Australian V8 Supercars - are they ever going to be televised in the states again?

[carnalsupply]

Since the demise of Speed I, along with countless others, have been left with no Aussie V8 Supercars, so I'm wondering/hoping someone on the board knows of or heard of any pending deals to bring the series to a new network here in the states? With all the other great racing they cover my hope is MAVTV gets the rights, but that's just a "wish" and not supported by any facts.

[NJSPEEDER]

The short answer is not likely, or at least outside of the possible return to sharing an event or two with F1 (They did have a great race at COTA) Same goes for DTM, BTCC, WTC, real rally coverage.........the whole list.

I do wonder what will happen considering the pending pain that is about to hit NASCAR financially, Sprint will be dropping at the end of the 2016 season and the rumor mill is saying that the interest in putting up the kind of money the sanction wants for title sponsorship is thin. I am hoping that it encourages networks to seek other series, then again these are hte same people that cut away from covering actual endurance races to show NASCAR practice.

BTW, the funniest thing to watch on Speed is and always will be the swamp buggies. Those guys jsut looked like they were having too much fun.

[nokones]

In my opinion, Speed went down hill when they stopped broadcasting the swap buggy races, Sprint boat races, and the Lawn mower races.. Mav TV has the Australian V8 Touring Cars on tomorrow at 1:30AM. Set your DVR. Mav TV also has the sprint boat races. Now, only if they bring back the Red Bull Air Races. I heard they were bringing them back but, I haven't seen anything yet.

[carnalsupply]

I had no idea the Aussie's had their own touring car series so I'll give it a shot, but sadly if the rules are anything like the other touring car series the racing won't be nearly as over the top as the V8 Supercars.
As for the RB Air Racing, I just saw one the other day but I believe the series has finished for the season.


In my opinion, Speed went down hill when they stopped broadcasting the swap buggy races, Sprint boat races, and the Lawn mower races.. Mav TV has the Australian V8 Touring Cars on tomorrow at 1:30AM. Set your DVR. Mav TV also has the sprint boat races. Now, only if they bring back the Red Bull Air Races. I heard they were bringing them back but, I haven't seen anything yet.

[carnalsupply]

What a shame, the V8's are the best show going other than Cup cars at Martinsville or on the road courses, and it seems strange that of all the racing series picked up by MAV or NBCSports the only two "big" ones I have yet to find (with the demise of Speed) are the BTCC and the Aussie V8's, both of which represented some of the best racing and coverage out there.

I totally agree about the swamp buggy races; what a good time those guys have, and the RPM they turn!!!!


The short answer is not likely, or at least outside of the possible return to sharing an event or two with F1 (They did have a great race at COTA) Same goes for DTM, BTCC, WTC, real rally coverage.........the whole list.

I do wonder what will happen considering the pending pain that is about to hit NASCAR financially, Sprint will be dropping at the end of the 2016 season and the rumor mill is saying that the interest in putting up the kind of money the sanction wants for title sponsorship is thin. I am hoping that it encourages networks to seek other series, then again these are hte same people that cut away from covering actual endurance races to show NASCAR practice.

BTW, the funniest thing to watch on Speed is and always will be the swamp buggies. Those guys jsut looked like they were having too much fun.

[72BBSwinger]

I've been digging the LORRS and TORC short course off road races. Those guys go all out, best door to door racing out there imo.

[NJSPEEDER]

If anyone still wants to catch some really good racing check if you have CBSSN, in central NJ it is channel 732 on Comcast. I spent most of yesterday watching the replay of nearly the whole Blancpain endurance/sprint series. It's real GT3 racing (including the Bentley Continental ::drool::)

they also show a lot of DIRT series stuff, including Syracuse and the finals from Charlotte. Also show some DTM, occasionally WTC as well.

The coverage is typical American, as much commercial/bump/promo/sponsor spotlight as there is racing, but it is better than watching NASCAR wander endlessly in circles.

[NJSPEEDER]

I've been digging the LORRS and TORC short course off road races. Those guys go all out, best door to door racing out there imo.

The only thing I don't understand about those two series is that they run basically parallel, with the same or extremely similar rules sets, and the same classes but they are somehow two separate series. Is it just a sponsor thing or is there some sort of CART/Indy division amongst the principals?

They are fun to watch. I like the high speed track at Crandon the best. They go nuts at that place. Can't imagine skating 800+hp in a lumbering 5k+ lbs truck around on choppy dirt like that and somehow maintaining control. Those guys have balls and skills.

[AusMarty]

V8 SC and Touring Car Masters are uploaded to youtube via Televised stream, just do some digging, it's pretty easy to find current races.

I personally only watch TCM, because IMO - V8SC sucks nuts.
Watching old school muscle and euro and jap fight it out on the same tracks is MUCH more appealing IMO.

[NJSPEEDER]

I think a lot of the appeal of V8SC is that they use the bumpers as God intended. It's high speed, full contact, and not always 'just a racing deal'. Makes for exciting stuff.

Would prefer they were still much more production based instead of so many spec parts, but it still makes for some fun racing.

[carnalsupply]

V8 SC and Touring Car Masters are uploaded to youtube via Televised stream, just do some digging, it's pretty easy to find current races.

I personally only watch TCM, because IMO - V8SC sucks nuts.
Watching old school muscle and euro and jap fight it out on the same tracks is MUCH more appealing IMO.

Hey Marty,

Thanks for the heads-up; I can't believe I didn't consider YouTube as a source, and with my new Smart TV I can go to YouTube directly and watch on my TV instead of my iPad!!!

I don't know of any broadcasters in the US showing the TCM so I've never seen it (heard of it) but now that you've enlightened me about YouTube I'll definitely look for them.

Thanks again and have a great holiday,

Bob

[carnalsupply]

I think a lot of the appeal of V8SC is that they use the bumpers as God intended. It's high speed, full contact, and not always 'just a racing deal'. Makes for exciting stuff.

Would prefer they were still much more production based instead of so many spec parts, but it still makes for some fun racing.

Hey Speedy,

I totally agree with you about the appeal of the V8SC; they give the appearance of being actual cars as opposed to the generic NASCAR bodies. Damn, remember when you'd watch Pearson, Petty, Allison, and the like running real vintage iron on bias-ply tires? Crossed up in the turns, smoke beginning to roil up off the tires, crew-chiefs having their drivers scuff in sets before the race; it feels like all the old fun has gone out of NASCAR yet some of the rawness still applies to V8SC (hence my love of it).

Great holidays!