Nissan GT-R – the new pace car for V8 Supercars

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By Karl Peskett | January 09th, 2009

In a move that is certain to bring some irony to the sport, Nissan’s iconic GT-R is coming back to the V8 Supercar series.

Why irony? Well, for those of you old enough to remember, the GT-R simply flogged the home made metal years ago, leading to the infamous “pack of arseholes” quote from Gentleman Jim Richards – not so gentlemanly at the time, though.

Click here if you want to know what we’re on about.

This time, however, the GT-R won’t be racing – although a few of us would like to see how competitive it would be.

The GT-R will be the new V8 Supercar Pace Car for the 2009 series. The reason? Well according to Nissan spokesperson Jeff Fisher, GT-R could use the exposure.

Mr Fisher has said, “We’re looking at numerous ways of giving GT-R continued exposure over the life of the vehicle. The V8 Supercar program could be an appealing way to do that.”

Doug

This is A.W.E.S.O.M.E!
Shane

Thats funny, I think it would be quicker than the V8 Supercars too….

The v8 supercars are dinosaurs just hanging onto the past
Jester

Great news. GT-R ahead of all Holden’s and Ford’s, leading them around the tracks, great news )))))))
JEYKL & HYDE

DAMN IT,

i was really hoping for a trd aurion.lol
Jester

Imagine they put some slicks on that GT-R. Wouldn’t be hard to imagine that the pace car actually being faster than the race cars.
http://caradvise.com.au Schah7

Schah7
Much nicer that another b….ly Commodore
Hey the GTR would probably be quicker than a Commodore Super-Car? LOL !
Bret

^^^^
The pace car faster than the race cars that are built to a formula designed specifically to keep top speeds, costs and safety in check. Duh! Simpletons.
http://www.caradvice.com.au George

If Nissan wants to do this right it needs to pay the pace car driver under the table to go rogue and race the V8s – now THAT would be a good publicity stunt.

I can see the headline now – “Pace car outpaces V8 Supercars”.
Richo

alot of you are showing a fair bit of ignorance here, a V8 supercar would obviously be quicker then a GTR, for a start they have 640HP which is quite alot more then the GTR, they weigh a shitload less then the GTR (1350kg is the weight of a supercar, GTR more like 1900kg) they have race spec brakes and race spec suspension systems. People who think a V8 supercar is low tech just because it has a pushrod engine are seriously un-informed. V8 supercars are actually very advanced race car. David Richard, owner of prodrive who runs FPR and previously the subaru world rally team says that for the money ($500,000 per car) they are easily the most advanced race car you can buy.

the GTR is a simply awesome ROAD car, but its still no match for a race car.

end rant! lol
Richo

to give you an idea, at the bathurst 12 hour production car race a BMW E36 qualified in just over 2 min 30 seconds on slick racing tyres. A V8 supercar qualifies in the region of 2 min 07 seconds. Are you seriously going to tell me that a GTR on road tyres would be 23 seconds a lap faster then an E36 M3 on slick tyres??? seriously take your wet dreams elsewere…
Name (required)

personaly i think that the v8 supecars should be changed back to the old school way with any car engine beeing able to enter the race i know one thing the v8′s would b tromped by the xr6t’s n skylines ect v8′s are a thing of the past just like the dinosaurs they belong in a museum
Richo

people know that V8 supercars aren’t just lightly modified SS commodores and XR8 falcons right? They are fully purpose built race cars with commodore and falcon body panels riveted over the top… thats where the similarities end!

also i always laugh when people say turbo 6 cars like XR6t and skyrines are faster then a V8.. well no shit they are turbo’d! Put a turbo on a V8 and guess which will be faster! It won’t be the 6 cyl..
Name (required)

haha the funni thing is a car with 470kw the Chevrolet Corvette C6 ZR1 is only 3secs faster around the Nürburgring than the skyline which is 360kw so i wonder if the skyline had the same amount of power how much faster would it go around
plus im a ford person my self and i love the xr6ts n f6′s but i find the v8′s a joke come on reali 0-100 in 6secs hahahahaha a xr6t gets 0-100 in 5.2
Name (required)

oh and the skyline weighs 1700kg and a v8 super car weighs 1355kg so i think the skyline would beat it as the skyline reaches 0-100 in 3.3secs and the v8 reaches 0-100 in 3.8secs
Bret

