NZ V8's Series 2010/2011

[GTRMagic]

Interesting to see the array of new pilots in the NZV8s series for this season, and some of the cars, teams & equipment fielding cars.

First announcement of the series surrounded Mr Bargwanna, and his deal with the Tulloch squad to contest the series, sponsored by Rock Energy Drink
Story Here

While Mr Barclay's well publicised entry into the NZV8s series has seen him sign Mr Scott (Fujitsu Ford) and Mr McLaughlin (Fujitsu Commodore) Story Here to his new Racing Projects operation.

With the return of SBR favourite John McIntyre, the series has the makings of another great one, with some Aussie vs Kiwi stuff going on

Who will win?

[Axeman444]

so what chassis is Mr Scott driving?

[Biggy G]

Same as last season Axeman.

Would have to say it has got to be the strongest line up the NZV8's have seen in a while, going to be good!

Got the likes of Bargs, Scott, Johnny Mac, Baird, Fogg, Bell, Edgell, Booth and Knight up there, and new blood like Bamber and Mclaughlin coming through, good to see.

[Belly13]

Is there any TV coverage of this series? Looks like a great championship. By the way, what's the website?

[Biggy G]

nzv8s.co.nz

Not sure if it gets any TV time in Australia?

[promax]

NZV8 - ITM Hamilton 400

[mountainstar]

It is looking like it will be a hard fought year and nice to see a V8SC driver come over.

However I think the usual suspects will still be at the front.

[GTRMagic]

Bargs tests at Ruapuna

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

It is looking like it will be a hard fought year and nice to see a V8SC driver come over.

However I think the usual suspects will still be at the front.

MS,
The difference, between Jason Bargwanna's entry and those equally talented V8Supercar drivers such as Steve Owen, Luke Youlden, Paul Radisich etc, is that both Tulloch cars are engineered by Luke Dinsdale, formally Kayne Scott's engineer.

I expect Jason to be right at the pointy end of the grid if not challenge for outright wins. It is a great pity that he can not do the whole NZV8 Championship, 7 rounds not five, but perhaps the additional sponsorship needed may yet materialise, lets hope so.

You are absolutely right about "it looking like a hard fought year"

John MacIntyre, is right on the top of his game with a brilliant drive at Surfers, Craig Baird is forsaking his current Championship lead in the Asian Porsche GT3 Series, to come back and defend his No.1 Status here in New Zealand.

Kayne Scott, Fujitsu, is with a new team, Nigel Barclay's Racing Projects, along side SBR's protege, 18 year old Scott Mclaughlin, in a new Supercheap backed Holden Commodore.

Plus of course up and coming drivers like Tim Edgell, Andy Knight, Eddie Bell etc, not to mention Angus Fogg, Andy Booth etc, are all in with a chance.

The 7 round NZV8's Championship Series kicks off next weekend with 22 entries, at Pukekohe, and early indications are that the all new PFC brake package, will see lap NZV8's records fall at all the New Zealand circuit's, including the Hamilton ITM 400, were running out of brakes should be a thing of the past.

Mark Petch.
CEO NZV8's

[harcey]

[QUOTE=Mark Petch;2782669]MS,


Craig Baird is forsaking his current Championship lead in the Asian Porsche GT3 Series, to come back and defend his No.1 Status here in New Zealand.




Think you will find the decision became quite easy after craig lost his lead in the Asian series last weekend with a 5th and third places and struggled for pace Surprisingly.
he now sits 2nd 9 points back

[FIRE]

If I remember well this or previous season they were working on a new car with a spec engine. Are they still working on that?

[mountainstar]

I'll put my vote in and say either Baird or J Mac for the championship.

[promax]

Originally Posted by FIRE

If I remember well this or previous season they were working on a new car with a spec engine. Are they still working on that?

Planning the future of NZV8

Head of The MotorSport Company Kerry Cooper laid out his vision for the future of New Zealand’s premier race class at the Race Commission workshop.

“Of concern to us and being addressed by our partners, VEEGA, and ourselves is the age and model of Falcon and Commodore we are running in the NZV8s,” Cooper opened.

The disparity between the speed of the two makes has been apparent for a couple of seasons. This year, an all-new VE Commodore package was run on the Holden fleet to try and bring it up to speed with the Ford Falcon. However, changes were quickly made after discovering the new front spoiler was 8km/h slower than the old one.

The solution, dubbed the ‘Prototype Car of Tomorrow’, will be launched in November and debut as a demo car over the new season. The first of these cars will be a VE Commodore, followed closely by a FG Falcon in the line of a single-chassis competition.

Investigation into the possibility of a standard engine block across the championship for the new car and the introduction of more manufacturers is ongoing to ensure the NZV8 championship remains exciting and competitive.

“We have the backing of our Australian counterparts, as long as we don’t use exactly the same formula as them,” Cooper said.

[Just Do It!]

