Nordic Supercar

[Bob Riebe]

What is going on with the Nordic series this year?

[AndrewF31]

They have a website but it appears to be in Swedish: http://www.nordicsupercar.com/

Hard to understand what's going on but their race weekends are with FIA NEZ Cup GT, but I couldn't find any calendar information for that championship either.

The site does have a calendar page with the following 2 events:

11-12/7 - NSC / NEZ GT på Gatebil Våler (DEN)
28-29/8 - NSC / NEZ GT FINAL på Pärnu

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by AndrewF31

They have a website but it appears to be in Swedish: http://www.nordicsupercar.com/

Hard to understand what's going on but their race weekends are with FIA NEZ Cup GT, but I couldn't find any calendar information for that championship either.

The site does have a calendar page with the following 2 events:

11-12/7 - NSC / NEZ GT på Gatebil Våler (DEN)
28-29/8 - NSC / NEZ GT FINAL på Pärnu

That I knew, but thanks anyway; there is a gent or two who has posted here who has more connected knowledge the series and I was wondering why so few races .

[WMUCarGuy]

Is that C5-R still racing in it?

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Våler next weekend will be their first event of the year. They were going to do the National Holiday race at Anderstorp along with Ferrari Challenge, Formula Renault and Sports 2000, but the whole event was cancelled only a few days before it was to be held (Event on the 6th, cancelled on the 3rd from memory) because of a low number of entries. I know the Formula Renault boys (who had ten cars entered, which is fully acceptable) were not impressed. Sadly I fear Nordic Supercar may be one of the culprits. Last year they were going to race with STCC at Falkenberg but were dropped shortly before the event because only four cars were entered. It is my understanding that a lot more people actually intended to show up, but for various reasons failed to enter. Many of the Nordic Supercar racers are amateurs/gentlemen drivers who may not know until late if they will be able to find time and put togeather a programme for the weekend, but that's just my theory. A race was planned to take part last week on Mantorp but was also cancelled (a race at least ALFAB and Kuismanen intended to take part in), perhaps because of it's closeness to Våler, which seems to be the "money event" this year (lots of people there for the Gatebil Festival, and a NEZ race to that).

As for the field at Våler... I assume ALFAB will have the Viper out, they've run it in Euro GT earlier this season and tested at Gelleråsen a while ago. A Saleen has been entered. Speedlab is "almost" done with their Corvette but it won't make it to Våler. Axelhult is a starter with the Trans-Am Camaro - he's got technical support from Roland Gingtorp/G-REX this year (G-REX have run a Mercedes in STCC this year, but there's something odd about that whole programme). The Bohlin Corvette is still listed on the site, but Bohlin has been running cars in Formula Renault this year and I'm not expecting him to race. The Cartech team with their Corvette are Norway-based so would expect either Haavard Lien or Roar Lindland to race it. Probably Lien. ACE still lives and breathes and did the whole season last year, if they're back it will be with an Audi of some description. They ran the Coupe last year which is a bit odd considering they've got much newer cars sitting around in their shop.
I'm guessing Pfister will be back with the Lotus, he always seems to show up. AWR's Saab programme seems to have tailed off and the car is (to my understanding) currently for sale. I have no info about the Corvette, but I've seen the Saleen Wahlund also owns for sale at FIA GT's web page. Their 996 RSR is also for sale, but crucially no ad for the Corvette. Stanley Dickens still seems to be involved, which is good news. Sten Jarl had both the Viper and BMW on display at Knutstorp last week, so maybe they'll be back - he and his son raced the two cars last year at Våler. Kuismanen will not be here with the Viper, since this race clashes with Belgian GT at Spa where his team runs a Ford GT for him and Duncan Huisman. Spirit Racing Finland will have a Porsche for Markko Viitala and a Venturi for Mika (also Viitala). Or at least they've entered, but that was a long time ago. Torbjörn Holmstedt had something which I thought looked like an M1 in his garage, but I don't think he'll race at Våler. Maybe there'll be another Finn or Estonian, like Rain Pilve in the Megane Trophy.

