Bernie behind a new Stockcar series!!

[mickholly]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/56952

Bernie trying to outwit NASCAR

The series will use NASCAR-style machinery, although the cars will be built specifically for the championship.

[JDPower]

Speedcar Series?!?! What a terrible name.

[Mihai]

Speedcar Series?!?! What a terrible name.

I think it's quite catchy for the Asian market. It's based on two basic English words and it doesn't use abbreviations. It's very explicit.

[Abo]

'Alesi said: "I have driven many different types of cars, including F1, DTM, sportscars, touring cars, rally cars and ice racers, however stock cars are the only type of racer that I still want to try.'

We've got an ASCAR you can drive Jean... ;)

[cgs]

i assume if they are testing at VIR that this will be a road-racing series.

[Mihai]

i assume if they are testing at VIR that this will be a road-racing series.

Well, I don't think there are many ovals in Asia...

I suspect it will be like the A1GP series, using the permanent tracks in the region (Sentul, Sepang, Losail, Dubai autodrome, Bahrain, Shanghai, probably some venues in Japan) plus several improvised street circuits.

[acorn]

Speedcar Series?!?! What a terrible name.

google it and you'll find that it's already being used in SEVERAL countries spain and australia(sprintcar style racing) included.

i particularly like this one:

http://www.icsd.k12.ny.us/dewitt/teched/SFLJSS06-Pages/Image6.html

bernie's obviously trying to emulate a1gp only with nascar lookalikes.

it's probably got more chance of becoming a reality as he's involved which is more than can be said about asce which seems to have gone very quiet.

[deadsquirrel]

i assume if they are testing at VIR that this will be a road-racing series.
luckily, my buddy is PR director at VIR, so I'll try and get you the lowdown. :)

[Rusty Spanner]

Other than a couple of quotes that are floating around from Bernie, what is his actual connection with the series?

[Nick Brad]

I'm not a fan of Bernie, but he's on the ball again. With Nascar moving to the COT and Busch slowly going down the drain, it's the perfect time to launch a series like this. There is an oval out there that's ready to use, (think IRL,) and Australia still have one although I'm not too sure on it's present condition.
There is the money in the middle east to build new ovals though unlike over here and it won't stay as an Asian/Middle Eastern series for long, look how quickly A1GP spread and sorry for being a bit quick on this, but if the series spreads to the UK then where would be ideal for them to visit? Silverstone let the ball drop once again by scrapping plans for an oval and as we know, Ecclestone has no loyalty to silverstone anyway.
One thing I am confident of though is that they'll be in America within 3 years max, Bernie's always wanted to crack America on this own terms and now he's got a ready made market that will welcome him with open arms.

[LessThanSte]

There are a fair few ovals in Japan, motegi etc. Im sure qatar would build 5 if bernie asked nicely enough. Plus arnt they planning that big motorsports theme park thing, would be ideal to put one in there!

[milly]

Why does everybody think that this is Bernie behind it? It isn't his style - all he cares about is F1.

He hates Nascar - the last thing he'd do is promote a car which people might think is Nascar.

This is somebody else's deal, and they've got Bernie to make a quote on it....

[pickup]

but if the series spreads to the UK then where would be ideal for them to visit? Silverstone let the ball drop once again by scrapping plans for an oval

But have they?

[JDPower]

But have they?
Yes

[Roland Vanderme]

I think Bernie's Stock Car series will race on road courses, because for racing on ovals you need specialists and Herbert and co are absolutely not. Remember Montoya and aJ Almendinger were nowhere during the first 2 Nextel Cup races on oval.

[pickup]

Yes

Just watch this space.

[milly]

People - this isn't Bernie's project...

[Nick Brad]

........for racing on ovals you need specialists and Herbert and co are absolutely not. Remember Montoya and aJ Almendinger were nowhere during the first 2 Nextel Cup races on oval.

True, but that was against seasoned pros and I wouldn't expect to see Nextel Cup front runners jumping ship regardless of who is running the show.
A grid full of newcomers to oval racing would all be at roughly the same level of ability and so I can't see why they wouldn't adapt. Look at our own pickup series, they adapted better than anyone was prepared for although some of the drivers weren't coming from an oval background. Besides, why build a championship based around Nascar type machinery if you have no intention of racing on ovals at some point?