V8 Supercars eyeing American Round = Confirmed

RACECAR · Jun 3, 2011

SpeedTV.com
In an interview held with V8 Supercars Chairman Tony Cochrane in October of 2010, the boss of the popular Australian tin-top series told SPEED.com made it clear that North America did not figure into the series’ plan for expansion.

But in light of recent changes to the territorial boundaries that once limited the Supercars to Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Middle East, the doors are now open for V8s to race in the United States.

“A couple of things have shifted,” Cochrane told SPEED.com on Thursday from his office in Queensland. “Firstly, our announcement that the FIA has approved our growing to 18 events, with six having international status, has certainly created a lot of interest in markets throughout the world. We’ve had a number of inquiries from new markets for the V8 series.”

Cochrane credited the television exposure in the United States as one of the factors that has helped to spark an interest in bringing a round of the series to our shores.

“We’ve also had quite a bit of interest in North America thanks to SPEED, and we’re working now with SPEED to grow our presence going forward on the network, and that has certainly helped many fans in North America to become familiar with our product. Now there has been very strong interest from a number of American circuits to host a round of our great championship. We don’t have anything signed, but we are talking with people.”

The V8 Supercars series is highly experienced at mobilizing its cars and teams to race abroad, making a fly away race in America easy to execute, but the costs to run a race—and possibly a title sponsor for an event—would need to be in place before such an event could become a reality.

“There’s an element of that, for sure, but by nature we’re a pretty cost-effective outfit,” Cochrane explained. “As we’ve proven, in markets where motorsport has a strong interest factor, we are capable of selling a lot of tickets. We have some incredibly exciting racing, and we have a three-day format which also excites race fans. And we have a lot of sponsors in the championship that are global brands. There’s a lot of positives to work from here.”

A number of international racing series have suffered huge financial losses after attempting to headline its first round in the United States, but Cochrane says if an American V8 Supercars round is established, he’s unsure whether he’d try to place the series as the feature or as part of an established event.

“Firstly, let me say that you are blessed in America. You have some absolutely brilliant circuits of the permanent nature and temporary like at Long Beach. The second thing is that we’re pretty open-minded. One of the things that I think makes this an interesting exercise is that we’re open to talk to people about their ideas and our ideas and try and find some common ground. Sitting here today, I wouldn’t say we’ve ruled anything in or anything out. We’ve spoken with a number of North American promoters and regions that are interested and we’ll continue to have open dialogue with them."

For now, Cochrane says he'll continue to explore and develop the opportunities that have been presented to him.

“We’re keen to get one round in North America. The level of interest is growing from fans, from sponsors, and from a Fox Sports point of view; we have a very good relationship with [Fox Sports Media Group Chairman and Chief Executive Officer] David Hill. Obviously, [Fox’s parent company] Newscorp was originally an Australian organization and still has a great reach here, so add all of those things up and there’s great potential and interest across many platforms.”

With cars from the Australian arm of General Motors (through its Holden brand) and Ford comprising the entire V8 grid, there’s a natural appeal for Dearborn and Detroit if the Supercars do find their way to America.

“I can’t speak for any of the auto manufacturers, but I know there are a lot of people in GM that are keen to see us there,” said Cochrane. “That isn’t meant to cast aspersions on Ford; it just means we haven’t spoken with Ford North America yet. Our manufacturers here are excited about our product because what we have to offer is authentic. The body shape of what we race is pretty much what you buy on the showroom floor, so I think we translate very well for GM and Ford. Our racing engenders strong product interest. Generally, we’re a very strong branding exercise for GM and Ford. I’d expect the same in America, but with probably the Chevrolet brand rather than Holden, obviously.”

Cochrane closed our discussion by addressing the timing of when fans might see the first V8 Supercars round in America.

“Given the fact that we’re well and truly down the road on the 2012 calendar, I’d be very surprised if anything happened by then. You never say never, but 2013 is more of a possibility. As I said at the beginning, we’re at the point of holding dialogue right now, so we don’t have anything to announce, naturally, but if we do come to North America, it would most likely be after 2012.”

Link

Edit: Its official

[YOUTUBEHD]oF-Wn20vccU&feature=feedu[/YOUTUBEHD]

lmanion · Jun 3, 2011

Well the Tasmanian government seems ready to give their round of the V8s up in favour of a couple of games of AFL so there is another round that needs somewhere to go

LMSCorvetteGT2 · Jun 3, 2011

Please come to America I'll go watch the race I'd love to see these guys take on Laguna Seca or Lime Rock...or better yet Infineon or Watkins Glen! Please!!!

IceMan PJN · Jun 3, 2011

Cochrane credited the television exposure in the United States as one of the factors that has helped to spark an interest in bringing a round of the series to our shores.

