if anybody new anything about them or this series for that matter..are they exactly the same as the Nascar series that ran out of Calder Park?

was a few good races and im going to try and find out when the next one is on..check it out late saturday night on channel 10.

[Crash Test]

I think it's just another name change, like they used to be called AC Delco Cup cars etc, bit of an identity crisis, probably costs too much to licence the word Nascar off the yanks

The Stockcars Trucks etc will be going all over the countryside, so ti will be interesting, I hope it all works out well for them.

[Buckshot]

Speedweek on SBS spent the last 2 weeks showing the Power Tour Races from Mallala. The Power Tour was also on at Oran Park today but I just couldn't make it out there.

It is coming back on the 16/9 so I will try and see it then.

[RaceTime]

NASCAR's - the name change is due to CAMS and AUSCAR Racing Pty Ltd still not quite seeing eye to eye. Information I have is that CAMS seem to be making it as hard as possible for the ex-NASCAR's (under any name) to race with CAMS categories - thus at Mallala they were only allowed to do 'Demonstration' runs at no more than 80% of race speeds (the fact they had never raced there so no one knew what their race speed would be caused a few problems I understand!)

Also CAMS appear to have a problem allocating a Group category to these cars - the main problem being that the doors on these cars are welded closed and CAMS want the doors to open (!!!) and they are also claiming that the roll cages don't conform to CAMS/NCR requirements. The fact the roll cage is probably far stronger than CAMS requirements is, so I believe, irrelevant.

Unconfirmed, but a little bird tells me there may be some action back at the Thunderdome for NASCAR's either later this year or early next year....

The name AC Delco Cup Cars referred to a sponsor for one or two seasons - much like the Shell Championsip Series - nothing more - in Australia they have always been known as NASCARS. The identity crisis was AUSCAR - AUSCAR's, New Millenium AUSCARS, Bathurst Tourers, Future Tourers etc.

[Crash Test]

"Also CAMS appear to have a problem allocating a Group category to these cars - the main problem being that the doors on these cars are welded closed and CAMS want the doors to open (!!!) and they are also claiming that the roll cages don't conform to CAMS/NCR requirements. The fact the roll cage is probably far stronger than CAMS requirements is, so I believe, irrelevant."

Hmmm, I don't think Nascar have doors, isn't it just a case of sheet metal over the top of a mass of roll bars? Ok, so they put a hinge and a cut in the sheet metal, you still have to climb over the roll cage .

It's funny since these new roll cage rules have come into effect, I know that in the QLD Gemini series a lot of old cars (ie, some of them last log booked in 1982...) are making a come back, and wrecked cars are also in demand for their roll cages. The amount you have to pay for an engineer to certify your cage in many cases works out to be more expensive than the bloody cage!

[RaceTime]

Re the NASCAR doors - that is exactly what I meant - CAMS don't like the fact that they are welded shut - forget the integrity of the car due to the roll cage. CAMS insist the doors must open (like the rear door of the GTP Ch 10 were using in a promo yesterday - jumps the kerb, hits the wall, rolls onto its roof and the rear door flies open!

[nz_tourer]

Truck racing is awesome, especially at Puke. 3 abreast into the hairpin - loveit!

What truck series is it? the same one that Inky Tulloch runs in? is Rodney Crick still racing trucks?

[Buckshot]

Yes it's that series. Both those 2 blokes are in it.

[RaceTime]

The trucks seriously need Ron Salter back in it again - is he still racing a Mazda in NZ?

[Crash Test]

Isn't Tulloch running Salter's old rig?

I loved it at OP last year when John Falk won the main race in his wee tiny SBR- I have never in my life seen someone so happy to win a race! He parked the truck nose first into the wall on the cool down lap and let rip with this massive burnout, which I'm certain the truck was not capable of doing .

While the crowds at Oran Park these days are good, they aren't half as good as those in the early part of the '90s. I hope they kick on again, ideally, this sort of stuff should appeal to the average V8 fan...

[RaceTime]

Yes - Tulloch bought the entire outfit from Ron when he finished with the trucks - what was it? 3-4 years ago from memory?