V8SC coming to North America?

[wedge]

“We’re keen to get one round in North America," V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane.

AUTO RACING - V8: Supercars Series Eyeing American Round (http://auto-racing.speedtv.com/article/v8-supercars-series-eyeing-american-round/)

[RJL25]

Could double it up with the Gold Coast round with the international co-drivers...

Make it so the driver pairings used at the Gold Coast also have to be used in the Nth American round, use the same format as the Gold Coast round.

This could work especially well as a lot of the drivers used in the Gold Coast rounds are either current or ex indycar drivers so the american audiance can already relate to them, thus making the event more "sell-able"

I think it could be cool if you ran it on the old F1 track at Indy, mainly because its a track that i'm very confident would produce good racing, turn 1 at the end of the main straight would be a prime overtaking spot, as well as the end of the back straight, the track is nice and wide, yep I reckon it would definetly make for good racing. The other locations that are bound to be suggested would be Road America and Leguna Seca but while those are cool tracks, neither produce lots of overtaking and have really obvious overtaking zones like the Indy F1 track does.

I actually think V8 Supercars could work really well in the US, the US market has been well served by Indycar, Nascar and Sportscars/prototypes, but a proper "touring car" series has never really been established over there, at least in the last 20 years, so it would be something different for that audiance I think.

Plus their big fat loud V8's that bang into each other and generally carry on like pork chops, whats not to like!!

[ShiftingGears]

People were also mentioning the possibility of Mercedes joining V8SC - which, like this, seems rather fanciful. I'll believe it when I see it - hopefully it will be at the Texas track, or Road America.

[RJL25]

Teams do not require manufacturer support in order to run a certain car. So for example Brad Jones Racing could run a Honda Accord if it felt that way inclined, regardless of whether Honda give them their blessing and support or not. In fact manufactuers technically can not be involved in the sport at all like the big manufactuer works teams in europe because under V8 supercar rules a manufacturer cannot own a race team. So even Holden is not technically directly involved in V8 supercars, they are simply the major sponsor of the Holden Racing Team, rather then actually owning them, same with FPR, Ford are only a sponsor of FPR, not the owner.

The reason I'm saying this is because of this speculation of Mercedes coming in. In short, Mercedes the car manufacturer will NOT be entering the sport, however rumours persist that a team is going to take it upon themselves to run an E class mercedes in order to pick up sponsorship from AMG, with a casual blind eye being turned by Mercedes Benz Australia.

AMG Australia are keen on the deal in order to have a motorsport program which they can invite their customers to race meetings and ride days and driver training days using V8 supercar drivers etc, just like AMG does for their customers in europe via F1 and DTM

[wedge]

Could double it up with the Gold Coast round with the international co-drivers...

Make it so the driver pairings used at the Gold Coast also have to be used in the Nth American round, use the same format as the Gold Coast round.

This could work especially well as a lot of the drivers used in the Gold Coast rounds are either current or ex indycar drivers so the american audiance can already relate to them, thus making the event more "sell-able"

I think it could be cool if you ran it on the old F1 track at Indy, mainly because its a track that i'm very confident would produce good racing, turn 1 at the end of the main straight would be a prime overtaking spot, as well as the end of the back straight, the track is nice and wide, yep I reckon it would definetly make for good racing. The other locations that are bound to be suggested would be Road America and Leguna Seca but while those are cool tracks, neither produce lots of overtaking and have really obvious overtaking zones like the Indy F1 track does.

I actually think V8 Supercars could work really well in the US, the US market has been well served by Indycar, Nascar and Sportscars/prototypes, but a proper "touring car" series has never really been established over there, at least in the last 20 years, so it would be something different for that audiance I think.

Plus their big fat loud V8's that bang into each other and generally carry on like pork chops, whats not to like!!

Certainly the US needs something to fill Trans-Am.

Laguna Seca I wasn't so sure at first but the GT class in ALMS has always given superb racing racing.

[racer69]

Certainly the US needs something to fill Trans-Am.


Trans-Am regs in its last few years were basically what V8Supercars is today.

If Trans-Am couldn't survive, how would a series full of foreign cars and foreign drivers get any traction apart from some 'curiosity' value in the first year?