Richo,
What was the old factor that group A applied to turbo cars. I seem to recall a figure of 1.7
ie. a 3.5 L turbo is infact equivalent to a 3.5 X 1.7 = 5.95 L naturally aspirated car.
Name (required)

hay bret wat dose the xr6t work out to then??
sleepy

speed depends on the driver, road grid, etc etc….
Bret

XR6 x T = WOW!

SS x 6.0 + AFM = Dud
Jester

Sorry mates, my intention was not to create a storm, but c’mon, wouldn’t it be interesting to see what a slick equipped GT-R with a competent racecar driver would be able to do around the legendary Mountain.

Does anyone know if R35 GT-R’s will enter any forms of motorsport here in Oz. Any possibilities of entering the production car racing. They do 12hr Bathurst, don’t they.

PS: I know how quick V8SC’s are, stress less, but I reckon everyone would be surprised by how small the lap time difference would be between the two.
Jester

…..and I did say GT-R with SLICKS.
MB

Bernd Schneider lapped a C63 around Bathurst on the AMG drive day with a passenger on board on road tyres at 2.35 and backed off coming into the chase

not the 1st time a Nissan has been a pace car Skyline Silhoutte the whites ones were used in 1987 for the WTCC and GTR in the 90′s
Andrew M

Just to set the “Pack of A*seholes” quote straight…….

it wasnt because the GTR flogged the rivals, but because the *CRASHED* GTR (as seen in the linked video on the side of the track) was named the winner over the mountain hero in Dick Johnson.

Even Jimmy himself was surprised that he was declared the winner.
Its not just a case of sore losers, but a big mess of confusion. Try and tell a well tanked crowed that the crashed car beat the car still driving on the track…..
http://www.caradvice.com.au Karl Peskett

Jester, yes R35 GT-Rs are involved with motorsport.

Steve Jones won Targa West in the GT-R’s first ever motorsport win worldwide, last year.

Our review of his car is here:

http://www.caradvice.com.au/16897/2009-nissan-gt-r-review/
Andrew M

I think this is a good choice for not only Nissan, but also the sport.

in other news,
Paul Morris has declared 1997 World Formula One Champion, Jacques Villeneuve is on his shopping list to drive in the seat he (Morris) recently vacated.

he claims the sport needs a higher profile driver with character and charisma to help promote the sport.

Ill be keen as mustard to see if he can pull his signature.
lets see how he goes raising the 2 mill price tag
Andrew M

Name (required),
did you not know that there is currently a category still running that uses that exact “olden days” formula of production racing??

The current V8 formula pulls the audience. It works, and any changes to the winning formula could be deadly.
I mean why have not many people heard that such production series still exist???
and why havent such series enjoyed the success of V8 supercars???
The 2nd best/popular series would be the carrera cup series. It appears to be a common theme that people want close competitive racing, and consider that higher than multiple branding out on the track.
Mr Name

I for one am sick of the V8 taxi cab racing and the bogans who follow it and drive the falcodors on the streets.

Yes bring back the good old days,all makes of cars all different sizes with strengths and weaknesses, that would be worth watching.
Wheelnut

And 3rd would be the Aussie Racers

Maybe now that they have gotten rid of the brick that was the 300C and now have a pace car that could easily keep up with and quite possible outrun the V8 supecars.. They might actually up the pace cars speed limit from 60Km/h to around 80km/h.

Furthe to Andrew Ms comments about Gentleman Jims Pack of A-holes statement.. there were even a couple of flaggies who weren’t sure who won.

