TBK-Light.com

http://www.touringcartimes.com/2016/05/ ... -the-cars/

Welp, Cyan is taking the cars and engines back after the 2016 season,s o this just is going wonderfully.

Well that's some great fucking news. That leaves only Holden and Nissan with factory support, and while I can see Holden continuing (even if it's only with Red Bull) I don't know about Nissan to be honest.

Part of this has to be the identity of V8 Supercars and the fact they're still currently a V8 category, even if they've finally dropped the V8 in the name and will be running other engines in the future. You can't really base your series on a V8 identity and still expect international manufacturer support. Why would Polestar/Volvo continue spending money on a national V8 category when they don't actually sell any V8s?

Once Holden and Ford announced the end of local manufacture they should have either planned the future of a V8 series without manufacturer support or immediately dropped the V8 and prioritised a switch to NGTC, Super 2000 or Super GT regs. I would have much rather seen the former; the strength of V8 Supercars is its unique identity, and just because everyone is now buying 2 litre hybrids doesn't mean that's what they want to see racing.

_________________

This is pretty much it. And I'm slightly doubtful that bringing in new engines is really going to help, as while there will be more road relevance I'd imagine it will still require a lot of development time and manufacturer investment.


I totally agree with this, although a series purely for smaller 4-cylinder touring cars in Australia might work quite well as a support category for V8 Supercars or the Shannons Nationals if it was cheap and/or the racing was exciting.

In conclusion, all I know for certain is that the next few years are going to be interesting and perhaps even disastrous for Australian touring car racing.

I take comfort in the belief that racing will always exist, even if the corporate money behind it goes away. The vast majority of Australian racing has no manufacturer support, sponsorship funding or even decent tv coverage, but its future is secured by the passion of its participants and the fact it doesn't cost a bomb to run a race. Maybe Supercars will have to re-learn how to do this.

_________________

No idea if it's going to be any good as far as actual racing is concerned, but the new Toyota 86 series looks like it will at least have a lot of cars:
http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/05/06/toyota-86-series-announces-bumper-35-car-grid/

Interesting interview with Garry Rogers about the whole Volvo situation, sounds like Volvo have been complete twats

http://www.v8supercars.com.au/videos/ch ... 25774626=1

_________________
"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

Garry Rogers still thinks he can run the Volvos next year as a privateer:
http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/05/07/rogers-still-determined-run-volvos-2017/

Also a Geelong street race which was supposedly in the stages of development has been rejected by the Victorian government:
http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/05/07/government-rejects-geelong-v8-street-race/

What a call from Lowndes' team, Chad Knaus would be proud of that

Awesome race and a great strategy call for lowndes. That rain at the end would have had hearts racing.

Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk

The end of that race was brilliant. Imagine if the rain had come a couple of laps earlier.

It looked like Lowndes was playing a game on the easiest difficulty at the end there. Great call.

_________________
Check out the Touring Car Driver Database! (if you'd be so kind)
Motorsport playlists on YouTube

they had a photo finish in the Dunlop Series race today

Murphy back behind the wheel this weekend in one of the practice sessions. Rumored to be a one-off even though Erebus doesn't have any co-drivers set yet (I wish Murph would give Bathurst and the enduros another go like Ingall)
http://www.supercars.com/news/championship/murph-is-back?sf26410770=1

Tim Slade got his first V8 win after 10 years in the series, McLaughlin leads the championship now.

_________________

So according to James Warburton, Sandown will "inevitably" disappear as a motor racing venue by 2019, due to its owners selling it off and the land being redeveloped. Winton may also go, based on a lack of government support:
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/motor-sport/v8-supercars/supercars-boss-james-warburton-warns-phillip-island-could-be-victorias-only-championship-venue/news-story/15b814cb6402f5b53b774fb86434d70c#load-story-comments

Racing Victoria (horse racing, they own Sandown which has a couple of horse tracks inside the race course) are the owners of Sandown. Here's a couple of recent articles mentioning them wanting to sell it.
https://www.racing.com/news/2016-05-19/valley-sandown-futures-up-for-review
http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/lights-set-for-flemington-and-caulfield-under-sweeping-changes-for-victorian-racing-20160519-goz4m3.html

Nice to see both those things. I was surprised to see Slade have so much pace, BJR haven't really been in the hunt this year. I guess Winton being their home circuit might have helped them.

KL City GP canned for 2016
http://www.motorsport.com/v8supercars/n ... nd-742474/

What a shock

Night race planned for Hidden Valley, starting in 2018?
http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/06/17/nig ... cars-deal/