2016 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship - Results and TalkTouring Cars 

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RESHIRAM5
Same could be said of Simona who originally only had Open Wheel experience before 2015 Bathurst (which is a lot different to a Supercar), and experience in terms of time, Simona wasn't even any good at it.

or anyone else who came from overseas to jump straight into a Supercar.
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Experience in high speed open wheelers definitely rates higher than experience in an 86.

Look at Ekstrom: experience in Touring Cars. First time on the mountain and was extremely fast out the gate.

Campbell: experience in Carrera Cup. Has experience at Australian tracks. First time in a Supercar and was quick.

Dahlgren: STCC Champion. Uncompetitive the whole season.

Simona: experience in Indy Car. Last year, she didn't crash. For her first time at Bathurst and in a V8SC, did well. This year, in a different car, she did better.

Kurt Kostecki: experience in DVS. Proof that there are still drivers that need to home their skills before stepping up to the main game.

Lebrocq: Experience in GT3, DVS. He went straight from Formula Ford to a GT3 SLS. First time out, he smashed the competition in those enduros.

Gracie: experience in Carrera Cup, DVS. She even admits she's not ready for the main game.

Thing is, I could only race an 86 for 3 years and be handed keys to a Supercar in the same time as people who have raced cars more powerful and race cars that are purpose built. There's no build up to faster cars. No experience in different cars. Why should I be deemed qualified to race against Lowndes after only just racing an 86?
 
05XR8
Why should I be deemed qualified to race against Lowndes after only just racing an 86?
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If you look at the list, it's not just the 86 Series - it's any production car championship. I think CAMS are trying to avoid one of the criticisms that the FIA copped when they overhauled the superlicence system: that certain championships are favoured over others. A young driver was better off going into GP2 than Formula Renault 3.5 because GP2 was worth more to a superlicence. As a result, Renault pulled out of Formula Renault 3.5, and the series is now known as Formula 3.5 V8 and is no longer a worthwhile stepping stone in a driver's career.

In that case (I'm pretty sure) that the FIA was trying to streamline the hierarchy of feeder series. When GP2 and Formula Renault 3.5 were in direct competition with one another, it was a difficult choice for drivers to make - pick the wrong series, and it could really damage your career. There were a few drivers who arguably could have made it to Formula One, like Kevin Korjus and Tio Ellinas, but got shafted because they picked the wrong series at the wrong time.

Here, CAMS doesn't have the problem that the FIA faced. There's a dearth of state and national championships, but the career path is pretty linear and the competition between similar series is pretty stable and pretty comparable. Nevertheless, trying to fine-tune the series runs the risk of killing championships off; if CAMS says "Series X and Series Y are very similar, but Series X is worth more than Series Y", then no-one will enter in Series Y and Series Y will stop being sustainable.
 
There's also a huge difference between having enough points for the licence and actually getting a drive. You're wasting two years of a pretty small career window if you just want to stick to the 86 series to rack points up.
 
I think people are forgetting the talent aspect, if you have that it doesn't really matter what you raced previously.

It's the reason someone like Gracie will never be good enough to be in the main game she lacks it.
 
mustafur
I think people are forgetting the talent aspect, if you have that it doesn't really matter what you raced previously.

It's the reason someone like Gracie will never be good enough to be in the main game she lacks it.
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I've included talented drivers in my previous post.
Chelsea is wiping the floor with Renee. I'm hoping Angelo gets a full season drive.

prisonermonkeys
If you look at the list, it's not just the 86 Series - it's any production car championship. I think CAMS are trying to avoid one of the criticisms that the FIA copped when they overhauled the superlicence system: that certain championships are favoured over others. A young driver was better off going into GP2 than Formula Renault 3.5 because GP2 was worth more to a superlicence. As a result, Renault pulled out of Formula Renault 3.5, and the series is now known as Formula 3.5 V8 and is no longer a worthwhile stepping stone in a driver's career.

In that case (I'm pretty sure) that the FIA was trying to streamline the hierarchy of feeder series. When GP2 and Formula Renault 3.5 were in direct competition with one another, it was a difficult choice for drivers to make - pick the wrong series, and it could really damage your career. There were a few drivers who arguably could have made it to Formula One, like Kevin Korjus and Tio Ellinas, but got shafted because they picked the wrong series at the wrong time.

Here, CAMS doesn't have the problem that the FIA faced. There's a dearth of state and national championships, but the career path is pretty linear and the competition between similar series is pretty stable and pretty comparable. Nevertheless, trying to fine-tune the series runs the risk of killing championships off; if CAMS says "Series X and Series Y are very similar, but Series X is worth more than Series Y", then no-one will enter in Series Y and Series Y will stop being sustainable.
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I understand what CAMS want to do.
We all know motor racing is expensive.
The problem then comes as, how does one get a test in a Supercar?
Look at that 17yo in the TCM Capri. He showed talent, speed, maturity/patience using a high hp car around the toughest track to drive those cars. If/when he gathers enough points, he should get a test day.
I'm sure Supercar teams look at who has experience and then talent to get a call for a drive.

If I or my family, can only afford to be in one series, how should I be able to qualify for a Supercar licence without having driven one?
This is why VASC should sponsor two drivers in the DVS. Just as they have done with Simona.
 
