I think thats Great..

I used to be against it, but the idea is slowly starting to grow on me. How would it work though? Would we have to allow for an even greater number of cars on the grid or would some of the current teams have to go to make way for them??

I know I’m old school but I like just plain old Ford & Holden…

I think it will happen before too long and 888 will be one of the first to move away from Ford especially if the
sponsorship $$$ continue to dry up. At the end of the day its just the badge on the car everything else is custom made and not Ford or Holden parts

At present I am against the idea of more manufactures. I would love it to stay FORD -v- HOLDEN personally I reckon it might loose a bit of spark with more manufactures

I like just Ford & Holden to…

The way i see it though, is that we wouldn’t lose any teams. In an ideal world someone like BJR (as an e.g.) would turn into the Toyota manufacturer team, thus increasing the level of top flight teams, and bringing further equality to the field
….I must admit it did take a while for me to like the idea….

Probably a silly question but is the number of teams (or cars) allowed in the field capped? Can there only be say 32 cars, or if a third manufacturer were to come in, could the size of the field be increased?

Not a silly question Carolyn … and yeah, it is capped. That’s why I was wondering how it would work if another manufacturer was added to the mix.

Humm it is a little confusing they want to cap the field at 28 cars but want to add more manufacturers? I dont know how they could make that work without losing teams we already have.

i think there is only 2 types of v8s on the aussie roads today and thats the way it should stay on the track in austraila we are not from america we dont run around in an oval forget these jap cars cameing here.

I think it should stay Ford n Holden the way it should be….I’d be a tad upset if they added more manufacturers into the mix…u know the old saying If it aint broke Why fix it? It aint broke so leave things as they r I say

Why Fix it…….Because it is broken and it does need fixing! Ford has lost nearly 6% of its markets share to other manufacturers over 3 years and now nearly one in three cars solding Australia is a Toyota.

We need a third manufacturer ASAP to sustain the category in Australia.

NASCAR has successfully incorporated Toyota despite the fact they dont sell a V8 Camry in the USA…………Why cant we? This is business only as our passions wont pay the teams bills unfortunately.

I personally woud love to see a Chrysler in a race …….. Oh hang they have one already the Saftey car it does more laps than most at Baathurst lol

Everybody should throw their 2 cents in on this one, then maybe there will be some clear direction for the organisers to work toward keeping the sport viable (but do they listen?)

I personally think the sport is totally lacking exposure wise, and adding a third manufacturer with real clout would add a much needed boost of advertising dollars and hype as well as introducing new people to the sport. Not to mention keeping the current manufacturers focused on developing a winning car instead of whining about things, and if they weren’t focused, oooh the irony of being made to look like a goose by a newbie.

I suppose the question is: Does the third manufacturer need the V8 Supercars more than the V8 Supercars need the third manufacturer?…….i think not!

There really is only one choice for a third party to come in, and look out when (not if) they do!
It will really shake things up. You don’t become the worlds biggest anything by bitching about others, you plan, research, develop and get on with the job. Making your competitors look like a goose will then happen naturally after that!

I can’t decide on either option, personally I like watching ford vs holden but I can understand the need for the third manufacturer

yep the more the better get abit of variety going it does get boring with just 2 brands…

I say bring back group A rules get lots of cars and the manufactures get to show what there cars can really do and you can say thats my car coming first lol. Also the racing will be closer because certain cars will be stronger in certain areas making for lots of passing you could have the small car pass the big car in the corners only for the big car to come back on the straight and then the small car comes back etc thats awesome instead of them being all the same making it harder to gain advantage and pass looks like there all in a line just waiting to finish

I agree with MC on this one…. and a great thread topic also Andrew.

Australian “Touring Car Racing” needs substantial review. Fact.

The old BTCC when gang-busters for about 5 years then imploded spectaularly because the costs blew out so much that none of the manufacturers could afford to be involved anymore. In Australia, Matt hit it dead amidships - Australian new car sales are sliding, and the Australian manufacturers are suffering. Ford and Holden have already annouced scale-backs in there V8 ‘war chests’.

Most teams rely on this support to pay bills. It makes up a good portion of their racing budget. V8 is already on the cusp of bursting the sponsorship bubble. Which means more pay drivers.

TEGA/V8SA need to look very very seriously at their long-term sustainability. When i first started watching racing as a wee boy (it was a while ago now folks) it was toward the end of Group C racing in Australia. Holden v Ford v Mazda v Nissan v BMW …etc etc…it was great racing amongst an interesting array of cars with a variety of strengths and weaknesses.

V8SA need to attact more manufacturers to go to the ‘next step’ in terms of their acceptance in the sporting landscape. Perhaps an all V8 formula isnt the way forward…

Maybe we could allow Toyota to enter a RWD Camry with a Supercharged V6 to produce similar power to a V8 ? or Mazda a version of it’s Turbo Rotary RX8 ?

The Parity review guys will have their work cut out then !

would love to see a raceing version of a Mazda 6,their a beautifull looking car

Matt and David have really summed this topic up well…

A third manufacturer brings more dollars, thus relieving sponsorship pressures we have now, it brings new fans, opens up the market allowing for V8 Supercars as a franchise to move forward and become more prominent in Australian sport.
All of the fans and drivers wish that V8’s would get better coverage in mainstream media… well this could be an answer…..