V8Supercar - Car Of The Future (Merged x4)

[emjaya]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

No worries for V8Supercar

Interesting to read Mr Skaife is helping develop the 2012 V8Supercar model!

V8 Supercars Australia, never the sharpest observer of the global motor industry, recently went into panic mode when it belatedly realised that its two participating brands were particularly vulnerable to Detroit's crushing issues.

In the background the retired driver Mark Skaife is working on a blueprint for a generic V8 Supercar for 2012.

The V8 C.O.T.

[GTRMagic]

So, what does a "Car of Tomorrow" for V8Supercar actually look like?

Will it actually be a V8? Will it be a Holden or a Ford engine aboard?

How will the 2012 blueprint accommodate all the other carmakers in the world that arent in Chapter 11?

[touring fan01]

Spaceframe chassis. Silhouette body. Generic V8 engine and a load of fixed components (suspension, gearbox, diff, brakes, aerodynamics etc).

In other words they will all be exactly the same as each other underneath, clothed in panels to look like whatever model you want.

Welcome to the "Car Of Tomorrow" folks......

[rdmdog]

Is that not what we have now?

[nafe!]

A car of tomorrow will result in me becoming yesterdays fan.....

[peckstar]

why nafe?

[rich07]

Originally Posted by touring fan01

Spaceframe chassis. Silhouette body. Generic V8 engine and a load of fixed components (suspension, gearbox, diff, brakes, aerodynamics etc).

In other words they will all be exactly the same as each other underneath, clothed in panels to look like whatever model you want.

Welcome to the "Car Of Tomorrow" folks......

Thats why I wouldnt want a 'Car of Tomorrow'.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by peckstar

why nafe?

Peckstar why would there be interest for a touring car series where each team is running the same car handed out to them by the series organisers?

Would you be a fan of the Car Of Tomorrow?

On a side note, it is great to see some actual commentary on Australian motorsport, rather than the press releases V8SA pushes through Telegraph & AA.

[racer69]

Both Holden and Ford have shedfulls of Commodore's & Falcon's not selling, why not just make use of them, that'll cut costs

V8Supercar COT they'll probably still try & push the Ford v Holden rivalry as well

[peckstar]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Peckstar why would there be interest for a touring car series where each team is running the same car handed out to them by the series organisers?

Would you be a fan of the Car Of Tomorrow?

On a side note, it is great to see some actual commentary on Australian motorsport, rather than the press releases V8SA pushes through Telegraph & AA.

I dont know, but neither do i know why there wouldnt be?. Formula 1 is popular, yet i cant drive one to work tomorrow.

why woudl it be different in V8's.

Im just asking the question have no real opinion either way at this stage

Hopefully Nafe can answer the question and otehrs who comment here (maybe even you?) and help me come to a conclusion

[D.R.T.]

As a race fan I like to see different types of cars, innovation, opposing strengths and weaknesses and rewarding of those with the best package.

None of this will be possible with the forementioned car of tomorrow, yet they will still try and call them touring cars

If I want 1 make racing I'll go watch re runs of the Daewoo series or better yet the Ford Laser series.

[bluesport]

Originally Posted by nafe!

A car of tomorrow will result in me becoming yesterdays fan.....

I'm with you nafe......I don't like NASCAR so why would I like the Aussie version of it?

[Razor]

Originally Posted by racer69

Both Holden and Ford have shedfulls of Commodores & Falcons not selling. Why not just make use of them? That'll cut costs.

A production based touring car championship? I'm all for it. Just a stock standard road car with a roll cage, race seat and safety harness and that's it with the car modifcations. I wonder if the VESA heads and their endless wisdom would allow for it

[Thunder1]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

So, what does a "Car of Tomorrow" for V8Supercar actually look like?

Will it actually be a V8? Will it be a Holden or a Ford engine aboard?

How will the 2012 blueprint accommodate all the other carmakers in the world that arent in Chapter 11?

Here is a pic of a Holden VT Nascar






Cheers
Thunder

[acotrel65]

THe V8 supercar of tomorrow will be one which doesn't backfire at every gear change. The Environmental legislation states that unreasonable noise is ILLEGAL!

[GTRMagic]

The larger issue here is that the branding this series has is intrinsically linked to V8's. Whatever CoT work is completed will have to incorporate a V8 engine, bespoke or unbranded, or sourced from a particular manufacturer.

