January 21, 2023
#461
Gentle reader,
I entered the world of simulation (car) racing way back with a PC racing game titled "Test Drive Le Mans". I quickly concluded that I HAD to have a steering wheel and pedals to do it properly.
Simulation racing has come a long way since those early days. I am probably one of the oldest virtual racers out there, being 66 and having been driving in the real world almost fifty years.
I came across this still image, likely made by the game designers, of Kiwi (New Zealander) Scott McLaughlin's 2014 Volvo S60 V8 Supercar.
The name, "supercar" causes most people to think of exotic sports cars, which is what I thought it stood for too, before stumbling across the iconic South Pacific racing series on YouTube. I have put links below to several web sites which relate to the sport and/or tell the history of it.
The sport evolved from "Touring Cars" racing, a worldwide racing series which most fans love because the cars roaring around race circuits are street cars modified to race. "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" has been a positive side effect of "stock car" racing which touring car racing qualifies as. Back in the late 1990's here in North America we too had it. It was called NATCC. Manufacturers got involved and I got interested in it because the sole US car maker was Dodge with a pair of Stratus racers. Which is what I was driving at the time.
Years ago, I came across these three images of a diecast model car of David (son of legendary Marc) Donohue's #8 NATCC Dodge Stratus.
Now, many hear "stock car racing" and think of NASCAR. Sadly, there is NOTHING stock on a NASCAR racer. Prior to the 1980's race cars were still made from STOCK cars. People in the stands or watching it on TV could relate because (like in touring cars) the cars they see racing LOOK exactly like what might be in their garage or in the parking lot of the race track.
Supercars is what NASCAR could be, if it actually tried to mimic REAL cars. Supercars look exactly like what they are supposed to be: Actual street cars. The grilles, headlights, taillights, mirrors and a few other things are actual factory parts. ALL four doors open, the lights works and they have a windshield wiper because rain does not stop a Supercars race.
From the beginning of the series, it was "Australian V8 Supercars". Because the only cars that could be raced were Australian made Ford Falcons and (General Motors) Holden Commodores. The latter were later sold in the US as: Pontiac G8s, Chevrolet Caprice (police cars) and lastly as Chevrolet's SS.
Then, around 2010, Supercars came up with a new chassis design and invited other car makers to join in the race series. Mercedes Benz accepted with their C63 AMG, Nissan with their Altima and Volvo with their S60. ALL cars are four door sedans in the real world and in the races.
Now, most Mercedes Benz cars are rear-wheel-drive and many come with their V8 engines. Nissan and Volvo also made V8 engines, but most of their cars were (and still are) front-wheel-drive. Nissan's V8 engines were in their big SUVs and pickup trucks. Volvo's V8 was designed and built by Yamaha (just as Ford's SHO Taurus V8/V6 engines and the original Corvette ZR-1 16-valve V8 engines were) and were an option in the S80 sedans and XC90 large SUVs. But, like in the Taurus, they were mounted "transverse" (sideways) in the engine bay, as seen below.
A friend's Volvo XC90's V8 engine.
Polestar, is now Volvo's elite (and electric) car line but was an independent modifier of Volvo cars and engines and built Volvo race cars. Thus, Volvo hired them to modify the engines (above) and build/race the S60 V8 Supercars in the 2014/2015 seasons.
Photo from the 2015 Supercars season with Scotty Mclaughlin "bouncing in off the kerbs" in a race. Obviously, this is the car rendered in Forza 6 image at the top of the article.
Two of the Mercedes Benz C63 AMG racers from the same seasons.
Two of the several Nissan Altima Supercars which outlasted Mercedes Benz and Volvo in the series.
Nissan cars were chosen by a number of teams that raced Fords or Holdens, while only one team chose Mercedes cars for a team of two. Just as only a pair of Volvos were raced.OK, now that I have shown real V8 Supercars let me get to the V8 Supercars which were offered in Forza Motorsports 4, the only game in the series I have raced in.
Note the bright car numbers on the rear doors and left side of the windshield.
Part of the appeal of Microsoft's iconic racing series is the level of realism they put into everything. Note how these five Fords (and the five Holdens below) are rated at R3 709. That equates to the approximately 640 horsepower the real cars are limited to.
Modifying them up to R3 800 gives them over 900 horsepower and the ability to reach 205 MPH which equates to almost 330 KMH!
Note the lack of car numbers on this Falcon and the Commodore below. I believe that Forza does not allow putting things on the car's glass.