05XR8
I've included talented drivers in my previous post.
Chelsea is wiping the floor with Renee. I'm hoping Angelo gets a full season drive.


I understand what CAMS want to do.
We all know motor racing is expensive.
The problem then comes as, how does one get a test in a Supercar?
Look at that 17yo in the TCM Capri. He showed talent, speed, maturity/patience using a high hp car around the toughest track to drive those cars. If/when he gathers enough points, he should get a test day.
I'm sure Supercar teams look at who has experience and then talent to get a call for a drive.

If I or my family, can only afford to be in one series, how should I be able to qualify for a Supercar licence without having driven one?
This is why VASC should sponsor two drivers in the DVS. Just as they have done with Simona.
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Adam Garwood is who drives the Capri and yet ANYONE in the Toyota 86 field scores more points. If it wasn't so serious it'd be a joke.
 
What an absolute joke, a super licence for supercars, Aussie racing cars??? Ahahahahaha, basically what CAMS have done is nullified all grass roots racers and more or less banned them from ever competing in a V8SC, the 86 series gets recognized when super sixers dont, F4 is worth double the points of F3??? There's no recognition of Hyundai or Pulsar cup! Absolute crap!
 
Supercars have made Dunlop Series Bathurst race and non-championship event to entice those guys to join the main race as wild cards. Would this super licence stuff effect that in any way?
 
TDZdave
What an absolute joke, a super licence for supercars, Aussie racing cars??? Ahahahahaha, basically what CAMS have done is nullified all grass roots racers and more or less banned them from ever competing in a V8SC, the 86 series gets recognized when super sixers dont, F4 is worth double the points of F3??? There's no recognition of Hyundai or Pulsar cup! Absolute crap!
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Off course F4 is worth more than F3, despite what some are saying. F4 is CAMS baby so don't mind the conflict of interest. Sshhh!
 
CAMS sometimes worries me, that they might do what happened to DTM in the 90s when they tried transforming it into the ITCC.
 
prisonermonkeys
Formula 3 is dead in the water. The cars are out-dated and the championship too expensive.


They're obscure one-make production championships. Until you mentioned them, I had never even heard of them.
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F3 was one of the strongest national championships going, until cams took away the rising star award and slapped it on F4, though the Australian F3 organizers still arrange for the championship winner to a euro F3 test,

As for the Excel and Pulsar cups, I'd hardly call 30+ car grids at most circuits in Australia obscure, obscure is Formula Ford being recognised, last state round of Formula Ford I seen at Mallala had 5 severely outdated cars,
 
http://www.supercars.com/news/championship/26-cars-for-2017/
A 26-car grid has been ensured for next season, with all RECs (Racing Entitlement Contracts) currently racing re-entered for the 2017 Virgin Australia Supercars Championship.

All current licences were committed by Friday’s deadline, meaning the grid will remain the same size next year.

The commitment to race does not confirm team structures or drivers for next year, as RECs can still be sold or leased with a further deadline of January to submit team and driver details for the season.

There are only 26 RECs available to race in Supercars, with Roland Dane buying the last available REC for 2016 to host Craig Lowndes in the third TeamVortex Commodore after James Rosenberg chose to relinquish his licence at the end of the 2015 season.
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Wonder if this spells goodnight for Dale Wood.
 
Spacegoat
Percat has apparently confirmed that he won't be at LDM next year. There might be an opening for Dale there?
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There's also that Newcastle-based team that was talking up an entry around the time the Newcastle 500 was announced. LDM would probably be better off with just one car.
 
RPM dissecting "the incident". Interesting how Mark Larkham explains everything very thorough and shows how out of control Whincup was.


About open seats:

Bright is off contract, but that's been his contract for a while.

Blanchard might be gone if Percat is in.

Tander(if he goes to GRM) fills the #33 seat.

No spots at T8, Tekno, FPR(is LeBrocq going to get that #111 seat?), Erebus(Shae Davies unless Betty says otherwise).

The Russells need approx. $300k-$400k for their budget to race next year.

Will be interesting if SDS Doesn't go to NISMO.
 
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GTracer38
She has said that she wouldn't be fielding a young driver and was aiming to have another driver of, or similar too, Reynolds caliber.
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Still waiting on confirmation. Some rumours, a couple months ago, were talking Taz Douglas or Garry Jacobson.
 
http://www.speedcafe.com/2016/10/18/us-auto-giant-backs-penske-gold-coast/
coulthard-gc600-640x399.png
 
legatoblues
Then here's hoping common sense prevails...
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Unfortunately, I don't think there's any chance of that happening. If Volvo win legally, it could take a long time for GRM to recover from this.
Volvo have basically said they want a divorce so I don't know why GRM just doesn't move on & be done with it.
 
Pete05
Volvo have basically said they want a divorce so I don't know why GRM just doesn't move on & be done with it.
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All GRM wants is the ability to use the cars next year. I doubt they care about anything else. If Volvo wins this and takes the cars, GRM's only options are to A) use their Dunlop series cars or B) Buy some customer cars from someone else to use for a single year ($$$$$) or C) take half a year off to get their new deal up and running, spend the last half of 2017 as a large test session, then come back full force for 2018.
 

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