Funny thing is less than 5 minutes after the red fls were brought out to end the race the torrential train across the Mountain stopped.. a case of premature adjudication?
Wheelnut

V8 Supercars is one of the closest most competitive forms of motorsport in the world.. even international motorsport icon Murray Walker says so..

I mean there at virtually every roundthe whole grid is covered by less than 3 seconds.. and in nearly every race more than 60% of the field actually finish – unlike those in the so called pinnacle of Motorsport that is F1

I understand that there are more [30] cars competing in V8 Supercars as opposed to F1 [12] however with all the technology etc F1 cars have you would expect them to be more reliable etc.

A V8 Supercar may appear to be a dinosaur compared to an F1 car However they only produce approximately 100bhp less than an F1 car – not to mention they sound better

Not only trhat but when the international stars from F1 and Indy visit Oz teams and drivers often stop to watch our dinosaurs fly around the track
Andrew M

Wheelnut,
V8SC never got rid of the 300c,
chrysler pulled it out. They felt they had already achieved enough exposure.

The 300C would have easily done 80kmh, so ill assume you are joking with that remark.
It doesnt matter what make leads the field, its about the $$$ V8SC are getting for giving it exposure.

I wouldnt have cared if the 300C stayed on if it meant better money for the sport

MR Name,
the old days never left!!!!!!
you cant be a motorsport fan if you didnt know that.

you are just another typical self proclaimed motorsport fan that is trying to rain on the V8 supercars very successfull parade. your skin must be very green
Richo

everyone seems to forget that in the “good old days” the racing was as boring as bat shit and the crowds where very small and TV audiances where non existant except at bathurst. The reason was because invariably with production car racing it’s a one horse race. There is always one car that is better then all the others and as a result it would win everything. Thats why they went away from group A. The only reason why they settled on V8′s when they eventually went away from group a was because that was the thing that most race fans wanted at the time. There is still a noisy minority which says they don’t like V8′s and want to see production car racing again, but when you point out to them that there is still production car racing going on in Australia and ask if they go and watch it, the answer is always no! IF you really like watching production car racing, then go watch it! But clearly there aren’t many of you, or your just full of hot air, because the crowds who go watch production racing are pathetic, even at the bathurst 12 hour production race the crowds are very small
Richo

Mr Name – what do you mean bring back the good old days!? Bloody idiot the good old days are still rolling! There is still a national championship for production car racing and they even compete at bathurst! BUT NO ONE WATCHES IT!!!

I guess that completely blows your argument out of the water then now doesn’t it…
Richo

something alot of people don’t know about the Jim Richards “pack of assholes” comment was that Jimmy wasn’t so upset that he was being booed, the nissan team had been booed all year, he was annoyed that they where carrying on like this after denny hulme had died earlier that day and denny hulme was a good friend of his. He felt that the fans should have had more respect for the fact that a driver had died earlier in the day
Krish

Where can I apply to be a pace car driver LOL..
Wheelnut

I know they didn’t get rid of the 300C.. what I should have said was: now that the 300C is gone and has been replaced with a real car.. is that better?

as for the comment about increasing the speed limit – No I wasn’t joking..
Because just like the V8 Supercars the GT-R is designed to go fast.. its a performance car isnt it? Therefore why not let them [Nissan] show off a bit as to what the GT-R is capable of – how it performs and handles etc rather than have it dawdling around at 40Km/h..

I mean The Merc-Benz Pace Car in the F1 was chosen because it was able to keep up the the F1 cars at a reasonably high speed and now it seems the V8s have a pace car that can do exactly the same thing.
Fasthonda

I find the Super V8 racecar series quite boring.I would love to see a World touring car championship type of series,whereby more than two car manufacturers would contest the series.

Also I can’t understand why Toyota didn’t offer a TRD Prius as a pace car!?!
Tom

You guys are all lol-ing at pushrods?

