170 replies to this topic

[Alfisti]

Ovals seem to be an engineering exercise for the most part, it's about feedback and tweaking the car. 

[W154]

In the defence of the organisers. The cones were required, though why was hitting them not penalised. The second safety car was I feel nesecary!  Leaving a slightly battered Erebus where it was could be a little dangerous!

Lee, the second safety car came out about 40 laps before the Erebus crash which happened about lap 135-140. The 3rd SC came out while they cleaned up the mess and I heard Crompton say "it all boils down to a 20 lap sprint to the finish". The most amazing part of that was they showed it all without an ad break !!

[W154]

I think that is Pye, the better performed driver!

Team Penske info shows Car No 16- Scott Pye, Car No 17- Marcos Ambrose. Looks like David Wall to make way for MA.

[V8 Fireworks]

nope, well they are controlled and need to be homologated but a few brands are used. most teams are on sachs (which 888 distribute) while FPR and a couple of others use supashock , HRT did use ohlins but changed to sachs last year I believe.

 

Supashock sounds very interesting.  Obviously Oscar Fiornotto used to be called "the man of one thousand springs" by certain self-appointed expert pundits, but clearly he knows his stuff!

 

By the sounds of it he has purpose developed these units specifically for V8 supercar requirements (and for certain GT racing applications too)...

 

Provided the teams are confident in the reliability of it (which they clearly are), and they have the damping curves for them, then that sounds quite cool; and it sounds that switching is straight forward as it is simply a matter of replacing a known with a known... given they will fully dyno the shocks of course.  

 

It reminds me of the aftermarket damping company developed by ex-Ford Australia engineers, I can't remember the name of that one?  That must be a separate company.

 

Edit - Shockworks is the one I am thinking of, run by ex-Ford australia suspension engineers.  Heck, between them and Murray Coote Automotive it seems like quite a crowded segment, that of the "Australian damper expert". 

Edited by V8 Fireworks, 16 September 2014 - 15:35.

[Lee Nicolle]

The continuing saga continues re the Supercar giggle day on the same weekend as the Bathurst 12 hour. Reading Speed Cafe the Nismo people are up in arms as the wanted to use Kelley infrastructure and driver/s. Now Roland Dane has came out and said he had to knock back an unnamed international team to run with his infrastructure. But he refused as he is committed to V8SC! That I feel may be a little suss!

Many  V8 drivers were committed to running the event. And I am sure they would be paid to do so.

Erebus have been very quiet. They have been a leading player in the 12 hour. Are they running at all? Or is Betty that broke? The cars have been run from two seperate venues, but I am sure the would still be sharing trucks, and team infrastructure and staff.

 

This whole saga is about TV,, 7 has the 12 hour live. Fox may show edited hilights 'live'. Not 2 full days of what is really yawn. The reasons given is they are competing against cricket! Which really is not a reason.

 

CAMS should get its act together. The NCR rules do not permit 2 major racemeets in the same state on the same day. While the giggle day is not a racemeet it is still an event which I presume they still have to issue a permit for. Unless V8SC are running  a 'private practice day' which then will contravene their own rules.

To run 2 events will be a strain on officialdom, flaggies, stewards, fire and incident vehicles. Bathurst consumes many more than most events, plus being a 12 hour event will need more. I suspect that most officials would prefer to be at a International race meeting than a media day/s!

 

So if for no other reason CAMS can preclude a permit.

 

V8SC have been on a downward spiral. Cars that have little resemblance or specification to road cars, eg V8 Volvos and Nissans. And are very expensive to build and maintain.

The Fox TV deal will turn off 2/3 of the TV watchers. No ifs buts or maybes.

Then this saga which is dog in the manger and detrimental to motorsport. The comments on SpeedCafe are nearly 100% negative to V8SC. As is the Fox deal too. Which will limit sponsor exposure to said 2/3 of watchers. [including myself]

The only 'positive' to come from them this week is Penske is joining the series. Via DJR. At least it should be positive, Roger may have made a rare mistake. on that time will tell.

Edited by Lee Nicolle, 18 September 2014 - 23:55.

[wonk123]

Lee, I couldn't agree more on your comments re the 12 hr V8SC media day. CAMS needs to fix this NOW!!