Speculation suggests that another new entrant joins the Hopper stable with Harrison Lingard making a big step up from HQ Holdens. How all this plays out will be well worth watching as he is a really nice bloke and, in an HQ at least, could hustle along ok.

It's a seemingly last minute deal, but the main sponsor has great intentions, and it looks like Harry can do the whole season. The sponsor will be able to help Petchy with any properties he wishes to off-load too

Go Harry, go!!

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by promax

Planning the future of NZV8

Head of The MotorSport Company Kerry Cooper laid out his vision for the future of New Zealand’s premier race class at the Race Commission workshop.

“Of concern to us and being addressed by our partners, VEEGA, and ourselves is the age and model of Falcon and Commodore we are running in the NZV8s,” Cooper opened.

The disparity between the speed of the two makes has been apparent for a couple of seasons. This year, an all-new VE Commodore package was run on the Holden fleet to try and bring it up to speed with the Ford Falcon. However, changes were quickly made after discovering the new front spoiler was 8km/h slower than the old one.

The solution, dubbed the ‘Prototype Car of Tomorrow’, will be launched in November and debut as a demo car over the new season. The first of these cars will be a VE Commodore, followed closely by a FG Falcon in the line of a single-chassis competition.

Investigation into the possibility of a standard engine block across the championship for the new car and the introduction of more manufacturers is ongoing to ensure the NZV8 championship remains exciting and competitive.

“We have the backing of our Australian counterparts, as long as we don’t use exactly the same formula as them,” Cooper said.

Promax,
A lot of 'water has gone under the bridge' since Kerry Cooper's advise to the MSNZ Race Commission, 6 months ago.

For a start, TMC are no longer joint venture partners with VEEGA in NZV8's Ltd.

NZV8's Ltd is now a wholly owned subsidiary company of VEEGA.

The new "Car Of Tomorrow" COT, is managed by a sub committee of VEEGA and the COT prototype and its development are privately funded.

TMC and or MSNZ have no stake in the new car, however they have both endorsed the concept.

The COT car has been designed and built by Paul Ceprnich, of Pace Innovations Pty Ltd, who have also designed and are currently building the first two V8SA Car of the future prototypes. Our car retains a live rear axle, albeit of the three link kind.

The VEEGA sub committee responsible for the COT project is Gary Pederson, Wayne Anderson and myself.

The prototype COT is running approximately 10 weeks late, largely because of the considerably deeper 'pockets of V8SA. However we are not unhappy at this delay as it has allowed us time to re-evaluate our end objectives, and as a consequence of this we will end up with a more resolved concept, that will significantly lower the cost of the Car of Tomorrow, both in terms of its cost and more importantly its running costs.

At this point in time the photo's of the prototype build have only been revealed to VEEGA shareholders, however we do plan to reveal the car and its final specifications to the general media by the end of January 20011.

A complete 'turn Key' Car will cost slightly less than NZ$200,000 [about A$150,000] This is only possible because the whole car is a control spec, and other than Teams being able to do the final assembly, no modifications can be carried out whatsoever.

At the present time you can choose between the FG Falcon Body or the new VE2 Holden Commodore. The rolling chassis is designed to take any approved body, the current Toyota Camry body has already been approved, however the cost of developing the Areo kit will probably prove to be to costly for any New Zealand team, at this present time.

The New Zealand COT will also share the current V8SA approved body work in its entirety.

Whilst the NZ spec car will not be quite as fast as the current Australian V8 Supercar's, the gap between the the two will be much closer between the two than it is currently.

Until the NZ COT prototype has been signed off by the shareholders of VEEGA, no further details or final specifications will be made available.

Mark Petch.
CEO NZV8's Ltd.

[FIRE]

Thanks for your replies on the new car. Looking forward to see it.

[Ricky Bobby]

Looking at this from a distance, this series and the way it is run, looks good.
I'd be interested too, to know how we can get TV coverage of this series. Anyone know anything?
Mr Petch, any ambitions of coming to this side of the ditch to run our V8SC series? I think TC and his band of merry men might learn a thing or two...

[MarcosAmbroseFan]

entry list

http://nzv8s.co.nz/assets/file/Pukek...20NZV8s(2).pdf

[E36ST]

While it's great to see the Tier 1 meetings on TV I really don't understand the logic behind broadcasting it live or same day. Gate takings suffer enormously because people just stay at home to see it on the box. It's valuable income that car clubs / circuit owners miss out on.

Makes much more sense to broadcast it over the following week or 2 as before. People can then see it at the track and then re-live the entertainment on the box later on.

[Murphys Law]

Originally Posted by E36ST

While it's great to see the Tier 1 meetings on TV I really don't understand the logic behind broadcasting it live or same day. Gate takings suffer enormously because people just stay at home to see it on the box. It's valuable income that car clubs / circuit owners miss out on.

Makes much more sense to broadcast it over the following week or 2 as before. People can then see it at the track and then re-live the entertainment on the box later on.