How about lol-ing at nissan having to use complicated AWD system, with a 7 speed duel clutch gearbox, just to be destroyed in every way by the classic, v8, manual RWD sport coupe that is the ZR1
Andrew M

Wheelnut,
surely you understand that a field of cars screaming past accident scenes on the track where officials and ambos are extracting someone from a crashed car isnt exactlly safe.

they set that speed limit for a reason.
the same reason sees a speed limit set in the pits where physical people rome about.

and even if it was safe to tear around north of 100 clicks behind the pace car, whats the point??? They cant challenge each other whilst under the pace car.
And also a higher speed means that when they are under yellow flags means more laps would be chewed up behind the safety car leaving less for true racing

the GTR will cut faster laps during its other duties of opening and closing the track as well as rides for special people just like the safety car always has whether it be the 300c, or makes before that.

Richo,
I believe the “beaten by a crashed car” scenario was what really fuelled it (the crowed).
in the interviews with Jim, he tells not even he thought he had won, and was very surprised to be called to the podium
technofreak

LOL spam word nissan!
Oh the irony indeed! OMG!
Krish

Tom, “destroyed” is a pretty harsh word mate. 3 mins 28 sec 83 ms for the GTR and 3 mins 28 sec 18 ms for the ZR-1 around the ‘ring is not a huge margin. Plus when you factor in the ZR-1 costs almost $40K US more than the GTR and not to mention the GTR Spec V has just been released (which will shit all over the ZR-1, and again costs LESS in USD!). Oh yeah and given GM’s current financial situation, this might be the last we will see of the beloved ZR-1. Its the Nissan for me, ANYDAY!
Wheelnut

I understand that Andrew..

However; the Pace car can slow down to a safer speed of about 40Km/h as it passes the crash scene and speed back up to about 80-100Km/h around the rest of the track – as just like most other cars the GT-R Pace Car has a brake pedal and an accelerator doesn’t it?

As you know I don’t think we really need a Pace car [its purely for advertising] Because most of the drivers know the rules state that they aren’t allowed to pass when the yellow flag is displayed but they are ellowed to resume racing when a green flag is displayed just as they did back in the days of Geoghean Moffatt Richards Johnson and Brock when we didn’t have a Pace Car

By increasing the speed limit of the pace car it would mean that they wouldn’t have to bring a premature end to a race just so that Channel 7 can stay on schedule and show us a delayed telecast of an AFL match. The reason they often shorten a race is because the Pace Car goes too slow and they have “deadlines”
Wheelnut

Fasthonda – I din’t know if you know this but all forms of motorsport have a series of rules and regulations as well as a set of criteria which those who want to compete in the category must accept and obide by.

V8 Supercares is no exception.. and contrary to popular belief nowhere does it specifically state that V8 supercars is the exclusive domain fo Ford and Holden.

However; it says is that any manufacturer/team is allowed to take part in the V8 Supercars championship provided they race a car that is based on an Australian Made RWD Family Sedan which uses a Pushrod V8 producing 600-700bhp. That is all.. and as it stands ATM Ford and Holden are the only 2 who satisfy those criteria. Maybe if Toyota made the Aurion RWD they would be able to compete.

Toyota have been invited to take part on several occassions Hoewever they said no because they wanted AVESCO to make a couple of changes to make it more favourable/suitable for them – yet they were willing to accept F1s terms and conditions and look where its got them..
Why should AVESCO Change the rules? the competition has never been closer and the sport has never been as popular as it is ATM.

As for Mitsubishi; CEO Tom Phillips was interested in bein involved in the sport which is why he wanted to make the 380 RWD as it could thenuse a MOPAR engine .. but Tokyo said No. And Nissan well Unfortuantely they pulled out of Oz back in the early 90s – after the GTRs won Bathurst
Jester

They should change the rule so any car can be raced as long as the model is sold in Aust. My take on the monoploy of the two.

