V8 Supercars 2013

[IainW]

The cars are all being unveiled this week for the first group test session.

First up it's the GRM VF Commodore. The roadcar VF was only unveiled on Sunday in Australia.



Jason Bright's BJR VF


Apologies for this mess. It's the Pepsi Max FPR Falcons.



Alex Davison's Jeld-Wen Falcon run by FPR


HRT's new Commodore



The Nissan Motorsport Altimas





The Enforcer's Supercheap Auto VF


Coulthard's BJR VF


Red Bull Australia VFs



Erebus E63 of Tim Slade


Irwin E63 of Lee Holdsworth


SP Tools E63 of Maro Engel


Special test day liveries for the Tekno cars



The Bottle-O Falcon


Here's how the driver lineup looks at the moment.

Red Bull Racing Australia (888) Holden VF
1. Jamie Whincup
888. Craig Lowndes

HRT Holden VF
2. Garth Tander
22. James Courtney

Walkinshaw Racing (HRT) Holden VF
66. Russell Ingall (SuperCheap Auto)

Tony D'Alberto Racing Holden VF
3. Tony D'Alberto

Erebus Motorsport Mercedes AMG E63
4. Lee Holdsworth (Irwin Tools)
9. Maro Engel (SP Tools)
47. Tim Slade (Heavy Haulage Australia)

FPR Falcon FG
5. Mark Winterbottom (Pepsi Max)
6. Will Davison (Pepsi Max)
18. Alex Davison (Jeld-Wen)
55. David Reynolds (The Bottle-O)

Kelly Racing Nissan Altima
7. Todd Kelly (Jack Daniels)
15. Rick Kelly (Jack Daniels)
36. Michael Caruso (Norton 360)
360. James Moffat (Norton 360)

BJR Holden VF
8. Jason Bright (BOC)
14. Fabian Coulthard (Lockwood)
21. David Wall (Wilson Security)

DJR Falcon FG
12. Tim Blanchard (Wilson Security)
17. Jonny Reid (Advam)

Tekno Autosports Holden VF
19. Jonathan Webb
97. Shane van Gisbergen (VIP Petfoods)

Lukas Dumbrell Motorsport Holden VF
80. Scott Pye
88. Dean Fiore?

GRM Holden VF
33. Scott McLaughlin
34. Alex Premat

15 Holdens, 6 Fords, 4 Nissans, 3 Mercedes Benz.

Edited by IainW on Monday 25th February 00:02

[37chevy]

Now they're touring cars! Holy smokes, it looks like the hell child of a NASCAR and dtm car

[Norbury90]

Glad there is a thread on this The back of the VF looks horrific when viewed from directly behind, it's so square! Not sure about the move to a Falcon-style wing either. Should be an interesting week ahead.

[robmlufc]

Should be interesting to see how the Nissans do and how the fans get behind them

[chevronb37]

So what's the latest gossip? We have Nissan and Mercedes entering and new parts-sharing as part of the Car of the Future? What other news is there? I booked my flights to Australia on Saturday so off to my first Bathurst 1000 in October. Very excited!

[funkyrobot]

Which channels show the V8 racing (if any)?

I don't have Sky but have t'internet so can watch on there if needs be.

Thanks.

[IanUAE]

Last yeat there was an official Aussie V8 Youtube channel where you could watch races at your leisure. Very handy when travelling.

[em177]

4 wheeled racing perfection.

[funkyrobot]

IanUAE said:

Last yeat there was an official Aussie V8 Youtube channel where you could watch races at your leisure. Very handy when travelling.

Great. Thanks for that. I'll take a look.

[IainW]

chevronb37 said:

So what's the latest gossip? We have Nissan and Mercedes entering and new parts-sharing as part of the Car of the Future? What other news is there? I booked my flights to Australia on Saturday so off to my first Bathurst 1000 in October. Very excited!

