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With Holden gone, what will become of the V8 Supercars...

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8,480
Even though I'm not a Holden man, its a sad day for the Motor Industry, and Racing in Australia.

So what will be the effect on the V8 supercars series, and Motor Racing in Australia?

I always preferred racing in the 80's where the local manufacturers competed against all sorts of imports from overseas such as Mazda, Jaguar, BMW, Volvo, Camaro's etc etc. But racing of purely import cars.... Ford Fans can fall back on the Mustang I suppose but what of Holden fans out there?

Sad, sad day.
 

sensesmaybenumbed

Moderator
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28,828
Never understood the mindset that Holden was some kind of 'extra Australian' car. Just another GM brand, and almost always was.
 

macnaz

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8,331
Even though I'm not a Holden man, its a sad day for the Motor Industry, and Racing in Australia.

So what will be the effect on the V8 supercars series, and Motor Racing in Australia?

I always preferred racing in the 80's where the local manufacturers competed against all sorts of imports from overseas such as Mazda, Jaguar, BMW, Volvo, Camaro's etc etc. But racing of purely import cars.... Ford Fans can fall back on the Mustang I suppose but what of Holden fans out there?

Sad, sad day.
They will move on to the Chevrolet Camaro, HSV was already selling them in Aus with the plan to realise them to the V8 scene in the near future.
 
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8,480
They will move on to the Chevrolet Camaro, HSV was already selling them in Aus with the plan to realise them to the V8 scene in the near future.

Yeah would think that’s the direction.

How do you think the huge Holden fan base will react?

I personally think many/most will walk away from the sport.. like when the rabbits were kicked out of the comp, their fans didn’t start following other teams.
 
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8,480
But it's not another team. It's who they've really been all along

Are you a V8 follower? If so who do you follow?

I hear what you say. But it’s like relocating and rebranding a footy team. You don’t follow the players you follow the club.

Eg if you took the Rabbitohs away from the NRL, relocated their players to a new club, the Geelong Goannas, playing in Blue and Black jerseys.. would those fans stick around?

I’m not a die hard Holden fan, but know many. They follow Holden, not GM. Despite who owns them or what engine they have, their team is Holden. Not Chevrolet..

I was a mad Falcon fan growing up. But I loved all the cars in general that raced. When they changed the rules to V8’s years ago to effectively bar imports and make it Falcons versus Commodores I lost a lot of interest, became a passive Ford fan. But I understand why they did it and the series was really successful.

But now the falcon is gone, and the commodore is soon to follow. Ford fans will still have a team and represented by the American Mustang. Holden will have nothing. So it’ll be interesting to see how the Holden fan base reacts, will they convert..
 

sensesmaybenumbed

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28,828
Are you a V8 follower? If so who do you follow?

I hear what you say. But it’s like relocating and rebranding a footy team. You don’t follow the players you follow the club.

Eg if you took the Rabbitohs away from the NRL, relocated their players to a new club, the Geelong Goannas, playing in Blue and Black jerseys.. would those fans stick around?

I’m not a die hard Holden fan, but know many. They follow Holden, not GM. Despite who owns them or what engine they have, their team is Holden. Not Chevrolet..

I was a mad Falcon fan growing up. But I loved all the cars in general that raced. When they changed the rules to V8’s years ago to effectively bar imports and make it Falcons versus Commodores I lost a lot of interest, became a passive Ford fan. But I understand why they did it and the series was really successful.

But now the falcon is gone, and the commodore is soon to follow. Ford fans will still have a team and represented by the American Mustang. Holden will have nothing. So it’ll be interesting to see how the Holden fan base reacts, will they convert..
They're flat out kidding themselves. Badge loyalty while denying the reality that it's always been GM. The comparison to the relocation and rebranding of a football team isn't apples and apples
 
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8,480
They're flat out kidding themselves. Badge loyalty while denying the reality that it's always been GM. The comparison to the relocation and rebranding of a football team isn't apples and apples

That's beside the point.

Holden will be gone (
And GM with it in any case).
The overwhelming majority of V8 Supercar fans are Holden fans. So will they stick around to follow another make of car...

If Russell Crowes' Rabbitohs disappeared - you'd lose the overwhelming majority of their fans from the game - and the biggest Sydney fan base from the sport. Indeed it would be the same with any other club - if the club disappeared you'd lose their fans similarly. Just ask any North Sydney fan. There may be a passing interest to watch on telly but they don't pay to go to the game each week.

I think it will be really interesting so see what the Supercars do with their sport to keep their heart and soul fan base coming to motor racing in Australia.
 

some11

Referee
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23,313
They will move on to the Chevrolet Camaro, HSV was already selling them in Aus with the plan to realise them to the V8 scene in the near future.
GM is exiting from RHD completely and the Camaro is being canned in 3 years.

Supercars is going to need a complete re-think.
 

Xcalibre

Juniors
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2,368
To senses’ point; I wonder how many Holden supporters replaced their badges with Chev ones. I’m sure there was plenty. They obviously liked the fact they were a GM subsidiary.

I’m a very casual v8 observer. Watch bits and pieces but in general I’m mor interested in cars (of most makes) and less interested in racing, as Billy Birmingham (as Murray Walker) says, “these cars keep going round and round and round, it’s so f**king boring.” Lol.

I’d like to see Mustang v Camaro (two of my fav cars) but wouldn’t be a regular viewer.
 

sensesmaybenumbed

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While yes essentially it is GM , but holden supporters have been supporting unique Australian designed and built cars not the parent company.
The Falcons were no different in that regard, especially considering the first commodore was an Opel. By the time it gets to here the Falcon had been Australian designed and made for over a decade
 

nöyd

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9,808
To senses’ point; I wonder how many Holden supporters replaced their badges with Chev ones. I’m sure there was plenty. They obviously liked the fact they were a GM subsidiary.
absolute balls

bogans changed their lion logos to chevy bowties because it was the trendy thing to do
 

Knight76

Juniors
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2,043
GM or Holden argument is irrelevant!

GM are abandoning right hand drive completely, so except for a few imported left hand drive cars converted to right hand drive after market, there won't be any GM cars here. I can't comprehend how a business can turn it's back on 30% of the worldwide market and tell them no thank you. Ford must be absolutely stoked.

That leaves them the choice of abandoning brand racing altogether for more stock car type racing, which is what they really have now anyway, just hidden behind holden/ford brand.

Or

They go with whatever they can use to represent showroom models and hope supporters buy in.

Supercars has already said they intend to stick with cars (appearance) that represent showroom available cars. Personally I think this is a mistake and will fail as Holden fans won't support toyota, Kia etc. But, if they did abandon street car looking racecars, then they would alienate Ford fans also taking away their hero car.

I honestly don't know how the series can get through this. It's lose/lose really.
 

some11

Referee
Messages
23,313
F1 is pretty much all marketed around the drivers and innovation (mainly exploiting loopholes in the regs).

I really don't give a shit who drives what. I don't think you can base a domestic racing series around that anymore.

"win on sunday, sell on monday" is the most boomer thing ever and hasn't been relevant for over 20 years.
 
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8,480
BRING back VOLVO, BMW, MERCS, NISSANS , brockie volvo s60 legend

Loved this car. Although its probably because my old man bought one at the time. Got us into a few corporate tents.. I really liked the wagons (estates) that raced in the UK.

I think they'll end up reverting to something like the old Super Tourers series. But depends on which companies would want to race.

Poster-776.jpg
 

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