All eyes on new racers
Posted by Richard Bosselman for Autos - Thu, 16 Feb 2012 04:49
“You just have to be impressed by the speed and vision of the New Zealanders when they set about creating their own V8SuperTourers championship formula.”
Crikey, how often do you hear praise like that from an Aussie? In fact, this was just the start of an avalanche of positives out of Peter Mckay, a top print motorsport commentator highly-regarded internationally, when he laid out his thoughts about the race class that has potential to change everything.
A bloke whose insider knowledge of all forms of Australasian V8 motorsport – actually, make that all four-wheeled motorsport - is pretty much second-to-none, a guy who demonstrates his nous not just in words but also action – he’s raced in numerous categories and at Bathurst – is effusive about the category, which kicks starts at Hampton Downs circuit in two days.
He’s calling it “affordable” and a can-do, does-better example to those involved with Australia’s own V8 Supercar Car of the Future, a programme that has “stuttered along in first gear as our guys argued over details.”
And why not compare? As McKay highlights, there’s a family link. “The Kiwi car was designed by Aussie Paul Ceprnich, who was also responsible for turning the V8 supercar CotF concept into nuts-and-bolts reality.”
Not a bad stamp of Ocker approval for a category that is now primed to go, go, go. McKay’s comment came out in print around 24 hours after SuperTourers’ first big shakedown, also on the north Waikato circuit, last Friday.
You may have seen something about it subsequently on TV3. They’ve signed up to cover the series, which will be fought out over seven rounds through autumn and winter.
Chances are that you probably didn’t catch McKay’s golden testimonial in print, though. A headline piece in one of Australia’s most influential and biggest circulation newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald, it doesn’t seem to have been picked up here.
There’s clearly a diminished interest among the country’s sports writers about motorsport but good news apparently the next phase of this story IS too big to miss: Organisers tell me the media list contains more than 100 names, including at least 10 from across the ditch. It’s not just that this a chance to see history in the making. The category is set to screen alive on Australia TV on SpeedTV (Fox) – a first for any NZ sporting event, of any type, it’s believed.
The proponents of V8SuperTourers really have done a brilliant job, not least signing on a trusted and respected figure in Paul Radisich as their corporate frontman.
I’m not surprised they’ve achieved their aim of a 16-car field for the opener. Nor is it a shock that almost every top driver from the domestic NZV8 championship, most recently 2012 champion in waiting Angus Fogg, has gone across to the new class. Fogg will be demonstrating the category prototype this weekend.
What surely really speaks to the quality and potential of the cars though, is the interest from big name home boys who have gone international - Greg Murphy, Steve Richards, Craig Baird and Jonny Reid have also put their backsides where their hearts are. You’re perhaps thinking, ‘all we’d need to complete the set would be Shane van Gisbergen.’ I’m hearing rumours …
Look, too, at the corporate backing. While the series still lacks a naming sponsor, it has both Holden and Ford on board – the latter unflustered that the engine is from GM – and also gets fuel (BP) and tyre (Hankook) supplier support.
The car – and reference in the singular seems appropriate given this is a silhouette class - is utterly up to date.
Based on a monocoque chassis (like the Australian V8 supercar readied for 2013 and beyond) with a tightly-controlled Corvette-based small block fuel-injected 7.0-litre alloy V8 (originally developed for a Le Mans Corvette programme), 18-inch Hankook tyres used in the German DTM touring car championship, a Quaife sequential gearbox and an expected racing life of 10,000km before requiring maintenance.
The chassis is designed to accommodate the current VE Commodore and FG Falcon shapes or any other similar sized four-door production vehicles: Toyota Aurion/the impending Lexus GS, BMW 5 series, Hyundai Grandeur. Why not the new large Nissan, heading into the Aussie competition next year? And who knows what other Supercar suspects Chrysler, Kia and Mercedes Benz might be thinking?
In the meantime, here’s something else to consider. You’ll want to perhaps know how an NZ SuperTourer might compare if, say, it was thrown into a circuit showdown right here, right now with a V8 Supercar and a NZV8.
I’ve crunched known numbers available for each category. The lap times and top speeds are for Pukekohe, where each car type has been raced – or tested at race pace. So, drawing up a chart with a column each for the SuperTourer, a Supercar and a NZV8 (I used the Falcon) it goes like this:
Output (power and torque): 428kW and 383Nm, 477kW and 353Nm, 313kW and 294Nm. Weight (minimum with driver): 1350kg, 1440kg, 1440kg. Maximum top speed at Puke: 280kmh, 275kmh, 245kmh. Best Puke lap time: 56.5 seconds, 55.5 seconds, 60.8 seconds.
In short, we’re looking at a car with almost as much power as a V8 Supercar and more torque that is lighter, faster in a straight line and just 1s slower on a hot lap. When it would be more than 5s clear of a NZV8.
No argument that NZV8s, for 10 years the premier category of MotorSport New Zealand’s summer series national championship, have felt the blow from this new series; the lineup has been much thinner this year.
