[Mickcals]

Ford Teams

* Ambrose will be racing with #1 (got confirmation from his website)

* FPR : Running 2 cars next year. Lowned and Seton will remain but as of Round 13 Eastern Creek 2003 David Besnard has officially lost his FPR seat (which he know for quite some time)

* Mark Winterbottom: Going to LMS, in case you didnt know (to replace Larko duh). Oh, and there getting a second BA to replace the AU

* Max Wilson : Going home to 888 Motorsport, car #66

* Warren Luff : To DJR car #18

* Russel Ingall : Staying at SBR to see out his 3 year contract, despite his Eastern Creek disgrace to the championship team and his efforts over powering Ambrose's championship win in the headlines


Holden Teams

*Castrol Perkins Engineering (Racing) will be blown out to a 4 car team, well sort of. The drivers list will include Steven Richards, Paul Dumbrell, Tony Longhurst and Anthony Tratt.

Castrol Perkins will effectively be a 3 car team, where Richards, Dumbrell and Longhurst will race Castrol sponsored VY's, while Tratt will remain in a Rod Nash, Toll Ipec sponsored car, but be running from Larry Perkins Engineering workshop.

Who knows, maybe Larry is hoping to change to Castrol Toll Ipec Perkins Engineering one day!! lol

* Cameron McConville : To GRM car #33 (which will be a VY)

* Skaife has possibly appiled for number #22 for HRT, making HRT #2 and #22.

It is thought Skaife has also applied for #111, which has left AVESCO to ponder on whether or not Skaife will be allowed to have that number as they are trying to limit the numbers to 2 digits (possibly due to timing monitors) - with exemption for John Bowe's #888 and Teams Kiwis #021 of course

It'll be interesting to see what he ends up with.

* Team Brock is no more (In V8 Supercars anyway). Brock has pulled out of V8 Supercars and headed to Procar to race Team Brock Monaro's. The old Team Brock has been sold to Paul Weel and become Paul Weel Racing. As a result of Peter saying goodbye, Betta Electrical has pulled out of sponsorship of the Commodores (but they are still sponsoring 888 Motorsport Falcons) thus ...

* Jason Bright will be staying with PWR, despite that fact that Brock and Betta have left the team

* Lansvale Smash Repairs is staying with Holden as they are building a VY. Alex Yoong is rumored to be driving for them this season

* Jason Richards has confirmed that he is staying with Team Dynamik

Other Rumors

* The round in China has come under some questioning, as AVESCO is experiencing some trouble from China. The problems have yet to be announced but some rumors state:

- Promotional difficulties
- The track might not be able to cater the V8 Supercars as once thought
- The track is still under construction preventing its use for ANY motorsport

thus ...

* It is rumored that a return to Phillip Island in May could replace China, or a 2nd NZ round, or a 3rd round at Eastern Creek.

* AVSECO is apparently interested in having a round in the US.

Drivers Still Without a Drive
As far as we know ...

*David Besnard (going to Holden as a last resort??)
*Jamie Whincup (to Konica's?)

... still dont have a seat, or they havent said where their going.

...........................................................................

This is from the Vee Eight Thunder Forums: http://www.forums4free.net/v8fans/index.php?act=idx

 

[XYFalcon]

That all sounds like everything I've heard too and seems factual so far. Thanks for putting all the bits and pieces together in one place

 

[hoon69]

yep sounds like silly season talk to me,that china rumour is screaming louder n louder the more i hear about it,dunno why we even committed to it with these type of doubts.

 

[240 T]

China is not looking good for us or F1 at the moment but avesco cannot bring back Phillip Island due to the reason the cancelled the round avesco said the "saftey features" of the track were not good enough but a 3rd round at the creak is stupid as i see it bring on china if it is ready if not bring a new street race to either NZ or Tas?? be god to see another round in aus before NZ

 

[Falcon Awesome]

Has anyone heard anything about the OZEMAIL sponsorship of BJR. Heard that further merchandise was being heavily discounted at the summernats. I picked up heaps of OZEMAIL stuff at Eastern Creek and then got heaps more bought for me for Christmas.

Is the Testra Bigpond sponsorship of certain events/series pushing them to the outer?

 

[MrT]

interesting about ozemail... discussions were first of Jan and still no word. I read on ten tenths that BJ said that it isn't finalised till mid jan.

