Disclaimer: Mark Baker has no axe to grind or skin in this game. He did PR for the Bruce Miles-Castrol-Toyota team that ran Greg Brinck and Julian Bailey in the New Zealand Touring Car Championship in 1995-1996 and in a reminiscent moment has been known to say that was the last decent touring car season in this country. He also points out he has many mates who work for the teams in this category, and he knows a number of drivers currently racing in the V8s on both sides of the ditch. The questions raised are out of a genuine interest in what happens next and how it happens. Okay? Now read on and consider…
Has anyone not expressed their opinion on the unfortunate stretch job on the pony car to fit over V8 Supercars’ Gen 2 chassis? I’ve heard a lot of post rationalised apologies for the de-sexying of what is a stunning design. A lot more ‘OMFG’. Not a lot of ‘it looks okay’.
Now we hear the work on the Camaro has halted, at least temporarily. GM, it seems, are not keen on having their lovely design pulled at and made to look like one of those Chinese rip-offs of iconic car designs or a very bad caricature kid’s toy (that wing, Jeez!).
The manufacturers being courted these days are very brand-driven and very, very sensitive to moves to take their silk purses and shake and stretch them until they are pig’s ears.
Understandable, and fair enough. After all, the manufacturers spend millions upon millions on designing and developing their flagship coupe sports cars. To have a regional sports series willfully make them look like the stuff seven year olds draw is pretty unpalatable.
The local scene digs deep for relevance
There’s a move to bring through some coupes – Mustang, Camaro, Challenger – here in New Zealand to help keep our home-grown V8 series relevant and exciting. The intention is to get the first car underway as soon as possible to make the start of the 2019/20 season.
Nothing exists yet except some optimistic artist’s impressions, but at some point someone is going to have to plonk down up to $250,000 to build one of these things. It’s that or – in the absence of a functioning Tier 2 – the V8s are in a downward spiral toward club racing.
No mistake, there is some incredible money being spent by the top teams to stay competitive in the category, but you have to ask why.
Old-model Falcons and Commodores that no longer exist in a commercial sense do battle with a couple of Camry V8s (at least one of which has been stylistically hybridized with another rear end) and the only ‘current’ car, the Nissan. So like Aussie, New Zealand faces some decisions that require bravery and vision in equal measure. If, as many claim, ‘the punters love the V8 sound’ then we need to move quickly to secure that future.
Question: can the V8s survive alongside TCR?
The four cylinder TCR machines are the coming category, already racing in Australia and already present in small numbers in New Zealand for evaluation purposes. Their proposition is: a global category, a stable and global set of rules, interchangeability between countries. That means the driver with the correct license can take their car to Oz or lease a car in Britain or Europe – or even the USA – and know he or she is going to fit right into the machinery from the get-go.
The TCR cars are taking over touring car racing country by country and now they are the mainstay of the World Touring Car Championship. Affordable? Front runners for less than $200k sound pretty good to me. With numbers managed by limiting each brand to four representatives, the category aims to avoid undue influence from any one automotive brand.
There are now 25 auto brands committed to the category globally and 30 different car models – the extra five being dual entry applications. One of the latest to join the throng is Toyota, which is showing its Advan-branded Corolla Sport TCR at motor shows this month.
Imagine: Brendon Leitch, Chelsea Herbert, Alexandra Whitley, Mitch Cunningham packing a suitcase and jumping on a flight to Oz to race for a weekend at the Island, flying home Sunday evening with their trophies to get up and go to work on the Monday. Strewth cobber, our drivers are already monstering the V8 Supercars. What next? The touring car race at Macau? Racing weekends in the USA?
Ideas from everywhere
The Supercars organisation is also looking to borrow the best ideas from other similar championships around the world as it works to ‘re-imagine’ itself based on the possible grid at Bathurst two years from now.
Under the microscope are the German DTM series, USA’s NASCARs and the British Touring Car Championship.
The series has been working behind the scenes on its ‘look and feel’ beyond the restrictions of its generic ‘Gen2’ chassis, which has been somewhat restrictive when applied to coupe body styles like the new Ford Mustang. Australian motorsport media report the enforced modifications to the Mustang’s shape have apparently halted studies to assess the feasibility of a Camaro joining the championship.
Organisers are even wondering about hybrid technology in a bid to stay relevant after the recent axing of the Falcon road car, GM-Holden’s switch to an Opel world car platform for its Commodore – and the lukewarm reception for the odd-looking Mustang race car
Also under consideration is the decline in gate numbers affecting categories all over the world. That in particular would be interesting reading here in Godzone. There’s more to be mused on that topic, but that is for another day.
2019 Supercars entry list: https://bit.ly/2N6Rf5C
Comments