'V8 Supercars' is a
touring car racing category. It is the most popular
motorsport in
Australia, has a considerable following in
New Zealand, and is steadily growing in popularity across the world where
television coverage allows. The series is generally regarded as a commercial success, with full grids and large crowds at events.
V8 Supercar Events are held in all states of
Australia, as well as rounds in
New Zealand and
Bahrain. In
2005, an event at the
Shanghai International Circuit in
China was held. V8 Supercars have drawn crowds of over 250,000 spectators. The
2007 Season will be held over 14 race weekends, held on various purpose-built racetracks and street circuits in the aforementioned countries. Race formats range from sprint races, where three 150 km races are held over a weekend, or endurance races such as
Bathurst, which is run over a 1000 km race distance, and Sandown, run over 500km.
The V8 Supercars themselves are based on either the
Ford Falcon or
Holden Commodore, and bear some resemblance to the production models outwardly, but are highly modified to suit the
motorsport application, and are strictly governed in all aspects of performance in an effort to keep all the drivers on an even footing to create closer, more exciting racing. Because of this, entire fields of 30+ drivers are separated by just one second over qualifying laps at some events.
Historically, the
Falcon and
Commodore are the two most popular passenger cars on the Australian market. Rivalry between the two makes is a major aspect of the sport's appeal.
History
:''See
2007 V8 Supercar season for details of the 2007 season''
Current Champion Rick Kelly with his #1 Toll Commodore
The
Australian Touring Car Championship was transformed into V8 Touring Cars in 1993 (when there were only 13 cars in the championship), when Holden and Ford became the two competitors in the series. Event management company IMG was given the rights to the series in 1997 after a bitter battle against CAMS and the ARDC, and led the championship on a rapid expansion. Network Ten began televising the series in the same year, taking over from Channel Seven. The Australian Vee Eight Supercar Company (AVESCO) was later formed to run the series directly and later became an independent organisation from its IMG origins. In 2005 the name was changed to V8 Supercars Australia.
V8 Supercars Australia introduced carnivale street-race V8 Supercar events such as the Clipsal 500, and strived to turn Australian touring car racing into a world-class product. The name "V8 Supercar" was invented, and "Shell Australian Touring Car Championship" was replaced by "Shell Championship Series", now called the "V8 Supercar Championship Series"
★
List of Australian Touring Car and V8 Supercar Champions
V8 Supercar Championship wins by Manufacturer
★ 8 - Holden
★ 6 - Ford
V8 Supercars 2007 Schedule
★ Please note all dates and locations are subject to change
|-
! Round
! Date
! Event
! Location
|-
| 1
| March 1-4
|
Clipsal 500
|
Adelaide,
South Australia
|-
| 2
| March 23-25
|
Bigpond 400
|
Perth,
Western Australia
|-
| 3
| April 20-22
| Placemakers V8 Supercars
|
Pukekohe Park Raceway,
New Zealand
|-
| 4
| May 18-20
|
Winton Motor Raceway
|
Winton,
Victoria
|-
| 5
| June 9-11
|
Eastern Creek
|
Sydney,
New South Wales
|-
| 6
| June 22-24
| SKYCITY Triple Crown
|
Darwin,
Northern Territory
|-
| 7
| July 20-22
| Queensland Raceway
|
Queensland Raceway,
Queensland
|-
| 8
| August 17-19
|
Jim Beam 400
|
Sydney,
New South Wales
|-
| 9
| September 14-16
|
Sandown 500
|
Melbourne,
Victoria
|-
| 10
| October 4-7
|
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000
|
Bathurst,
New South Wales
|-
| 11
| October 18-21
| Gillette V8 Supercar Challenge
|
Surfers Paradise,
Queensland
|-
| 12
| November 1-3
| Desert 400
|
Sakhir,
Bahrain
|-
| 13
| November 16-18
|
Falken Tasmania Challenge
|
Symmons Plains,
Tasmania
|-
| 14
|
November 30 -
December 2
|
Dunlop Grand Finale
|
Phillip Island,
Victoria
|-
2007 Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series
|-
! Round
! Date
! Event
! Location
|-
| 1
| March 1-4
|
Clipsal 500 Support
|
Adelaide,
South Australia
|-
| 2
|
March 30 -
April 1
| Wakefield Park
|
Goulburn,
New South Wales
|-
| 3
| May 18-20
| Winton Support
|
Winton,
Victoria
|-
| 4
| July 20-22
| Queensland 300 Support
|
Queensland Raceway,
Queensland
|-
| 5
| August 17-19
| Oran Park Support
|
Sydney,
New South Wales
|-
| 6
| October 4-7
|
Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Support
|
Bathurst,
New South Wales
|-
| 7
|
November 20 -
December 2
| Grand Finale Support
|
Phillip Island,
Victoria
|-
Television Coverage
The V8 Supercars are broadcast by
Channel Seven who secured the rights from the 2007 season onwards, taking over from
Channel Ten, who had successfully broadcast the events since taking over from Seven in 1997. The deal is worth roughly
AU$120 million. Channel Seven will show increased live coverage, as well as a 25-minute show specific to the series on weekends when there is no racing.
