Opening lap wreck with Grand-Am standout Ricky Taylor at
the wheel. Picture from V8Supercars.com.au
I have talked about the Australian V8 Supercar series in some of my last
posts, so I figured I would give them a dedicated posting. Speed has a tape delay
on these races, and it finally aired Saturday night. The race happened at
Surfer's Paradise in the Gold Coast of Australia. The track is known as the
Concrete Canyon to the drivers. They really know how to put on a show, as the
picture I opened up the post with shows. This race is known as an Enduro, each
team has their normal driver, but they get a co-driver from outside the series.
Greg Ritter is the normal driver of the car shown in the picture above, and his
co-driver was Ricky Taylor. He races Daytona Prototypes in the Grand-Am series.
Ricky Taylor's Grand-Am Daytona Prototype SunTrust
Corvette. Picture from autoweek.com.
The story behind the picture above is that the V8 Supercar guys use a
standing start to begin the race. Think Formula 1, where everyone is sitting on
the grid, and once the lights go out, it's time to go. Well since the
international drivers start the race, and most aren't used to this, some people
stalled. When this happened, it instantly created a gridlock. Here is the
highlight video from V8Supercarofficial's YouTube channel. You can also see the
second try at the standing start, and more chaos. Other than Juan Montoya
hitting the jet-dryer at Daytona, where have you seen this much excitement in
racing?
Before you
say it, the international drivers can drive. Here is the list and in
parenthesis are their background: Nick Heidfield(F1), Marco Andretti(Indy Car),
Darren Turner(DTM/Lemans), Sebastian Bourdais(F1, Indy Car, Grand-Am, LeMans),
Richard Lyons(SuperGT), Mika Salo(F1), Simon Pagenaud(ALMS), Jeroen
Bleekmolen(Porsche Supercup), David Brabham(GT1), Graham Rahal(Indy Car), Frank
Montagny(F1), Justin Wilson(Indy Car), Ryan Briscoe(Indy Car), Will Power(Indy
Car), Stephane Sarrazin(LeMans), Gianni Morbidelli(F1), Nicolas
Minassian(LeMans/Indy Car), Max Papis (F1/Indy Car/NASCAR), Peter
Kox(DTM/BTCC), Jamie Campbell-Walter(FIA GT), Peter Dumbreck(LeMans/DTM), Mike
Conway(Indy Car), Ricky Taylor(Grand-Am), James Hinchcliffe(Indy Car), Boris
Said(NASCAR/Grand-am), Marc Lieb(LeMans), Lucas Di Grassi(F1), Tonio
Liuzzi(Superstar Series). As you can see, many forms of motorsport are represented,
and they all are very talented. Unfortunately NASCAR is in season, so we can't
showcase our stars in this race. I'm sure Marcos Ambrose would love to make a
return, and take some friends such as Juan Montoya, Brad Keselowski, and maybe
even Carl Edwards. I was sold on the driving talent of these guys when I was
watching an earlier race and Jacques Villeneuve was filling in for an injured driver.
He drove three races, and was towards the back for everyone. That guy jumps in
a Nationwide car, and battles for the win, but can't even break into the top-20
against their guys, come on now.
I have gone
on long enough, but at least I have filled this one with a ton of pictures, and
video for you to look at. The Australian V8 Supercar guys put on some awesome
racing that has all the bumping, banging, and mirrors flying that lends itself
to some exciting racing. I am planning the trip to Austin in May 2013 to see these
guys in action, and I can't wait. One of my friends going, who was part of the
Lexington Goat Herd, which was our group of friends who owned GTOs. She is
convinced that we can steal a Holden while we are there. Check for us on the
news, you may see a 5 foot nothing girl, followed by a 300 pound guy being
locked away for it. I'll leave you with a video of 3-time Winston Cup Champion
Darrell Waltrip and his ride in a V8Supercar from last year. He talks a lot
when he is scared, and as you can tell he won't shut up. Until next time.
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