BONUS ITEM

Free Armor All fridge magnet with every copy of V8X issue #56

Always trying to remember when and where the next V8 round is? Well never fear the trusty 2010 V8 Supercars Championship Series Calendar fridge magnet is here. It's our gift to you from Armor All car care products and V8X. But wait, these's more! Peel the outer frame away from the calendar to give yourself a photo frame.

V8 Supercars get the Benz

Coming Car of the Future regs could open the door to Mercedes V8 assault in 2012

Mercedes-Benz is emerging as one of three manufacturers seriously examining entry into the V8 Supercar championship in 2012. Encouraged by the latest iteration of the Car of the Future rules, Benz's wholly-owned Australian sales and marketing arm is supportive of a plan for the AMG performance division to get involved. An AMG-backed team would neatly sidestep a Mercedes-Benz corporate decree that...

Time to shine

When it comes to staving off the General's army, Ford Performance Racing has a real job on its hands this season. V8X recently caught up with FPR Team Principal Tim Edwards to review the leading Blue Oval team's 2010 battle plan.

Ford Performance Racing (FPR) is under a heap of external pressure this year, but rather than buckling under the weight of it the Ford factory team is ready to take on the Holden onslaught. Much has changed since the 2009 championship wrapped up in December, both at FPR and in V8 land in general. Some of that change on the blue side has been for the better – FPR had a minor restructure and welcomed tech guru Campbell Little on board as a permanent staff member. But there's also some disastrous news – in 2010 two-thirds of the V8 grid will be driving Commodores. FPR Team Principal Tim Edwards knows that Ford fans' expectations of FPR are high.

"Yes, there are two other teams running Fords – Jim Beam Racing and Stone Brothers Racing – but certainly the expectation is that we will lead the charge," he says...

Welcome to MOTOR RACING HEAVEN!

Close your eyes and cast you mind back to your childhood, a time before reality had taken hold, a time when you had a wild imagination and where anything and everything was possible. Now imagine trying to create a kind of motorsport haven, a place whose whole raison d'etre is motor racing. Allan Edwards travelled to Abu Dhabi for the opening round of the 2010 V8 Supercars season and reckons he's found that place.

Remember when you were growing up and there was that kid in the neighbourhood who had the best Scalextric set, the one that used to go down the passage, through the lounge room, under the table and over the big cardboard box that the washing machine had turned up in? Well, the builders of the Yas Marina Circuit have brought that to life and more.

With its kilometres of freshly laid bitumen and grandiose pit buildings, Yas Marina is heaven for motor racing enthusiasts. It is made up of over five and a half kilometres of track that can be used in many different configurations...

2010 MEGA V8 SEASON PREVIEW: Refining the breed

With more rule changes, a stronger international flavour and TeamVodafone now fighting for the General, 2010 is shaping up as a season of sparks, controversy and intrigue...

A year ago the V8 category was abuzz with the expectation that the mountain of rule changes would give the championship series a major power thrust. Bringing in the wide-ranging changes highlighted by soft tyre choices at selected rounds, E85 ethanol fuel, fuel stops, restrictions on pit crew numbers over the wall and qualifying changes added up to the biggest upheaval the sport has had to cope with in a single hit.

For the most part the soft-tyre idea worked, but it didn't take long for a pattern of predictable unpredictability to develop. And the racing, with a few exceptions, was rather mediocre. Which poses the next big question – will 2010 be any different?

There have been modifications to the system this year, with some cynics claiming that V8 Supercars merely instigates tweaks just for the sake of it. However, tinkering is a necessary evil...

Tribal warfare

These days race team merchandise means serious business. TeamVodafone knows that only too well and so has employed specialists Brand Management Australia to take its range of casual and team wear to the next level. Join V8X as we take a sneak peak inside one of the most professional and integrated merchandise partnerships V8 Supercars has ever seen.

As TeamVodafone begins a new era with its switch from Ford to Holden, the team is also undergoing another revolution behind the scenes. For the first time Triple Eight Racing is outsourcing the design of its merchandise to a specialist company.

That company is Brand Management Australia (BMA), which has designed Toll Holden Racing Team's merchandise for a number of years now. Brand Management Australia Director Anthony Petersen says the 2010 TeamVodafone merchandise will be the most meticulously planned range ever seen in V8 Supercars.

Besides the merchandise itself – which looks pretty darn cool – BMA has overhauled the way TeamVodafone merchandise...

A life after v8 supercars

Cameron McConville may no longer be a full-time V8 Supercar driver, but he's approaching his new life and business with no less of a killer instinct...

There stands Cameron McConville – V8 Supercar race winner and Australian racing champion – behind the counter of a tyre store. Having followed his career since his days in Formula Ford, and having known him in a professional sense for a decade, it's a strange sight at first.

But it doesn't take long before you realise McConville is at home in his new surroundings.

His Jax Quickfit store in suburban Melbourne looks neat and clean. For the most part it looks like a normal Jax, with the usual tyre store paraphernalia lining the walls, but in the corner there's a reminder of McConville's former life...