V8 Supercars has an identity crisis. As it looks to the future and the possibility of a move away from the V8 engine platform to stay relevant to a changing automotive industry, its branding will come under the spotlight.
CEO James Warburton is currently preparing a white paper for the technical regulations of the series from 2017 and beyond, post-Holden and Ford local production and the demise of V8-powered Commodores and Falcons.
Everything will be up for debate, according to Warburton, including body shapes in order to allow coupes such as the Ford Mustang to race in the series. There also could be a possible engine rethink that includes alternatives to V8 power.
Manufacturers potentially interested in or new to the series have struggled to comply with the V8 engine requirements. Nissan and Volvo don’t sell the road-going versions of their V8 Supercars with V8 engines, having been forced to develop disused or other power plants to go racing.
So if V8 Supercars looks to smaller capacity, more efficient and market relevant engines, it will need a name change; a process that could happen next year according to reports this week – accelerating a move away from the title introduced in 1997.
The rush for a new title comes as V8 Supercars gets to set to change media partners in 2015, with Foxtel and Channel Ten promising increased coverage in a deal significantly up from a financial perspective than the current arrangement.
Name changes are never ideal, as you lose brand traction and risk confusing the market with something too far removed from what the series is currently known as. Bearing that in mind, V8 Supercars has two options.
The first option is a return to the pre-1997 Australian Touring Car Championship (ATCC), or the simply Australian Touring Cars (ATC), the official award handed out to the championship-winning driver.
Other touring car categories haven’t deviated from their official titles – British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), NASCAR (National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing), Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters (DTM, German Touring Car Masters) and so on.
It may not have the vitality of V8 Supercars but it keeps things simple with a traditional name that will be relevant to the technical package with or without V8 engines.
The second option seems the most obvious and easiest, dropping the V8 and simply calling it Supercars or a variation of that name.
More vibrant than the Australian Touring Car Championship, Supercars is less of a departure from the current title and is still relevant, considering the cars are racing bred with the appearance of their road-going versions.
Supercars would also be an easier pill to swallow for hardcore fans, who will no doubt bemoan the loss of V8 engines.
But V8 Supercars needs to tread very carefully as it looks to rework its technical package and branding. Adapting to a new-look Australian automotive industry may be key to secure manufacturer support, but a move away from its current and well-liked package could alienate the hardcore fans.
This was the problem with the V8 Supercars name and insistence on the Ford versus Holden-only platform – it failed to safeguard the future of the series by focusing so heavily on two aspects that could change.
As we’ve seen in the last two seasons, new manufacturers have been welcomed and added to the spectacle. Changing the technical package and name of the series may be a harder sell…
Martyn
Guest
The name change could be something like- V8 Supercars no support the the average Australian! As it will certainly fail on the over riced Foxtel, because most Australian would not want to pay for any form of TV!
Alex
Guest
I think the move to pay tv will kill the sport I won't be getting Foxtel. I fact I can't get Foxtel where I live we have Austar and my land lord won't let me fit a satellite dish so I won't be watching. I want to know how can Foxtel get around the anti syphoning laws which require that all the V8 races be show on free to air tv first? Channel 10 plans to show delayed highlights of the races not shown live surly this breaks the anti syphoning laws?
Br05cky
Guest
I know they have been used before: Austcar championship serries OzCar championship serries
V805
Guest
In it's current format V8 Supercars is arguably the most competitive motorsport in the world. We have adopted some NASCAR ideas and so too they have also adopted the new body shapes in a similar fashion to V8 Supercars. But they too have Toyota Camry's racing with V8 engines and to change a format that is working so well just to attempt to replicate what is driven on our roads is crazy given they are so far from what we drive on the roads already anyway. We accepted other manufactures into the sport to assist in future proofing it and although they do not sell road going vehicles with 5.0 litre V8's they still came to the category to compete against the other brands. I'm not sure of the sales stats myself but I see more Nissan Altimas, Volvo's and 'Mercedes cars on the Australian road network now than I have ever noticed before and to me that means the V8 Supercars category has brought more attention and awareness to the presence of these brands despite the fact that the road cars are different to the race cars. Drop the V8 and I'm sure you'll risk dropping a lot of your fans. I struggle to recall the last time Formula One was ever this competitive. Don't try and fix what isn't broken.
nordster
Guest
Id like to see it incorporated into the Supercars family, and race weekend. So keep V8 Supercars as is but introduce GT Supercars under the same banner/event. Would cater for a broader audience and give me a reason to go again at least hehe
nordster
Guest
They are similar arent they, racing in a queue;) Although it conjures up images of oval racing for most aussies. I think they have a strong 'Supercars' brand and shouldnt throw that away too lightly. Maybe my OzSupercars suggestion is a little lame. What about multiple Supercars series on the same weekend? V8 Supercars... GT Supercars... Hot hatch Supercars...the name needs work, yes... Any other variation u can think of Supercars... Etc etc
FrozenNorth
Guest
It's called GT Production racing, no one watches, anywhere in the world, unless it's uber exotics and it's a mess of weight penalties and homologation arguments.