Personaly, I reckon the racing was better 10 years ago. Now they have too many rules and other junk.
Andrew M

Wheelnut,
A faster moving pace car wouldnt change a thing.
The amount of time spent under a safety car remains the same whether it travels at 40, 60, 80 or 100kmh.

whats the point of getting more laps in under safety car when it counts nothing towards the result??
A faster safety car would ultimately mean less racing laps.
Tom

Krish, you obviously don’t know what you are talking about.

Firstly, the ZR1 was a good 5 seconds faster on the ring, and the times are in the 7 minutes, not the three’s.

And secondly, that Vspec is a joke, cheaper than the ZR1, are you kidding? By all current reports, it is going to cost almost twice as much as a ZR1! Not that it will ever make it to the US.

Also, the GTR is 85k USD, the ZR1 is 100k USD, the ZR1 is easily better value. Thats less than the price of one GTR transmission…
Wheelnut

Jester – as Andrew M has illuded to if that’s what your after then you should follow the GT Prodiction car series.. where there are GT Falcons a sn Clubbies up against BMWs EVOs WRXs etc all with individual classes according to engine capacity power and driveline etc

Andrew ML there would be less laps under a Pace car if they made slight adjustments to the recovery process..
Instead of picking up a car and taking it all the way back to the pits during the race.
Make it so that there is a tow truck at every access point in the wall.

Then when there is a “racing incident” the tow truck that is at the point before the crash scene picks up the cars and then leaves the track at the following point – so the Tow Trucks are on a “rotation” basis.

This would be possible as most tracks have access roads or tracks in that lead back to the pits which means the recovery vehicles would spend less time on the track.

Because a number of times the Pace car has had to do extra laps whilst the tow truck makes its way back to the pits -when there is no real need for it

This way =they would get back to racing/passing quicker
Name (required)

ah k some people might not of understand wat i ment by bring bak the old days i mean like have the other cars racing done up like every car has 400hp-700hp with diffrent weights
but i love the v8 supercars im just sayn that it has to change to survive
plus the people who say the old day racing had hardly any viewers and people who went mayb have you thought that people of today are diffrent then bak then and that more people watch tv these days there are a lot of factors that come into the equation
Richo

Name (required) – fact still remains there are championships in australia already like what you descrive, the australian production car championship, australian GT championship, sports sedan, to name but a few. And NONE of them are popular!
Nick

thats cos they are amature events
Aamir

“However; it says is that any manufacturer/team is allowed to take part in the V8 Supercars championship provided they race a car that is based on an Australian Made RWD Family Sedan which uses a Pushrod V8 producing 600-700bhp. That is all.. and as it stands ATM Ford and Holden are the only 2 who satisfy those criteria. Maybe if Toyota made the Aurion RWD they would be able to compete.”

What should Toyota do – go back to the scrap heap and pull out a Pushrod V8?

If the Commies and Falcons get new V8 engines in future, will the rules be changed again?
Wheelnut

Aamir – Essentially it has to be an Australian Made RWD Car

The V8 Supercars don’t use the same engines as those in the current XR8 Falcon or SS Commodore.
They’re specially built engines/blocks derived from those that the VN Holdens and EB Fords had back when the V8 Series first started 10 years ago [both 5.0 Ltre V8s.]

Therefore I suspect that Toyota/lexus should be able to build a similar V8 engine then amybe hand it over to TRD as they have just buit a 500Bhp Tundra Pick Up in the USA[its alot easier and cheaper to get more power out of an old pushrod engine than a high-tech quad cam engine]
Krish

Tom,
My mistake with the times, but in any case, the GTR is the superior car in my opinion. Also the GTR should really be pitched against the Z06, but GM brought out their flagship against the base model GTR. In any case, enjoy the ZR-1 while you still can, probably won’t be around for much longer LOL .
Jester

Guys, stop bagging ZR-1 FFS. It’s an awesome car – Jeremy Clarkson says so, so shut the hell up now
Bavarian Missile ( . ) ( . )

Hey Tom I see that episode of Top Gear you were talking about with Jeremy in the ZR-1 is on Top Gear this Monday…..will be a fun episode by the looks! Cheers mate !
Andrew M

wheelnut,
i agree on quicker recovery, but the topic at hand was making the safety car go faster.
do you still think that would change things????

and on the topic you changed to, not all tracks have an access road. Willowbank for one doesnt.
they dont always take a vehicle back to pits either. they will usually only take them back there if its the closest safest area.
they are now using tractors which seems to get the job done more efficiently though
Andrew M

Aamir,
the rules will be changed depending on submitted proposals.

