Million dollar questions I put to all fans..

Will you continue to support the V8 Supercars if they move towards a generic V8 Supercar?

If Holden or Ford left, would you still watch the V8 Supercars?

If another manufacture joined the series, will you still support V8 Supercars?


We will know of the current financial crisis and these are questions which could have meaning if any of the above does happen.

No
Probably
Probably not.

It depends on what happens first. A generic car is not going to happen yet, but the most likely scenario is that it will. If Holden or Ford left it will leave a big hole to fill as nobody else designs pushrod V8's and even then, V8's are not the choice for many carmakers these days. If another manufacturer was to come in it would most likely be the cardigan car maker (Toyota) which have underperformed heavily in F1. If another manufacturer came in they would really struggle for a few years so to lose one of the brands we have at the moment would be a (almost) disastrous situation.

However, there is cause for optimism. The market is recovering slightly, Australia has just avoided a recession, and Holden have stayed on board with the "new" GM. But if these situations were going to happen in 5 years such as the questions brought up by Justin, I'd just say, enjoy it the way it currently is. We have seen some great racing over 45 years, here's hoping it goes on for many more to come.

Not many people here (most of our members are too young to know) know that Ford temporarily left motorsport in the 1970's. Ford also showed support to only two teams in the early 1990's just like they are now (DJR and GSR), the last time Australia was in a deficit regarding the financial positions of everyone.

However, V8's will not survive forever. In a time where fuel is important these days, we may as well see the Cruze (already pretty successful in the WTCC and BTCC) represent Holden, the Focus represent Ford and who knows, Toyota Corolla? VW Jetta? BMW 330i? Alfa Romeo 159? Mitsubishi Lancer? These brands could all come in to a future ATCC series that can be relatively successful.

Like I said at the top, it all depends what situations fall to place if these three situations do occur. You never know, V8 Supercars "Crisatunity" (as Homer Simpson brands it) may make the series better and brighter in the not very distant future.

It all depends on what you mean by generic.

Is it generic chassis?
Is it generic bodies?
Or both?

As I stated in the other thread, TEGA developed a control floorpan in 2005 which Holden signed off on even though it had a Holden shell one side and a Ford on the other. During early last year, Auto Action had an article about new manufacturers entering the sport using a contol chassis. As Tasmanlvr mentioned, the V8s arent going to be around forever.

Indycars are talking about going down a smaller engine path using four cylinder turbo engines in the future (maybe 2011) and Nascar are talking about it aswell which seems odd as the sport was founded on V8 engines. If you think of it, they're pretty much a generic car now on both sides of the fence seeing as most of the Fords are Triple Eight supplied and most of the Holdens are Walkinshaw cars.

As for the questions.

Possibly
Thats pretty much now seeing as there are very few factory supported teams so Quite possibly on that one.
It all depends on who the third manufacturer is.

Craig wrote:


Yer that was the blueprint for the Holden VE. It was in the same year that it was said that the floor pan's would be made generic to cut costs. I dont know if thats still going.



I think because the series is called "V8 Supercars", I dont think they will drop the V8 engines for a long time yet. Now whether the "Supercars" side is production cars or not remains the big question.

TADesigns wrote:


I am totally with you on your answers James

Justin wrote:


I barely support V8 Supercars now and that's without the need of a generic Supercar. I guess with the 'P' word (parity for those who don't know), the series will eventually move towards a generic car. The problem that V8SA will have is keeping fans. Imagine how boring the Channel Seven telecasts would be if there is only one type of car on the track. Maybe what V8SA should do is copy the Aussie Racing Cars and have the same chassis but allow a selection of fibreglass bodies to choose from.

Justin wrote:


That would depend on if there is a replacement for the manufacturer that leaves. If it is a one make series then there wouldn't need to be a generic Supercar but it would become even more boring.

Justin wrote:


Depends on the manufacturer. Mitsubishi would be good because I like the Lancer. Nissan would be good because I like the GTR. Toyota... maybe not.

Yes there is nothing wrong with generic cars they still use the v8 powered engines from the manufacturer, still have the same drivers and teams .
For years both manufactuers have been whinging about the advantage the other manufacturer gets out of changes they make so modifications are made fix the problem. But no one seems to care about the smaller teams that don't run up front. I think that this will bring them into line. You don't hear them whinging that the factory backed cars have to much money they just get in and do there best. So generic cars is a good thing .
For many years now i have been a believer in the fact that we should have more manufacturers in the v8's can only make for better racing .
You only have to look at nascar to see how big it is . Come on people open your eyes v8 powered motor sports is huge we need the change to keep a strong movement of v8 fans and racing going.
look at NRL which use to be ARL which used to be NSWRL, changes were made more money came in the whinging stopped and the sport is getting bigger the same goes with AFL ....
Changes though hard to grasp can only in the long run improve the sport

I would have to say I am sitting on the fence for this one at the moment.

I want to know more of the facts before I say yes or no. there are too many possibilities as to where

they are going to go with this one. Maybe they will get down to a point of three or four alternatives

that we and the teams can choose from , then I may have an idea in which direction to jump.

Here in America NASCAR's car of tomorrow has NOT gone over well. All the brand loyalty that used to help propell fans is gone and now its just personallities, which IS enough. The limited front end suspension adjustments are the biggest problem. The car itself is pretty ok (ugly as heck) but all brand ID is gone.
V-8s are staying in NASCAR, they may finally go to some type of fuel injection in the next couple or few years. (So hopely they can have pit speed limiters like EVERY other type of racing. and then Montoya wouldn't have been robbed of the Indy win this year)
The brand ID is a BIG part of why I love the aussie V-8's. Generic cars are NOT needed with this series. Aerodynamics are important but not as important as sustained 180 mph speeds NASCAR has.
So I say NO to any more of a generic car. More car makes would be fine though.
V-8's won't be going away for many years. Besides these are Racecars! Like James Thompson said "these are a man's car" right?