Coverage of all rounds in
New Zealand is by
Television One, who also produce and provide footage of the New Zealand rounds for international networks.
SPEED covers the races in the
United States.
★ Australia
★
★
Channel Seven
★
★
Telstra Bigpond Broadband (Live Internet Coverage)
★ International
★
★
TV One
★
★
Eurosport
★
★
Channel Five
★
★
Motors TV
★
★
Fox Sports
★
★
SPEED Channel
★
★
Neo Sports + India
The Series is filmed in Widescreen Digital and has 6 cars carrying in-car cameras with each having 4 or more mini cameras. However this is down on last year where 8 cars carried cameras.
TEGA
The Touring Car Entrants Group Australia (TEGA) is owned by all of the teams, and owns half of V8 Supercars Australia. TEGA has a board of 4 representatives and drafts the regulations.
To the disappointment of a majority of fans who had watched a long history of Ford-Holden battles in Australian touring car categories since the
1960s, international touring car regulations (which moved from
Group A to
Supertouring) seemed destined to preclude the Australian-built
Holden Commodore and
Ford Falcon in the early 90s. However, V8 only regulations were drafted, in partnership with
Ford and
Holden, to avoid this and to showcase their large Australian made cars.
Nissan, who had dominated in the early 1990s, had their Turbo AWD Skyline GT-R controversially excluded from the series, whilst BMW (with their non-turbo M3s) were allowed to continue for a brief period. Nissan vowed never to return to touring car racing in Australia again, and a short time later ceased Australian production.
Eventually the works BMW team left to head a separate new
Australian Super Touring Championship (ASTC), and in the mid-1990s this Super Touring series ran in opposition to the V8 category. Super Touring with its many makes had the backing of the Australian Racing Drivers Club (ARDC) and sensationally two Bathurst 1000s were held each year in 1997 and 1998, one for V8s and the other (backed by traditional custodian ARDC) for Super Touring. Ultimately, the bulk of sponsorship, driver talent, and fan attention remained with the more popular V8 category during this era, leaving the ASTC to later collapse in 2002 as an amateur category.
TEGA are now looking to instigate control floor pans and cylinder heads for both Commodores and Falcons so they are cheaper and easier to build and fix, potentially meaning that more rounds can be raced in a season and teams can afford to run multiple cars and have spares in case a car is severely damaged.
The V8 Supercar
Shane Price's V8 Supercar, 2007 VE Commodore Model
2005 V8SCS Champion Russell Ingall with his #1 Caltex Falcon
The regulations are designed to balance the desire for technical competition and fast vehicles with the requirement that costs are kept reasonable. Racing is close, and the cars bear some resemblance to production models. The recent application of "Project Blueprint" - introduced at the beginning of the 2003 season (where both makes of car were examined to ensure parity) the racing between Holden and Ford has become closer than ever (reducing the risk of a one make dominated series).
