we already knew, but ...

[Y2kGoofball]

Murphy, Tander on the move

With the necessary paperwork now finalised, Holden V8 Supercar drivers Greg Murphy and Garth Tander have confirmed that they will switch to new teams in season 2005.

With PWR Racing driver Jason Bright opting to start his own team next year, Kmart Racing’s Murphy will take his seat at PWR while Tander moves from Garry Rogers Motorsport to join Rick Kelly at Kmart.

Tander, at 27, joined the Garry Rogers team as a 21-year old Formula Ford champion from Western Australia, and has occupied the seat of the #34 Repco/Valvoline/Cummins Commodore for seven years, being one of the longest team stayers of current V8 drivers, winning Bathurst in 2000 along the way.

“There comes a time when you have to reassess and move on, but I guess that’s the name of the game,” said the newly married Tander. “But that’s all happening next year and my focus now is to do the job for GRM over the remaining three championship events.”

Murphy, a four-times Bathurst winner as of last weekend, also cites a need to move on as the reason for change, after flying the flag for Kmart since 1999.

“You need to keep fresh and up to the task in such a highly competitive environment as V8s,” The New Zealander said. “None of this will affect our performance for the remainder of the year with championship points in the balance.”

Neither driver was tempted to jump the fence over to Ford during negotiations. “I guess you could say we’re both Holden blokes through and through,” Murphy said.

Off topic I was also reading about Cochrane and Toyota, another thing we knew about. Apparently holden AND Ford have told Tony if he allows toyota into the championship they WILL pull out, just like they threatened with the turbos of the early 90's (which as we know in 1993 Holden and Ford got their way and the TCC became the V8 Supercar Series mad eup of only the V8 Commodore and Falcon)

Apparently Tony told Holden and Ford that he doesnt tell them how to make their cars, so they shouldnt tell 'him how to run HIS sport', and he made the point clear neither have financial input into AVESCO therefore their cries wont be heard!

If this continues I reckon both would pull out, because Holden and ford know what us fans want, that is out Commodore and Falcon on Australian, or as late, Kiwi tracks (because the Aus + NZ connection is there), not to see a Camry race in China or as mentioned South Africa ...

But Toytas been whinging that Holden and Ford benefit from the sport because of Win on Sunday Sell on Monday and theyve got no sport to do the same in, and as we knew, theyt'll bung their US V8 engine into a rear wheel drive Camry or avalon and that will be that, its acceptable!

So we mightnt have our great battle for much longer.

I know the day a Camry hits the track I'll be converting to Footy or even Cricket! :eek:

[VQ]

Yeah me too, Toyota's are not worthy of racing against the true RWD holdn and Ford's because unlike the toyota they are both performance cars in all guises under the skin (RWD and a bit of HP) but the Camry is a gutless wounder really, and they must brainwash people to buy them because anyone who wants a performance sedan woud get a Commodore or Falcon because they are good handling well packaged, locally made and designed cars, the extra money to buy them is the fact they aren't sold many other places.

[Perko_Rulz]

I honestly want to see Toyota in. I think it should only be if they have the V8. I know I say this all the time but the same thing comes up all the time. BTW, It isn't Cochranes sport, it's the fans who make the sport. If there were no fans HE would not have a sport.

[VSV6]

heh Trust me he won't be saying that when Ford and Holden pull out of the competition.
Why would be want to see a bunch of Japanese cars racing around in Australia??
The Japs are not V8 People, Aussies and Americans are the kings of the V8 (Australia getting their V8s from America ^_^ )
Toyota don't need to enter the V8s anyway, firstly because dumping a V8 in the Camry would make it run like an absolute dog.
Secondly because they already beat Holden and Ford in overall sales!!
Toyota should continue to make thier 'people movers' and leave performance V8s to the pros

Cheers
-Mike

[Y2kGoofball]

I understand Toyotas angle, but if thats whats going to happen then maybe we need to go back to our classes of racing like pre-V8 Supercars

BTW Mitsubishi have backed out for the simple fact their Australian branch is in big financial strife and simply cant afford to pilot a new RWD V8 just for the heck of motorsport

[TC Ink]

having toyota or anything thats not a holden or a ford in the v8s just wouldn't be right =[

I know the day a Camry hits the track I'll be converting to Footy or even Cricket!

i already follow those 2 sports also :p

[rustynz]

Apparently Tony told Holden and Ford that he doesnt tell them how to make their cars, so they shouldnt tell 'him how to run HIS sport', and he made the point clear neither have financial input into AVESCO therefore their cries wont be heard!

what's the story with this? this is total bulls**t! what's project blueprint then? if anything, that would be AVESCO telling Holden and Ford how to make their cars, isn't it??

