V8's Oval Race Round @ ThunderDome

[IronLion]

hey im a newbie here so hello.

What do you guys think about having a round of V8's at the Thunder Dome?

I think it would be a great idea to help expand the series even more. Im all for pushing to expand overseas but lets look at whats new and not being used here first.

I thought i read Bob Jane was putting some money into the track to upgrade.

so what are your thoughts?????

[deeks6]

Tune into Channel 12 every week or two and you can see this...it's called NASCAR.

It goes like this...round and round and round and round and CRASH and stop and slow and go and round and round and round and CRASH...etc etc

[IronLion]

i dont mind oval racing. they tend to have alot more passing than in normal racing. 1 round a year wouldnt hurt any one. sure nascar gets samey but thats cause they do it every week.

[marcus]

welcome to the forum IronLion


would be interesting to see the V8's on an oval but i doubt it would happen , I remember the old combination of the oval they used to use vaguely maybe thats more of an option.

But calder is just about dead on its feet these days , they would need some big cash and work to fix the place up to run a round there these days.

But I like the idea

[Wrighty05]

What about what they had in '87 when they combined the oval with the road track?

[marcus]

thats what I ment Wrighty

a combo would probably better , sepnd a bit more money and they could upsize it

[IronLion]

i was too young to remember 87, but sounds interesting. is it simular to what they do at the US Grand Prix in F1 at indy??

[Wrighty05]

Sorry Marcus.

Yeah they ran a round of the World Touring Car Championship there the week after Bathurst that year. I think they went pust past the pits on the main straight, turned left, did most of the lap of the dome then hooked left again back on to the remainder of the main straigyt.

I think that's how it went but will happily stand corrected.

[PVDA]

Correct the link roads are still there but would need work as the exit from the dome back onto the flat track caused a few cars to go A over T due to the off camber nature of the corner.

Nothing money couldn't fix but considering AVESCO sued Calder and won and the tooing and froing since I don't think we will see the V8's within 20km of Calder (Albert Park is about 20km away).

[naughtymutt]

Dick Johnson took his V8SC around the 'dome for an article that appeared in Wheels or Street Machine. It scrapped the undertray all the way around. Max Dumsney and JSR also took their Nascar around calder road course.

[racer69]

The 'Grand Prix' circuit at Calder was an interesting addition to the WTCC in '87, i'm suprised it got FIA clearance, and from memory the top Internationals weren't really fans of the second link road (from the dome back to road circuit). From memory it was Prince Leopold who got T-boned by Winni Voght who rode along the outside wall on the hairpin approach..........

Hopefully Bob Jane's rejuvanated AUSCAR gets up and running again later this year, then we can see cars purpose built for the oval race there.

[Robert Ryan]

racer69 ,Like all Bob's ideas, I think this one will fail. Nonetheless Marshall Brewer's NASCAR racing school, might end up with a better track to race on

[Mattracer]

I dunno. Nascar has its appeal but the V8SC is a circuit racing discipline and a lot would have to change to accomodate that. It's never really taken off in this country for the mainstream- you know, what makes the six o'clock news crashes and what gets talked about in the pub. Daytona maybe but I'm not sure about Astralia. Daytona? For sure but that's the US and oval racing is a staple diet with that and the Indy 500. Here, it's Bathurst ie circuit racing. Hard to tell, hard to sell?

[Woody75]

Just for the record who actually won that 87 race at Calder

Also a week after??? Quick turnaround after bathurst

[single keel]

1: Steve Soper/Pierre Dieudonne (Sierra)
2: Roberto Ravgalia/Emanuele (M3)
3: Markus Ostreich/Roland Ratzenberger (M3)
4: Johnny Cecotto/Gianfranco Brancatelli (M3)
5: Glen Seton/George Fury (Skyline)
6: Larry Perkins/Denny Hulme (Commodore)
7: Annette Meeuvissen/Mercedes Stermitz (M3)
8: Peter Brock/David Parsons (Commodore)
9: Gary Scott/John French/Akihiko Nakaya (Starion)
10: Tony Noske/Gary Rush (Commodore)

The way it should be, 5 different makes in the top 10!

[Hazza]

Thoose Sierras - were they running the right equipment ? No dodgy wheels?

[racer69]

They were running in the same spec which they did at Bathurst, and at every round since the RS500 evolution of the Sierra since it was introduced at Brno in the Czech Republic, mid-way through the series. It also ran in the same spec at the Wellington street race two weeks later.

It was only on the Friday of the final round at Mt Fuji, Japan that FISA judged on the Bathurst protest, ruling that the Eggenberger Sierra's were disqualified from Bathurst.

But seeing as the only protest lodged against them was at Bathurst, they were only disqualified from Bathurst, despite running the Brno, Silverstone, Bathurst, Calder and Wellington rounds of the series in the same spec.