★ 'Bodyshell:' In principle each V8 Supercar is based on either a current spec VE cut and shut Commodore or BF Falcon production bodyshells with the new Falcon Orion expected for the later half of the 2008 season, with an elaborate
roll cage constructed into the shell from aircraft grade materials, other modifications include wider wheel arches. However due to its excess wheelbase the VE Commodore has been granted a custom fabricated bodyshell into which a limited number of production bodyshell panels are incorporated. On the VE Commodore the roofline is lower than production and the rear door is shorter such that externally the rear doors, roof and rear quarters all consist of specialised custom coachwork panels. In 2007 specifications both the Commodore and Falcon have adopted E-glass front mudguards in place of the production steel items, in order to save costs.
★ 'Aerodynamics:' A standard "aerodynamic package" of
spoilers and wings, a front splitter/air dam and side skirts are supplied to the teams of each make. Testing is conducted so that in principle the two makes have similar aerodynamics. However the test is only conducted at one particular speed and with the cars set to the lowest downforce configuration, leaving room for controversy.
★ 'Weight:' The minimum category weight is 1,355
kg (not including driver) with 80 kg (176 lb) driver allocation.
★ 'Power:' A V8 supercar has to be front-engined and rear-wheel drive. Every car is powered by either a 5.0 L Ford "
Windsor" SVO or Chevrolet
Aurora race engine (depending on the make) which is capable of producing between 460 and 485
kW (620 — 650
bhp) of power, but generally quoted as a little over 450 kW (600 bhp) in race trim. Engines have
pushrod actuated valves and
electronic fuel injection. Both Ford and Holden engines are based on racing engines from their respective US parent companies. Engines are electronically restricted to 7,500
rpm.
★ 'Some common components:'
Differentials, brake packages and
gearboxes are identical in all cars in the category. The category uses a 6-speed Hollinger gearbox (Australian made), in the familiar 'H' pattern. Differential ratios used throughout the season are 1:3.75, 1:3.5, 1:3.25 and 1:3.15. The 1:3.15 ratio differential was introduced in 2005 to be used at
Bathurst - cars with this ratio can now exceed 300 km/h on Conrod straight (hypothetically, this has yet to be proven, although Jack Daniel's Racing, then called Castrol Racing, claims to have exceeded this speed multiple times in the 2005 event). The theoretical maximum speed is 306 km/h at 7,500 rpm. All cars have a 120
litre fuel tank.
★ 'Suspension:' Basic front suspension configuration is
double wishbone (made compulsory for both makes through Project Blueprint), whilst rear suspension is a "
live axle" design, using 4 longitudinal links and a
Watts linkage for lateral location. Both suspension systems are similar to those fitted to the
EL Falcon. Spring and
damper design is unrestricted.
★ 'Tyres:' A
Dunlop "control tyre" is supplied to all teams. Throughout the year, there are restrictions on the number of testing days (6 per year), along with the number of tyres used during those days. For race meetings, teams are allocated a set number of tyres for the entire weekend, with the number available for each race depending on the type (sprint or endurance).
★ 'Cost:' Reported to be approximately $AU 600,000 per car and $AU 130,000 per engine. Teams spend up to $AU 10 million per year running their two-car teams. TEGA has introduced a salary cap of $AU 6.75 million in order to keep costs down. The salary cap is known as Total Racing Expenditure Cap (TREC).
Championships
Two separate
V8 Supercar Championships are held. The first is the main "Level One" championship called the 'V8 Supercar Championship Series'. A "Level Two" championship called the
Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series (formerly the 'HPDC Supercar Series'), is intended for privateers who formerly raced in the same races as the former before bulging grids forced a split, however, many "Level One" teams run secondary teams in the Fujitsu series to "blood" new drivers. The only way to compete in the "main game" is to purchase a licence from an existing team (TEGA are no longer involved in creating new licences for V8 teams).
Formats
V8 Supercar formats differ. One, two and three race rounds are held, with track time, race kilometres and tyre allocations varying. Most triple race rounds, the first race is the shortest, with the second and third races are equal in laps but have more laps than the first race.
Marquee events
The
Bathurst 1000,
Clipsal 500 and
Sandown 500 are the marquee events of the V8 Supercar calendar. In 2005 there was also a marquee round in Shanghai, however the promoter discontinued with this race in 2006.