Whether one is fatal to the other is another argument again. Sadly, it seems that there’s no being friends and getting along, at least according to one camp.
NZV8s are plugging on with their own plans. They say their own new ‘next generation’ car set to start racing next season will be a better bet; a New Zealand-developed project that’s more cost effective. It’s hard to establish. I’ve seen figures suggesting otherwise.
VEEGA (Vee Eight Entrants’ Group Association) has the support of the summer series promoter, The Motorsport Company, and also MotorSport New Zealand. The sport’s ruling body has taken an intriguing position in securing the intellectual property rights to the future car for an undisclosed sum (I’ve heard a telephone number figure).
MSNZ president Shayne Harris has been demonstrating the sole prototype, a Falcon, at circuits. I saw it at Manfeild. The car presents a strong visual package, being an adaptation of the V8 Supercars’ design.
Some say FG01 is mainly all show because it still runs the old models’ 302 OHV single carb V8, and four-speed Jericho box. Even so, it is said to be 3s a lap faster than the equivalent current NZV8 at Ruapuna. No bad for a change of body style.
NZV8s say the car will “soon” get a new engine (Coyote V8 for Falcon, GM LS3 for Commodore) and the most intriguing component: A New Zealand-developed six-speed sequential box. There is much conjecture about the TTi box; the proof, I suppose, will be in the testing. There’s talk FG01 will be in full fettle for the Hamilton street race in March, by which time two more chassis will be ready.
Argument from those against NZ SuperTourers includes that it’s not needed, is divisive and too expensive. I’m not sure. For instance, the turn-key costs for a new car in either Kiwi category seems about the same: $220,000-ish.
So much to think about. Everyone seems to say, there really is only room for one V8 class in this country. True? SuperTourers might ultimately be more of a threat to V8 Supercars than to NZV8s. Anyway, they’ve yet to prove themselves. The prognosis looks good, but you know what they say: To finish first …
But, yes, SuperTourers look to be off to a powerful start. The drivers and the supporting brands, including car marques that have cold-shouldered the current NZV8s, have shown their preference. Perhaps this weekend the fans will too.
If this was a race, and an analogy was called for, I’d say the SuperTourers are the pacesetters, the NZV8 in current form has not unexpectedly been lapped – and its future edition has yet to leave the pitlane.
But picking a winner? As last weekend’s New Zealand Grand Prix outcome showed, even a hot favourite running far ahead of the pack can still fall foul with the finish almost in sight.
Assuming, of course, this is a contest settled on the track. As I write, it looks like becoming a legal stoush.
Crikey, how often do you hear praise like that from an Aussie? In fact, this was just the start of an avalanche of positives out of Peter Mckay, a top print motorsport commentator highly-regarded internationally, when he laid out his thoughts about the race class that has potential to change everything.
A bloke whose insider knowledge of all forms of Australasian V8 motorsport – actually, make that all four-wheeled motorsport - is pretty much second-to-none, a guy who demonstrates his nous not just in words but also action – he’s raced in numerous categories and at Bathurst – is effusive about the category, which kicks starts at Hampton Downs circuit in two days.
He’s calling it “affordable” and a can-do, does-better example to those involved with Australia’s own V8 Supercar Car of the Future, a programme that has “stuttered along in first gear as our guys argued over details.”
And why not compare? As McKay highlights, there’s a family link. “The Kiwi car was designed by Aussie Paul Ceprnich, who was also responsible for turning the V8 supercar CotF concept into nuts-and-bolts reality.”
Not a bad stamp of Ocker approval for a category that is now primed to go, go, go. McKay’s comment came out in print around 24 hours after SuperTourers’ first big shakedown, also on the north Waikato circuit, last Friday.
You may have seen something about it subsequently on TV3. They’ve signed up to cover the series, which will be fought out over seven rounds through autumn and winter.
Chances are that you probably didn’t catch McKay’s golden testimonial in print, though. A headline piece in one of Australia’s most influential and biggest circulation newspapers, the Sydney Morning Herald, it doesn’t seem to have been picked up here.
There’s clearly a diminished interest among the country’s sports writers about motorsport but good news apparently the next phase of this story IS too big to miss: Organisers tell me the media list contains more than 100 names, including at least 10 from across the ditch. It’s not just that this a chance to see history in the making. The category is set to screen alive on Australia TV on SpeedTV (Fox) – a first for any NZ sporting event, of any type, it’s believed.
The proponents of V8SuperTourers really have done a brilliant job, not least signing on a trusted and respected figure in Paul Radisich as their corporate frontman.
I’m not surprised they’ve achieved their aim of a 16-car field for the opener. Nor is it a shock that almost every top driver from the domestic NZV8 championship, most recently 2012 champion in waiting Angus Fogg, has gone across to the new class. Fogg will be demonstrating the category prototype this weekend.
