New CEO For V8Supercar???

[formerf1champ]

Originally Posted by GTRMagic

I actually hope he does... channel the positive energy that led the growth in the sport to its heyday,

Huh...What heyday?

[GTRMagic]

Originally Posted by formerf1champ

Huh...What heyday?

If you didnt see it, perhaps you werent paying attention.

[formerf1champ]

C'mon, there's never been a heyday. The btcc and Indycars had a heyday in the 90s. I don't know if v8sc has ever had one, if you're meaning in the last 5-15 years. Maybe it's made a better effort of raising it's profile, but heyday? I don't know about that.

[Umai Naa]

Do you think, perhaps, that the dominance of particular teams/drivers/manufacturers has blurred the definition "Hey day"?

[eduardo1]

The term 'heyday' normally refers to a period of time when a category was at its peak, but has suffered an obvious and signficant decline.

I can't agree that any period over the past 30 years is significantly better than current. Group C & Group A had racing that was far more dominated by individual teams (DJR late 80s followed by GT-Rs) and far less competitive than today and was riddled with politics. People who went to Perth rounds would be lucky if they got 20 cars turn (once was as low as 12).

The early 90s brought better racing, but less diversity of makes. The late 90s brought increased professionalism and the racing began to improve. It also saw being a professional racing car driver within Australia become a viable option thanks to HRT and Craig Lowndes paving the way for Tander, Murphy and so on.

The competitiveness and professionalism has improved and the profile has been raised.

I'd argue that the front of the field is the highest quality we've ever had in touring car racing in Australia in that period. Not to say that individually they are the best drivers we've ever had - although I think Whincup & Lowndes will become all-time greats - but depth of top-shelf fully professional drivers at their peak fighting for race wins is its very best I can ever remember.

Those drivers are now racing in the most diverse field of cars since the Group A era. There will be 4 manufacturer teams & 5 makes of car in 2014 (assuming Ford/FPR link continues). I'm grateful for what we have. I was excited about COTF and 2013 with Nissan & Merc and I'm even more excited that Volvo will be added to them next year. The day that we have 5 different makes of car fighting for wins is, I hope, within reach in the next 2-3 years.

I think V8s 'heyday' may be just around the corner.

Even if it's not - I'm going to enjoy the fact that we have one of the very best touring car championships in the world. If you don't agree, go see a BTCC round and then come back and tell me how bad we have it.

[formerf1champ]

There's only ever been two genuine spikes in interest that has broken through into widerspread public recognition, which I think results in a heyday. One, was in 93, when the V8 formula started. The other one was when Craig started racing full time and tore the ATCC apart. He even had a feature on 60 minutes!

[Tourer]

Well said eduardo, very good approach and right on the money.

[D.R.T.]

Originally Posted by eduardo1

Those drivers are now racing in the most diverse field of cars since the Group A era. There will be 4 manufacturer teams & 5 makes of car in 2014 (assuming Ford/FPR link continues). I'm grateful for what we have. I was excited about COTF and 2013 with Nissan & Merc and I'm even more excited that Volvo will be added to them next year. The day that we have 5 different makes of car fighting for wins is, I hope, within reach in the next 2-3 years.

Diverse field of cars? What is diverse about the current fuel of cars? Under the rule of COTF diversity doesn't exist anymore.

It's great to have Nissan and Volvo factories supporting cars however let's not be fooled what the COTF reality.

This is spec racing.

[Bell_End]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Diverse field of cars? What is diverse about the current fuel of cars? Under the rule of COTF diversity doesn't exist anymore.

It's great to have Nissan and Volvo factories supporting cars however let's not be fooled what the COTF reality.

This is spec racing.

Majority of the car is spec, yet they are not all built the same

[eduardo1]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Diverse field of cars? What is diverse about the current fuel of cars? Under the rule of COTF diversity doesn't exist anymore.

It's great to have Nissan and Volvo factories supporting cars however let's not be fooled what the COTF reality.

This is spec racing.

Fair point. But it's still more diversity than we've had for the past 20 years, so I'll embrace it.

[TWRv12]

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Diverse field of cars? What is diverse about the current fuel of cars? Under the rule of COTF diversity doesn't exist anymore.

It's great to have Nissan and Volvo factories supporting cars however let's not be fooled what the COTF reality.

This is spec racing.

Lot better than LMP1 when its a miracle to get ten cars a couple of times a year

They also spec'd higher levels of safety than GT, WTCC, BTCC etc

[Umai Naa]

Originally Posted by TWRv12

They also spec'd higher levels of safety than GT, WTCC, BTCC etc

In what regard?

BTCC/Super Tourers (2L) have had centrally-mounted fuel tanks since the early '90s.