Paul
Guest
Would anyone be opposed to "NASCAR Australia", or even "Aussie NASCAR"? Just thought I'd ask.
Paul
Guest
Just to let you know, NASCAR adopted an ability to vary the body slightly to reflect current auto manufacturer marketing when they got a threat from the automakers of pulling out if they didn't change the rules. The current models are: Ford Fusion, Chevrolet SS and Toyota Camry. I'm sure that future models will be introduced as time goes on. Just a little head's up from the USA..
sd4f
Guest
Bring back series production! Don't care if they're not made here (since they won't) but have homologation and limited number of modifications permitted to make them safer and better for racing (but nothing that can't be done to an ordinary car). None of this purpose built race cars, it's boring. I want to see the cars that you can buy, raced, not some custom made unique race car that has absolutely nothing in common with the production car. Can differentiate car categories by retail price as well. That will help ensure that certain cars can win their division, whilst not being outright fastest. Either it has to be absolutely exotic (like F1 or lemans prototypes) or try to base it on reality. My whole problem with the V8 supercars is that you couldn't tell the cars apart, and it was for the most part just a procession. When the cars themselves were essentially all the same (using repco 5000 engines, for and holden) with the same gearboxes and diffs, you just know the marque rivalry is largely superficial.
Chris
Guest
Lose the V8 engines, and she's dead. Period. It won't matter what you call it.
nordster
Guest
I agree, im not a fan of the v8s at all but it would be lunacy to kill it off. Id maintain the v8s but just add a couple of extra tiers with different size cars. That way they are hedging their bets, branding wise. It would bring some different racing under the Supercars banner so if and when v8s are scrapped there is something already there to segue into.
Jeff
Guest
Changing V8's to V6 engines will kill the sport, just look what it has done to F1 racing.
Bakkies
Guest
Australian Taxi Racing Championships.
sennaQLD
Guest
I can just see the teams loving the idea of starting new again.They cant fill the grid at Bathurst now.
sennaQLD
Guest
Call it the FOXTEL CUP.not that we all get 2 see it.
FrozenNorth
Guest
Pie in the sky stuff. That's borderline GT Production car racing and ALWAYS ends in massive shit fights as one marque barrels off into the distance. It's boring, becomes way too complicated to police and ends in tears EVERY single time. Nice idea, i'd love it but it simply does not work.
nordster
Guest
OzSupercars... AussieSupercars... Interesting that Warburton is getting on the front foot on this one. As far as the tiers of the series exist now, maybe this is a way of encouraging different engine sizes and capacities. So instead of multiple V8 tiers as is the case currently. So maintain a V8 class, but add some smaller categories...all under the OzSupercars banner...means there could be the bigger cars and some sportier class races for us eurosnobs. More content for the new tv partners also.
Rudi
Guest
Rather than work out the name, what about working out the field criteria first as this is most likely to let you know what sort of vehicles you will be dealing with and ensure that they do not pigeon hole or exclude potential manufacturers from the start? Personally, I would like to see the series go back to more of a manufacturers competition where: * Any body type * Any drive type/engine layout * Any aspiration * Fixed power/weight ratios * Factory doors, roofs, boot (whatever is not covering the engine), glass (if regs allow this?) * Factory fitted, modified engines * Factory fitted, modified gearboxes and transmissions i.e. keep the transmission type; auto, manual, DSG but modify internals for racing * Factory fitted wheel packages - same weight and width as showroom but material, style and tyre brand is optional but must be 'off the rack' * Universal fuel capacity and metering - similar to current F1 regs where cars can't burn more than x amount of fuel per lap/distance * Universal fuel type - sponsor please * Regenerative/electric/hybrid technologies allowed - but must adhere to same fuel capacity/usage guidelines * Must be available for purchase in Australia With these details (and many other I have probably not thought of) sorted, coming up with a suitable name becomes easier or at least more encompassing: Australian Future Tourers Australian Sports Tourers Peoples Championship Series
Jawad Yaqub
Roar Guru
Going off what Brett suggests, how about the 'Australian SuperTourers Championship'?