Kelly Racing

V8s: Chevrolet could race in Texas

I wrote this post originally for Richard's F1 - check it out here!

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Exciting times for the V8 Supercars! Following the unveiling of the Austin 400’s race format of Ultimate Sprints on Wednesday, there is now talk of Chevrolet joining the fray as an unofficial manufacturer over the May event!

 

A spokesperson for Holden Motorsport said that: “A firm decision on its marketing plans with Chevrolet for Texas is yet to be made and that nothing is currently being ruled out.”

The Chevrolet link can be made a number of ways and has been done before by the parent company, General Motors. It is particularly timely as well, considering that the Holden VF commodore will soon be available in the United States, under the Chevrolet SS badge.

Previous cases of rebadging include Todd Kelly’s Commodore VE in Bahrain as the Chevrolet Lumina, and Rick Kelly’s rebadging as a Buick a couple of years earlier in 2005 when the series made its brief foray to China.

Rebadging makes business sense, as the cars are then marketed as exports in that nation. This is likely part of the campaign to introduce Holden to the States, after the rebadged Aussie sedan debuted in at the NASCAR Daytona Speedway earlier this year. Shipments of the Commodore to the US are penned to begin in November.

The Car Of The Future Holden Commodore has already been sent to the southern states of America to market the race, and is already dressed up in Chevy bodywork.

The 28 cars will compete over a weekend in four races of 100km each, two on Saturday and Sunday respectively. The reported crowd estimate is 87,000; however with no major local star looking likely to compete, as well as the NASCAR All-Star weekend and the Indianapolis 500 qualifying action all over the same few days, it might be a tougher sell than expected.

For comparison, last year’s debut Formula 1 race drew crowds of 265,000 over the three days – meaning around 88,000 a day. However a recent two day Grand-Am meet just garnered 27,000.  The V8s will likely fall somewhere in between.

Interestingly for the Australians, this might be a way past the 2016 manufacturing deadline.  Mark Reuss, head of GM in North America, has indicated Holden could keep building the new VF Commodore beyond 2016 if US demand takes off.

“That’s a champagne problem to have. I’m sure the guys at Holden can find a way to keep building it if they had to. General Motors and the guys at Holden can be very resourceful,” he said

Commodore fans will be hoping the Americans love their V8 beast more than ever!

Youth Without Borders

V8s: Drumroll Please…Nissan and Kelly Racing reveal the 2013 car!

This was originally posted on Richard’s F1…check it out here! Ladies and Gentlemen, in announcement in Melbourne yesterday something special was revealed.

It was the car that you have all been curious about…The 2013 V8 Supercar in the form of a Nissan Altima!

Nissan Australia Unveils 2013 Altima V8 Supercar

In an event yesterday, Kelly Racing co-owners Rick and Todd Kelly and Nissan Australia Managing Director William F Peffer Jr unveiled the modified Nissan Altima that will make its first appearance on the track in Adelaide’s Clipsal 500 in 2013.

The car has been built to the “Car of the Future” regulations, including 18” wheels, a 100kg weight reduction, independent rear suspension and a transaxle gearbox.  The engine is a modified Nissan's VK56DE engine, a 5.6-liter V8 that is said to be slotted into the 2013 Nissan Patrol SUV.

V8 Supercars CEO David Malone remarked on the exciting time this was for fans and indicated this was the beginning of a new era for the series.

"New manufacturers joining the series will mean heightened competition and new technology racing on circuits around Australia and the world.” he said.

"2013 is a revolutionary year for V8 Supercars and the unveiling of the Nissan Altima is just the beginning. I congratulate Kelly Racing and Nissan for their hard work and look forward to seeing the cars' debut."

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Todd Kelly was also, quite rightly, proud of the achievement.

"This is the proudest day in the relatively short history of our team, as well as one of the most significant days in recent times for the sport of V8 Supercars," Kelly said.

"Our team has done a tremendous job to design and build an all-new V8 Supercar, including a new engine, in roughly nine months."

What a job they have done! It will be interesting to see how the newcomers perform on track come 2013; this is the first time a non Ford/Holden vehicle will grace the series since 1995.

Come 2013, the Altima will be sporting the Jack Daniel’s Livery, so that will be something to watch out for as well.

Until then…the cards are on the table.  What will Mercedes show? Exciting times indeed!

Yassmin Abdel-Magied

Ex-Formula 1 and IndyCar Driver confirm seats at the GC600

 

Will Davison and Mika Salo

Another two drivers have been confirmed for the Gold Coast 600 in October, Finnish ex-Formula 1 driver Mika Salo for Ford Performance Racing and IndyCar’s star Graham Rahal joins Kelly Racing.

This was originally published on Richard’s F1…read more here.

Villeneuve: Back for More!

I am currently writing for Richard’s F1 as the V8 Correspondent and will post links to my articles here. 

Jacques Villeneuve: What do the next two races have in store for this Canadian?

Great news for Canadian driver Jacques Villeneuve who has now been confirmed as a driver for the next two V8 Supercar rounds. 

For more, check out the article on Richard’s F1.