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Noob question but what makes the V8 Super Cars faster - do they have better tyres?

Professional drivers for starters. The cars are setup for that style of racing too...however, to be fair, you also need to take into account the restrictions a V8 supercar has that give it a disadvantage around the track: minimum weights, maximum brake rotor size, rear wheel drive configuration, they're based on the chassis length/configuration of a 4 door sedan, control tyres. Also, unlike sprints, in a racing environment achieving your best laptimes is the last priority. Top 10 shoot out is about as close as you get to that. So although fun to compare times it's not too relevant outside of the homologation.

Pretty cool times in the R35 OP, well done - I look forward to seeing the vid. Bathurst is a truly unique and awesome circuit.

Noob question but what makes the V8 Super Cars faster - do they have better tyres?

V8 Supercars are genuine race cars. They have no relationship to the road car what so ever. The fact that they look similar is almost purely coincidental.

Yes they do start out with a road car but the amount of chopping and custom fab that goes into them is genuinely staggering. The front ends are hacked and replaced with custom suspension geometry, as is the rear, and there is one monumental buttress fitted to the rear end to handle the massive power levels. Their floors are completely removed and replaced with custom built in house jobbies. The driver's seating position is moved almost to the middle of the car and the race engine is moved much further aft than the road car.

On top of that, this years 888 falcon did not share a single external panel with the road car. The Ford and Holden stickers are there for little more than sponsorship.

That Holden and Ford can claim victory for the hard work that each individual team undertakes is nothing short of a joke.

Anyway, add slick tires and closed loop chassis tuning and there is no chance that any road car will ever keep up.

Professional drivers for starters. The cars are setup for that style of racing too...however, to be fair, you also need to take into account the restrictions a V8 supercar has that give it a disadvantage around the track: minimum weights, maximum brake rotor size, rear wheel drive configuration, they're based on the chassis length/configuration of a 4 door sedan, control tyres. Also, unlike sprints, in a racing environment achieving your best laptimes is the last priority. Top 10 shoot out is about as close as you get to that. So although fun to compare times it's not too relevant outside of the homologation.

Pretty cool times in the R35 OP, well done - I look forward to seeing the vid. Bathurst is a truly unique and awesome circuit.

I'm sure the V8 is still lighter than the R35, brake would definately bigger too, power restriction.....??? I think they make around 600kw@tread and run 10 :blink:

  • 2 weeks later...
V8 Supercars are genuine race cars. They have no relationship to the road car what so ever. The fact that they look similar is almost purely coincidental.

Yes they do start out with a road car but the amount of chopping and custom fab that goes into them is genuinely staggering. The front ends are hacked and replaced with custom suspension geometry, as is the rear, and there is one monumental buttress fitted to the rear end to handle the massive power levels. Their floors are completely removed and replaced with custom built in house jobbies. The driver's seating position is moved almost to the middle of the car and the race engine is moved much further aft than the road car.

On top of that, this years 888 falcon did not share a single external panel with the road car. The Ford and Holden stickers are there for little more than sponsorship.

That Holden and Ford can claim victory for the hard work that each individual team undertakes is nothing short of a joke.

Anyway, add slick tires and closed loop chassis tuning and there is no chance that any road car will ever keep up.

I thought this was no longer the case. I've been told the V8 supercars are actually bigger than their road car cousins and really they are a dedicated race car that is shaped and painted to "look" like the road cars...but the resemblence stops there.

The V8's on qualifying laps get around 2:08 and sometimes high 2:07's but when you consider the differences between them and the R34GTR, that 2:13 is very very impressive. nice work!!

  • 2 weeks later...
I'm sure the V8 is still lighter than the R35, brake would definately bigger too, power restriction.....??? I think they make around 600kw@tread and run 10 :D

Not quite, about 400-420rwkw, capacity and compression limits. Pretty sure brakes are 380mm, same as r35

  • 4 weeks later...

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