June 7, 2019
#313
Gentle reader,
Firstly, and yes, that IS a word, thank you so much for taking the time to read my humble words and view the images, which are normally mine, but in this case were all found doing a search for Australian V8 Supercars. So, if you own any of these images, please contact me and I will credit them to you.
This photo is made for wallpaper, so I assume the person who made it won't mind.
What you see above is TWO Australian car maker's four door sedans racing in what USED to be called: Australian V8 Supercars despite that being blue and underlined, it is not a link, there will be links to follow at the end of this article.
Ford and GM until a year ago, both made cars in Australia, UN-like the United State's Ford and General Motors, they continued to make cars that had V8 engines and were rear wheel drive. The racers above are Ford Falcons and Holden Commodores.
One can buy in the US, cars made in Australia, no new ones now: Mercury Capri (1990-1994), Pontiac GTO (2004-2006), Pontiac G8 (2008-2009), Chevrolet Caprice PPV (years not found, but probably no longer made) and finally the Chevrolet SS (2013-2018). The G8 and SS were based upon the Holden Commodore.
I had a 1990 Capri XR2:
It was lots of fun for many years and I miss it.
NOTE: If
you are viewing this on a computer, clicking on any picture will open a
second window over this one. You can click through or use your right and
left arrow keys to look at the photos. They will be larger than seen
here. If you are viewing it on a device such as a phone or tablet, I do
not know if that works the same way.
What got NASCAR fans so excited in the olden days, enough so that the saying, "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" came about? Because NASCAR race cars were made FROM stock cars, right off of the assembly line. People saw Fords, Chevrolets, Dodges, Plymouths, Mercurys, Hudsons and other cars JUST like they drove to the races, duking it out right there on the track.
And sell, they did! In fact, NASCAR has rules, lots of them, to keep things fair, for sure, but also to eliminate cheaters. One rule, at least back in the late-1960's and early 1970's, was they had to sell, to the public, a minimum of 500 street versions of the ones being raced. Thus, Fastback Ford Torinos, Mercury Cyclones and Dodge Charger 500s plus the high-winged, pointed-nose Dodge Daytonas and Plymouth Superbirds could be driven right off of the showroom floor.
Supercars racers, like Formula 1, WEC (World Endurance Championship) and IMSA sports cars, and in fact most racing series, other than NASCAR and Indy, race in the rain. Here is a link to IMSA: IMSA | IMSA is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year.
In the IMSA Weathertech series, which is the latest name for what was made from a merging of The American Le Mans Series and NASCAR owned Daytona Prototype Series.
Below is an official ALMS image from the sole Cadillac Grand Prix of Washington, D.C., which fortunately, I attended. It WAS to be a ten year series, but the neighbors complained about the noise and the mayor caved.
I shot several rolls of film that day in 2002, but none have I scanned. As you can see, headlights. The Corvette in the background and other racers with roofs have wipers too. Those with doors, open and close.
Australian Supercars also have doors that open and close. They have lights and windshield wipers, just like real cars. They race in the rain. They don't have full-course-cautions for "debris" on the track that no one can see. They don't race on oval tracks. They don't have massive wrecks.
They too used to be made from real Australian Ford and GM cars, but starting sometime this century, they decided to require a standard chassis. One that both Ford and Holden bodies could be bolted on to the those chassis.
This is a photo from Ford of their Pony version of the 2019 Mustang. Note the shape.
Above is a Supercars 2019 season Ford Mustang racer. Note the shape, specifically the roofline and the hood's length compared to the street version.
Why is that, you may ask? The standard chassis adopted in 2012 for the 2013 season was made for four-door sedan bodies, AKA: Falcons and Commodores. To fit the Mustang to it, they had to make serious changes. There is talk of them using a Chevrolet Camaro, but no way it will fit...
By the way, the second tier NASCAR series, I have no idea what they call it, races "Mustangs" and Camaros". In quotes because ANYONE can clearly see they are NOT either of those cars. At least the Supercars version looks like a Mustang.
Unlike NASCAR, which long ago was racing STOCK cars. How a "stock" car could go almost 200 miles an hour, well, that's another story. But they did race cars modified from stock ones. In the 1960's they still had chrome trim, door handles, and other things they felt no need to remove, as seen below:
When Dodge got back into NASCAR in the 1990's, {BTW, the the "SC" in NASCAR stands for Stock Car} since we had a 1997 Dodge Stratus ES at the time, I decided to give NASCAR a try. But I just could not get into it. And based upon the massive loss of racing fans and sponsorships, the former both at the races and watching via TV, indicates that many more people are no longer interested in it.
So, what ARE the differences between NASCAR and Supercars? As mentioned above, they have working doors, lights and wipers. They race in the rain. They do not race on oval tracks. Like NASCAR, they used Ford and GM V8 engines, which had pushrods to open the valves. So, no racing without side windows with a net to protect the driver in case of a crash. Why did they race with no side windows anyway? Because to get in or out, the driver has to climb through the WINDOW opening. Supercars have windows, poly-carbonate ones, AND the cars LOOK like the street versions. Below are images of Supercars (they dropped the "Australian" in 2013 when they let other makers in) I pulled from these photos from Internet:
Mercedes are raced all over the world AND they make V8 engines for their street cars AND they are all rear wheel drive. Here's another one in action, below:
Volvo? I drive one, is not rear wheel drive nor do they have V8 engines. But here they are racing in the land down under. OK, you used to be able to get a V8 in the XC90, but it was made by Yamaha and it was transverse (sideways) in the engine bay.
No, it is not out of control. That's called bouncing off the curbs.
Nissan does make V8 engines and I suspect you can buy a two (rear) wheel drive Nissan pickup truck with one, but no sedans or coupes with anything larger than a V6, and they are all front wheel drive. Nissan's Infiniti and Toyota's Lexus may have V8 engines in their biggest cars, but I am not interested in them, so I do not know. I DO know there are no rear wheel drive, V8 engine Altimas on the street.
I have included this artist's rendering of a potential TURBO engine Supercar from Mazda. Since almost every car maker now uses turbocharged engines in their vehicles AND the big Aussie cars are no longer made, there is talk of allowing turbo engine racers compete.
I spoke about links, here are many to satisfy your desire to learn more about this interesting and exciting OZ racing series:
This too, is an artist's rendering. See how small the side windows are? Reviewers of Chevrolet Camaros have referred to them as "like driving a tank looking through slit windows".
I had an Audi TT which I loved, and I am not a typical overweight American male, being 6'3" but only 175 pounds. But, the side windows of TTs are so small that there is no way I could escape if it had plunged into a river.
I admit, I felt like I was wearing a large broad brimmed hat when I first test drove it. I miss it too.
That's it for my raving about NASCAR and praising Supercars. Thank you once again for taking the time for reading my humble blog. BTW, the TT and Capri photos are of my cars in my driveway.
Scott
June 7, 2019
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