V8s: The future of V8s according to Mark Skaife

Build it and they will come. That's what will happen, according to Australian V8 Supercars board member Mark Skaife, with the grandly-named Car Of The Future.

The four-time series winner is confident the new car, to be introduced into the competition from 2012, will be a hit. He's also sure the new concept will be attractive to other manufacturers, not just Holden and Ford, who also produce a V8 engine.

"Evolution not revolution is what we're looking at," said Skaife. "We need to introduce something new into the category to give it some more life and cut costs."

As a touring car spectacle, the V8s have been popular worldwide for around 17 years. When the current Ford vs Holden format was introduced in 1993, one of the mandates was to keep the racing relatively cost-efficient.

The German Touring Car (DTM) was at the cutting edge of saloon car racing, while Nascar was right at the other end. The Aussie V8s positioned themselves roughly in the middle and have provided great racing up until now. At board level, V8 Supercars decided it was time to make decisions about what to do for the next 10 years.

"We did a comprehensive industry review and came out with some real findings," said Skaife. "We needed to be more in touch with car companies and retain manufacturers' DNA. Authenticity really needed to be preserved.

"We want to expand and promote Australia's greatest motorsport and ensure drivers and teams provide a competitive and entertaining series."

Fans of the big taxis can rest assured the series isn't going to turn into a Nascar lookalike where all the cars are much the same - with only the badges being different.

All Car Of The Future (COF) cars will have the same floor plan and officially approved elements but will be 'skinned', as the models' fans see in the showroom. A Holden will look like a Holden, a Ford will look like a Ford and if another vehicle manufacturer wants to join the fray, they will wheel out an exact showroom replica.

"I'll always definitely be a Holden fan and as long as the new car looks like and is a Holden I'll support it," said Phyllis Douglas from Pukekohe at the ITM400 V8 race meeting in Hamilton.

A dyed-in-the-wool Ford fan, Donald from Whangarei, had similar sentiments: "I won't be changing my allegiance, I'll still be a Ford fan. The heart of it, the engine, will still be a Ford."

The major improvement drivers will notice is the change from an old-school live rear axle to an independent set-up. This frees up room at rear of the car to move the fuel tank forward as a safety measure.

Also, having an independent rear suspension will attract a lot more European drivers to the endurance rounds, as the car will be more aligned to World Touring Car Championship and DTM specs.

When using the phrase 'new car for 2012' it's not so much a matter of throwing the baby out with bath water, but rather improving the tub to look after the baby better.

"We needed to keep E85 as a fuel to stay with our environmental emission standards and we've reduced the costs to build and run the cars. The cars had to remain rear-wheel drive and loose some weight," said Skaife.

Along with the above, must-haves for the COF car, engines will have to have a life of 10,000 racing kilometres - up from 5000km - and bigger wheels. This permits bigger brakes to be fitted allowing for improved thermo-dynamics, letting drivers brake harder later in a race and produce more passing.

"The win on Sunday, sell on Monday thing is very important to us," said Skaife. "The roll cage is 90 per cent standard and will facilitate running a Mazda 6, or a Toyota Camry, or a Nissan Maxima or a whatever including Ford and Holden, of course. You can make the car, from an external body measurement, fit our project blueprint," said Skaife.

This is the car the category wants for the next 10 years. Even if no other manufacturer comes in and only Ford and Holden continue in the series, the cost of going racing will have been reduced, it will be more market-relevant, safety levels will have increased and the quality of the racing will have been improved.

The playing field for smaller teams with small budgets will even out, as money will not buy speed. The racing will be closer as the cars will be almost identical in spec, so it'll more than likely come down to driver skill rather than deep pockets.