- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
Next year will see the start of the new Car of the Future regulations in V8 Supercars, and with it, the injection of new manufacturers.
While those who actively follow motorsport week in and week out believe that the changes will be a good influence for the series, both on and off the track, it seems to be the common fan, who occasionally takes in the racing, that may feel alienated about the move.
While observing the reaction to some of these fans when they hear the news that Nissan will be joining the series as of 2013, the first thing blurted out is something along the lines of, “They can’t do that! It’s always been Holden and Ford! That’s…”
Kelly Racing has already learnt this first-hand, receiving hate mail and abusive phone calls from fans for switching allegiance to Nissan from next season.
Then again, that just shows the attitude of these fans, because little do they know, the sole Holden versus Ford rivalry has only been since 1994. In fact, in the very first series in 1960, Ford was nowhere to be found, with the championship contested by Holdens, a few Jaguars, and other manufacturers dabbling in the series, including Fiat, Morris Major/Austin, Peugeot and Wolseley.
However, in the latter years of multiple manufacturers, parity rules weren’t as existent as they are now, meaning that there were some demolishing drives from those such as Mark Skaife in the Winfield Skyline.
But maybe these fans who dabble in their support of the category do have a point. Next season, it will have been 20 years since Nissan last competed in the ATCC/V8SC, meaning that there’s a generation of people out there brought up with a Holden versus Ford mentality.
So the challenge for V8 Supercars and Nissan is to drum up support for Nissan, and having them take charge of Kelly Racing, a reasonably competitive team while with Holden, looks like a good move to do this.
The move looks to bring the series to a high international standing, something that V8 Supercars has been slowly moving towards over the past few years, with the Gold Coast ‘international’ event, and the introduction of international races (outside of Australia and New Zealand) such as Shanghai in 2005, Bahrain in 2006-08 and 2010, Abu Dhabi since 2010. Finally, as of next year, there will a round at the new Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.
The international changes that V8 Supercars Chairman Tony Cochrane has dubbed as “Phase Two” looks like it should benefit the series, and lessen the pressure on Holden and Ford as the sole manufacturers in the championship, particularly with Ford who have been slowly reducing their factory support from teams, as shown with Team Vodafone’s switch to Holden.
With more manufacturers in the sport, we should still continue to see competitive racing. And if the move raises the standard of our series even further, as well as raise sales across the board, we could be set for some great racing in the coming seasons.
Looking for great odds on racing and sport? Get into the action with PlayUp today. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.