favourite motorsport?

[kiwitt]

Yes, I understand V8 Supercars is popular, for the reason you say. The Competition is good (20 teams and 30 cars ). I don't mean to offend supporters of V8 supercars. They are popular with Aussie's and Kiwi's alike.

I just like to see more competition from other makes on the track and a series as I suggested earlier dedicated to this. (Leaving the V8 Supercars as their own class because they are so much different to their "real" world namesakes.) So performance car buyers can make real comparisons.

[fpv_gtho]

well Nations Cup wouldve been a good category, had Holden and the organisers PROCAR not signed a contract letting Holden practically race V8 Supercars in there

[Ferrari Tifosi]

F1 has and always been my favorite category of motorsports. However, my second choice isn't even on there, Moto GP, the F1 of Motorcycles. Third is sports car racing, whether it be the FIA Sports car and GT champ. or the ALMS series. Finally WRC is my fourth favorite motorsport.

[Matra et Alpine]

However, my second choice isn't even on there, Moto GP, the F1 of Motorcycles.

If we're allowed to add, then top would be "Road Racing".
The best of motorbikes on real road circuits.
Isle of Man TT - the pinnacle ( for now )
and the North-West 200.
Manx GP.

Shame is that now none of the big riders will come, some of the best teams are dropping out to 'focus' where the best TV coverage is rather than the fans.
50,000 bikers descend on the Isle of Man for one week of the year to watch the best racing going )

[NAZCA C2]

I forgot about the Isle of Man TT. 190+ mph on city streets with 2 wheels. The TT riders are bravest/craziest riders in the world.

Moto GP rules!

[byronleehk]

However, if there was a "World Sports Saloon/Coupe" Series (a.k.a. Group A/N), this would be of interest, because of the variety of cars competing. I believe the V8 supercars is just a Sponsors Holden vs Ford battle. (e.g. the Shell Ford vs the Mobil Holden etc.)

I would like to see a series of "normally" slightly modified for safety reasons, (roll cage, racetrack slick tires, no suspension, no engine modifications) series.
This would be a low cost series, which would require minimal sponsorship and any person could start in.

This would have the normal Holden's and Ford's versus the BMW's, Mercedes, Audi and the Japanese and Americans. The series would include cars from all countries.

Each country would run their own series, with the winners racing in a one-off final at a famous track, (e.g. nuremburg, silverstone, daytona, etc.) which would rotate each year to whoever, one the last series.

Back in 1993 they did a "Touring Car Challenge" in Monza, Italy whith over 40 best drivers from all over Europe and did one race..."You take the world's best 40+ Touring Car drivers and best cars (BMW, Ford, Audi, Alfa Romeo, Vaxhall, Nissan & more) and set them loose for two races at Monza, Italy. The results is nothing short of apectulay and chaotic!".

And guess what? I found this item on e-bay!!

But personally, I like any race on ROAD COURSES, be it 2 wheels or four, be it JTCC, BTCC, DTM, F-1, CART, or even NASCAR

[Matra et Alpine]

I forgot about the Isle of Man TT. 190+ mph on city streets with 2 wheels. The TT riders are bravest/craziest riders in the world.

The same riders pretty much but the other road races are scarier.
Mass starts at the NorthWest 200 in Ireland and The Southern 100 on the Isle of Man.
And spectators get within inches.
here a clip from last year http://www.bad-boy.pwp.blueyonder.co...s/100_3872.mov
I'll u/l some photos to enjoy later.
HIGHLY recommend IoM first week in June each year as THE place to holiday for petrolheads - especially if you like to drink and party, plenty of busses to all the good places to watch

[NAZCA C2]

Hey Matra did u ever see the Macau GP? It's a motorcycle race on a street circuit surrounded with metal barriers. No runoff room whatsoever!

[Matra et Alpine]

Hey Matra did u ever see the Macau GP? It's a motorcycle race on a street circuit surrounded with metal barriers. No runoff room whatsoever!

