MOTORSPORT: Supercars planning V8 racer

You’re looking at an official image exclusively obtained by motoring.com.au of a new racing car concept that will be pitched as a modern revival of the 1970s V8-engined Formula 5000 category by Supercars, the organisation that controls Australia’s leading motorsport championship.

First outlined to team owners at the Townsville round of the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship (VASC) as part of the management team’s 2025 vision, it emerges only months after a similar but entirely separate ‘big-banger’ concept dubbed Formula Thunder 5000 was revealed in Melbourne.

The proposed new Supercars-backed category is said to have received a mixed response from the team owners.

It is also a clear threat to the viability of Formula Thunder 5000, which is the brainchild of former racer and motorsport journalist and publisher Chris Lambden, who has sunk a significant personal sum over the last two years getting his project off the ground.

We reported on FT5000 here. Lambden declined to comment when contacted by motoring.com.au, but it is understood he has never been officially informed by Supercars of its idea, nor been offered the chance to enter some form of co-operation.

Supercars executives also declined to comment when contacted by motoring.com.au.

The Supercars Formula 5000 concept would use the 5.0-litre engines and transaxle gearboxes currently raced by the teams, meaning an ongoing use for this equipment into the next decade when the VASC itself is expected to transition to turbocharged six-cylinder and four-cylinder engines.

The drivetrain would be housed in a newly designed carbon-fibre chassis styled to ape the look of the original ‘high airbox’ Formula 5000s, as our exclusive image clearly shows.

With a grid anticipated at about 20 cars, the reborn Formula 5000 is being pitched by Supercars boss James Warburton and his management staff Matt Braid and Shane Howard at a time when professional-level open-wheeler racing stocks in Australia have never looked worse.

The Formula 4 program backed by Australia’s motorsport’s governing body CAMS has failed to gain traction, with only 10 cars racing at the most recent round at Ipswich in Queensland in support of the VASC.

That’s indicative of a deeper problem for VASC, which presents a support program of highly variable quality at different rounds. For instance, it is currently propping up the Ute series, which hovered on the edge of collapse over the summer.

Having a loud, fast, open-wheeler category of its own would also help Supercars in its ongoing negotiations with various state governments, which consistently show interest in importing overseas open-wheel shows such as IndyCars and Formula E.

Meanwhile, the debut run of Lambden’s FT5000 racer has been delayed as gearbox developer Holinger continues to resolve some issues.

Holinger is one of a number of Australian motorsport companies Lamben has employed to bring his concept to fruition. Key among them are race-car manufacturer Borland Racing, which is engineering the car, engine builder Innov8, electronics experts MoTec, Adelaide-based Supashock for dampers and Arrow wheels from New Zealand.

The only non-Anzac involvement comes from Singapore tyre brand Giti, which has designed and manufactured a specific FT5000 slick.

The FT5000 is based around a carbon-fibre chassis originally designed by California racing car constructor Swift and a control Ford Coyote V8 engine.

Declaration: Bruce Newton is a paid contributor to the supercars.com.au website.