V8 Supercars-getting rid of the 2 horse race.

[demorier]

And it's about time, opening the field up to Nissan and other manufacturers for the 2013 season. I long ago got bored with the 2 manufacturer racing (except Bathurst of course).

[wombat666]

Not sure how it will work Tony, all I've come across so far is the release that Nissan are entering in 2013 with the 'Kelly Gang' [Bad move Nissan!].
Given that both Commodore and Falcon are lousy sellers [the Cruize is killing the Commodore!] and a V8 powered front wheel drive is highly unlikely, what is going to be run?
Just SWAG on my part but I can see the engines [probably] down sized to say a 3 litre V6 .......... :kilroy:

[demorier]

Yeah, it's full of question marks but I'm excited for a change, supposed to coincide with the 'newer' 2013 spec supercar. There's several other manufacturers that could enter into that class of sedan racing although something will have to be done to try and even out the playing field for cost reasons. I don't think they can go back to the old GTR days where they just flogged everything lower spec. Of course the sponsorship $$ have to go a long way these days.

[wombat666]

Could make things interesting.

"Two decades after its Godzilla was outlawed, Nissan is to return to Australia's premier championship with a V8!

Nissan is to join forces with the Kelly V8 Supercars (V8SC) operation to become the first new brand in V8 Supercar racing under the Car of the Future regulations taking effect next year.

The Japanese company's entry to the sport, taking on Holden and Ford. Nissan sources have already told motoring.com.au that they will not reveal which model or what engine it will choose to race in 2013. Speculation is the body could be that of its new medium-sized car, Altima.

The Nissan announcement comes on the heels of talk of a Chrysler entry and fresh speculation of a Korean brand being enticed to enter the series.

Nissan is linking up with the existing team of brothers Todd and Rick Kelly, which now fields Holden Commodores. The Kelly operation is chaired by former Holden Special Vehicles chief, John Crennan.

Nissan's move comes 20 years after it exited Australian touring car racing with a sour taste in its mouth. It's all-conquering early four-wheel-drive, twin-turbocharged GT-R was outlawed from Australia's premier championship to make way for the introduction of the two-make V8 formula.

Legendary driver Jim Richards famously called Holden and Ford fans "a pack of arseholes" when they booed Nissan's 1992 Bathurst 1000 victory.

Richards' co-driver that day was Mark Skaife, now head of the Car of the Future project and who has wooed the company into V8 Supercar racing.

Despite V8 Supercars Australia just having laid off 10 staff in a round of cost-cutting, there is talk within the sport that it will pay Nissan a $1 million "bounty" for becoming the first new make in the category.

Nissan may be creating a sponsorship headache for itself, however. It quickly pulled out of a safety car arrangement with V8SA in mid-2009 because it was unhappy at being expected to carry XXXX beer livery, yet the Kelly Brothers team's major sponsor is Jack Daniel's bourbon.

And while Nissan may announce plans for four V8 Supercars today, two of the four licences on which the Kellys field Commodores are leased from their owner, former Holden racer and constructor Larry Perkins. Perkins was one of the strongest critics of Nissan's touring car dominance in the early 1990s and delighted in referring to the brand by its previous name, Datsun.

The Kellys may have to try to buy Perkins' two licences if they want to field four Nissans from the start of the 2013 season."

Even more interesting!

"The Nissan race cars to be prepped and entered by the Kelly brothers in the 2013 season of V8 Supercars will be based on a four-door model yet to be seen here.

That much is clear from just one statement made during his presentation to the local press by Nissan Australia MD, Dan Thompson.

"On the heels of [the new] Pulsar, will be Nissan lining up on the grid in the V8 Supercar championship in 2013, with... an all-new sedan," Thompson said, in the conclusion to his speech.

Some sectors of the media have speculated that the 'donor' for the race car will be the Altima. However, Altima is likely to be marketed as a mid-size car if and when it arrives down under.

More likely, Thompson's 'all-new sedan' will share a nameplate with the new C/D segment car Nissan is expected to build and debut in the US later this year. Whether the US C/D car is front or rear-wheel drive is of little consequence to Nissan's V8 Supercar plans.

V8SC Car of the Future regs do not preclude manufacturers building rear-drive racing versions of front-drive production cars. To that extent it's a situation very similar to Toyota in the US bunging rear-drive mechanicals into a race car and calling it a Camry, in order to compete in NASCAR — an analogy that Nissan's Ian Moreillon accepted when it was put to him by motoring.com.au.

"Exactly the same sort of thing," responded Moreillon, Nissan's Executive General Manager for National Sales and Fleet — and the man who has invested much time and effort in getting Nissan's V8 Supercars commitment up and running.

The upshot is that we can't say whether the production car that will provide the cosmetic framework for the race car will be large or small, driven at the front or the rear. There are no real clues to be gained from what we know of the race car. Like the Commodore, expect it to be cut and shut to suit the V8 Supercars formula.

"It's no more of a challenge than the existing cars today," says Moreillon. "With the existing Commodore, there's a number of millimeters cut out of the rear doors to get to the wheelbase that's required for racing today — before even Car of the Future.

"Car of the Future has its dimensions and specifications that every manufacturer has to comply with; we will take an existing car at that point in time and we will adapt it — through the Kellys' engineering prowess — to fit Car of the Future cage and chassis."

It's unlikely the production car will be sold here with a V8 driving through to the front wheels, although the powerplant in the race car will be a Nissan design — and that was an important element in Nissan's decision to join the series, as both Dan Thompson and the company's General Manager for media enquiries, Jeff Fisher explained.

"With the engine, we made a decision that we're not going to with the generic engine," said Fisher. "If we couldn't fit our own branded engine — our own technology — then it wouldn't have made any sense for us... So those two things together — Car of the Future and the engine — were some of the primary drivers for making that decision."

What the engine in the race car will be also remains unclear. According to Moreillon, it could be one of a number of options ranging from the 4.5-litre engine that powers the GT500 (rear-drive) racing version of the GTR, or it could even be the 5.6-litre engine that will power the next-gen Patrol.

"The next announcement will nail the engine down," says Moreillon. "We have options of engines. We've got a 5.7-litre, 5.6-litre, we've got a 4.5-litre — we've got all sorts of things in V8s around the world..."

What seems likely is that the production model will be sold in Australia, presumably as a successor to the current Maxima. The Maxima sold fewer than 2000 units last year (1973, up 206 on the total for 2010). Although the current model has consistently enjoyed sales growth, year on year since its introduction, Nissan Australia will probably expect a replacement to improve markedly on the Maxima's performance in the market.

And associating it with Australia's highest profile motorsport category seems like a good way to set about doing just that. "

[demorier]

he he...can remember well the Bathurst presentation of Richards and Skaife, with Richards giving the angry crowd a mouthful. If I remember right Dick Johnson was the 'last man standing' when the race was red flagged.