I've listed the driver lineup as it stands in the first post. DJR are in financial strife and are down to two cars after running four last year, but should be able to continue with some late deals. Shane van Gisbergen's back in the red corner after a two month retirement. Could be under threat of legal action from Stone Brothers Racing, now known as Erebus Motorsport. The Kellys will announce the two other drivers of their Nissans this week.

The lack of Fords is really surprising. With SBR/Erebus and Tony D'Alberto switching to Mercedes and Holden respectively, there's only FPR with their four cars and DJR left now.

[Reardy Mister]

IainW said:

chevronb37 said:

So what's the latest gossip? We have Nissan and Mercedes entering and new parts-sharing as part of the Car of the Future? What other news is there? I booked my flights to Australia on Saturday so off to my first Bathurst 1000 in October. Very excited!

I've listed the driver lineup as it stands in the first post. DJR are in financial strife and are down to two cars after running four last year, but should be able to continue with some late deals. Shane van Gisbergen's back in the red corner after a two month retirement. Could be under threat of legal action from Stone Brothers Racing, now known as Erebus Motorsport. The Kellys will announce the two other drivers of their Nissans this week.

The lack of Fords is really surprising. With SBR/Erebus and Tony D'Alberto switching to Mercedes and Holden respectively, there's only FPR with their four cars and DJR left now.

Ford have a long and proud history of neglecting their motorsport programme. Only for an incoming CEO 10 year later to admit that that was a mistake and to throw money at it again.

And few places are still as "win Sunday, sell Monday" as Oz.

[John D.]

Love the look of Aussie V8s and those cars all look great to me - even the Pepsi Max ones! Rips the st out of anything in the BTCC.

[chevronb37]

IainW said:

chevronb37 said:

So what's the latest gossip? We have Nissan and Mercedes entering and new parts-sharing as part of the Car of the Future? What other news is there? I booked my flights to Australia on Saturday so off to my first Bathurst 1000 in October. Very excited!

I've listed the driver lineup as it stands in the first post. DJR are in financial strife and are down to two cars after running four last year, but should be able to continue with some late deals. Shane van Gisbergen's back in the red corner after a two month retirement. Could be under threat of legal action from Stone Brothers Racing, now known as Erebus Motorsport. The Kellys will announce the two other drivers of their Nissans this week.

The lack of Fords is really surprising. With SBR/Erebus and Tony D'Alberto switching to Mercedes and Holden respectively, there's only FPR with their four cars and DJR left now.

Many thanks for the update. Looking forward to following the season more closely than normal.

[IainW]

Nissan launched five minutes ago. Confirmed Michael Caruso and James Moffat in the two Norton 360 cars.

[Norbury90]

Wow, I think those Nissans look great. Big fan of Caruso too, hope he does well. Will be interesting to see if Moffat is any good this year, I haven't thought much of him in the past.

[rubystone]

It would be nice to imagine that the new regs would provide a hard reset, but We know that big budgets = more testing and suspension development...so I expect to see little real change for this season at least. I do home that Traci Lamb hasn't taken the edge off of Fabes though...his old man is expecting great things from him on track, not off

[IainW]

Norbury90 said:

Will be interesting to see if Moffat is any good this year, I haven't thought much of him in the past.

He had a decent last few races of 2011, but since then he's been poor. Whether that was down to DJR getting worse after the high of Courtney's title win, I'm not sure. He's probably still there because of his name to be honest.

[DanielSan]

Can't wait for this season to start. Beginning of a new era and I honestly think the racing will be even closer. Red Bull Racing Australia and Irwin Racing are unveiling both their cars tomorrow, happy valentines day

Edited by DanielSan on Wednesday 13th February 15:24

[IainW]

You never see the Red Bull F1 team being as mad as the stuff they've put out for 888 so far.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3bmPXaxvvQ

Their cars were launched a short while ago. I like them. Just Erebus to go later on in Sydney as well. I think the other teams are just showing up at the test, some with incomplete or temporary liveries.

Edited by IainW on Wednesday 13th February 23:40

[DanielSan]

I was actually hoping they'd be a more vibrant blue to be honest. Kind of disappointed.