Weve also had quite a bit of interest in North America thanks to SPEED, and were working now with SPEED to grow our presence going forward on the network, and that has certainly helped many fans in North America to become familiar with our product."

It's a shame that Speed's coverage of V8 Supercars sucks. I'm 99.9% certain the races they do air are never live, every one of them that I've seen have been trimmed down to be more like a highlight real often skipping many laps from one moment to the next, and I don't think they air all of the races.

prisonermonkeys · Jun 3, 2011

LMSCorvetteGT2
I'd love to see these guys take on Laguna Seca or Lime Rock...or better yet Infineon or Watkins Glen! Please!!!

I think the only way V8 Supercars could realistically go to America is if they were a support race to another series. Indycar seems like a good choice, given the connections between the two series; V8s were always a support race at Surfers' Paradise, and a couple of Indycar drivers have been coming over for the Gold Coast 600.

Because of the distance involved and the costs associated with getting to America, I think they'd be better off holding two races Stateside. Based on this year's Indycar calendar, would be a St. Petersburg-Barber or a Barber-Long Beach double-header early in the year, an Edmonton-Mid Ohio set-up in August or an Infineon-Baltimore sequence in September. Of those, I think St. Pete-Barber is the most likely combination because they're closer together geographically than any of the others.

RACECAR · Jun 3, 2011

IceMan PJN
It's a shame that Speed's coverage of V8 Supercars sucks. I'm 99.9% certain the races they do air are never live, every one of them that I've seen have been trimmed down to be more like a highlight real often skipping many laps from one moment to the next, and I don't think they air all of the races.

Well guess what, thats what we have to deal with. Its already been well established that Speed is owned by Fox and as a result, its NASCAR Nation. Now would you prefer having it at all (tape delayed & everything) or no coverage of it or any non-Nascar related racing at all?

Tornado · Jun 3, 2011

I can haz Watkins Race plz?

Though interludes is probably right. They would need to partner up with a series to guarantee attendance, and that means Long Beach/Indy most likely.

Northstar · Jun 3, 2011

IceMan PJN
It's a shame that Speed's coverage of V8 Supercars sucks. I'm 99.9% certain the races they do air are never live, every one of them that I've seen have been trimmed down to be more like a highlight real often skipping many laps from one moment to the next, and I don't think they air all of the races.

Blame the viewers, it's cheaper for them to make a crappy NASCAR trivia show and have 100,000 people watch than pay the much higher cost to air other international races live and have a similar viewing number.

RACECAR · Jun 3, 2011

Justin
Blame the viewers, it's cheaper for them to make a crappy NASCAR trivia show and have 100,000 people watch than pay the much higher cost to air other international races live and have a similar viewing number.

You have to blame Newscorp and FOX too, we didn't have this problem prior to their ownership.

Northstar · Jun 3, 2011

RACECAR
You have to blame Newscorp and FOX too, we didn't have this problem prior to their ownership.

Of course, but they are a big company doing what big companies do, chase money, so if more people watch the re-broadcast than they might deem it worth showing live.

Thing is, racing isn't as big as it used to be in the US, look at ALMS, used to be on over the air channels a few times a year, now it's been reduced to crappy internet coverage that a good chunk of people can't even watch without going through alternative means.

RACECAR · Jun 3, 2011

Justin
Thing is, racing isn't as big as it used to be in the US, look at ALMS, used to be on over the air channels a few times a year, now it's been reduced to crappy internet coverage that a good chunk of people can't even watch without going through alternative means.

And an even worse television coverage thats more like a 2 Hour advert and crashfest spectacular, all bought to you by the worst name in broadcasting any races as of late(without Paul Page): ESPN/ABC

YellowG1 · Jun 3, 2011

IceMan PJN
It's a shame that Speed's coverage of V8 Supercars sucks. I'm 99.9% certain the races they do air are never live, every one of them that I've seen have been trimmed down to be more like a highlight real often skipping many laps from one moment to the next, and I don't think they air all of the races.

They don't show anything near all the races. It's actually a pretty long and grueling season. There's so many races and long ones, that this is the one time I don't find fault for Speed for not showing them. I'm not sure it's feasible if you have just one channel for all this programming. I have a lot of respect for Whincup and other guys who can be consistently quick week in and week out.

McLaren · Jun 3, 2011

I'm biased, but bring them to Austin when it's done.

That way, maybe I'll actually get to watch a race instead of whatever it is that Speed attempts to call V8 Supercars,

Sharky. · Jun 4, 2011

interludes
Based on this year's Indycar calendar, would be a St. Petersburg-Barber or a Barber-Long Beach double-header early in the year, an Edmonton-Mid Ohio set-up in August or an Infineon-Baltimore sequence in September.

