Ford V Holden

In Australia we have the Ford V Holden (Chevy) battle which has always had its major battles at Mt Panorama in Bathurst country NSW

The racing theory is V8 Falcon vs V8 Commodoore. This racing format has been going since the 60's and Australians love it. Anyone could go to the showroom, buy the car, and go racing, with the theory "what wins on sunday sells on monday". This all started to fall apart when there was Fuel Crisis and the bigger v8's were not selling, so Ford dropped the V8 from its lineup.

With category changes the Ford Sierra Cosworth Turbo came into the mix, and of course the mighty Nissan skyline GT-R. These cars put shame to the local car manufacturing, smaller turbo motors, faster, more reliable, good on fuel and AWD weapons. These were a fast car, but the drivers of the day Richards, Skaife, Fury made them into bullets with constant development with Nismo.

The Australian public did not like this, the historical Ford V Holden battle was under threat. So a new 5liter V8 category called V8 Supercars was created. The series has been great, and there has been close racing. But the problem is, because this race series has alot of emphasis on parity, not much of what they do ends up on a road car. Rather than building a better car, they look at why you are going faster and restrict or give you the same parts. This form of racing is no good to the car market

This because obvious to me in a production car race at Eastern creek, at the end of a long straight the 5litre Ford was at full noise, sitting right behind it waiting to pass was a Mazda 6 MPS and a mazda 3 MPS. I worry that the newer muscle cars have soo much time put into the power figure under the bonnet, and less time on getting the power down, creating a balanced car that can use that power.

I believe the Ford V Holden battle is dead, and as a motor racing fan and a Ford fan we need to embrace production car racing, I will happily watch E class with Hyundai i20, Mazda 2, Toyota Yaris, Ford Fiesta, Holden Barina. As they are the cars you can buy off the shelf and they will prove that you dont need a big motor to be quick, car handling, and weight and gearing helps that too

If the fans follow the production classes, the manufacturer money will come, and we will end up with not just powerful cars, but lighter more reliable as well.

It will mean that my 6cyl, your 8 cyl or 4cyl car will have an element of race pedigree.

Note - Allan Moffat went from racing Ford Falcons to Mazda RX7 rotaries. He asked Mazda of Japan if he could possibly get a spare engine, to which the gave him 6 !!! They were serious about racing, and they helped the team develop the car. This is not to say that Holden and Ford did not do the same. But this racing development with a production based car is what is missing from our showrooms.

A bodykit and a ECU flash tune does not equal development. Throw in adjustable coilovers, Polyurethane bushes, better Diffs, bigger injectors, bigger intake. I am sure it will cost more to buy one, but the badge on the car that says "FPV" or "HSV" will actually mean something.

I love my 6Cyl, it has destroyed V8s of its day because it is lighter, proving that you dont need the bigger motor to be fast

Cheers

Mike