Bathurst 1000
Known as the "Great Race", the
Bathurst 1000 is a traditional 1000 km test of drivers, teams and machines held at the
Mount Panorama Circuit in
Bathurst,
New South Wales. It has been the preeminent domestic motor racing event in Australia for decades - well before the development of the V8 Supercar category. It is conducted over 161 laps, on a track that features two long straights, that contrast with a tight section of fast blind corners across the top of the mountain.
In the early years, the race was open to almost anybody with a car that met (considerably more relaxed) regulations and held an Australian motorsport licence. The resulting wide variety of cars, driver talent, and budgets ensured that large margins split the placings. In the modern V8 era, the field has consisted of professional teams only.
With the introduction of the "
safety car" bringing the field together - when an accident makes the track unsafe - has radically changed the nature of the race. But Bathurst has always been an intensely tactical race, hinging on pit stop strategy (fuel economy, tyres, etc) driver talent and outright overall speed.
The 2006
Bathurst 1000 became a very emotional event to all drivers, teams, friends and fans of one of it's greatest drivers in its history, 9 time winner of the "Great Race",
Peter Brock (killed in the
Targa West rally event the month before).
The inaugural & perpetual
Peter Brock Trophy was handed out to eventual race winner
Craig Lowndes (with
Jamie Whincup as co-driver). An emotional Lowndes, who was a protegé of
Peter Brock, dedicated his win to his mentor, former team member and very good mate/friend.
Clipsal 500
The
Clipsal 500 is held in
Adelaide on a shortened version of the former
Grand Prix Circuit. The event in the heart of the city has a carnival atmosphere, and crowds of over 200,000 racing fans and socialites turn out each year. Two 250 km races are held on each of Saturday and Sunday, and this has proven to be a very successful format. It is the first event to be inducted into the V8 Supercar Hall of Fame and is a winner of various awards. While the trophy presentation is centred around the results of race two, the round winner is decided by points accured from both races.
Sandown 500
The Sandown 500 is the first of the 2 endurance races on the race schedule, raced at
Sandown International Raceway. Since its inception it has been referred to as Bathurst's "Little Brother" as it serves as an amazing entre to the 'Great Race'. Contrary to popular belief, the weather is statistically more predictable and favourable than its 'big brother' as well as many other courses. Its current official name is the Just Car Insurance 500, which replaced long time sponsor of the event Betta Electrical in 2007.
Grand Finale
With the change to the 'Blueprint' formula in 2003, AVESCO created a special season ending round. Initially this round was held as the thirteenth championship event in late November at
Eastern Creek Raceway near Sydney. It was sponsored by VIP Petfoods and was branded 'The Main Event'. The round was won by Marcos Ambrose in a fitting conclusion to his 2003 championship win, but made headlines when Ambrose's teammate Russell Ingall and Holden Racing Team rival Mark Skaife spectacularly brought the sport into disrepute with an on-track/off-track stoush. In 2004 the event became known as the 'Bigpond Grand Finale', and was again held at Eastern Creek - won again by Marcos Ambrose. In 2005 the venue moved to the
Phillip Island Grand Prix Circuit as the final round of the championship and the base for Russell Ingall's series win. In 2006, the event will be known as the 'Caterpillar Grand Finale'. Todd Kelly won the 2006 final round in controversial circumstances, with two race wins (race one and two) and a fifth placing (race three). His brother, Rick Kelly, won the championship after he was given a drive through penalty for a collision with title contender, Craig Lowndes. The collision caused Lowndes major steering damage that required Kelly only to finish the race to win the championship. However the championship was not decided until the day after in an appeal in Melbourne in which Lowndes lost.
V8 Shanghai Round
The start of the 2005 Shanghai race
The V8 Shanghai Round was held in China on a shortened version of the
Shanghai Grand Prix circuit. In 2005, the entire V8 circuit was air freighted overseas for the first time, and encouraging crowd figures of 70,000 were recorded before an enthusiastic Chinese audience. The winner of the inaugural Shanghai round was Todd Kelly (HRT)(188pt/192pt), 2nd place was Steven Richards (Castrol Perkins) (186pt/186pt) and 3rd was Paul Radisich (TKR) (170pt/180pt).
