V8 Supercar Championship

V8 Supercars is a kind of car racing category famous in the parts of Australia, New Zealand. It is a tour car racing based in Australia which is run under the regulations of FIA. Even though V8 Supercars are based in Australia it has a very good following across New Zealand, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and in many places across the world.

V8 Supercar events take place in all the states of Australia, Mid East and New Zealand. It draws more than 2.5 lakh spectators for the event. The V8 Supercars are designed with the base of Ford Falcon or Holden Commodore. The original base models undergo a high degree of modification to suit the V8 Supercars motorsport requirements. They all are strictly governed in all aspects such as performance in an effort to keep all the drivers driving the race on an even footing to create exciting and close races.

There are three separate V8 Supercar series currently in schedule. The primary series is the level one championship (V8 supercar championship series), Fujitsu V8 Supercar series which forms part of the level two championship and finally the third level championship known as Shannons V8 Touring Car National Series which was held for the first time recently from the year 2008 onwards.

V8 Supercars

V8 Supercars Australia controls, markets and promotes the V8 Supercars Championship. It is a joint management of Touring Car Entrants Group of Australia (TEGA) and Sports & Entertainment Ltd (SEL) that runs V8 Supercars Championship. TEGA and SEL hold a 75% – 25% agreement in the management. It was founded in the year of 1997 with the name of Australian Vee Eight Supercar Company (AVESCO). In AVESCO Championship TEGA managed the setting of rules, technical management and supply of cars and drivers, whereas SEL looked after the broadcasting rights, sponsorship and sanctioning of agreements. In 2005 the name AVESCO changed to V8 Supercars Australia to make it more identifiable with the sport. The broadcasting of V8 Supercars is done across the globe by all sports channels which is receiving increased fan following every year. The broadcast rights for the V8 Supercars is currently costing around AU$120 million.

The cars running for V8 Supercar Championship are built with great aerodynamics and a very high degree of cost involved in making these cars. An engine for V8 Supercar costs in the range of AU$60,000 to AU$130,000. Teams spend nearly AU$10 million a year  to run their two car teams. There is a salary cap of AU$6.75 million set in order to reduce costs down in the year 2007 but it was scrapped after only one season of its implementation.

There are talks going on between the authorities with a view of establishing a circuit tournament in Asia, with China being the predominant venue where the sport gained popularity after a supercar race featured in Asia. Thus V8 Supercar is turning out to be a huge success across the globe with increasing fan following because of the exciting races it can match F1 races one day for sure.