[S3baman]

Can someone explain to me the Bathurst situation? I thought V8 was at Phillip Island this week? 

 

It's a shame to see 7 lose the TV rights, I really love Skaife's and Larkham's commentaries. Will the team switch to FOX a la Sky Sports F1 or no?

[Lee Nicolle]

Can someone explain to me the Bathurst situation? I thought V8 was at Phillip Island this week? 

 

It's a shame to see 7 lose the TV rights, I really love Skaife's and Larkham's commentaries. Will the team switch to FOX a la Sky Sports F1 or no?

Level 3. Evidently with a 14 y/o bloke and Cameron McConville!

Headlines are Sports Sedans which around the Island are about a week faster, or at least Ricciardello and Hossack are.

GT3 Cup, Saloon Cars, F3, Sports Racers and Radicals? and Karts.

Probably not a bad event for $30 on Sunday. Just too far for me to go from Adelaide!

[shotcaller]

Does anyone know if the V8 Supercar race for this weekend will be shown anywhere on U.S. tv?  I can't find any listings?

[OvDrone]

Does anyone know if the V8 Supercar race for this weekend will be shown anywhere on U.S. tv?  I can't find any listings?

 

I think Motors TV will show it. At least some highlights/reruns.

[wonk123]

Hopefully there is free TV or live streaming somewhere, however there is a PPV stream if you are out of Oz

 

https://www.v8superc....au/v8superview  it is $4.95 aud, and includes qualifying and the Race live and replayed

 

With the south pacific peso taking a hammering lately this is about $4.20 USD

[wonk123]

I am starting to become like Lee, V8Supercars and channel 7 are pathetic. I had lost a fair bit of interest in the series and their treatment of the 12 hour made me question watching it at all. BUT, Marcos Ambrose coming back piqued my interest, and I thought I might tune in and see how he goes in Qualifying. They get ONE big drawcard  on the last round of the series and can't be bothered to show it live. I wonder what crap they have on Seven 2 or Seven mate?

[Lee Nicolle]

The first time it rains properly the cars fill up with water and the windows fog up!  Dont say I did not say so.

Yes it was quite wet, but 'circuits' that are not up to scratch will never be any good in anything but dry conditions. That Sydney track is not a race track, just a demo derby venue.

[wiligates]

 The Homebush thing is a disgrace.The amount of money to set the stupid thing up when a fully functioning race track at Eastern Creek is less than 20 kms away from it is so incredibly idiotic i still cant believe it got off the ground.If they wanted another stoopid street race take the concrete barriers from Homebush and line Eastern creek.Bingo!Instant shitty street race in a place where it wouldn't cost millions,it wouldn't disrupt what has become a busy business hub along with a myriad of other sports that get disrupted for weeks while they fart ass around for  FA  return.

Edited by wiligates, 07 December 2014 - 01:32.

[ClubmanGT]

The first time it rains properly the cars fill up with water and the windows fog up!  Dont say I did not say so.

Yes it was quite wet, but 'circuits' that are not up to scratch will never be any good in anything but dry conditions. That Sydney track is not a race track, just a demo derby venue.

 

It doesn't help that the series has gone down the F1 route of not actually having a proper wet weather tyre. 

 

Huge torrential downpours and lightning aside, in Nascar they would stop the race and just wait until it could be finished. The V8s are supposed to be able to run in the wet, but they just come in and then give up. 

 

What an awful series. 

[GeoffR]

This series is a joke at the moment. They showed the 'wet' tyres before the race & I thought then that they were intermediates at best, not proper wets. The proof was in the race itself when it rained (OK poured down) and the 'wet' tyres couldn't handle it. What a farce when there is no finish (chequered flag) for the race but they still allocate full points?1?

[Wuzak]

This series is a joke at the moment. They showed the 'wet' tyres before the race & I thought then that they were intermediates at best, not proper wets. The proof was in the race itself when it rained (OK poured down) and the 'wet' tyres couldn't handle it. What a farce when there is no finish (chequered flag) for the race but they still allocate full points?1?

 

The drivers didn't see the chequered flag at the Japanese GP this year and they still got full points....

 

If you tried you could find a number of examples. The rule is that full points are awarded for races that go past half distance. Same as in F1.