What surely really speaks to the quality and potential of the cars though, is the interest from big name home boys who have gone international - Greg Murphy, Steve Richards, Craig Baird and Jonny Reid have also put their backsides where their hearts are. You’re perhaps thinking, ‘all we’d need to complete the set would be Shane van Gisbergen.’ I’m hearing rumours …
Look, too, at the corporate backing. While the series still lacks a naming sponsor, it has both Holden and Ford on board – the latter unflustered that the engine is from GM – and also gets fuel (BP) and tyre (Hankook) supplier support.
The car – and reference in the singular seems appropriate given this is a silhouette class - is utterly up to date.
Based on a monocoque chassis (like the Australian V8 supercar readied for 2013 and beyond) with a tightly-controlled Corvette-based small block fuel-injected 7.0-litre alloy V8 (originally developed for a Le Mans Corvette programme), 18-inch Hankook tyres used in the German DTM touring car championship, a Quaife sequential gearbox and an expected racing life of 10,000km before requiring maintenance.
The chassis is designed to accommodate the current VE Commodore and FG Falcon shapes or any other similar sized four-door production vehicles: Toyota Aurion/the impending Lexus GS, BMW 5 series, Hyundai Grandeur. Why not the new large Nissan, heading into the Aussie competition next year? And who knows what other Supercar suspects Chrysler, Kia and Mercedes Benz might be thinking?
In the meantime, here’s something else to consider. You’ll want to perhaps know how an NZ SuperTourer might compare if, say, it was thrown into a circuit showdown right here, right now with a V8 Supercar and a NZV8.
I’ve crunched known numbers available for each category. The lap times and top speeds are for Pukekohe, where each car type has been raced – or tested at race pace. So, drawing up a chart with a column each for the SuperTourer, a Supercar and a NZV8 (I used the Falcon) it goes like this:
Output (power and torque): 428kW and 383Nm, 477kW and 353Nm, 313kW and 294Nm. Weight (minimum with driver): 1350kg, 1440kg, 1440kg. Maximum top speed at Puke: 280kmh, 275kmh, 245kmh. Best Puke lap time: 56.5 seconds, 55.5 seconds, 60.8 seconds.
In short, we’re looking at a car with almost as much power as a V8 Supercar and more torque that is lighter, faster in a straight line and just 1s slower on a hot lap. When it would be more than 5s clear of a NZV8.
No argument that NZV8s, for 10 years the premier category of MotorSport New Zealand’s summer series national championship, have felt the blow from this new series; the lineup has been much thinner this year.
Whether one is fatal to the other is another argument again. Sadly, it seems that there’s no being friends and getting along, at least according to one camp.
NZV8s are plugging on with their own plans. They say their own new ‘next generation’ car set to start racing next season will be a better bet; a New Zealand-developed project that’s more cost effective. It’s hard to establish. I’ve seen figures suggesting otherwise.
VEEGA (Vee Eight Entrants’ Group Association) has the support of the summer series promoter, The Motorsport Company, and also MotorSport New Zealand. The sport’s ruling body has taken an intriguing position in securing the intellectual property rights to the future car for an undisclosed sum (I’ve heard a telephone number figure).
MSNZ president Shayne Harris has been demonstrating the sole prototype, a Falcon, at circuits. I saw it at Manfeild. The car presents a strong visual package, being an adaptation of the V8 Supercars’ design.
Some say FG01 is mainly all show because it still runs the old models’ 302 OHV single carb V8, and four-speed Jericho box. Even so, it is said to be 3s a lap faster than the equivalent current NZV8 at Ruapuna. No bad for a change of body style.
NZV8s say the car will “soon” get a new engine (Coyote V8 for Falcon, GM LS3 for Commodore) and the most intriguing component: A New Zealand-developed six-speed sequential box. There is much conjecture about the TTi box; the proof, I suppose, will be in the testing. There’s talk FG01 will be in full fettle for the Hamilton street race in March, by which time two more chassis will be ready.
Argument from those against NZ SuperTourers includes that it’s not needed, is divisive and too expensive. I’m not sure. For instance, the turn-key costs for a new car in either Kiwi category seems about the same: $220,000-ish.
So much to think about. Everyone seems to say, there really is only room for one V8 class in this country. True? SuperTourers might ultimately be more of a threat to V8 Supercars than to NZV8s. Anyway, they’ve yet to prove themselves. The prognosis looks good, but you know what they say: To finish first …
But, yes, SuperTourers look to be off to a powerful start. The drivers and the supporting brands, including car marques that have cold-shouldered the current NZV8s, have shown their preference. Perhaps this weekend the fans will too.
If this was a race, and an analogy was called for, I’d say the SuperTourers are the pacesetters, the NZV8 in current form has not unexpectedly been lapped – and its future edition has yet to leave the pitlane.
But picking a winner? As last weekend’s New Zealand Grand Prix outcome showed, even a hot favourite running far ahead of the pack can still fall foul with the finish almost in sight.
Assuming, of course, this is a contest settled on the track. As I write, it looks like becoming a legal stoush.
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