So all in all, I'm expecting 7-12 cars (anything above that will be a suprise, and then I'm not counting whatever local classes that may run beside NS). But it's a dying series, really. Their web page is poorly updated, the forum is dead and their first event is in July after rounds one and two were cancelled. Their second/final event is in Estonia at Pärnu, an event which has only drawn a handful of cars lately (about five), although Finnish GT have been there to bolster the grid. This year, though, Rata-SM have already been to Pärnu... Though I suppose there will still be some local entries. But no racing in Sweden for what is essentially a Swedish series? Very strange. It's all gone rapidly downhill the last few years. Swedish GT racing hasn't been the same since the death of GTR (where you also had Oreca Vipers, but that was ten years ago), and with such a successful Carrera Cup I don't think there's any room for it. SLC, which had long distance racing with mixed GT's and Touring cars, is dead as a duck right now, with no proper events so far and only sketchy plans for the future. And that's even more sad than Nordic Supercar dying, since the SLC field looked very interesting last year. But hey ho, at least Carrera Cup is great, especially now that Fredrik Larsson have made a comeback.

[MJ_N_09]

Originally Posted by WMUCarGuy

Is that C5-R still racing in it?

This? With a Saleen, Viper, Porsche and BMW (what type?)? Now I'm interested in this series.


Seriously though, its a shame they can't find more entries.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by MJ_N_09

This? With a Saleen, Viper, Porsche and BMW (what type?)? Now I'm interested in this series.


Seriously though, its a shame they can't find more entries.

The Saleen, C5-R, Oreca Vipers and such are aging GT1 cars. The BMW is an E36 M3 GTR from Britcar. The Porsches have usually been 996/997 GT3 Cup cars, but there's been a few 996 RSR's. The Speedlab Corvette is their own project, which I think we'll see next year rather than at Pärnu. Their web page have some pictures...

http://www.speedlab.se/wordpress/

ACE Competition have great home-grown cars hanging around which haven't been raced enough, like the S2 and S3.

[WMUCarGuy]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Magnusson

The Saleen, C5-R, Oreca Vipers and such are aging GT1 cars. The BMW is an E36 M3 GTR from Britcar. The Porsches have usually been 996/997 GT3 Cup cars, but there's been a few 996 RSR's. The Speedlab Corvette is their own project, which I think we'll see next year rather than at Pärnu. Their web page have some pictures...

http://www.speedlab.se/wordpress/

ACE Competition have great home-grown cars hanging around which haven't been raced enough, like the S2 and S3.

Any idea what chassis number the Saleen racing in it is?

[Jimmy Magnusson]

It may be the Ferritta Racing car with Torbjörn Homstedt and Michael Ljungström. They did say at the start of the season that they might do the series, but as the news article said it was a "new" driver that doesn't sound like Holmstedt. Ljungström would be new, but it's Holmstedt who own the car.

As far as I know:
Race Investments - 015R, for sale
Ferritta - 002R, unconfirmed but highly likely. It's an ex-Konrad car for sure, and the others are pretty much accounted for.

ALFAB used to have 004R, but it is now with Team Tarres in France. I'll try to find out if the Våler Saleen is a different one.

[skycafe]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Magnusson

The Saleen, C5-R, Oreca Vipers and such are aging GT1 cars. The BMW is an E36 M3 GTR from Britcar. The Porsches have usually been 996/997 GT3 Cup cars, but there's been a few 996 RSR's. The Speedlab Corvette is their own project, which I think we'll see next year rather than at Pärnu. Their web page have some pictures...

http://www.speedlab.se/wordpress/

ACE Competition have great home-grown cars hanging around which haven't been raced enough, like the S2 and S3.

Wow, what were the Audi's built for, this Nordic Supercar series or....?

robert

[Jimmy Magnusson]

The S2 is a prototype Audi built for ITC fitted with a powertrain from one of their IMSA cars. Raced in SLC GT in 2004. The S3 and TT were built by ACE to race alongside it in SLC GT for 2005, all three with Dunlop sponsorship (hence the yellow color). In the end only the TT ran, and it has since done both SLC GT and NS (until SLC GT died a few years ago). SLC GT was a sprint series that ran alongside the main SLC series for a few years, with a mix of old DTM/ITC cars (Mercedes 190's, an Opel Calibra), Camaro's, Porsche's, Speedlab's old Corvette and old Super Touring cars (A4 Quattro, BMW's). Basically anything fairly powerful and fast. Fell apart in about 2006/2007.