 

[FM]

Drivers Still Without a Drive
As far as we know ...

*David Besnard (going to Holden as a last resort??)

As far as I know Bezzy is going to drive for SBR in the enduros next year. He's a Ford man & wants to stay that way apparantly..

 

[Ambrose_1]

3 rounds at Eastern creek? thats a screwed up idea

 

[Ford4Eva]

I don't think SBR and Ambrose would mind too much having 3 Eastern Creek rounds!!!!!! If Fords keep winning there, then I don't mind at all.

 

[Mickcals]

I could see that Besnard and Ingall - the Caltex twins ha ha, now thats a good combo.

Ozemail and BJR - i ve heard about this, but not much. I cant imagine BJR with anyother sponsor but Ozemail. Without the Ozemail sponsorshop i doubt that BJR will be able to keep John Bowe and he ll have to join another team (hopefully an established team not like the CAT Racing he went to after his stint with DJR)

 

[AU II SR]

3 rounds at eastern Creek - haven't heard that one. Gee wouldn't that get fans from other states fuming. Hope BJR can hold onto Ozemail as we sure do need them.

 

[JamesM]

while Tratt will remain in a Rod Nash, Toll Ipec sponsored car, but be running from Larry Perkins Engineering workshop.

?? What does Rod Nash have to do with this? Tony Longhurst will be running a CPR VY using the Rod Nash L2 Franchise (like FPR did for car #7). Tratt will be using his current L2 franchise and as far as I am aware has nothing to do with Rod Nash.

To GRM car #33 (which will be a VY)

For those of you who missed it, car #33 was a VY Commodore at Round 13 Eastern Creek.

 

[Luke]

?? What does Rod Nash have to do with this? Tony Longhurst will be running a CPR VY using the Rod Nash L2 Franchise (like FPR did for car #7). Tratt will be using his current L2 franchise and as far as I am aware has nothing to do with Rod Nash.

For those of you who missed it, car #33 was a VY Commodore at Round 13 Eastern Creek.

Yep, that would most likely be the case. I recall Longhurst having a stint with Rod Nash Racing wearing the #54 on a bland looking Red VX Commodore in 2001.

 

[The Mighty XE]

Has anyone bought the ex-00 BA's and gear yet?

 

[JamesM]

Supposedly Noske did..

 

[TS50]

* Team Brock is no more (In V8 Supercars anyway). Brock has pulled out of V8 Supercars and headed to Procar to race Team Brock Monaro's. The old Team Brock has been sold to Paul Weel and become Paul Weel Racing. As a result of Peter saying goodbye, Betta Electrical has pulled out of sponsorship of the Commodores (but they are still sponsoring 888 Motorsport Falcons) thus ...

* Jason Bright will be staying with PWR, despite that fact that Brock and Betta have left the team

In actual fact Peter Brock has never owned Team Brock, he was always just the figurehead. Team has been owned for 12 months by Kees Weel (Pauls father) Peter Brock was basically an employee who they employed to use his name and for him to be the face of the team. However Peter Brock wanted some input into the team that bore his name, he couldnt get that, so has decided to leave the team and start his own team (Nations Cup Monaros). BETTA Electrical said if no Brock, no sponsership, so that leaves the PWR team a little behind the 8 ball (My heart almost bleeds for Bright)

 

[Luke]

Jason Bright is a brilliant driver. He deserves a championship.... Oh if only Ford could give him a prime seat in a high profile Ford V8 Supercar Team....

 

[fpr man]

My source tells me that Ozemail have not signed up yet ,and if they do it will
be in a smaller way with the major sponsor rumoured to be Harvey Norman!

 

[S.Rabbit]

I have noticed Ozemail merchandise for sale in Target stores which I find unusual. And sorry Luke - Jason Bright is the Greg Norman of motor racing, apply some pressure and he falls to pieces ( actually he starts wacking walls ) - as a Ford fan - I don't want him. I hope he never wins a race and he damn sure better never win a championship - I love karma - remember when he first came back from the US and said he basically was going to wipe everyone - actually I remeber Dumbrell saying the same thing - it's all beautiful!

 

[Mickcals]

Jason Bright's situation is weird at the moment - it has been reported that he has a Ford logo on his helmet (i heard this from someone who knows someone else in the helmet industry)

So maybe he plans to move to Ford in the very near future!!!!!