Wednesday, December 16, 2009

What Would Be the Dream American Australian V8 Supercar Weekend?

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Some people feel that Australia is too far away from the rest of the world to where there is no significant impact on the global scale of racing. I, however, disagree with this. You see, the Australian V8 Supercar Series features some of the world's best-sounding race cars with intense action. These days, you're either a fan of the red lion of Holden, or the blue oval of Ford [Australia]. Something you wish at times is if you could actually see a certain foreign domestic motorsport in YOUR country. That's what I'm here to speculate on and comment on.



--- What If: Australian V8 Supercar Series Weekend... in the United States? ---
Most of the "good old boys" and "good old girls" don't want to see something like the V8 Supercar Series invade our shores. But if you ask me, this style of racing is every bit as intense and amazing as NASCAR. It's a great series with great talent. Now if you're considering how far away places are, here is some perspective. It's an 8,000+ mile (12,800+ km) distance between Sydney and Houston. The V8 Supercars will race at the beautiful Yas Marina Circuit next year for the first-time ever.

What would make a good V8 Supercar weekend in the United States? I think the series would need to compete at courses in the United States that are competitive. Unless travel costs are a concern, I would more than likely think a race in the United States will have to take place either in California or Oregon. You may know what Oregon track I'm talking about if you know your road racing. I'm talking about beautiful Portland International Raceway. When it comes to California- only two tracks come to mind- Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca and Sears Point (I hate "Infineon Raceway"). Think about
Laguna Seca. Nothing like this course in the United States. Imagine a Holden vs. Ford battle on the last lap heading into the Laguna Seca Corkscrew. The other course I mentioned is
Infineon Raceway. Now in my view, this track is styled nicely for an Australian V8 Supercar race. This track would be a great challenge for the V8 Supercar Series. Imagine those Holdens and Fords weaving left and right through the esses.

Or if the V8 Supercars wanted to EXPLORE the United States, I'd love to see the V8 Supercar Series race at tracks like the ones below. And in case you don't know what each track looks like to race on, I've included several YouTube videos for you to check out. To make the site load better, just click on each link or simply right-click each link and choose to open them in a new window:

* Miller Motorsports Park (Tooele, UT, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration of Miller Motorsports Park, with Chip Herr (he's awesome!) in an Audi A4 touring car.

* Barber Motorsports Park (Birmingham, AL, USA)
Multiple-Lap Demonstration of Barber Motorsports Park, in a Audi R8 road car.

* Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course (Lexington, OH, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration of Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, with an Indy Car.

* Watkins Glen International (Watkins Glen, NY, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration: Watkins Glen (long course) in a Porsche 911. Sound quality is poor, however.

* Road America (Elkhart Lake, WI, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration: Road America, in a Dodge Viper GTS.

* Road Atlanta (Braselton, GA, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration of Road Atlanta, in the Petersen White Lightning Porsche 911 GT3-RSR.

* New Jersey Motorsports Park (Millville, NJ, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration of New Jersey Motorsports Park (also called Thunderbolt Raceway), in a 1984 Porsche 911.

* Lime Rock Park (Lakeville, CT, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration of Lime Rock Park.

* Sebring International Raceway (Sebring, FL, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration of Sebring International Raceway, in a Penske Porsche RS Spyder.

* Autobahn Country Club (Joliet, IL, USA)
Mutliple-Lap Demonstration of Autobahn Country Club.

* Virginia International Raceway (Danville, VA, USA)
One-Lap Demonstration of Virginia International Raceway (??? configuration)



If you noticed, I tried to stay away from ovals with infield road courses. Part of me says that I'd like to see this deal happen at proper road courses rather than rely on NASCAR ovals just to get people to see the races. I love Barber Motorsports Park for its challenge and its loveliness. Really, I'm impartial to the Mid-South and American Southeast. Miller Motorsports Park is also an attractive bid for me including Barber Motorsports Park and maybe even Sebring.





What do you make of this? My video: "What Would Be the Dream American Australian V8 Supercar Weekend?"

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