[Valker]

Originally Posted by AndrewF31

The site does have a calendar page with the following 2 events:

11-12/7 - NSC / NEZ GT på Gatebil Våler (DEN)
28-29/8 - NSC / NEZ GT FINAL på Pärnu

http://nordicsupercar.com/kalender.php

No more Våler in the calendar! Is it gonna be Pärnu only?

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by Valker

http://nordicsupercar.com/kalender.php

No more Våler in the calendar! Is it gonna be Pärnu only?

Yep. And no real article about the cancellation, only updating the Saleen article promising it "for Pärnu". Oh dear. If the round happens I can't see more than six cars doing it.

[Bob Riebe]

This is really too bad, the Supercar series seemed to have its own unique rules and the most wonderful variety of automobiles.
I still remember when they raced up at the Arctic Circle Raceway, that was sweet.

[Speed-King]

Hey Bob, there are actually two rather similar "run-what-you-brung"-series in Germany:
DMV Tourenwagen Challenge
Spezial Tourenwagen Trophy

Both usually have a fair share of Turbo-Porsches as well as the occassional homebuilt specials and Vipers on the grid.

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

This is really too bad, the Supercar series seemed to have its own unique rules and the most wonderful variety of automobiles.
I still remember when they raced up at the Arctic Circle Raceway, that was sweet.

In my own opinion, they need to increase race length. Right now you get less track time in Nordic Supercar than Carrera Cup, with cars that are a lot more expensive. If the races were about 2hrs or 2x1hr, that would probably attract a lot more people who think CC is expensive sprint racing. Money talks in the end, and right now there's no real reason to do NS unless you're wealthy and really like Corvette/Saleen/Viper...

[Bob Riebe]

Originally Posted by Jimmy Magnusson

In my own opinion, they need to increase race length. Right now you get less track time in Nordic Supercar than Carrera Cup, with cars that are a lot more expensive. If the races were about 2hrs or 2x1hr, that would probably attract a lot more people who think CC is expensive sprint racing. Money talks in the end, and right now there's no real reason to do NS unless you're wealthy and really like Corvette/Saleen/Viper...

How many miles long is the average race?

[Jimmy Magnusson]

Originally Posted by Bob Riebe

How many miles long is the average race?

Right now they're 2x 40km, which is just under 25 miles each. Carrera races are 2x 50km (31 miles each). The difference isn't that big, but Carrera Cup cars are cheaper, the racing is closer and more competitive, broadcasted on TV and have spectators. For NS to make it, they need to run about 4-5 events that doesn't clash with Carrera (CC teams have shown interest in racing in "another series", be it SLC or NSC, with their Cup cars and drivers, and two teams already did it last year), have good race length to interest people looking for value for money, be on TV (even if it's a highlights package) and get some gate crowd. If they team up with a few classes not on the STCC bill, like Formula Renault, Ginetta Cup, Superkart and maybe even Modsport/Roadsport, and do some advertising scheme like the old Sun Brands Hatch days, they might create a niche for themselves. Not that I think any of this will happen, mind you. The crowd is less important though, main thing is that they interest more people with money to come out and play.

[MJ_N_09]

Anyway, these series are our last shot to see Corvette C5-Rs, Viper GTS-Rs, and Porsche 996s raced competitively.

Hope that the series stays around a while.

[FIRE]

Is this the Sunred GT?

[Marcel ten Caat]

No, that is the SRM V8.

From what I remember nothing more than a V8STAR chassis with different body.

[Speed-King]

Nope. Re-bodied V8STAR.

They call it an SRM V8.



Some more info about it

[Graham Goodwin]

My god that thing has taken a serious beating from the ugly stick!

[FIRE]

Looks like a more modern version of Turismo Carretera.

[MJ_N_09]

Why are most, if not all these....errr...non GT racing cars so ugly?