Why it’s time for Australia’s V8 Supercars to switch to NASCAR

COMMENT

It’s time to change gears in Australia’s top motorsport category.

V8 Supercars appears to be running out of car brands who want to go racing in the wake of the end of local manufacturing and the golden Ford versus Holden era.

This is not a criticism of the work behind the scenes from the people who have steered the category through the recent twists and turns.

And this is not a criticism of the efforts of key figures such as champion racer Mark Skaife and champion team owner Roland Dane who have tried to drag the sport into the modern era.

But the reality is there is a simple solution to save the category, by making our top tier racing more affordable – and more attainable – for more teams and drivers. And opening it up to a bigger audience.

It’s called NASCAR and it is the world’s most popular ‘tin-top’ racing category.

In the US, NASCAR has the backing of three of the world’s biggest automotive brands – Toyota, Ford and Chevrolet – and dozens of teams at various levels of expertise and budgets.

According to well placed motorsport experts, the cost of a NASCAR is roughly one-third the cost of a V8 Supercar. Some say a NASCAR is even cheaper than this estimate.

This would significantly reduce the cost of participation for the teams – which means they wouldn’t have to chase as many millions of dollars in sponsorship every year – plus the way the rules are designed, NASCAR delivers closer racing.

The new-generation NASCARs are already technically similar to the latest generation V8 Supercars.

(Yes, I know the category is now simply called ‘Supercars’ but it’s too generic a term – it reminds me of Ferraris and Porsches, not V8s – plus most fans still call them ‘V8 Supercars’, and every vehicle on the grid is a V8).

Both NASCAR and V8 Supercars have a sequential gearbox running through a transaxle (which means the V8 engine is at the front and the gearbox is at the rear for better weight balance), but the bodies and suspension are significantly different.

In the case of NASCAR, they’re simpler and more robust designs than V8 Supercars – even if the vehicles do look a bit slab-sided.

The harsh reality is, Australia can no longer afford to have the luxury of a domestic motorsport category – we need to align with a global power.

What better place to start than the best ‘tin-top’ racing category on the planet: NASCAR?

We could revive Bob Jane’s Thunderdome – run an oval race there, plus later in the series a combination of the road course and the oval, known as a ‘ro-val’ in the parlance – as well as the usual street races and road courses around Australia.

In case you’re wondering, the international GT3 and GT4 categories aren’t really options as a V8 Supercar replacement in my opinion.

The GT3 and GT4 cars are too exotic, and with their massive wings the cars look glued to the road. Boring.

In comparison, NASCARs are loose. They slide, they lean and they struggle to get their power down. The drivers hate it, especially on road courses. The fans love it.

The other option: if we’re going to live in the past, let’s really live in the past and go back to the last of the homegrown Falcon v Commodore era.

Going back to a historic moment in time, the 2017-era cars would blend nostalgia with the epic sound of crisp V8s crackling through the air.

For now, though, such an idea is only a dream.

The easiest, quickest and best solution for Australia’s premiere motorsport category: we need to stand on NASCAR’s shoulders and join forces with the biggest show in the world.

Bringing NASCAR to Australia would also open the door to some epic wildcard driver entries.

We could send some Aussie drivers to the US for headline races, and some of the top drivers from the US could come and race here in our long distance events.

The opportunities are endless. Plus, there’s no way America will let NASCAR die. The category will always have cars to go racing in.

How many V8 Supercar teams would consider switching to a Camry-based NASCAR if they thought they could get Toyota on board as a sponsor? Or use a Toyota Camry NASCAR to appeal to a sponsor not currently in V8 Supercars?

What doors would open up to Australian race teams if they knew some or all of an Australian NASCAR series would be broadcast in the US?

The lower cost of entry to NASCAR would give more grass roots teams – and drivers – a chance at the big time too.

Back in the day, I used to cover V8 Supercars as a reporter and stayed glued to the TV for years after I stopped covering the races and moved to mainstream motoring journalism.

But I lost track of V8 Supercars – and the next generation of drivers – years ago.

Even though I am a car enthusiast and a motorsport fan (F1 and NASCAR coverage on Kayo soak up my motorsport viewing time these days) I couldn’t name half the field on today’s V8 Supercar grid.

And that’s the point.

If V8 Supercars aren’t grabbing my attention – someone who should be watching every race – and I feel no great loss for missing the championship season (I tune in for the Bathurst 1000 and that’s it these days), then who else isn’t watching V8 Supercars?

It’s time for V8 Supercars to make the same reset the category undertook in the 1990s when it transitioned from the Australian Touring Car Championship.

It’s time for a new category to get the hearts of Australian motorsport fans racing. Such as an already proven motorsport formula that delivers close and affordable racing (compared to V8 Supercars), and opens Australia to a new global audience: NASCAR.