Thanks to the thousands of skilled artists within the Forza community, one can enjoy realistic liveries such as this one of a DJR/Penske Falcon. The team later changed to Mustangs once Ford of Australia ceased producing Holden cars.
Also of note, Penske hired Scott McLaughlin to join their team in a Mustang and he won the championship THREE times in a row! Penske later brought him to the US to race on his Indy cars team. He has done very well in the series.
Again, note the bright car numbers on the rear doors and left side of the windshield.
These are the five team cars one can choose from in Forza Motorsports 4. Obviously, there are a lot more than five teams in the series. Since there is a Volvo in FM6, I can assume there are far more available in later versions of the series.
Again, at least one artist captured the new livery for the 2015 500 KM race at Sandown, in which Microsoft sponsored a Supercars team.
Here is a Holden Commodore Supercars engine. It is missing the ducting which directs air to the eight individual intake tubes seen here.
Since only Ford and GM racers are available, and I am far from being the only fan of Volvo racing, several talented artists captured Volvo's livery quite well.
This particular artist compensated by placing number 33 on the C pillars.
If FM4 had offered the Volvo V8 engine as a swap into the S60, it might be able to be close in performance to an R3 800 modified Supercar.
Since this Mercedes Benz C63 AMG is equipped with a V8 engine from the factory, it is much faster than the Volvo.
FM4 does not offer any modern sedan from Nissan except this Sentra which is a smaller car than the Altima. Yet, with an engine swap and turbocharging, this little thing will perform very high in the R3 category.
Now, Volvo was, and is, involved in Touring Cars racing series and others around the world.
They read the BTCC (British) rule book very carefully and found no mention that the cars had to be saloons (sedans) so, they prepared two estates (wagons) to race instead!
These two images of both cars within the team, show just how low they sit and how little suspension travel they have compared to street cars. |
| Note the lack of any spoilers on the cars. This image is in a Volvo museum. |
Some images of my 1:43rd scale Volvo 850 diecast car models.
The real cars really do sit this low.
Lastly, about Volvos: I drive a 2005 V50 T5 M66. What those numbers mean is: V is for "Versatile", or wagon/estate. Cars numbered (then): 30, 40, 50 & 70 were P1 chassis and thus compact cars. C30s and C70s were two-doors with the latter being offered as convertibles. Larger Volvo models (then) were #s 60, 70, 80 and 90 and were built on larger chassis and thus midsize or large cars. "T" (then) stood for Turbocharged engines. "5" (then) meant it has a five-cylinder engine. "M" meant manual transmission and "66" meant a six-speed transmission.
Now, recovering from my overenthusiastic tangent, let me get back to RACING V8 Supercars. Within FM4, there are (at least) two Supercars-only series. They also can race in Ford-only race car series. And of course, any R3 race series within the game.
Stock at R709, you are going to lose, no matter how good you are. Thus, do a quick modification to R800. The game will ask if you want to be automatically upgraded the first time you try to enter a R800 race.
Just the other day, I was racing online around the Nürburgring Nordschleife in the Xbox Holden shown above. Along the start/finish straight, I was doing 204 MPH! The thrill of racing purpose-built (verses us modifying stock cars to race) race cars is the excellent handling, cornering, braking and acceleration that only real race cars can give.
As noted in the beginning of this article, I can't race without a steering wheel and pedals.
This a 42" LG HDTV which I use. Originally using a Samsung 32" HD monitor. Note the map of the Nürburgring Nordschleife above, left.
My ever-loving-and-supportive wife, bought me a gaming chair. Those are were worn GEOX driving shoes. I wore out my original Piloti driving shoes racing.Black T-shirt supports a lumbar cushion which is necessary for me. I also built and added a thigh support to the front of the chair.An aerial photograph of the Nürburgring Nordschleife which better shows the elevation changes of the circuit and whit is within and without the iconic race circuit.
To conclude, if you haven't tried V8 Supercars, what are you waiting for? They are hard to see out of due to the rollbar tube which angles down right to left. So, I chose to see with just the car's hood and (added by game designer) large rearview mirror. They have very torquey V8 engines and I find I must utilize the traction control while racing anything S-Class or higher.
And, now, as promised, some links for you to explore more about Supercars series and their history:
Thank you for taking the time to read this very long article. I hope you learned some things from it and are now anxious to try our Australian V8 Supercars and/or modifying some four-door sedans within the Forza world to see if they can compete like I have.
Scott Robb
January 21, 2023
#461
