Rick Kelly has won round three of the 2007 V8 Supercar Championship, maintaining his points lead in the series. Kelly won race three after his Toll HSV Dealer Team team-mate, Garth Tander experienced a slow pitstop in lap 15.
Tander won races one and two, and fought back to finish the final race in eighth position. Both Kelly and Tander earned 58 points during the round, with the win awarded to Kelly for finishing higher in the final race.
At the end of round three, Kelly leads the championship on 173 points, team-mate Tander is in second place on 160 points ahead of Rick Kelly’s brother, Todd on 132 points.
This round marked the last V8 Supercar race at the Pukekohe Park Raceway in New Zealand. The 2008 New Zealand round of the series will compete on a temporary street circuit in Hamilton.
V8 Supercars Specs
The regulations are designed to balance the desire for technical competition and fast vehicles with the requirement that costs are kept reasonable. Racing is close, and the cars bear some resemblance to production models. The recent application of “Project Blueprint” - introduced at the beginning of the 2003 season (where both makes of car were examined to ensure parity) the racing between Holden and Ford has become closer than ever (reducing the risk of a one make dominated series).
- Bodyshell: Each V8 Supercar is based on either Commodore (a shortened version of the VE Commodore to keep within Project Blueprint’s rules regarding total chassis length and width) or Falcon production bodyshells, with an elaborate roll cage constructed into the shell from aircraft grade materials. Other modifications include wider wheel arches.
- Aerodynamics: A standard “aerodynamic package” of spoilers and wings, a front splitter/air dam and side skirts are supplied to the teams of each make. Testing is conducted so that the two makes have as similar aerodynamic characteristics as possible.
- Weight: The minimum category weight is 1,355 kg (not including driver) with 80 kg (176 lb) driver allocation.
- Power: A V8 supercar is powered by either a 5.0 L Ford “Windsor” SVO or Chevrolet Aurora race engine (depending on the make) which is capable of producing between 460 and 485 kW (620 — 650 bhp) of power, but generally quoted as a little over 450 kW (600 bhp) in race trim. Engines have pushrod actuated valves and electronic fuel injection. Both Ford and Holden engines are based on racing engines from their respective US parent companies. Engines are electronically restricted to 7,500 rpm.
- Some common components: Differentials, brake packages and gearboxes are identical in all cars in the category. The category uses a 6-speed Hollinger gearbox (Australian made), in the familiar ‘H’ pattern. Differential ratios used throughout the season are 1:3.75, 1:3.5, 1:3.25 and 1:3.15. The 1:3.15 ratio differential was introduced in 2005 to be used at Bathurst - cars with this ratio can now exceed 300 km/h on Conrod straight (hypothetically, this has yet to be proven, although Jack Daniel’s Racing, then called Castrol Racing, claims to have exceeded this speed multiple times in the 2005 event). The theoretical maximum speed is 306 km/h at 7,500 rpm. All cars have a 120 litre fuel tank.
- Suspension: Basic front suspension configuration is double wishbone (made compulsory for both makes through Project Blueprint), whilst rear suspension is a “live axle” design. Spring and damper design is unrestricted.
- Tyres: A Dunlop “control tyre” is supplied to all teams. Throughout the year, there are restrictions on the number of testing days (6 per year), along with the number of tyres used during those days. For race meetings, teams are allocated a set number of tyres for the entire weekend, with the number available for each race depending on the type (sprint or endurance).
- Cost: Reported to be approximately $AU 600,000 per car and $AU 130,000 per engine. Teams spend up to $AU 10 million per year running their two-car teams. TEGA has introduced a salary cap of $AU 6.75 million in order to keep costs down. The salary cap is known as Total Racing Expenditure Cap (TREC).