Toyota has been asked if they would like to submit a proposal, and to this day they have not formally submitted one.

the first step to another manufacturer entering begins with them putting their hand up, and then it will be seriously looked at on how the guidelines can be changed.

the one thing that was made clear to toyota when they had meetings was they V8SC would require a minimum amount of time they would committ to the sport for, aswell as a minimum amount of cars they would support to prevent them walking in, planting bucket loads of coin on a 1 car team, and the end result being they would quite obviously wipe the floor.
Fair enough rules i reckon, but toyota didnt seem to like the idea of fair competition
mb

I used to go to alot of motorsport events but tend now to go to the Vic State Series.

Cocohrane has tainted V8SC sure they qualify with in a second of each other but there is minimal passing and most of the passing is done in the pits…for if they do pass on the track they tend to get stop/go penalty. Sure there have been some epic races over the years but most of the races are pedestrian.

Also Cochrane has destroyed things with his over inflated crowd figures and silhouette formula of racing. Since when do Holdens run with a Ford 9″ diffs.

As for the drivers the top 10 are highly skilled then there is the SORF (son of rich family) bringing up the numbers eg Morris, Dumbrell, Patrizi, Marshall. Also some need to move on Cameron McConville for example has been around for years and won a GT Championship and Winterbottom is quick in qualiftying and a few races but is yet to win anything major against someone like say Longhurst but people of huge wraps on him.

V8SC in its current status needs other manufactures with the pseudo car set up and less wing to get them sliding abit
itsme

I dont think wheelnut knows what hes talking about half the time most of everything he says is wrong
Wheelnut

I just don’t see why the pace car should parade around at 40Km/h for an accident that only affects less than 10% of the track.

The only benefit is that when the pace car is out you know it will be out for at least 5 laps which gives you more time to go to the toilet [which is important if youre at the track as you have to queue]….or grab another beer – which AVESCO hopes is that XXXX XXXX as they are the “official” beer of the V8s

Although considering that the Pace Car has Jim Beam written all over it…. shouldn’t itar make fans want to drink more Bourbon instead of Beer?
Wheelnut

Heres another idea: They could keep the pace cars but use them as an on-track escort vehicles for the recovery vehicles as they make their way back to the pits

When the cars approach the first pace car – which will be 100 or so metres vefore the accident they slow down to 40km/h then when they pass the second pace car 100 metres after the accident they can go flat out again

I mean we don’t see amy pace cars when we see an accident on the road do we? and the roads are as dangerous if not more so than a tacetrack aren’t they?

That way whoever has their name written all over the pace car still gets the exposure that they are paying for.. the fans still get to see cars try and pass each other and channel 7 stays on time
Andrew M

wheelnut,
that is one of the most wacked out ideas i have heard.

whats the point of a pace car if you want them sitting still on the track??? thats what yellow flags are for.
also how do they police the speed through an accident zone???
Also they cant simply single out one zone to go slow in if there are medicos and tow trucks travelling on the track.

thats why they have the affected sectors yellowed when there is an accident that doesnt require assistance, and the full course yellowed when officials have to enter the track.

do you not under stand that if the pace car went 2-3 times faster that 2-3 times more laps are wasted under it???

if the average time a pace car spent on the track after an inncident is currently 5 laps, then under your proposal the average would become up to 15 laps.

we dont see pace cars on the road because we should be travelling at legal speeds that ensure we have plenty of time to stop and/or avoid what ever is ahead of us.

on the track they head around blind corners at insane speeds 2-3 inches of each others bumpers. little room for error.

