THE boom of V8 Supercars in the late 1990s prompted the company to set up a second-tier series in 2000 to cater for the overflow of interest.
Originally known as the Konica V8 Lites Series in 2000, that series is now the Dunlop Series for Super2 cars and has written its own history.
But there was then enough interest and enough idle cars that eight years later – in 2008 – an unofficial third tier was created, known as the V8 Touring Car Series.
On this day, January 15, 18 years ago, Motorsport eNews reported on the new series in Issue 37 of the digital magazine.
“With just one year left for AU Falcon and VT/VX Commodores to compete in the Fujitsu V8 Supercars Series (as Super2 was then known), CAMS and V8 Supercars have given approval for the V8 Touring Car National Series to compete at the Shannons Nationals,” wrote eNews’ Grant Rowley at the time.
“The category will be run under Les Morrall’s Tri-State Racing group with category management from Rob Curkpatrick.
“The new series is based on de-registered Falcon and Commodore V8 Supercars which have been raced at some time since 1997. Only Falcon and Commodore vehicles that have a registered history with V8SA will be recognised, and documentation will be needed to establish a clear line of history for each car. This means that no new cars can be built for the series.”
The initial series regulations saw a new controlled wing – common to both Ford and Holdens – a controlled camshaft and reduced rev limit from 7500 to 7000rpm.
A controlled slick tyre was to be introduced; eventually this was confirmed to be a supply of Kumho tyres.
Frank Lowndes was appointed as the category’s Technical Consultant to oversee the development of the technical regulations and to work with CAMS to ensure that the cars are as they should be.
The series kicked off with just four cars at Mallala that May, eventually growing to become a feature category of the old Shannons Nationals with strong car counts and a nice mix of young guns and experienced drivers.
The class raced under the Super3 banner from 2019 before later being split back out into its own Kumho V8 Touring Car Series category as part of the Australian Racing Group.
The series was put on hiatus at the end of the 2024 season.