Potential end to Ford vs Holden duopoly

21/05/2008 V8 Supercars Chief Executive Officer, Wayne Cattach, has confirmed that V8 Supercars Australia is investigating possible rule changes which could make the series more attractive to other manufacturers.

He also floated the idea of introducing larger capacity engines to the category and ruled out making Supercars less powerful.

While Cattach said there had been no rule changes made yet, he said they might eventually become a reality.

“What's happened is there's probably a change of attitudes,” he said.

“The door is open for discussion and whether these discussions will lead to common ground (or not)… is yet to be resolved.”

Cattach acknowledged that the category had previously focussed on the Red versus Blue rivalry.

“We now think we should look a little more broadly,” he said.

“It might be a good thing to engage in discussions with other manufacturers, not that we are currently speaking with other manufacturers at the moment.

“Would we be receptive? Well, yes. We see no problems in engaging them in some discussions.”

Cattach stressed that nothing was set in stone.

“There's nothing right now going on that would suggest we were going to go down that path,” he said.

The idea to introduce other manufacturers to the category has come at an ideal time, with V8 Supercars Australia looking into cutting costs by introducing more control parts on the cars.

But should one or more other manufacturers be introduced down the track, Cattach said there would definitely be some non-negotiable terms for entry to the category.

“What's not negotiable is it has to be some from of V8 engine,” he said.

“The sound of the cars is very important to our fans.”
Cattach said cars in the V8 Supercar category should also look like the road car they are modelled off.

“We also want to maintain the swinging panels,” he said.
“Unlike in NASCAR where the drivers enter through the windows, we want bonnets and doors that open and we want them looking like cars that are road cars.”

Cattach said one change could include moving from the current pushrod engines used in the Falcons and Commodores to a quadcam engine.

“There could be a case to go for a more modern engine, perhaps longer lasting, and probably that means there is room somewhere in the future to use a larger capacity engine that doesn't work as hard,” he said.

“It's not being discussed at the moment, but I think it's an option that should be looked at when determining what the cars might look like in the future.”