I cant believe you related life on public roads as being the same as being on a race track……….
Andrew M

Mb,
they have tried hard over the years to ensure they mix up the racing a bit.

introducing pit stops to every round which brings on different stratogies has worked well. the more variables you throw at evenly matched cars, the better the racing gets.
Take note of the up side down results when it rains…

i cant wait to see the optional tyre choice when it comes in. in case you didnt know, teams will have the option of fitting a quick wearing extra grippy tyre, or a longer wearing less grippier tyre.

that should be quite fun to watch

I agree that McConville should have been snapped up earlier. he would have been great and deserving as a Skaife replacement i reckon.
Also to be noted is that Jason Richards (another underrated driver) has been released from Sprint gas racing. its not yet conformed where he has signed, but Bargs was quickly signed in Richards’ place.

I dont think Marshall is that bad though. he achieved reasonable results in the carrera cup.
Andrew M

Oh,
I also think Frosty has done well, he has just had a bit of bad luck.

there are plenty of “high profile” drivers that have been around for longer than frosty and still havent won a major title.

I think he has an awesome understanding of his car.
have you seen how he attacks qualifying???

he doesnt go out there and try to cut a few quick ones, he cycles and cycles until he feels the car is right, then he hits it. he wont waste the car on a lap when its not quite right yet.
he seems to know the right time to strike. thats not something you learn overnight, and when he hits, he lands a lap time that gives the rest of the field a no hope feeling.
Wheelnut

The pace cars are used to monitor and make sure the track is safe – that is the area where the accident is. Therefore; there is no real need for the car to go so slow around the rest of the track

Which is why I suggested the idea of the Pace Cars/Safety Cars being stationery at the flag points before and after the accident.

As for contolling/watching speeds of the cars as they drive through the area where the accident is.. radars could be fitted to the safety cars.

As for not having pace cars on the road – you’re right we should be travelling at or just below the speed limit to give us enough time to stop and avoid an accident .. but we should also be aware of what is going on around us etc and take appropriate action … and so to should the race car drivers

Which would mean no need for a Pace/Safety Car other than for Advertising of course
mb

Richards is going to Jones team in replace of Jones should make a good enduro team

V8Sc needs more racing on circuits and less on street circuits except Adelaide which should use the full GP circuit. Also bring back the Bathurst sprint round Sandown 500 so there can be 3 enduros.

McConville put the DJ Falcon in the wall over skyline then went to GT cars to master his craft. There are only a hand full that are decent and the rest just make up the numbers.

So Winterbottomm is effectively the Mark Webber of V8SC but has won races and rounds unlike Webber
Tom

Krish, i see no reason why the GTR should be pitched against the Z06 when its price sits smack bang inbetween the Z06 and the ZR1

you can either look at it this way, the Z06 delivers equal performance for a lesser price, or the ZR1 delivers significantly more performance for a higher price

if you’re interested, check out the edmunds inside line video reviewing the two cars.
Wheelnut

Frosty would have to be the cleanest and fairest driver in the competition – as far as I am aware he has never made any contact that resulted in punting another driver off and has never been involved in an accident but above all he has the ability to execute a clean pass on his rivals with out whinging over the radio that “he’s blocking me”
He is definitely my favouurite Ford driver.
Elitist

Nissan should demand they take their car out of this paddock bashing race.
Like Toyota, they moved on to bigger and better things.

I bet we will see this story on TG aus, cause they have nothing interesting to say.
Wheelnut

Elitist – I think you’ll find that AVESCO didn’t go out and spend $300K on a Couple of GT-Rs.. But that it was Nissan who approached AVESCO as they wanted the GT-R to be the Pace Car / Safety Car for the V8s.

Because as in the past it was Chrysler [and before that Audi] who supplied the Pace Cars as they wanted to give their new “Hero Car” more exposure..
Wheelnut

Mb – I hate to tell you this but Tony Cochrane aapparently has a preference for Street Cicuits.
Whilst he admits that they will never leave the traditional tracks such as Sandown Phillip Island and of course Bathurst; he would like to see a few more Street Races.. He was ecstatic that the Street race in Sydney finally got the go ahead from the [bankrupt] NSW Govt.