After difficulties in securing a date for the 2006 fixture, the V8 Supercar organising body announced that it had terminated its contract with the Shanghai Round promoter in March 2006. Although not ruling out a return to the Shanghai circuit one day, any further races at the circuit have been placed on an indefinite hold.
Bahrain Round
In 2005 a contract was confirmed to hold V8 Supercar races at the
Bahrain International Circuit in the
Bahrain capital of
Manama from 2006 onwards, on a shortened version of the F1 Grand Prix circuit. Ford Performance Racing driver Jason Bright was crowned King of the Desert in 2006, winning the inaugural 'Desert 400' ahead of Holden drivers Todd Kelly and Garth Tander.
The V8 Supercar teams
★ '
Dick Johnson Racing - Jim Beam Racing (Ford)'
Championships: 6, Bathurst Wins: 3
The oldest team in V8 supercar Racing was formed by
Dick Johnson, evolving from the Bryan Byrt Ford dealer team. Dick Johnson Racing (DJR) provided formidable competition for the
Holden Dealer Team of
Peter Brock in the 1980s, and were a consistent force up to the year 2001 regularly winning races. Son Steven Johnson continues the legacy by carrying historically the most famous Ford number in the series - the legendary #17.
★ '
Toll HSV Dealer Team (Holden)'
Championships: 1 (2006), Bathurst Wins: 2
The
Toll HSV Dealer Team started as the Holden Racing Team junior team called the Holden Young Lions in the year 1998, it expanded to two cars in the year 2001 after a solution was needed to accommodate Greg Murphy and his K-Mart sponsorship. HSV driver Rick Kelly controversially won the championship after an eventful Caterpillar Grand Finale after the team secured the Teams Championship at the Bahrain round in 2006. Both Garth Tander and Rick Kelly are expected to be strong in the 2007 series, with Tander most voted by fellow racers to win the 2007 championship.
★ '
Holden Racing Team (Holden)'
Championships: 6, Bathurst Wins: 4
Founded by Holden in the late 1980s in partnership with Tom Walkinshaw (TWR) to promote
Holden Special Vehicles. The 'HRT' took over where
Peter Brock's Holden Dealer Team (HDT) empire and vehicles left off, after the collapse of HDT. Initially HRT struggled through a number of lean years, but in their hey-day from
1996-
2002 this team collected 6 championship wins.
★ '
Stone Brothers Racing (Ford)'
Championships: 3, Bathurst Wins: 1
Established in 1996, after Alan Jones left Glenn Seton Racing and joined forces with former Dick Johnson Racing engineers Ross and Jim Stone to form a new team. Jones left the team after two seasons, with the Stone Brothers buying out his share in the team. The team expanded and dominated the series for 2003-2005 with Marcos Ambrose winning the 2003 and 2004 championships and veteran team mate Russell Ingall keeping the championship within the team in 2005. Ambrose was replaced by former HRT endurance driver James Courtney.
★ '
Ford Performance Racing nee:
Glenn Seton Racing (Ford)'
Championships: 2
Glenn Seton formed his own team in 1989, using Ford Sierras. Seton had been a protege of the works Nissan team, and took the cigarette sponsorship of that team with him. GSR were a top V8 Supercar team in the early V8 years and won championships in 1993 and 1997. Ford diverted their attention to 00 Motorsport in 2002, and GSR reverted to a small battling one car outfit for that year before being purchased by Prodrive and reinvented as "Ford Performance Racing" to promote the high performance road Falcons built by "Ford Performance Vehicles". Jason Bright left at the end of the 2006 season to take over ownership of the Fujitsu Racing team and was replaced by Steve Richards from Jack Daniel's Racing. Mark Winterbottom is considered a genuine title chance in 2007 after a strong third place in the 2006 championship.