Yeh, but it's short-track street circuit as opposed to road.
Top speeds are lower and the experience is not as challenging in respect of track, but more because of the massed start. And you can't get to ride it yourself

IoM TT is 37+ miles, you only get 2-6 (dependant on the race) chances at getting a corner right in the whole race
The AVERAGE speed is 120mph PLUS.
Remember that it goes through all the towns and villages on the way.
The bikes are FLAT OUT over the mountain Been there done and made the T-shirt



Here's a riders perspective of the complete track .. http://www.iomtt.com/tour/rider.shtml

oh, I forgot, they also race sidecars on the island.
They are great to watch, but being a passenger needs lots of courage !!!



hmm, maybe we need a bike section on UCP to keep me under control and in the box

[DasModell]

F1 is favorite ..
2.MotoGP
3.LeMans +FIA GT+ALMS+FIASC
4.Touring cars ETCC ...
5.WRC

[Tuscan666]

WRC defo my fav F1 and all these round the track racein is so boring to watch its just drivers usein the same race line for 50 or whatever laps but WRC is 100% gr8 to watch and the drivers have skill mortals like us can only dream of

[motorsportnerd]

I'd say 1st F1, 2nd V8 Supercar, 3rd DTM/WRC/ETCC/BTCC/Procar and GTs...
I follow F1 and V8 Supercars very closely, and the rest when I can. With the exception of WRC, most of the overseas series I mentioned (such as DTM) are not shown on Australian TV (unless you have cable), but I've seen them on TV when in Europe and follow the reports. If any Australian reader knows if the DTM will be shown on free to air TV this year, let me know...

Also, I'm with Kiwiit. I still love my V8 Supercars, but I used to really enjoy touring cars back in the Group A days. And I enjoyed the Super Tourers (esp BTCC in mid 90s) while they ran. I'd love to see a series for modified sedans. The ProCar GT Performance series or the SCCA World Challenge give pointers on how this could be done. Some sort of parity formula would be needed, but the cars should be more highly modified the GT Performance, with the most powerful cars having maybe 400 kW. I'd love to see V8s v turbos v AWD v RWD v FWD or, for example, Lancer Evo 8 v Ford Falcon GT v Holden Monaro v Subaru Legacy GT v Audi S4 v Mercedes C32...

[kiwitt]

That's what I meant by variety in racing cars. Not just teams, but makes, models, technologies. The manufacturers choose to design their cars a certain, let them prove their decision was right on the track with similarly priced cars. All under NZ$100,000 and only roll cage and other racing safety features added.

[Falcon500]

Also, I'm with Kiwiit. I still love my V8 Supercars, but I used to really enjoy touring cars back in the Group A days. And I enjoyed the Super Tourers (esp BTCC in mid 90s) while they ran. I'd love to see a series for modified sedans. The ProCar GT Performance series or the SCCA World Challenge give pointers on how this could be done. Some sort of parity formula would be needed, but the cars should be more highly modified the GT Performance, with the most powerful cars having maybe 400 kW. I'd love to see V8s v turbos v AWD v RWD v FWD or, for example, Lancer Evo 8 v Ford Falcon GT v Holden Monaro v Subaru Legacy GT v Audi S4 v Mercedes C32...

If they involve parity in this it will sanitise it and make it like v8 super cars...personallyi think allowcertain modifications and allow the cars to be up and off like group C and i think introduce classes in it allowing other cars to win in their own class it worked for the origonal touring cars and production cars and still even works in historics and even workedin your beloved group A....We shouldnever wish group A back it had a biased system which was so restrictive it didnt allow the flacon to do any good and even the holden which recieved extensive work to hamoligate it wasnt alloud to run any areodyanmic body work and so on and so forth and was blitzed by a volvo of all things....
I think GTP has the right idea alow formore mods demand cars have an australian performance edition for hamoliglation reasons and where laughing...thaty my idea
Well anyways my faveorite raceing would be v8 supercars my real faveorites would have to be the Group C australia toruing cars (what v8s where 2 evalutions ago) GT-P (GT-perfromance) and historics...i also like Tractor pulls their kewl and of course drag raceing...and and interesting drag raceing isnt so dead end here with the intoruction of the sainty SOHC 3 valve engine...its a new drag motor developed by Mr sainty an ex boat racer turned top fueler driver.