[monaro]

i follow everything, but i wont be following V8's if toyota jump on board. with so many holdens and fords already how are they even going to fit in toyotas, teams arent gonna jump straight to another make especially after project blueprint made them all re-learn their cars. good luck cock-rane

[Bo0]

motorsport is really now all about advertising and globalisation, this is another example. Toyota run in pretty much every motorsport except for the ATCC. I can understand why they want to join but just like you guys reckon, it could and probably will ruin the sport as it then would open the floodgates for anyone.

I say if you let one in, they'll all want to come in so leave them all out otherwise it will soon turn into what happened in the late 80's early 90's.

I read in the paper about tander confirming his move to kmart, and a bit of spitefullness came out of the garage during that time.
Rick, now with Murphy gone wants to step up to the role as being the lead driver, and if he ddint get it he threatened to pull out of the team. Kmart comprimised with Tander and Kelly on even terms, so there really is no lead driver but they will race together in the enduro's next year.

Also saw that Jason Bright has been confirmed as the lead driver for FPR next year, taking over Craig Lowndes' seat. This may not be true because there are a lot of rumours circulating around, but it could be possible.

[Y2kGoofball]

Well Ricks family owns Kmart Racing so I could imagne how it woulda been at dinner time ^_^

As for Bright as I said all along I liked the idea of him starting a new Holden team, and apparently there has been confirmation he asked Morris about the cost of buying one of his cars, but thats about it

Honestly I can see him at FPR, he just wants to go somewhere where he'll be the focus, he'll be the lead driver, thus why he switched from HRT to the original Team Brock anyway. I dont know Weels story, I know his family sold K J Thermal (the company) so they no longer had control over his Falcon sponsorship, quite possibly the new owners pulled the Supercar sponsorship to use the money elsehwere. I dont know if this caused Weel to jump to a different team though because they only sold K J because their little known PWR (Paul Weel Radiators) company was doing so well, they sold KJ Thermal to focus on running that business.

As it turns out, whether its Pauls luck or something a bit more, Team Brock left V8 Supercars and the perfect opportunity for Paul Weel Radiators to include Paul Weel Racing (well its acctually Paul Weel Radiators Racing thus why its PWR Racing) occured.

When you think about it when Bright made the switch it was quite obvious Skaife was the focus at HRT during his time there. He went to a 'failing' team as such where he could make an impact, but with Brocks pulling out it wasnt Bright who shone through, it was Paul Weel, who could afford to buy the team and plaster the car with his company logo!

now with FPR out of both drivers it'd be the perfect chance for Bright to try again in a 'failing' team to be the focus of that team, only this time chances are the second driver wont be buying out the team in the near future! Also chances are the second driver wont be that much of a good driver, which would give Bright the opportunity to shine through again as a decent driver.

I do think this is why Bright wasd roumered to start his own team, just to be the 'lead driver' of a team for once, but he doesnt want to be weighed down with the owner driver stuff.

It make sense when you look at Brights history

[VSV6]

How is a lead driver determined??
Paul Weel is not the Lead driver, I don't care what it says on paper, Bright is the main focus in that team hands down
Bright moving just to be the lead driver is stupid, however making his own team is even worse.

Cheers
-Mike

[Turboginge]

I have to agree with pretty much all of youse that V8 Supercars is all about Holden and that other thing that gets in the way and slows everybody down.
I have only just recently heard about thoses toymotors joning the big boyz and cant say that I am too happy about it.

Why try to fix something that is not broken. This is a tradition and has been for years so to do this would ruin it completely.

Anyway I have had my bleat so all that is left to say is.....

Cmon Murph win the bloody championship ffs
and Michael well he's just going to anyway.
and lets not forget our other Motoring Icon... Scotty, get him in a williams and watch Michael squirm.