Baltimore would be too close to the two enduros, the L&H 500 is always mid-September and Bathurst is early-mid October. There's no way they'd be able to fit two August/September US rounds into the calendar. Infineon by itself could fit if the QLD V8 event was brought forward a week or so.

If they do head Stateside, I think they're likely to do it between Abu Dhabi and Adelaide or Adelaide and Hamilton - getting the flyaway rounds done roughly all at once - or between Winton, Hidden Valley, Townsville and Townsville and Queensland (May/June/July/August). Anywhere else in the year and you're looking at trying to fit a US round into a two-week gap between Australian rounds, which AVESCO (is it still AVESCO running the thing?) won't let happen - and the teams won't want it either. Using the 2011 calendars, the only ICS event I can see that the V8s could possibly fit into the schedule as-is would be Mid-Ohio, which is August 7 this year; that would be a month after Townsville (July 8-10) and two weeks before the QLD pre-enduro round (August 19-21).

Mid-Ohio sounds like the logical choice, too - there's already enough street circuits on the calendar (Yas Marina, Adelaide, Hamilton, Townsville, Bathurst, Surfers, Homebush), so I'd expect that the V8 boys would be after a road course. Plus Mid-Ohio isn't a bad track

prisonermonkeys · Jun 4, 2011

McLaren
I'm biased, but bring them to Austin when it's done.

Austin could work, but it could also bring resistance from Bernie Ecclestone. The main reason why the Albert Park round is non-championship is because Bernie doesn't want people buying tickets for the race and leaving after the V8s. Which is totally understandable. The effect may be lessened in Austin, but I wouldn't discount Bernie's ability to influence too quickly.

CodeRedR51 · Jun 4, 2011

*cough* Laguna Seca *cough*

JohnBM01 · Jun 4, 2011

What's funny about this is that I once did a video and a blog post about what a dream V8 Supercar weekend would be like. Lo and behold! The V8 Supercar Series wants to have a round in the United States! I've gotten a lot of support from (another message board) who had their own ideas on this. Speedtv.com asked if I would want to see the V8 Supercars in the U.S. My answer wasn't there- HELL yes! I... eventually voted yes.

I think Laguna Seca would be the best fit unless they want to try some other American venue.

TheBook · Jun 4, 2011

Road Atlanta was the first track that came to my mind, for some reason. I think it would be a lot of fun to watch them going around that track, plus the drivers would probably like it.

prisonermonkeys · Jun 5, 2011

R1600Turbo
*cough* Laguna Seca *cough*

Laguna Seca is over-rated. Aside from the corkscrew, the rest of the circuit is pretty bland. Most of the corners are interchangeable.

Besides, like I said, a V8 Supercar race in America will likely only happen as a support race to another series to guarantee and audience and get exposure. Maybe in a few years it can run independently, but it needs a crowd. Given the ties between Indycar and the V8s, I think it's likely they'll run at an Indycar venue.

JohnBM01 · Jun 5, 2011

This would be my list if not Laguna Seca:

• Infineon Raceway (Sears Point)
• Portland International Raceway
• Miller Motorsports Park
• Heartland Park Topeka
• Road America
• Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
• Autobahn Country Club
• Barber Motorsports Park
• Sebring International Raceway
• Road Atlanta
• Virginia International Raceway
• Watkins Glen International

I tried to limit it mostly to Western courses so they wouldn't have to travel too far. Of course, if they want to go through America, we got plenty of good road courses. Those are just some of the ones I think would be looked into to hold an event for this series.

RACECAR · Jul 1, 2011

Its Official, the V8 Supercars are coming to the US:

[YOUTUBEHD]oF-Wn20vccU&feature=feedu[/YOUTUBEHD]

CodeRedR51 · Jul 1, 2011

^^^ Part of that news brief caught my attention when they mentioned Indy or NASCAR drivers participating in the races. Can we almost guarantee already that Ambrose will be one of them, but would be cool to see a few others dab their feet into something different.

prisonermonkeys · Jul 2, 2011

Indy/NASCAR drivers taking part is only an idea at this stage. It's been suggested that the races in Texas get modelled on the Gold Coast 600, but instead of having one Australian driver and one international, it would be one Australian and one Indy/NASCAR driver.

However, the problem with getting NASCAR drivers is that they have a thirty-six race calendar, so it would be difficult getting them to commit.

MoggStyle · Jul 2, 2011

very exciting news. always up for traveling to see major racing leagues. funny i live 10 minutes from a nascar track and could easily get free tickets to that but i wont ever go, but give me some race cars on a track with left and right turns a few hours away and i am there!

V8 Supercars eyeing American Round = Confirmed

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