[motorsportnerd]

My suggestion for an touring car catagory involving all makers would be more like an upgrade of GT-P, rather than full house Group A. My ideas would go something like the following.
For a start, I'm opposed to 500 off homologation specials. That was the real reason for the explosion of costs in Group A. So no one-off racing specials. Homologation would have to be something like 2,500 consecutive examples for the proposed racing vechicle. Since smaller manufacturers like HSV would have trouble producing 2,500 vehicles exceptions could be made (sto that, for example, the Clubsport could compete). Two seater cars such as the 350Z would be acceptable, but out and out sports cars like Aston Martins and Corvettes would be pointed in the direction of Group GT-N. An upper power limit for the road car could be considered (say 350kW) to keep out some of the most powerful road cars and prevent costs exploding to much.
Second, engine mods would be limited. Blueprinting, free exhaust from the first join back, slight mods to the camshaft, valves and crankshafts. The engines could not be bored or destroked. Turbos and intercoolers would have to remain standard. I suggest that the target would be for a gain of no more than 60-80 KW so that something like the Falcon GT to produce somewhere around 350kW-370kW (up from the standard 290 kW). That would get rid of the main problem with GT-Ps. They're sound boring and look slow. Modifying the exhaust and increasing the power would make the cars sound faster, and certainly go faster.
Third, transmissions would be control type. For example, all cars would use a 6-speed Holinger gearbox (either H-type or sequential) with the gear and final drive ratios being adjusted to suit the particular car.
Fourth, limited modification of the suspension would be allowed. The suspension could be lowered, springs and shocks changed. But the suspension would have to have the same layout as the road car (ie: if double wishbones are used in the road car, that is what the race car would use).
Fifth, slicks would be used and wheel diameter and width could employ the plus 1 ratio (ie: if the road car uses 17s the race car could use 18s), up to a maximum of 18 inch diameter. The wheels would have to fit entirely within the guards, with no flaring of the guards allowed.
Sixth, the body would remain standard. In the case of cars with no wings on the production vehicle (for example the Monaro), a small, standard-issue rear wing could be employed to give similar advantages to the cars (like the Evo 8) which have wings as standard (ie: negilible downforce). But no splitters on the front, no skirts, no flared guards. Thus the cars would still look much like a GT-P or Group N car, but not as aggressive as a group A car looked, since the cars would be slightly lower to the ground and the tyres generally wouldn't be much wider than standard.
Seventh, roll cages and other safety equipment would be fitted and the interiors gutted.
Eighth, weights would be based on the proposed/likely power of the racecar, not on engine capacity. Thus, a 360 kW Falcon GT would weight the same as a 360 KW BMW M3. This would avoid probably the biggest problem of the old Group A era (where the Commodores had to run over 150kg heavier than the more powerful Sierra simply because they had bigger capacity engines).
Ninth, the parity would come in the form of weight penalty on race winners (as employed in many touring car series from BTCC, DTM to GT-P). If a particular car ends up producing much more power than expected and starts to dominate, it would be quickly brought back to the field.
Finally, classes are a good idea, but base them on the power outputs rather than engine size (for examply, you don't want the BMW M3, which would be an outright car, in a up to 3,500 cc catagory).
The idea would be for a front running car to lap Bathurst somewhere between the lap time of a V8 Supercar and a GT-P car (say about 2m20s) for relatively minimal cost. Unlike Kiwiit, I want the cars to run more power and bigger exhausts. I think GT-P would meet his expectations. We already have GT-P here in Australia. Europe and Japan have Group N and N1. NZ should adopt GT-P. Want I want to see is a slight step up from where GT-P is in terms of power and lap times without costs going through the window.
Falc's Group C idea is worth exploring, though we'll have to keep the lobbying out of it (in the last few years of Group C, political ability was almost as important as driver ability - thus Brock and Moffat got more concessions than Johnson). And how big would the wings/spoilers be and how much power would be acceptable? Group C/Group 2 (the European equivalent with the BMW 3.0CSi and Ford Capri RS3100s) are the track equivalent of Group B rally cars. Exciting in there day, but probably too fast, dangerous and politically incorrect to bring back today. But I'd love to see a 2003 equivalent to the 84 Marlboro Commodores, its just unlikely.

Finally, in no way am I suggesting the above idea should replace V8 Supercar or DTM, just supplement it and give us a world catagory where international teams can once again compete against each other.

Sorry for the length of this, guys, but just though I though explain my idea here fully.