I couldnt agree more. I used to enjoy watching it a week later. See the action you missed.

one of the smallist entry list for about 5 or 6 years but a more competive one at that. I think there are more guys with a shoot at a wins then in the Aussie v8s

[Mark Petch]

Originally Posted by Murphys Law

I couldnt agree more. I used to enjoy watching it a week later. See the action you missed.

one of the smallist entry list for about 5 or 6 years but a more competive one at that. I think there are more guys with a shoot at a wins then in the Aussie v8s

Not having a crack at you or your post.

However just for the record, last season only 21 competitors completed all 7 rounds. We are confident that we will end up with the same or very close to the same number of competitors this season.

Last season was in fact the smallest number of entries, since the category was awarded Premier Gold Star status by MSNZ, some 8 years ago.

No excuses, however, unlike Australia, we here in New Zealand are still trying to climb out of the worst recession since the Great Depression.

Personally speaking I think we [NZV8's] are swimming against the economic tide, whilst other New Zealand motor racing categories have been decimated by comparison.

I most certainly agree with your comments about the number of top competitors with a very real shot at the title this year.

Mark Petch
CEO NZV8's Ltd.

[mountainstar]

Originally Posted by E36ST

While it's great to see the Tier 1 meetings on TV I really don't understand the logic behind broadcasting it live or same day. Gate takings suffer enormously because people just stay at home to see it on the box. It's valuable income that car clubs / circuit owners miss out on.

Makes much more sense to broadcast it over the following week or 2 as before. People can then see it at the track and then re-live the entertainment on the box later on.

Yes I know that has been mentioned with the local club about the effect of live tv on gate takings last year.

I have mixed feelings about it.

Personally myself, whether something is live or not I don't get too fussed. I'm still watching recorded races from years ago I haven't seen yet, much less what is on this weekend or next. I didn't mind the old way of titrating out the old races over a few weeks.

But that's just me and I know a lot of people like it live.

[Chappelli]

Originally Posted by E36ST

While it's great to see the Tier 1 meetings on TV I really don't understand the logic behind broadcasting it live or same day. Gate takings suffer enormously because people just stay at home to see it on the box. It's valuable income that car clubs / circuit owners miss out on.

Makes much more sense to broadcast it over the following week or 2 as before. People can then see it at the track and then re-live the entertainment on the box later on.

Here’s a couple of points:

1) Live sport sells better and sounds sexier than non-live sport.
2) Top level/professional sport supplies it audience with live coverage, timing, results and news… anything else is less is probably perceived as amateur or of lower level/quality.

So with that in mind and assuming that most “normal” fans don’t follow the sport around the country and will therefore attend only 1 round on average you have the choice of two options.

1) Delay broadcast and live with the perception of being a lower level/quality sport not worthy of live broadcast … in which case the whole sport suffers and ultimately your gate takings are going to suffer anyway.
2) Broadcast live and try leverage the perception that you are at the level of the other sports worthy of live broadcast.

Personally, I suspect the issue has less to do with TV and more to do with the promotion of the sport….
3 Days out from Round 1: The website scarcely has any current information on it; it doesn’t have current driver or car profiles (last years points table is still on the front page). I haven’t seen any external marketing (outside of the promo TV3 have done for their coverage) and I’ve yet to see any PR from the promoters (and I work in the media…).

[Biggy G]

I think the live coverage is one of the best things to happen to the sport, being able to go to a prospective sponsor with "LIVE TV COVERAGE" splashed across a proposal is very appealing to them, and one of the reasons the NZV8's seem to be holding their own I think.

Throw in the multiple replays on Sky Sport and the NZV8 TV Package is one of the most appealing in NZ Sport at the moment.

[E36ST]

Gaining sponsors is one thing but it overlooks the big picture.

Without the income to the circuit owners they have less money to spend on facilities, maintenance and keeping their own sponsors happy.

Plus less crowds at the circuit have longer term consequences. How many of us became interested in motorsport because we went along to see live racing with our parents. I'm certain that less spectators at the circuit means less interest from the younger generation at participating in the future.

What good is having a high power brand name on the side of your car if you're running at a run down circuit with fewer people coming to see you.

The tier 1 meetings are a spectacle. It's not just about the racing that is broadcast on the telly, it's the flags, the pit girls the posters and stickers and autographs that kids collect. It's the nasty hotdogs and chips for lunch, the smell of fuel in the air and the throaty V8 sound that television speakers just can't deliver. It's a day out that leaves indelible memories.

I took a couple of kids to the NZV8 meeting at Manfeild a while back. One of them got a United Video hat signed by Craig Baird. A couple of weeks later he lost it and cried himself to sleep that night, it meant that much to him. Fortunately the hat turned up, but that boy has gone on to race karts and one day I am sure he will be lining up on the grid in his own race car.

You can't get that sort of experience watching it on a screen.