How would other manufacturers view this kind of thing? If a carmaker does not have a V8 in their range, would they be bothered to enter a V8Supercar branded series?

It would be relatively simple, given enough $$, to build a V8-engined Hyundai Sonata, Nissan Maxima, Mazda 6, Toyota Avalon and so forth... but is there any benefit in such a thing for a carmaker, as the product they sell wouldnt have the kinds of specifications as the car being raced.

While some people get excited at the fact that the V8Supercar is really only a silhouette of the road car, the great unwashed pretty much dont know that... but if you were to start getting excited about an Avalon V8, and you cant buy one (whereas you can buy an SS/XR8 or HSV/FPV) would there be any point?

How would the conversion happen? Throwing out all the existing equipment, and rendering it worthless overnight? Sounds like a fun plan

[Pro Racer]

well if this happens i'll give it a chance but i think i will lose abitof interest.

why can't we just go back to a Group A/C formula, real cars, best racing in those era's and you would imagine now there would be more teams with bigger budgets so the racing would be even better.

[Rachel Richards]

Originally Posted by Razor

A production based touring car championship? I'm all for it. Just a stock standard road car with a roll cage, race seat and safety harness and that's it with the car modifcations. I wonder if the VESA heads and their endless wisdom would allow for it

Series Production, bring it on !

[Green Hornet]

Originally Posted by Rachel Richards

Series Production, bring it on !

Errr . . . we already have that - called the Manufacturers Championship in its latest guise, and nobody has gone to watch Series Production for years.

Compared to V8s all the other categories have very poor crowds so why would you advocate a change to that?

[F J Nedos]

Originally Posted by Green Hornet

Errr . . . we already have that - called the Manufacturers Championship in its latest guise, and nobody has gone to watch Series Production for years.

Compared to V8s all the other categories have very poor crowds so why would you advocate a change to that?

I dare say that if all of the major names (drivers, teams, sponsors) moved to a production based series, then the people would follow. That is what it seems to be about... marketing, names, profiles.

Will VESA want to break from a "parity" format? Doubt it... but it would be good. I still want to see way less reliance on downforce and way more rubber on the road.

The COT is already here in ways. You cant get a 5 litre holden or ford, the holden is shortened in length from the factory (and I am guessing the Ford is too), the interior is nothing like the factory car. By calling it COT, all you are doing is changing the marketing.

[Razor]

Originally Posted by F J Nedos

Will VESA want to break from a "parity" format? Doubt it, but it would be good. I still want to see way less reliance on downforce and way more rubber on the road.

I'll have to agree with you on that comment. Is anyone a fan of the reliance on wings? Most drivers are not fans of the idea of massive amounts of areodynamical grip. I remember a few years ago that Glenn Seton saying that his perfect V8 Touring Series would see the abolishment of big wings and areo devices in return for really grippy slicks and I agree with his sayings.

Originally Posted by F J Nedos

The COT is already here in ways. You can't get a 5 litre engined Holden or Ford, the Holden is shortened in length from the factory (and I am guessing the Ford is too), the interior is nothing like the factory car. By calling it COT, all you are doing is changing the marketing.

The FG Falcon has been shortened, in both length and breadth and has a lower roofline so it is in the same specific measurements as the BF Falcon and VE Commodore. So in every way possible, the COT is here in Aus aswell.

[Crash Test]

Except without a spec chassis design, which I think is what they are aiming at. Did I read somewhere that a Nascar COT spec chassis cost something like US$50K to build? There's no reason why you couldn't do a similar thing here, and wind up with something very similar to the end product that is already in use. $50K is less than an all fangled $330K new FG...

[chevy34]

Sounds like the SCCA Trans-am series to me?

[Crash Test]

Yeah, but as is proven by the current cars you can build a space frame car and still retain the basic look of the donor car.

[chevy34]

The last of the Trans-am cars where very good looking cars and there where Jags with Ford motors Talk of a Merc with a Mopar sounds like a good idea to me. And the last of the Rocketsports Jags ran a 4ltr 4 cam V8 on injection against the 311ci pushrod carb motors and won races so why cant Toyota and Nissan get in there or toyota could use the NASCAR engine as a base.