Its disgraceful that V8Supercars ignore local tracks and just chase the $$$ overseas, given the V8 winner is awarded the "Australian Touring Car Championship"

[Mark]

Its disgraceful that V8Supercars ignore local tracks and just chase the $$$ overseas, given the V8 winner is awarded the "Australian Touring Car Championship"

I see nothing wrong with the occasional overseas date. The BTCC has done it in the past too. However I agree with others that this isn't much more than curiosity value and probably won't hold much interest outside the first year.

If they really want to do foreign races then why not one overseas race per year visiting a different part of the world each time? A good way to get interest focused on the main event in Australia.

[Rollo]

I was hoping that this might be plastered allover V8X, or Auto Action or even the V8Supercars own website:
V8 Supercars Championship Series News - v8supercars.com.au (http://www.v8supercars.com.au/news/championshipseries/tabid/71/default.aspx)
But it isn't.

This was the original source of the rumour:
USA on V8's radar | Fox Sports (http://www.foxsports.com.au/motor-sports/v8-supercars/v8-supercars-boss-tony-cochrane-says-united-states-race-could-join-calendar-in-near-future/story-fn2ms9um-1226064237851)

If there was truth in the rumour, then it's probably been generated by someone at Speed TV (ie News Corporation), as a bargaining chip to wrangle TV rights away from Channel 7 when the renewal licence comes up. I can also see them taking away F1 from free-to-air in the future as well.

[racer69]

If there was truth in the rumour, then it's probably been generated by someone at Speed TV (ie News Corporation), as a bargaining chip to wrangle TV rights away from Channel 7 when the renewal licence comes up. I can also see them taking away F1 from free-to-air in the future as well.

SpeedTV in Australia is not allowed to show the series (other than replaying the races a prescribed number of hours after they occur), and V8SC themselves have said that they will stay on FTA rather than go to pay tv.

[RJL25]

Its disgraceful that V8Supercars ignore local tracks and just chase the $$$ overseas, given the V8 winner is awarded the "Australian Touring Car Championship"

They've already made it clear that any new international events will be an ADDITIONAL event added to the calander, not a replacement of an existing event. So V8 Supercars won't be dumping any local tracks to get these new events.

So which local tracks are you talking about which are being ignored? Besides Eastern Creek, which is a complicated issue but essentially year after year they couldn't attract a crowd there in the biggest city in Australia so the state government decided to stop putting money into the track and instead put their money into the street circuit at homebush, but the V8's do still go their for an annual test day.

Other then that, the series goes to every viable circuit in Australia that is up to modern standards

[Rollo]

SpeedTV in Australia is not allowed to show the series (other than replaying the races a prescribed number of hours after they occur), and V8SC themselves have said that they will stay on FTA rather than go to pay tv.

At the moment.

When the TV licence rights come up gain for renewal and renegotiation, then money will start talking very loudly indeed. V8SC's former opinions are now largely worthless as the series has been bought by Australian Motor Racing Partners Pty Ltd and backed by a group called Archer Capital. They will want return on their investment.

[ykiki]

I may be in the minority here, but every time I watch IndyCars or ALMS at Long Beach, I think to myself that this would be a fantastic venue for a V8 race. Whereas IndyCar drivers tend to play follow the leader, V8 SuperCar drivers will bang their way through to make a pass.

I'd love to see it happen.

[Mr. Mister]

I'd enjoy a V8 race in the U.S., but I'd really like it if it were paired with a NASCAR event, if only for the potential crossover.

[RJL25]

At the moment.

When the TV licence rights come up gain for renewal and renegotiation, then money will start talking very loudly indeed. V8SC's former opinions are now largely worthless as the series has been bought by Australian Motor Racing Partners Pty Ltd and backed by a group called Archer Capital. They will want return on their investment.

Rollo - your normally pretty accurate with your info, but on this issue your a bit mistaken. The V8 Supercar series is on the Government anti-siphoning list, so it must be shown on free to air television. Therefore all events must be shown on one of the free to air channels before it can be shown on pay TV. Also Bathurst must be shown live according to the new rules.