Well, the V8s have been to Shanghai and they do rounds in Bahrain as well, not to mention going to the other side of The Ditch for Pukekohe and Hamilton, so I wouldn't say other international events won't happen. But I'm not sure about America. Sure, Infineon and Laguna Seca are awesome circuits, but they're way out of a reasonable time zone for Australian viewers to watch live. And the cars aren't exactly familiar to Americans; Falcons and Commodores are only really available in Australia, so would American audiences recognise them? Besides, it would likely be competing with NASCAR. The only way I could see it really working would be if Marcos Ambrose had quite a bit of success over there and everyone started to wonder where he'd come from, and the V8s could say it was a case of better to show than to tell and have a round over there.
But I think that if the V8s have another international event, it will be in either Sepang or somewhere in Japan, though I think a third marque like Toyota would have to be allowed into the championship.
I agree with most of your post there Dyr?, but some things crop up for me:
1. American's will REMEMBER the Falcon, as it was a US model before we pinched it and developed it 40+ years ago, and will want it there if they raced there as it's a PROPER PRODUCTION RWD, not a tube chassis with a Fusion body on it.
2. You guys already get our Commodores, the G8's (and the Pontiac GTO's before that!!).
It wouldn't take an hour of pit work to stick G8 fronts on them and then "WOW, we don't get them in NASCAR!!" but it could be done with enough forethought.
3. Marcos Ambrose - All I have to say on him is wait until the first road course, then you will ALL be amazed, he will decimate all before him. To tell you the truth, the only other great road course driver in NASCAR is Montoya. He's already destroyed the Nationwide Series everytime he's on a road course, and everytime I see him running in the Top 3 near the end in one of those races, one of the so called NASCAR 'pros' takes him out (anybody remember Robby Gordon's incident with him??
)
God I wish he was back in V8Supercars......such a great talent.
4. Laguna Seca would be the better circuit for V8Supercar racing and would be better either as a season starter or near to the finish. Daylight saving causes us to be 19hrs ahead of the Pacific Coast of the USA so that's 'technically' only 5hrs behind in broadcast time. If they did a twilight/night race, they could have 2 x 200km races, start Race 1 at 4pm Saturday PST (11am Sunday AEDT) and have Race 2 completed by 10pm (5pm to us).
PERFECT BROADCASTING TIMES for Australia.........someone give me a job at Channel 7.
I hope Rick can do well in the race, where I assume he will start 10th (if he starts).
...I do hope this is a temporary thing because it's people like this that spur on good debate,and make up the fabric of these forums whether you like them or not....
Also, I'm wondering of there are people at Laguna Seca and Infineon wondering if they can get them to come over to the US for a V8 Supercars round in the future.
Also, I believe Bathurst is truly one of the more noteworthy race of it's series like NASCAR's Daytona 500, IndyCar's Indianapolis 500 and F1's Monaco Grand Prix to name a few.
