V8 Supercars

It was a grey and cloudy Saturday afternoon on the paradise island of Curacao, not the great day usually reserved for boating. I decided instead to make use of my favourite couch and enjoy some SpeedTV, where I was unexpectedly met with the Bathurst 1000, live from Australia.

Below, I've posted a video of 3 time Nascar champion, Daytona winner, and a hall-of-famer, Darrel Waltrip who was there covering the event. The Aussies offered the legend a ride in a V8 Supercar...much to his dismay. Watch him freak out!

This video illustrates the extreme speeds and cornering abilities of a V8 Supercar. Of course, it is not fair to Darrel, having been cornered into taking a ride on one of the most challenging tracks in the world. He's considerable older now and prefers to take things easy, besides, he's just not used to right-hand turns. But enough about Mr. Waltrip's ride along side Jason Brigh.

The Australian supercar that humbled the american have actually less power than an unrestricted Sprint Cup Car - but they also weigh some 200 pounds less, and their shorter wheelbase and modern suspension make them quite fast. Most cars are based on the Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore, and although they bear some resemblance to the production models, on the inside they pure bred racing machines.

Technical details on a typical Supercar: 5 liter fuel injected V8 / est 650 bhp at 7500 rpm / six speed sequential Holinger gearbox / triple plate carbon 7 1/4" clutch / front suspension: double wishbone with coil over adjustable damper and cockpit adjustable front anti roll bar / rear suspenion: four link with adjustable watts link, coil over adjustable rear dampers, also with cockpit adjustable rear anti roll bar / front brakes: Alcon 6 Piston Monobloc Caliper with removable bridge bar 375 mm ventilated discs / rear brakes: Alcon 4 Piston Monobloc Caliper 343 ventilated discs / Rimstock control wheels 17 inch by 11 inch magnesium alloy / Dunlop tires / 1345 kg minimum weight excl driver / top speed 182+ mph / 0-60 mph 3.8 seconds.

The V8 Supercars series is run as an International Series under the FIA. Race formats include a variety of race lenght's, from 300 km (sprint) spread over Saturday and Sunday, to one 1000 km (enduro) race on Sunday. Accordingly, it uses a single driver format (sprint) as well as multiple ones (enduro). The series is very popular in Australia and New Zealand and is steadily increasing around the world, especially since it goes to the YAS Marina Circuit and Bahrain.
I believe that soon we will see it competing stateside as well.

Below, a promotional video about this series' stop at the Yas Marina in Abu Dhabi.




Source: SpeedTV, www.v8supercars.com.au, wikipedia
For more info: http://www.v8supercars.com.au/