★ '
Jack Daniel's Racing (Holden)'
Bathurst Wins: 3
Former F1 driver Larry Perkins has long been an identity of the Australian Touring Car Championship. His team has collected three Bathurst wins, although championship wins have often slipped away in the V8 Supercar era and the team has had to settle for a number of runner-up positions. The team faced 2006 re-invigorated with a new title sponsor in Jack Daniels. However, the team will be undergoing a major change with Paul Dumbrell leaving to fill the void left by Greg Murphy moving to Tasman Motorsport and Steve Richards moving to Ford Performance Racing. It has been officially announced that Larry Perkins son Jack and his development series team mate Shane Price will be driving for the Jack Daniels Racing team for the 2007 season.
★ '
Tasman Motorsport (Holden)'
Formed by V8 driver Greg Murphy's father Kevin Murphy, in partnership with Steve Reed and Trevor Ashby, owners of the long-time privateer team; Lansvale Racing Team. The team formed into a two car team in 2005 which has helped their performance. Tasman has enlisted the support of engineer Ron Harrop and his large engineering business in their attempt to establish themselves as a prominent force in V8 racing and have established a name for themselves after coming 3rd at the Sandown 500 and narrowly missing out on first at the Bathurst 1000. 2005 major sponsor Dodo have left the nest to join the Holden Racing Team. Former Team Kiwi Racing driver, Jason Richards drives for the team, with new signing (and son of Kevin) Greg Murphy driving the second car after a horror season with Paul Weel Racing. Tasman has announced that Mark Noske and Jay Verdnik will drive for the team in the endurance races.
★ '
Garry Rogers Motorsport (Holden)'
GRM 2007 Livery
Bathurst Wins: 1
Garry Rogers started out as privateer in the late 70's running a Holden Torana. Disbanding and re-emerging in the 80's over the next ten years the organisation ran in several categories, NASCAR, AUSCAR, Production Cars and
Super Touring. Their V8 Supercar Holden Commodore team, established in 1996, eventually went on to challenge for the year 2000 championship with Garth Tander finishing runner up, and also to win the Bathurst 1000 in that year.
★ '
SuperCheap Auto/PWR Racing (Holden)'
The current PWR Racing outfit was formed in 2003 as Kees Weel reinvented his
Queensland based Ford team into a
Victorian Holden team aligned with the powerful Holden Motorsport (Holden Racing Team) group. Initially a deal was done to call the team "Team Brock" after
Peter Brock, but this deal fell through after one season and since then the team has been known as "PWR Racing". The team actually nearly won the championship with Jason Bright in 2004 but after a foiled attempt at Surfers Paradise by Rick Kelly, Bright was heavily shunted into the wall. PWR Racing recruited Holden star
Greg Murphy for the 2005 season, re-named it self as Super Cheap Auto Racing, had their engines made from Perkins Engineering, after a few seasons with Walkinshaw Engineering and got a new title sponsor; Super Cheap Auto, after leaving Ford and Steve Ellery Racing. And has also recruited former Garry Roger's Motorsport driver Cameron McConville for 2006, replacing Paul Weel who is focussing on the PWR Performance products business. Weel and Fujitsu series driver Nathan Pretty will join the team as endurance drivers. Paul Dumbrell has been signed after Greg Murphy left to move to Tasman Motorsport.
★ '
Triple Eight Race Engineering (V8 Supercars) (Ford)'
Triple Eight's 2007 Livery
Bathurst Wins: 1
Formed by UK group
Triple Eight Racing with their purchase of Briggs Motorsport in 2003. Triple Eight owner Roland Dane attracted significant Ford funding for their team, and set about turning Briggs Motorsport into a winning operation. Subsequently Craig Lowndes narrowly lost the 2005 title. Jamie Whincup replaced Steve Ellery for 2006, proving his ability quickly after winning the opening round in Adelaide. International drivers, Denmark's Allan Simonsen and Ulsterman Richard Lyons to drive in the endurance races.