He believes it gives the sport more exposure as a number of people who go to the Clipsal for instance would not normally go to a V8 Event if it were held at a race track because they are closer to the City.
He is particularly keen for Perth to have a Street Race [around the Swan River] instead of at Waneroo – an idea which has been discussed a number of times in the past.
MB

Street Circuits = Poor racing Canberra, & Wellington will atest to that so too Surfers Paradise the racing is poor with limited possabilities for passing.

Cochrane should concentrate on having good races in Australia rather than China or in the Middle East.

It would have been great if MB brought out the DTM car last year that was rumoured to the AMG drive day….would have smashed Murphy’s record if their was some rubber down

Also the tracks need to be changed especially QLD Raceway…it is flat unfeatureless (unless you call the bumps at tht turn n point of T1) and boring. Waneroo needs to be extended, Winton is past its used by date even with the extensions.
Bret

Wheelnut& Andrew,
I don’t want to get involved with the long discussion on the pacecar, but I do believe that it has more to do with advertising than safety.
Eg. yellow flags means caution (and no passing), however it doesn’t set any speed limits: any car that comes out of the pits in front of the “pacecar train” can do any speed that they deem safe to catch up with the back of the field. On tracks like Bathurst it means cars can peel off from behind the pacecar into the pits, fix minor issues take on fuel & tyres, then get back out and re-catch the pack without losing track time.

The pace car is designed to bring the pack together for closer racing, and is effective in bringing a ruaway leader back to the pack for more interest.
Andrew M

Bret,
i agree in that its for promting close racing and advertising,
but my whole side of what ive been saying is that changing the speed of the safety car will not change a thing bar put more racing laps under pace car where no competition can be had

True,
yellow flags dont mean a set speed limit, but drivers can be done for not appearing to have slowed down.
when you see that car flying out of the pit you will see him every now and then give a swerve of the tyres and a few touches of the brakes when they pass the flag points as to make it seem as they are taking it easy like a warm up lap.
if a marshall deems that they havent seemed to slow down and take precautions, they can be penalised
Wheelnut

If we have to have Pace Cars etc…. why don’t they have one of the Pace Cars park halfway around the track [be it near a flag point or an access road].
That way when there is an accident; oops I mean a racing incident both the pace cars pull out on to the track and split the field into two

This means not only does whoever happens to sponsor the Pace Cars get more exposure; but when they are allowed to resume racing it makes it easier for drivers to get past.
Bret

That was strongly talked about, for Bathurst, the first year group A introduced the pace car, because many claimed a whole lap was too much ground that could be made up after pitting under yellow.

BTW that brings to mind the reason why pacecars were introduced here anyway: ROLLING STARTS!
Wheelnut

I still believe that we don’t need Pace Cars – we did all right without em in the 60s 70s and 80s.. the drivers know the rules in regards to the yellow green and the white flags..

Should anyy driver attempt a pass in the area where the accident is or the yellow flag is displayed our flaggies are alert and observant enough to notice it and report it to race control.

Race Control also has the benefit of not only channel 7s cameras but the cameras that are mounted inside every V8 supercar inorder to provide footage which they can view during and after the race..

Therefore; if there are any infringements they can impose post race [time] penalties as they did a number of times last year. Which is another reason to get rid of drive through penalties for exceeding the pit lane speed limit.

They should let them race and sort it out afterwards.. as that’s what fans have pad their hard earned to see.

I mean there have been several occassions over the past couple of years where RC have reated too quickly and penalised the wrong driver.
Whereas if they review all evidence after the race they are more likely to make a more accurate decision etc – which fans and drivers are more likely to accept…. all we want is consistency

The drivers and flaggies conduct themselves in a professional manner its about time those in race control do the same.