The new Super5000 car was unveiled over the weekend
as something of “a modern take on the popular Formula 5000s of the 1970s,” when
F1 cars looked more like this and packed more raw muscle.
Instead of a small-displacement turbocharged and
electrified V6 powertrain, the new carbon monocoque chassis is built by
Supashock Racing around a big 5.0-liter V8 engine, mated to an Albins transaxle
and producing upwards of 600 horsepower. That's about the same as what a modern
Formula 2 racer produces, only this engine is bigger and produces substantially
more torque, put down to the tarmac with what look like fatter tires, too.
It's the same type of engine you'll find in the
Holden Commodores, Ford Falcons, and Nissan Altimas competing in the (V8)
Supercars series, and that's no coincidence. The new Super5000 series is being
launched as a support category for the popular Australian touring-car
championship, along with the second-tier Dunlop Super2 touring series and the
new Superutes truck series.
The expansion broadens the Australian framework to a
similar scope as NASCAR. Now just imagine the stock-car racing organizers
launched their own version of Indy cars, but with a big ol' pushrod V8 out of a
Cup racer instead of today's 2.2-liter twin-turbo V6s.
Speedcafe and Automobile remind us that a
similar initiative to revive the F5000 recipe was in the works under the
Formula Thunder 5000 banner, and this new initiative (with its considerable
backing) would ostensibly take the wind out of those independent sails. For its
part, the Supercars organizers say the project has been in the works for over
two years now.
The Super5000 series is set to launch next year,
after which it'll be up to fans and sponsors to determine through the open
market whether it'll succeed as a permanent fixture on the Aussie racing
calendar, and potentially give the next Daniel Ricciardo, Mark Webber, Jack
Brabham, or Alan Jones their start.