[VQ]

Toyota shoudn't join because their cars are not sporty, they aren't Australian exclusive cars, 50% or something like that of the cars made here are imported to the Middle east. If the car wasn't a common site in other places it would be fine, but it isn't so that's my major problem with it.

[helix]

ok here's my 2 cents,

Toyota should be granted access to V8 racing but in the konicas for 2 years to prove its dedication and its raceing ability.

Toyota already make all the neccesary components to comply with project blueprint, ( pushrod V8, rear drive )they are being used successfuly in there first season of the craftsmen truck series in America, Nascar for utes.

I personaly welcome the challange from Toyota and think it can only lift the game.

Ford and holden pulling out WHAT A CROCK, imagine the loss in revenue, tv coverage, sponsorship, free advertising, cult status for their drivers, na they arn't going anywhere.

just my 2 cents :beer: cheers

[chris]

Why would be want to see a bunch of Japanese cars racing around in Australia??
The Japs are not V8 People, Aussies and Americans are the kings of the V8 (Australia getting their V8s from America ^_^ )


Who says they are not V8 people? Looking at racing history, we can find many V8 powered Japanese race-cars, all of them incredibly potent and extremely competitive.

They are no different to anyone else when it comes to motorsport. They are as competitive as anyone else, and love their racing. I don't mind Toyota and others entering the V8 Supercars if it brings some more variety. As long as they play fair and by the rules (something even current teams sometimes have difficulty doing) then I see no problem.

Some of the best racing existed in series with many different types of car. The more different manufacturers you have in a series, the more interesting it becomes.

And the local Mitsubishi problems are mostly not its own doing. It instead suffers from collateral damage caused by the corruption of former management in Japan. It will take time to restore confidence because of that, but rampant and idiotic media speculation on Mitsubishi Australia's fortunes annoy me to no end. They are only speculating, and not basing assumptions on any firm details or fact, and the only thing it does it make things worse.

They wouldn't go saying Holden is under threat because of difficulties in GM Europe (Opel) at the moment, so why should they do the equivalent to Mitsubishi?

Yes, I'm sticking up Mitsubishi Australia in this case because the problems are not its fault.

Back on subject, I wouldn't mind seeing a return to Group A style racing with a lot more flexibility in the rules to accomodate more different types/styles of cars, and to bring back some real relevance to road going models.

If anything, 500-1000 road-legal models of the race car should have been sold before the race-car can be entered. That handily excludes road-legal specialised prototypes as well.

I wouldn't mind seeing a class with the following sorts of cars in it:

Jaguar XJ8/XK8
BMW 545i/645Ci
Holden Commodore/Monaro
Ford Falcon
Benz E500/CLK500
Maserati Coupé GT/Quattroporte

And any other such cars you could think of. Although it is somewhat hard to imagine a big and regal Quattroporte zipping around race-tracks, but you never know.

I'm sure other engine configurations could be reasonably accomodated. In WSC in the old days, you had just about everything in the way of engine configurations:

- turbocharged Cosworth V8 engines
- turbocharged Toyota/Nissan 3.x litre V8's
- 427ci Jaguar SOHC 24 valve V12's
- twin-turbo 2.65, 2.8 and 2.996 litre Porsche flat-6's
- 4x654cc 4 rotor Mazda rotary engines
- twin-turbo 5L Mercedes Benz V8 engines
- 3.5L BMW inline-6
- 2.6 and 3.0L Ferrari V8 twin-turbo engines
- 5L Ferrari 12 cylinder engines
- 5.340 litre Callaway tuned Aston Martin V8's
- 2.8 litre Peugeot V6 twin-turbo engines
- 9.6, 10.5 and 11.4 litre Chevrolet V8's
- 3.5L V10 Peugeot engines

Awful lot of engine variety, and the cars with the little turbo engines didn't always win against the big engined cars. The Jaguars for a while with their big and heavy V12 gave everything a right royal thrashing, even the Saubers for that matter. In the WSC, it all worked out pretty well until the organisers decided to adopt a semi-controlled 3.5L engine formula, at which point it all went kaputt with construction costs going through the roof!

