Joint NASCAR Sprint Cup, Australian V8 Supercar exebition race -- Could it happen?

[R.Lee]

Being new here, I look through archives, to see what topics are discussed, attitudes, etc., kind of get the feeling of the forums, so to speak. Unless I over looked it, I did not see a thread about this either here in the NASCAR forum or in the Touring Car forum, which I must say, kind of surprised me. Here is one of quite a few clips that have been posted on YouTube and other sites: Kurt Busch turns laps at Circuit of The Americas - YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utJoddDygG4)Two weeks before the inagural Australian V8 Supercar race, at the new Circuit of the Americas track, in Austin, TX, NASCAR Sprint Cup driver, Kurt Busch was invited to the track to drive a Holden (Australian GM division) Commondor VF, V8 Supercar, as part of a promotion for the upcoming race. Kurt did them one better and brought his team and one of their Chevrolet SS, Sprint Cup cars. His idea, since the Chevrolet SS is basically a re-branded Commondor VF, it might be fun to do a car swap with one of the V8 Supercar drivers. James Courtney and Fabian Coultard were there, demonstrating a V8 Supercar and giving rides to media types. Courtney jumped at the chance to drive the Sprint Cup car, as Busch did at the chance to drive the V8. After the swap, Busch talked about driving the V8, in an interview, explaining that it was amazing to watch the Sprint Cup car accelerate away from the Supercar on the straights, only to see the Supercar catch back up and pass the Cup car through the turns. The Cup car, he explained had more horsepower, giving it the speed advantage on the straights, but that the Supercar weights less and is far more nimble. The two cars, he explained were for all intents equal. He said that he thought the two series could put on a great race. Much of the interview was chopped, but enough was seen to understand what he meant. He said he thought it could be big.I'm not a road-racing fan, but for some reason, I have developed a liking for the V8 Supercar Series. I like Kurt's idea and would like to see the Cup cars and Supercars put on an exebition race between the two series. It should be run at COTA, V8 cars are not suitable for running on an oval. Do it the weekend before the World 600, at Charlotte. The V8s will be here for there race, so they would not have the expense of having to make an additional trip from Australia. Make it somewhere around 300 miles in length. Run it after the V8, maybe the day afterward, yes, Monday, but many people are already on holiday, for the following weekend's Memorial Day weekend. Pay a decent enough purse, to make it attractive for the teams from both series to compete. Should be a great show! Curious of anyone else, like myself, would like to see this. I'm going to post this on the Touring Car forum, as well, to see what the fans there think.

[Rollo]

A Sprint Cup car is a 5860cc, four-speed manual, developing 645kW and about 720Nm of torque unrestricted. They weigh 1,451 kg dry.
A V8Supercar is a 5000cc, six-speed manual, developing 485kW and about 620Nm of torque unrestricted. They weigh 1,410 kg dry.

On the face of it, a NASCAR should be able to by sheer power be faster than a V8Supercar but the V8Supercar has two distinct advantages on road courses:

1. The six speed gearbox means that it could sit more closely to the top of the torque curve for longer. A V8 Supercar would be able to punch out of every single turn faster and because it would leave corners faster, it would carry a higher top speed more quickly.

2. The aero kit on a V8 Supercar means that it would carry a higher speed through the corners, better downforce means that it would be able to translate that power down more efficiently and effectively and for those two reasons, it would carry a higher top speed more quickly.

Quite frankly, I think that the only courses which a NASCAR would post a better lap time than a V8Supercar would be the bigger superspeedways. I think that that also goes for smaller tracks like Bristol Motor Speedway because a V8Supercar would accelerate faster.
A track like Watkins Glen certainly proves that a NASCAR around a road course would be like trying to do ballet in boots in comparison to a V8Supercar.

[R.Lee]

What is a NASCAR? NASCAR is an acronym for National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing, but in my almost 60 years of life, I have not ever heard of A NASCAR! NASCAR cars are called Sprint Cup cars, in days past were called NEXTEL Cup cars, Winston Cup cars, Grand National cars, etc., Cup cars are used for short, but there has not ever been anything called a NASCAR! Racing sanctioning bodies are not driven around race tracks.

[call_me_andrew]

I think the racing would have been closer with the old V8 Supercar which had a 4-link live axle rear; the new V8 Supercar has an independent rear.

I did write a blog about this last year.

Splash & Go: Bench Race 1000 - Racing-Reference.info (http://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=1333)

[R.Lee]

I think the racing would have been closer with the old V8 Supercar which had a 4-link live axle rear; the new V8 Supercar has an independent rear.

I did write a blog about this last year.

Splash & Go: Bench Race 1000 - Racing-Reference.info (http://www.racing-reference.info/showblog?id=1333)

I read your article Andrew. Very well done and very interesting.