Tomorrow will herald the end of the 2011 V8 Supercar Championship, with Vodafone 888 Racing’s Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup battling for the title. But the final round will also spell the official beginning of the new Car of the Future.
While three-time champion Lowndes and double-champion Whincup battle it out to add another feather to their over-achieving caps, a lot of attention will be payed to the news off the track: the official launch of the V8 Supercar Car of the Future.
The Car of the Future is a more standardised race car package that will hopefully make racing cheaper for the teams and better for the fans by closing the gap between Ford and Holden teams. The Car of the Future idea has already been successfully rolled out in NASCAR, where Ford, Toyota, Dodge and Chevrolet now all use the same chassis package to make the racing more even. It’s worked a charm for the series and has also been rolled out in the second-tier NASCAR series as well.
According to the V8 Supercars website “The Car of the Future will consist of a control floor plan and roll cage with minor variation to accommodate various bodywork. It will be easier to produce and come in a flat pack kit form. As V8SA has stated numerous times in the past, powerplants must be normally aspirated V8 configurations.”
These changes could potentially make it easier for new manufacturers to get involved in the Ford/Holden battle, with Mercedes, BMW, Nissan and Toyota being rumoured to be considering entering.
Web: Telstra 500/V8 Supercars Car of the Future
Damian Francis has previously edited Australian T3 and F1 Racing magazine and wrote for GQ Australia and Men’s Health. Unlike Nick and Trev, he has no kids, no mortgage and no wife, but lives happily on Sydney’s North Shore with his girlfriend.
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