★ 'Brad Jones Racing/
Team BOC (Ford)'
Brad Jones' Albury based team Brad Jones Racing (BJR), managed by his brother Kim Jones, joined the V8 Supercar Series in the year 2000 after buying Tony Longhurst's old licenses. BJR had formerly run the works Audi team in Australia for the
Australian Super Touring Championship, and were multiple champions in Super Touring and Australian NASCAR based series. A feature of this team has been their tactical savvy through team manager Kim Jones, and vehicle set-up through veteran 1995 series champion John Bowe. In 2005, BJR was parneted by gas giant, BOC and was re-named as Team BOC. They start 2006 rejuvenated, after a disappointing 2005 season with a bold, new livery. John Bowe left the team at the end of the 2006 season to join ppPaul Cruickshank Racing]] and was replaced by Jones' nephew Andrew Jones in the second BJR car. Before the Winton round, Brad Jones himself retired from full-time driving, vacating his seat for Simon Wills for the remainder of the 2007 series.
★ '
WPS Racing (Ford)'
WPS Racing was formed in 2004 from the folded team 00/Gibson Motorsport by businessman
Craig Gore who also is actively involved in the funding and management of
Champcar team
Team Australia. In 2006 the team purchased Larkham Motor Sport and installed Mark Larkham and several senior members of his team, along with lead driver Jason Bargwanna to run the team. Brazilian Max Wilson drives the second WPS Falcon. The teams 2005 drivers Craig Baird and David Besnard rejoin the team for the long distance races.
★ '
Team Kiwi Racing (Ford)'
Team Kiwi Racing was formed late in 2000, carrying a strong nationalist New Zealand identity and was centred around Jason Richards for several seasons. After Richards left Craig Baird drove with them for a single season before Paul Radisich joined. Carrera Cup racer Fabian Coulthard has joined the team for the endurance races. At the Bathurst 1000, Radisich was forced out wide at the Chase, hitting a tyre bundle hard. Radisich was freed after safety marshalls had to cut the roof of the car off. Radisich broke his sternum and ankle and the car was written off. TKR was forced to re-vert to their 2004 car (Which was driven earlier in 2006 as car #39 for Ellery, Coulthard and Gurr) and enlisted the uses of ex-TKR driver Craig Baird and Fujitsu Series driver, Chris Pither. The team switched cars from Holden to become a Ford team in 2007, aligned with Ford Performance Racing and Prodrive. After Winton (Round 4) Radisich, TKR and FPR had a falling out and TKR were eventually forced to miss the next 3 rounds before returning with a agreement with SBR and a new driver, 18 year old Shane Van Gisbergen
★ '
Team Sirromet Wines (Holden)'
Sirromet's 2007 Livery
Paul Morris Motorsport was originally a Formula Ford team in 1990 and had a long invlvement with BMW's works supported operation in 90's, winning four Super Touring titles. Converting to a V8Supercar operation in 2000, PMM expanded to a second car for 2006, with Steve Ellery, Allan Gurr, Fabian Coultard and in the last three rounds Shane Price and Jack Perkins. (With Jack Daniels Racing and PMM striking a deal to use a Perkins made car to replace car #39 which has been leased out to Team Kiwi Racing.) In 2007, PMM will once again run two cars with Paul Morris in the VE Commodore while Fabian Coultard in his first full year in the V8 Supercars will run an older VZ.
★ '
Britek Motorsport/Fujitsu Racing (Ford)'
Established in 2005 under the ownership of Ford Performance Racing driver Jason Bright, Britek struggled through their debut season with regulation limited testing and their second car only running a partial season. The team showed strong signs of improvement at Bathurst but in the 2006 Series the team once again had a nightmare year with showing little improvement. There is renewed hope with team onwer Jason Bright has joined the team and young gun Alan Gurr has also joined the team for a season. 2006 Bathurst partners Warren Luff and Adam Macrow will once again drive with the team at Sandown and Bathurst.
★ '
Rod Nash Racing (Holden)'
Rod Nash was a privateer driver in the late 1990s, and received a Level 2 licence when the V8 Supercars began their licensing arrangement. Nash has run Tony Longhurst, Cameron McConville, and Alex Davison, to name a few, in his time as team owner and had a turblent but improved 2006 season. There best result was a top 10 at Bathurst with ATCC legend, Tony Longhurst. Autobarn Racing will once again be a single car team with Steve Owen coming back and will drive an older spec VZ Commdore for most of the season. Proving that you don't need to have a massive team to get results, Owen has driven to a top 10 at Winton in Round 4.
