Supercars
V8 Supercars: All You Need To Know About The Motorsport
If you’ve ever taken an interest in Australian Supercars racing but are unsure where to start, here’s a primer with everything you need to know about the country’s premier motorsport series.
Part of this story
01
What is V8 Supercars?
Supercars, formerly known as the V8 Supercars and originally as the Australian Touring Car Championship, is Australia’s top motor racing series contested annually since 1960 and one of the biggest touring car categories in the world.
Touring car racing is based on racing road cars. While over time the cars have become less like the models you can buy in a showroom, the fundamental principal that they should look like and embody the philosophy of their road-going counterparts has remained important.
Today 24 drivers compete for the Supercars championship, while 11 teams split between two manufacturers contend for the team's title.
02
How did V8 Supercars start?
The Supercars started life as the Australian Touring Car Championship in 1960. It was originally run over a single race at Gnoo Blas Motor Racing Circuit, a long-gone set of country roads in Orange, New South Wales.
Australian road racing was of course already long established by then, but this was the first race to take set under a particular set of rules allowing only certain limited modifications to production sedans.
It was the birth of touring car racing in Australia, on 1 February journalist David McKay became the country’s first national champion in his Jaguar Mark 1.
The championship became a multi-race affair in 1969, and in the 1970s the sport became dominated by local manufacturers Holden, owned by General Motors, and Ford, setting up one of Australia’s greatest sporting feuds.
In 1997 the sport changed its name to V8 Supercars, and in 2016 it became known simply as Supercars, though a V8 motor has powered every car since then.
03
What cars race in V8 Supercars?
Just two models compete in Supercars today: the Ford Mustang GT and the (General Motors) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.
Both cars look almost identical to their road-going likenesses, but they’re built around identical space frame chassis to ensure performance parity.
Even the two sets of bodywork, though visually distinctive, perform similarly, ensuring the Mustang and Camaro are as quick as each other to create a consistent on-track spectacle.
From 2026 Toyota will also join the sport with its GR Supra nameplate.
Will Brown races during stop 10 of the Supercars Championship
© Mark Horsburgh
04
How fast are V8 Supercars?
The Mustang and the Camaro are powered by different V8 engines. Ford brings a 5.4-litre Coyote motor, while General Motors uses its 5.7-litre LTR powerplant.
Both produce around 447 kilowatts — around 600 horsepower — and more than 650 newton metres of torque through a spec six-speed gearbox with sequential shift stick.
Despite each car weighing a hefty 1335 kilograms, they can reach a top speed of around 300 kilometres per hour. At the sport’s fastest track, Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, they average 180 kilometre per hour over a lap.
The acceleration rate is commensurately blistering, with each car launching from standstill to 100 kilometres per hour in just 3.4 seconds — comfortably less than half the time you family car will get you to highway speed.
05
How does V8 Supercars racing work?
Every weekend in Supercars is worth 300 championship points no matter how many races are held, but with some rounds featuring four races and others just one, some races are inherently more valuable than others.
From 2025 the sport will comprise three weekend formats.
The first is the Sprint Cup, featuring eight rounds in Sydney, Melbourne, Taupō, Launceston, Perth, Darwin, Townsville and Ipswich.
A sprint weekend comprises three races — one is a short race with no pit stops, while the other two feature tyre changes and refuelling.
The exception is the Melbourne SuperSprint, held at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, where tight scheduling requires four races of 395 kilometres in total.
The second format is the Enduro Cup, featuring a pair of gruelling endurance races.
The first is the Bend 500, held in Tailem Bend in South Australia. It’s a single race held over 500 kilometres.
The second is the famous Bathurst 1000, Australia’s most prestigious domestic motor race. Held over 1000 kilometres — roughly six hours — at the scenic Mount Panorama, it’s the race every driver dreams of winning.
The third format is the Finals, a three-round knockout system when things get quirky.
Each of the last three weekends features a pair of 250-kilometre races. Adelaide will also have a bonus 100-kilometre sprint.
Borrowing heavily from NASCAR, the points of the top 10 drivers are reset for the final three rounds, plus small bonuses based on championship position.
After the first round on the Gold Coast the lowest ranked three drivers are eliminated.
The points are reset again for the penultimate round in Sandown, after which the bottom three drivers are eliminated.
The grand final will be held in Adelaide with four drivers remaining in championship contention, guaranteeing that the title goes down to the wire.
Will Brown and Broc Feeney race during stop 3 in New Zealand
© Mark Horsburgh
06
What about tyres and strategy in V8 Supercars?
With every race over 105 kilometres featuring pit stops, tyres and fuel are critical to success.
Each race receives between 28 and 52 fresh 18-inch Dunlop tyres every weekend. On average Dunlop brings between 800 and 1000 dry tyres and 400 wet-weather tyres to every round. The Bathurst 1000, with its unique four-day format, requires around 2500 tyres.
Remarkably each tyre is handmade in Japan.
In 2025 there will be just two tyre compounds, known as soft and super soft. The soft tyre is durable but slower; the super soft is faster but more delicate.
Most rounds will feature both tyre compounds over the weekend, but only one compound can be used for each race.
Each pit stop will require at least two tyre changes, and with a maximum of four mechanics allowed to work the wheels — five in endurance races — each additional tyre comes with a time cost that must be weighed against the benefit of fresh rubber.
But refueling takes longer, and with fuel tanks limited to 135 liters, filling up dictates stop times in longer races.
07
Where do V8 Supercars race?
Supercars races at Oceania’s best known circuits, including some all-time classics.
The most famous is Mount Panorama Circuit, home of the fearsome Bathurst 1000. Originally designated a tourist road by the local council, it rapidly gained a reputation as one of Australia’s best racetracks.
Albert Park Circuit, home of the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, is another. It’s the sport’s fastest circuit and sees Supercars greats rub shoulders with legends of international motorsport all in the picturesque surrounds of serene inner-city Melbourne.
The Gold Coast 500 is arguably the country’s most ferocious track. Part of a street circuit originally designed for the CART Indy Car World Series in 1991, it’s survived to this day as a measure of ultimate precision and bravery behind the wheel.
The Adelaide 500 also started life hosting something else — Formula 1. The Adelaide Street Circuit in the city’s iconic parklands was inaugurated in 1985 for grand prix racing, and after a brief hiatus when F1 decamped for Melbourne, Supercars continued at a shortened version of the track, making the event its own and one of the best of the season.
Love motorsports? Watch the Ultimate Drag Race as a Rally Car, F1 Car, MotoGP bike, and a surprise competitor lineup against each other!
6 min
Ultimate Race
See five of the world's fastest machines go head to head in the Ultimate Race
Part of this story