Motorsport: Supercars title goes down to the wire

A wide range of cars will be racing at this weekend's Thunder in the Park. Photo / Supplied

The last round of the V8 Supercars is this weekend at the Sydney Telstra 500 and has proven in the past to be the most difficult to predict.

Two drivers, Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes, are in with a chance to win the 2011 title. Whincup has the points lead heading to the streets of Homebush but teammate Lowndes is not giving up the chance to win another championship without a fight.

Ten drivers have taken the 12 available podium positions across the four races and two years. Mark Winterbottom and Jason Bright are the only repeat podium finishers while Whincup and Lowndes are yet to finish on the podium in Sydney.

The event is regarded as the biggest car-breaker in the series so who'll win is anyone's guess. But what we do know is what the drivers in the championship think of their sport.

The annual Auto Action Driver's Poll makes interesting reading. Kiwi driver Shane van Gisbergen topped one of the questions with Jason Bargwanna - both voted the dirtiest drivers in the field by their peers. Here is a sample of the questions and replies.

Do V8 Supercars need more manufacturer support?

* Yes = 89 per cent
* No = 4 per cent
* No comment = 7 per cent

Who was the fairest driver in 2011?

* Garth Tander = 14 per cent
* Steve Johnson = 11 per cent
* Lee Holdworth = 11 per cent
* Fabian Coultard = 7 per cent
* Craig Lowndes = 7 per cent
* Other = 50 per cent

Who was the best driver in 2011?

* Lowndes = 43 per cent
* Whincup = 43 per cent
* No comment = 14 per cent

Who was the worst driver in 2011?

* Bargwanna = 29 per cent
* Reindler = 14 per cent
* Fiore = 11 per cent
* T Kelly = 7 per cent
* Others = 25 per cent
* No comment = 14 per cent

Who is the dirtiest driver in 2011?

* Bargwanna = 21 per cent
* Van Gis = 21 per cent
* T Kelly = 14 per cent
* Moffat - 7 per cent
* No comment = 11 per cent
* Others = 26 per cent

Who is the hardest driver to pass?

* R Kelly = 18 per cent
* Bargwanna = 11 per cent
* Tander = 11 per cent
* W. Davo = 7 per cent
* Murphy = 7 per cent
* Other = 35 per cent
* No comment = 11 per cent

THUNDER IN THE PARK

GT Radial Thunder in the Park is one of the biggest race events held at Pukekohe Park Raceway and for the past five years has been one of the most popular.

The event organisers, Motorsport Auckland, have selected a wide range of cars from the crowd-pleasing V8 Muscle Cars, the bellowing GT1 TransAms, the fastest V8 tin-tops in New Zealand and the rapid four-cylinder SS2000 to the competitive Rotary Pro 7s.

All these will be going head to head this weekend as part of the Summer Series calendar.

One of the stars of the show will be the Chesters Plumbing & Bathrooms Holden V8 Supercar. The VZ Commodore started life as a Team Dynamik project for the V8 Supercar Championship, but the intrusion of the credit crunch meant the build was shelved before it was able to hit the track.

It wasn't long before Nick Chester and his team got their hands on it and began a heavy modification programme that has resulted in a 760bhp machine capable of setting low 54-second lap times around Pukekohe and speeds up to 300km/h.

The build took much inspiration from GT and Endurance race cars in Europe, with parts fitted from modern GT1 Lamborghinis and Porsche RSRs. The idea was to use the modern V8 Supercar platform and take full advantage of the relaxed rules in the GT1 category to tailor a package that handles and stops just as well as it goes in a straight line.

At the Tier One event earlier this month the Supercar demolished the Sports GT field with a clean sweep of all three races.