★ '
Paul Cruickshank Racing (Ford)'
While new to the championship in 2006, Cruickshank has run several cars in the Development V8 Supercar series and the Australian Carrera Cup since starting his own team in the early part of the decade. Experienced campaigner John Bowe joined PCR for the 2007 series, replacing Marcus Marshall. Bowe equalled Peter Brock's record of most race starts by lining up for the first race at the Clipsal 500 in 2007.
Past teams
★
Holden Dealer Team
★ Gibson Motorsport
★ Team Dynamik
Notable figures
Notable figures involved in the category include:
★
Peter Brock (Feb 26, 1945 – Sep 8, 2006), 3 x Series Champion, 9 x
Bathurst winner plus a record 6 poles & largest winning margin of 6 laps, 9 x Sandown 500 winner. See also the
Peter Brock Trophy.
★
Mark Skaife, Current V8 team owner, 5 x Series Champion, 5 x
Bathurst Winner and most Round Wins with 38.
★
Jim Richards, 4 x Series Champion, 7 x Bathurst Winner.
★
Dick Johnson, Current V8 team owner, 5 x Series Champion, 3 x Bathurst winner.
★
Craig Lowndes, 3 x Series Champion (youngest ever championship winner), 2 x Bathurst winner.
★
Rick Kelly, 1 x Series Champion, 2 x Bathurst Winner, youngest ever Bathurst winner.
★
Glenn Seton, 2 x Series Champion.
★
Marcos Ambrose, 2 x Series Champion.
★
Russell Ingall, 1 x Series, 2 x Bathurst Winner.
★
John Bowe, 1 x Series Champion, 2 x Bathurst Winner.
★
Greg Murphy, 4 x Bathurst Winner.
★
Larry Perkins, Current V8 team owner, 6 x Bathurst Winner.
★
Steven Richards, 2 x Bathurst Winner.
★
Jason Bright, Current V8 team owner, 1 x Bathurst Winner.
★
Garth Tander, 1 x Bathurst Winner.
★
Todd Kelly, 1 x Bathurst Winner.
Grand Finale 2006
The final race of the 2006 season was notabley one of the most controversial races in the history of the championship. Going into the race, Craig Lowndes of Triple Eight Racing and Rick Kelly of Toll HSV were tied on points to win the championship.
There is much controversy lingering over this race. Claims of blocking by 'unofficial team mate' Mark Skaife were shared, in the belief that the owner of Holden Racing Team was assisting Kelly by blocking his opponent early during the race. These claims were soon overshadowed by the incident between the two title contenders.
On the entry to the hairpin at turn 4, Rick Kelly 'over shot' the breaking mark, making slight contact with the rear right hand corner of Craig Lowndes Falcon. The impact caused the Ford driver to lose control of his car, sliding into the path of then race leader Todd Kelly (Rick's brother), then hit by Will Davison, in which a collision caused damage to his front right tyre. Although he managed to finish the race, the damage caused the team to make an unrealistic number of pitstops, ruining any chance of taking the title. (Lowndes finished 5 laps down). Kelly got a drive through penalty but the contact was enough to give him the V8 Supercars Championship.
Many fans refuse to accept Kelly as the 2006 season champion, claiming that he intentionally collided with Lowndes, following his race engineers orders, "Win it or bin it".
External links
;Series
★
The Official V8 Supercars Australia site
★
V8X V8 Supercar Magazine
★
The Official V8 Supercar Yearbook
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V8 Daily News
★
V8Impact - V8 Supercar Resources
★
Bahrain V8 Super Cup
;Teams
★
Stone Brothers Racing
★
Stone Brothers Racing Forum
★
Holden Racing Team
★
Holden Special Vehicles Dealer Team
★
Ford Performance Racing
★
Perkins Motorsport Jack Daniels Racing
★
Super Cheap Auto Racing
★
Tasman Motorsports
★
Gary Rogers Motorsport
★
Team BOC
★
Dick Johnson Racing
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![Don\](images/articles/thumbs/beachrainthumb.jpg "Don\")
