How many Super Tourers are in Australia that could race this season?

[Michael H]

Calling all cars! How many are there in Australia? They all have to race.

[racer69]

There would have to be as many Super Tourers in Australia as V8 Supercars, just that while all the V8s are on the track at the same time, the Super Tourers have come and gone, as one car leaves, another takes its place, unfortunatly.

I agree though, everyone get your cars on the grid.

[Crash Test]

Hmmm, I'm not sure how many cars there would be- I doubt that there would be as many STs as there are V8s, but could I say about 50? Remember that V8s date back to 1991....so there is well over 100 of them.

Another thing with Super Tourers is that a lot of them would have been sold off to overseas series...

I think this season we would be very lucky to get any more than a dozen STs in the same place at the same time...

[kmchow]

Crash Test wrote:

>Hmmm, I'm not sure how many cars there would be- I doubt that there >would be as many STs as there are V8s, but could I say about 50?
>
50?? That many????

>I think this season we would be very lucky to get any more than a >dozen STs in the same place at the same time...
>
It's kinda dejavu for the NATCC. There were something like 20 ST cars, but only at most 12 appeared each time. As one team ran out of money and disappeared, another appeared? Either that or the car was sitting in the garage, but the team had no to race it!! Sighhh..
I always wished that all the cars could show up for at least one race!! Twenty ST cars on the track at the same time!! That would have been a sight!!!

[racer69]

Thats a problem, all the V8s apart from a very few stay in Australia, while in ST, they can be sold overseas. For instance, the Audi of Michael Bartels that Paul Morris battled with at Macau in 1999 was and ex Brad Jones factory car, and Cam McLeans BMW from 1998 was sold to a swedish team. Also some factory teams didn't like selling their cars to privateers, how many private Volvo's have you seen racing.

Also, what about the old BMW M3's that were used, and Bondy's Corrolla Seca's, do we include them.

[Michael H]

Both of BJRs cars went to Germany in 1999, and both were raced at Macau that year. One of them raced in the ESTC last year for a Czech team, Alda Motorsport I think.
The ex-McLean car went to Sweden in the hands of a backmarker. It has stayed there ever since. A sad end of career for a great car. It should have stayed in Australia as a second car for a two car Greenfields semi-works BMW team. What a series that would have been. Two Volvos, two Audis, 3 BMWs, Henderson, and extra funding would have then been forthcoming from Peugeot to get Watts a teammate.
Privateer Volvos - one raced at the end of last seasons STCC. This year there are two racing - Jan Lindblom and Fredrik Sundberg. Lindblom has a 98 spec, and Sundberg a 97 spec.

[elephino]

That still leaves a third Audi if two went back to Germany.

I'd say more likely there are between 50 and 60 V8 Supercars. They only date back (as proper V8 Supercars, not upgraded VLs (and to Racetime, please don't go on about when V8 Supercars really started, I'm only talking about rules not category names)) to 1992.

There aren't that many Super Tourers as so many changed hands rather than new ones being built and some returned overseas and some went to the SEA series.

[kmchow]

Racer69 wrote:

>Also some factory teams didn't like selling their cars to >privateers, how many private Volvo's have you seen racing.
>
Since you brought up that question, all the Works Volvos from 850 wagon, sedan to S40 sedan are now up for sale!! They are available from about 50K US to 90K US I recall. TWR is now selling them in Autosport. $50K US is for the 850 wagon of course!! Man, if I won the lottery, I would definitely go buy one of those cars!!!

But now that they are for sale, I wonder how many people would buy them since they're only good for STCC and ESTC.

A black 850 is in the hands of a privateer I recall. It appears occassionally.

[racer69]

What happened to the factory 850 wagon that Tony Scott drove in the 1995 ASTC.

Most Super Tourers are now probably going to go into Formula Saloons in Britain.

[Crash Test]

Elephino- I don't know about there only being 50-60 cars... remember for Bathurst last year there was the threat of 60+ cars being entered, but many chickened out at the last minute with the prospect of pre-qualifying. Then you have all of the ones left in sheds, ones which are kept as spare cars, ones that have been written off...

[Michael H]

I remember seeing a picture of that black 850 sedan..it looked awesome. I will do some research on its whereabouts. I don't think it races anymore.

[racer69]

I rmember reading that prior to the 1995 Australian Super Touring Championship, a team in Australia had built its own Super Touring spec Volvo 850 Sedans for Super Touring racing, and were due to race them that year, and that they would have had the world debut for the sedan, as the 95 ASTC started before the 1995 BTCC.

The cars were completed and Robbie Franzevic had been signed to drive one of the cars with Thomas Lindstrom driving the other car, bringing with him Swedish sponsership to fund the team.

What happened to these cars, the article in Auto Action from early 1995 clearly states the cars were finished and ready for testing.

[Michael H]

Racer69 this is a topic that I have long secrched for an answer for. Was this story a load of bulldust? It would have been great to see Francivic back behind the wheel, and I was really looking forward to it. But it came to nothing, and no one has ever, ever followed it up. It is a story worth pursuing.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Elephino, a couple of years ago CAMS reported that logbooks had been issued for 70 V8 supercars, add the cars that have been built since then and there would have to be about 100 now. Remember, the VN Group A was homologated in 1991 and virtually all of them were converted to VP, then later VR/VS V8 Supercars. So, it is actually possible to find V8 Supercars that are 10 years old! I wish that we could have a state series for EB and VP V8 Supercars, it would be a lot cheaper than the Konica series, it would get all the old cars out for a run instead of leaving them in sheds and they probably wouldn't cost much more to run than a V8 Sports Sedan.

I estimate there are 24 Super Tourers in Australia.

[elephino]

I meant to include the upgraded VNs too.

How many V8Supercars are out there and in a condition to race in the category? Definitely not 100.

[Crash Test]

True, but then you have guys like Holt/Willmington/Emerzides who have half a dozen cars in their workshop, of course not all of them are race ready, but with a bit of TLC they would be. DJR have 4 in their shed etc...with some work there could be, I'd imagine that they could all make it out, but they would need engines first...

[racer69]

i'd at least double that figure of 24 super tourers in Australia, although there is probably only 24 race ready cars. (Even though he races them, Do Mal Rea's cars really count as race ready, all they seem to do is break)

[Crash Test]

The thing is that many of the cars were hand me downs. Most of the BMWs in the country were ex-factory, and then they have gone through many sets of hands. The factory Peugeots went to Newman etc, and of course many of the cars wound up out of the country.

BTW- what happened to Milton Leslight? He wanted to build a SP, but never came back...

[kmchow]

Michael H wrote:

>I remember seeing a picture of that black 850 sedan..it looked >awesome. I will do some research on its whereabouts. I don't think >it races anymore.
>
The car is located in Sweden. I think it raced once or twice in the '99 or '00 STCC.

It's nice to see that the cars are still being raced once in a while. Too bad they can't race more often.

[kmchow]

Racer69 wrote:

>(Even though he races them, Do Mal Rea's cars really count as race >ready, all they seem to do is break)
>
aawww, c'mon, let's NOT be so hard on Mal. C'mon, everyone picks on him. He obviously is a big supporter of the ASTC, racing whenever he can!! He makes does with what he cares. Let's not knock ST supporters okay.

Knocking Nascar is okay though!!! ;-)

[kmchow]

Crashtest wrote:

>The thing is that many of the cars were hand me downs. Most of the >BMWs in the country were ex-factory, and
>
What manufacturer and car model do you think has the most cars in existence? I am guessing BMW with their '91++ E36 3 series? It seems there are quite a lot of Audi A4s floating around as well?