[VSV6]

Your forgeting the problem
Australians want Australian cars to win
It's simple, putting them up agianst Jag XK8s and other such cars will not be benifitial
Don't give me any of this "class win" crap either, because who honestly wants to see a Jag win Bathurst? (again)

Cheers
-Mike

[VQ]

Maybe if it was another class, but it can't go intot he V8 Supercar class, it would be a new class at a seperate time from the V8's because the V8 Supercars are just that.

It also makes the competition easier for some people, but others even harder, the whole two make thing is to show the driver skill more then anything.


Then again, since Lowndes left Holden, he hasn't won much....

[chris]

Victories are more sweet when they are won against quality opposition.

At the moment, Australian cars win because that is the only thing that can win. It be nice for our stuff to win fair and square against the rest of the world without any assistance from slanted rules and parity adjustments.

No parity rules will also make Holden/Ford competition much more fair.

[VQ]

I mean, like wioth the GTR's no matter how hard they tried, they could not win against them, for whatever reason, that is what I'm talking about, not what your talking about, because Holden and Ford won't do that because otherwise they will also lose sales off the track.

[chris]

I think it was more a problem of the Monaro being too hard on its tyres. That was one of the major issues I noticed, I couldn't see many other huge flaws with it. It was a rather well sorted car. Probably some more races would have seen some more opportunity to sort it out better.

The GTR was an old car in comparison, with nearly everything known about the way it performs from when they all used to race in the Diablo GTR Supertrophy. They only started popping up in other series when the GTR Supertrophy series ended, with mixed success.

[Turboginge]

The V8 Supercar series is exactly that - the V8 supercar series, it is between Holden and Ford, if other manufacturers wish to get their bit there's the Super Touring Car series, which I might add I enjoy immensely, it is great to watch a race with so many different manufacturers on the track knowing they all have the same cc's under their bonnets and that usually it is entirely driver skill ( or error ) that decides the race.

I agree with VSV6 I think it was who said Aussies want to see aussies winning, although I am a kiwi and I can't say us kiwis have been starved of victories ( thank god for Murphy ) and to some extent Stonebrothers.

And A very good point regarding Lowndsey, I like him a lot I have a lot of respect for him, and oddly I was happy for him to be 2nd at Bathurst, he deserved it, I just dont get why he insists on staying with Ford when he and Skaife had such success together at Holden.

Oh well... Thats Motor racing.... how does it go?... "Anything can happen in a formula one race... and it usually does" Murray Walker

[Mickcals]

If you look at it, you ask any Aussie Motorsport fan which was the worse period of Motor Racing in Australia they will stay late 1980's.

I dont think that the international car really interest Aussie motor racing fans.

For me i enjoy watching the old races from the 80's due to the variety in cars and to see who was driving for what and etc.

The only problem with the V8 Supercrs Series is that the cars they drive and arent what you can by in the showrooms and i think if V8 Supercars was to steer more towards that direction the racing will get better and harder. Although the current format for the V8 Supercars is very entertaining and it is so even that their were at least twenty different drivers that could have won Bathurst.

Personally i think if they want to give Toyota a try than allowed them to race in the konica series for a year or two and see what response they get from the public, then if they are popular, at Bathurst and Sandown you extend the grid and allow a handful of them to compete in the main series so that then the V8 Supercar teams and drivers can have their say and then if their alright with that then Toyota would be granted into the series by 2009.

I have nothing against other manufacturers joining the V8's, but i just dont want them to reck such and great and competitive sport.

There we go thats my two cents

[VQ]

Chris: i was talking in reference to the early 90's and GTR's as in Nissan.

[Turboginge]

I just wanna say a huge thanks to VQ for all the help he has given me in getting this game sorted out.

Also his V8 Shakes site is awesome there has obviously been a lot of time and effort gone into this, I am guessing Murph_Fan has contributed a lot too...
You guys deserve a BIG pat on the back as I have found your site and assistance to be very useful ... Well done.

The only thing is that i still do not have any gameserver addresses to join in order to race against you guys :( so if anyone can send me some I would be very happy.

Cant wait to get out on the track and burn some rubber.

[VSV6]

www.v8coc.cjb.net
There is a link to the internode server there

Cheers
-Mike