 

Regarding the wet tyres, the wet tyres they use in V8s are good for most wet conditions that they would encounter. The problem here was the amount of water dumped, and the fact that the organisers had to block drains to prevent oil and such getting in water ways (why I d ont know - it is a public road, after all).

 

F1, of course, has two specifications - intermediate and full wet. The full wets are good for very wet conditions, bit they can't cover all possible rain conditions. There will be, thus, some situations where they won't be able to cope.

 

V8s don't have the finances to be able to afford two types of wet tyres. So they run the one type that will cover most circumstances.

 

The Sydney track is kind of ridiculous, though.

[Ian G]

 The Homebush thing is a disgrace.The amount of money to set the stupid thing up when a fully functioning race track at Eastern Creek is less than 20 kms away from it is so incredibly idiotic i still cant believe it got off the ground.If they wanted another stoopid street race take the concrete barriers from Homebush and line Eastern creek.Bingo!Instant shitty street race in a place where it wouldn't cost millions,it wouldn't disrupt what has become a busy business hub along with a myriad of other sports that get disrupted for weeks while they fart ass around for  FA  return.

 

ICAC here in Sydney are still looking at the circumstances regarding the approval and funding of the race and chasing the money trail and the possible incentives/bribes paid to get it off the ground. The only thing is its pales in significance to the other corruption investigations going on so is not a high priority.

 

Edit..i can't find the link i need,it named names,both from Supercars & State Politicians,regarding the murky dealings to get Homebush approved. This link is a paler version.

 

http://www.gordonmoy...gical-argument/

Edited by Ian G, 08 December 2014 - 04:12.

[BRG]

 The Homebush thing is a disgrace.The amount of money to set the stupid thing up when a fully functioning race track at Eastern Creek is less than 20 kms away from it is so incredibly idiotic i still cant believe it got off the ground.If they wanted another stoopid street race take the concrete barriers from Homebush and line Eastern creek.Bingo!Instant shitty street race in a place where it wouldn't cost millions,it wouldn't disrupt what has become a busy business hub along with a myriad of other sports that get disrupted for weeks while they fart ass around for  FA  return.

 

 

The Sydney track is kind of ridiculous, though.

I thought it was just me.  I sat and watched the racing on Motors TV and wondered WTF they were doing driving round such an uninspiring circuit when Oz has decent tracks they could use.   I just do not understand why race organisers have got this idea that some crappy temporary street track is somehow going to appeal to the casual spectator.  There is no evidence that they attract any new interest.  And they make poor TV viewing.

[ClubmanGT]

The drivers didn't see the chequered flag at the Japanese GP this year and they still got full points....

If you tried you could find a number of examples. The rule is that full points are awarded for races that go past half distance. Same as in F1.

Regarding the wet tyres, the wet tyres they use in V8s are good for most wet conditions that they would encounter. The problem here was the amount of water dumped, and the fact that the organisers had to block drains to prevent oil and such getting in water ways (why I d ont know - it is a public road, after all).

F1, of course, has two specifications - intermediate and full wet. The full wets are good for very wet conditions, bit they can't cover all possible rain conditions. There will be, thus, some situations where they won't be able to cope.

V8s don't have the finances to be able to afford two types of wet tyres. So they run the one type that will cover most circumstances.

The Sydney track is kind of ridiculous, though.

F1 used to have a monsoon spec tyre, which at least let the cars run in a wider range of conditions than they do now. With timed broadcasts, having the cars waiting around for a track to dry out or just running behind the safety car is poor form on the part of the series.

Granted that the real issue was probably the lightning at Sydney which I can understand, having the cars lap behind the safety car for five minutes on Saturday was rubbish.

[MattFoster]

The Homebush event was set up, in my view to keep the final round in NSW after Oran Park was closed.  I feel they thought Homebush would be a cash cow as it has great public transport links but the track is a joke.  This isn't the first year the race was wrecked by a huge storm, it isn't up to scratch to deal with this so it should be removed from the championship. 

 

If Motorsports Park (an awesome track) isn't appealing due to it's location take the final round and put it somewhere that is.  A suggestion, move the Clipsal 500 to the end of the season not the start, now THAT is a decent street circuit!