V8 Supercars is a touring car racing category based in Australia and run as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations.
V8 Supercar events take place in all Australian states and territories, excluding the Australian Capital Territory (which formerly held the Canberra 400). Overseas rounds are also held in New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates and previously in Bahrain and China. V8 Supercars have drawn crowds of over 250,000 spectators. The 2010 season was held over 14 race weekends at purpose-built racetracks and street circuits. Race formats include sprint races, with either a 100 km or 200 km race on Saturday and one 200 km race on Sunday, two 250 km races over the weekend (Adelaide and Sydney), two 300 km races over the weekend (Gold Coast) or endurance races such as Bathurst, which runs over 1000 km race distance, and the Sandown, which runs over 500 km.
The V8 Supercars themselves take as their basis either the Holden Commodore or Ford Falcon. The reason these first two cars are used is their historical significance; the Commodore and the Falcon are two of the most popular passenger-cars in the Australian car-market. From 2013, Nissan will provide a third manufacturer, providing a V8 Altima sedan to Kelly Racing. From 2013 also Mercedes-Benz will provide a fourth manufacturer, providing an E-class based sedan to be engineered by Stone Brothers Racing. Although they bear some resemblance to the production models outwardly, they are built from the ground up to suit the motorsport application. They are strictly governed in most aspects of performance in an effort to keep all the drivers on an even footing to create closer, more exciting racing. Because of this, entire fields of 28 drivers are at times separated by just one second over qualifying laps at some events.
Read more about V8 Supercars: History, The V8 Supercar, Future, Championships, Race Formats, Marquee Events, Hall of Fame, Organisation, Television Coverage, Records