Next V8 Supercar international round?

[fpv_gtho]

After a highly successful round in Shanghai, V8 Supercar's first round outside of the Oceania region (NZ rounds have been present for many years now and featured as part of the championship since 2001 IIRC), AVESCO, the governing body of V8 Supercars, are fast-tracking development of further international events for as soon as next year. Whilst events such as Bahrain and Sepang are the major talking points, i think after providing the great show in China, the sport needs to crack into Europe or the US. AVESCO has an agreement with the teams for no more than 14 rounds, 10 of which must be held inside of Australia, which allows a further 2 international rounds with a future NZ round and Shanghai contractually secure for the next few years. So the question begs, where would you like to see them?

[whiteballz]

i think road america. i dont see the V8's at laguna seca because its an ugly track :P

but road america from my memory is a good size and mix of corner camber etc. fuji speedway was a close second though

EDIT: where do YOU see them FPV?

[fpv_gtho]

I picked Laguna Seca (ah so so many nicknames for that track) and Silverstone. Knockhill's hairpin would be interesting though

[ruim20]

Estoril Why isnt that in the poll?!?!

[WyleECoyote]

They need to go where they (Holden & Ford) are marketed too, e.g. Bahrain. I am fairly certain Holden exports the Commodore to Bahrain badged as a Chevy Lumina. I don't know where, or if Ford export the Falcon.
For the series to go too far overseas (Europe, USA) there would be a huge time delay on when the races would be broadcast. A Sunday race in USA would end up being shown at some ungodly hour on a Monday morning.
Breaking into the American market would be tough, hell the Pontiac GTO as I understand isn't doing that well over there. Also, the yanks already have a premier tin top class......NASCAR.....and the racing in that series is a lot closer than in V8 Supercars.
Well, those are my opinions anyway.

[fpv_gtho]

Well based on current markets, Bahrain, UK, US and South Africa would be the best place to go as the Commodore is badged as a Chev Lumina in SA and the middle east, UK has the Vauxhll Monaro and the US has the GTO. So far Ford only exports the Falcon to the direct Pacific region, and the Territory to SA. They once exported the Falcon to SA, but they ended that with the AU

[2ndclasscitizen]

Europe has lots of touring cars and i dont know how popular it is but i reckon V8s would go down well

[2ndclasscitizen]

Actually as well, did anybody see the inside of Winterbottoms's car? That drain cracked the ROLL CAGE IN HALF!!!! It ripped open the floor like a tin can! Crompton was in the pits when it came in, he said the cover was so heavy he could hardly pick it up!

[fpv_gtho]

Yeah, thank god for those carbon fibre seats

Looking back at the poll though, it seems Laguna Seca is a definate must have, followed by Road America and surprisingly, both Suzuka and Hockenheim. I wouldve thought the presence of DTM and JGTC might have dulled the desire to see the V8's race there.

As an indication though at how successfully the Shanghai race went, Chinese race officials ar quietly talking the event to soon eclipse the F1 round for popularity as the F1 race is predicted to attract smaller crowds, whilst the V8 round is predicted to get bigger crowds each year.

[Falcon500]

Out of the choices i guess ill go with Fuji always like the place and i love raceing on it in the touring car game i have....wether or not itll take off in the land of the rising sun is the queastion here.

And im a little suprised monza is doing soo poorly :O

[fpv_gtho]

You could well imagine 32 cars going down that long straight at 300km/h then the heavy braking into the first corner hairpin would be a great spectacle.....

[Falcon500]

well if they have their head screwd on correctly it wont be quite a specticle....good thing we arnt short of first lap heros in this catigory

[fpv_gtho]

true but even still, given how flexible the rules are over brakes, theres the possibility of gaining alot of time under such extreme braking, Murphy used that to his avantage at Bathurst in 03 afterall with the better brake compounds, but needed the 2nd brake change as a consequence

[Falcon500]

Well the same thing didnt work for ambrose or ingall last year.....its just how things pan out...being a sprint race the speed would probly be more of an advantage maybey....and i guess its all a matter of how hard the rest of the course would be on breaks too i guess.

[fpv_gtho]

i think having being stuck with ritter and mclean, they more wanted to maintain pedal feel than performance, but i reckon Ambrose had it in the bag before his tyres f^cked up at the end