Aussie V8s Vs Brazilian V8s

[DieRitter]

After reading the news that Moreno would be interested in racing a V8 Supercar in Australia, I got kinda curious if there is anything similar to our V8s in Brazil. Talking to friends and browsing the internet I found some fantastic pics of what they have over there...

Can you believe they run V8 Vectras????

And that the current champion is anyone less than Ingo Hoffman, former F1 driver and Piquet's partner in many races in Europe?

Wouldn't it be interesting if Holden also made Vectras available for our series?

http://www.stockcar.com.br/imagens/g...marco/ingo.jpg


http://www.v8supercars.com.au/v8data...PHITP_6602.JPG




EDIT : Nice pics mate, but waaaaaaaay to big. Please do not post pictures larger than 400x400 please. - Wrex

[DieRitter]

Sorry Wrex... just got too excited about the V8 Vectras! They look quite good.

[Muzza]

Indeed a very intersting series - has been the most important category in Brazil since its inception, back in 1979.

It is similar to Aus V8 in several aspects (the quality of the field being one of them), but Brazilian Stock Cars is a single-chassis category, and more of a "sillhouette" formula.

When I lived in Brazil I was involved with Brazilian Stock Cars for some seasons, doing a bit of everything (timing, scrutineering, marshaling, promoting, looking for sponsors, fuel manager, etc., etc... Things are run on a more professional manner today).

One of my best racing friends, Zeko Gregurincic perished in a Brazilian Stock Cars race in Interlagos in 1985. While keeping fond memories of him, this is one of the few negative things I recall from those wonderful years.

[DieRitter]

It would interesting to see an international event like Macau F3, bringing together different V8 series.

[racer69]

But the specs are so different, what would be the point?

[DieRitter]

Are they so different?

The Brazilians replaced the old Opel/Chevrolet Omegas for V8 Vectras last year. Given that Aussie Commodores are the new generation of Opel Omegas, I'd suppose they are similar.

But that's what I think, it could be though that the V8 Vectras could have less HP than the V8 Commodores...

I'll try to get someone to translate the Brazilian V8 specs for me.

[Alan Jones]

Originally posted by DieRitter

I'll try to get someone to translate the Brazilian V8 specs for me.

Sounds like a job for our fav Brazilian member, Bononi!

Send him a PM.

[edu]

The engine has 450cv

But not is a Supercar, is a Stock (it seems the V8-Star).

[Muzza]

Hey, Edu (E aÃ*, garoto? Tudo beleza?)

I believe the use of the word "stock" can be misleading in this case.

When Brazilian Stock Cars were born in 1979 they were truly... well, stock cars - as chassis and engine were the same used in the Chevrolet Opala model (evidently tuned-up).

After General Motors ended its official support to the series (first partially, in 1991, later almost completely), it became independently and self-ran. Progressively, with successive rule changes, the cars begun to sport less and less similarity with road cars. The first step was the heavily changed bodywork of 1987-onwards (co-build by Caio, a bus assemblying company!). The cars of the Chevrolet Omega years were closer to street cars, as they shared the same chassis, but after the series changed to Vectras it went started again to walk away from road cars.

That's why I prefer to call it a "sillhouette" formula (as the V8-Star, that you correctly recalled). The current chassis is spaceframe, and the V8 engine is purpose-built.

But the, the meaning of the expression "stock cars" has much changed in the last ten or fifteen years. In all correctness the current NASCAR machines could not be called "stock", but they are...

Cheers, Abraço,


Muzza