The changes were carried out in time for Saturday qualifying at Fuji, and on raceday the two Texaco cars were cruising one-two, before the Pierre Dieudonne/Steve Soper car got a puncture, dropping behind a local Sierra (non-registered and therefore not scoring points), and more importantly, behind Roberto Ravaglia's BMW M3. This would give Ravaglia 2nd place points (for finishing 3rd), and allowing him to clinch the title, as Klaus Ludwig/Klaus Neidzweidz, needed to win the race (which they did), but Ravaglia needed to finish no higher than third, which he did, but due to the interesting WTCC points rules (Thanks Bernie), Ludwig missed out on the title by a whisker.

If they hadn't been disqualified from Bathurst, Ludwig would have been crowned World Champ.

[DAVID PATERSON]

Originally posted by Robert Ryan
Like all Bob's ideas, I think this one will fail. Nonetheless Marshall Brewer's NASCAR racing school, might end up with a better track to race on

Yeah, what about the time when he decided to start a chain of tyre stores? Sheesh, what was he thinking, what a disaster that turned out to be.

[Hapul]

Hi IronLion (i'm in the same boat)

anyway, i agree totally, exspasion - but...oval racing isn't great but you never know!

[Dobbo89]

Originally posted by deeks6
Tune into Channel 12 every week or two and you can see this...it's called NASCAR.

It goes like this...round and round and round and round and CRASH and stop and slow and go and round and round and round and CRASH...etc etc

Normally, I would refuse to take the bait over NASCAR, but this is different. Sonoma This Week Deeks6.

Anyone that thinks NASCAR is round round crash stop and go slow has no idea how the discipline of the driver is so much different, and how the engineers are harder worked. in the case of F1 engineers they may always chase a dream with unbtainiam, nascar engineers have to find better ways with gear they have been using for over 20-30 years.

But then again, like deeks6 you all should tune in this week, they are at one of the two road circuits they visit each year, Sonoma, not watkins glen. And they promise to use local yellows instead of full course ones. NASCAR really doesnt need these two events, and they are probably very expensive to teams that must build short and intermediate track and super-speedway cars. Then to have to build a road circuit car! blaahhhhh!

But I think one of the most important things is re-inforcing, to the fans with the blinkers on, That their favorite Nascar driver is the worlds best because he can do both circuit and oval, maybe increasing series loyalty.

One good thing about a V8SC oval race would be to show the Yanks we arent just following their lead with our series, we can actually can do a lot better, from the racing to the race control, why not put it on a saturday night, keep it non-championship but ensure a big enough TV carrot is dangled to attract all, (I am sure avesco can handle ten, why not put it around the Monaco gp and have a motorsport fest till the early morning hours) not only that, perhaps the promotors business could put up $1mil as total combined prize money for all races, (perhaps on condition calder gets a look in for a round with all the new pit area and newly resurfaced track blaa blaa) and run it like a speedway meet with heats and mains then a final. Konica guys should be eligable, on a premise that if they perform they can meet the top guys at the final. as now they cant do the bathurst 1000 a prime tv slot may help to retain sponsers, while on that subject, Even if a top team re-painted a 3 yr old konica chassis and entered both top drivers and then persisted with the god-awful complusary pitstopthat now also becomes a driver change, which has been done before, but also give good practise under race conditions before the enduros. Or perhaps a Konica driver should have to pair with a V8 SC full time driver, could help with evaluating which driver is suited to whom for bathurst.

Just one more thing about tyres and safety car stops, how about the teams that elect to change tyres under safety car conditions must take on used tyres, the ones that change tyres under green conditions may take on new, I think that would be good for over taking.

[Seton Fanatic]

An Oval racing event for V8 Supercars would be inhumanly expensive. There would need to be significant aerodynamic modifications, especially to the front spoiler which would have to be reduced to avoid consistent spoiler breakage and punctures. The cars would have to be virtually rebuilt in order to cope with the constant G-Forces created under the stress of Oval Racing. The logistics of switiching to an Oval Racing template would simply take too much time and money for it to be considered. The Americans are able to cope because of their large economy and smaller travelling distances. Australia's economic environment would make it extremely difficult for a conversion of this magnitude to go ahead.

[Dobbo89]

Seton Fanatic, you are very right, as I couldn't find anyone in government around there that would give TC a couple of Mil$ to force the teams to do it. All jokes aside, Since you mentioned it, it was stupid of me not to take into account that it is a control tyre designed for current circuit needs, not oval, but as for the oval template, that is why I suggested the teams rehashing a related konica car, not their own topline ones. But since oval is out of the question, perhaps a race meet similar to the one I described being held at a track that V8SC teams cannot test at and do not race at?

And by the way, I also want Glenn to win Bathurst myself, Hence I live in the rose coloured world of all the engine failures of late in his team are due to using aged components in an effort to find whats going to break at bathurst and what isn't. Please do not cloud that dream.

[Seton Fanatic]

I won't, don't you worry. I have a few rosy-coloured dreams about Glenn and Bathurst, but we'll save those for an appropriate time.

[Robert Ryan]

David,
That is the only thing he got right !! Even those are struggling.He has cheesed off the Drag Racing fraternity, destroyed his own Superspeedway competitors; had a legal battle with AVESCO and ANDRA; wants to take on CAMS over sanctioning; started the Futureracers catergory, which is struggling to go anywhere. Bob has great ideas: terrible execution.