V8 supercars racing room drivers#
V8 supercars racing room archive#

The trip over had a somewhat collegial feel to it, with what felt like half the paddock on a QANTAS jet from Sydney to Dallas and finally, smaller planes to Austin. Having an opportunity to go back felt like it packed some form of cosmic significance.

V8 supercars racing room archive#

IMAGE: Archive / Holden Racing Team / iinetpics Austin had an openness to it and wasn’t like the other parts of Texas. I stuck around the city, going out with mates, spending arvos on the banks of the Colorado River, nights out in the city and stocked up on books at the giant BookPeople (some Keroauc and Klosterman). The blessing was getting to know Austin better. What I expected would be a short stay blew out when I learned Weezer were playing two shows so I stayed put for a week just for those.

My journey took me through the south and Austin sat roughly at the half-way point. I’d given myself six weeks to get from the northeast of the US, starting at Cape Cod, MA, to the southeast at San Diego, CA and I wanted to do it overland. Two years prior, I’d come back from 12 months’ of studying and travelling around the US. The time difference to home was a problem, but not an insurmountable one in light of the positives.Ĭall it fate, happenstance, good fortune, being kissed on the dick or whatever, but I was lucky to be the only writer in the Auto Action office at the time when editor Rob Margeit received the invitation to travel Stateside for the race and snagged my spot on the plane to Austin. There was also a brand-new circuit to race on. Even the VF Commodore would have been familiar to US motorsport fans, racing as the Chevrolet SS in the NASCAR sticker guise. There was a kinship in car culture, with a shared love of over-emblazoned merchandise, oversized engines and brand tribalism. America is the homeland of General Motors and Ford, Nissan had a factory up the road in Tennessee. After previous adventures internationally – many having the same staying power of James Courtney’s Team Sydney stint – a trip to Texas was the latest opportunity at growing the proverbial V8 footprint. The category was also set on another overseas expansions.

V8 supercars racing room drivers#

Car of the Future’s arrival had brought with it two new car makes in Nissan and AMG, while on track seven different drivers had won the first twelve races. There was a fair bit of buzz around the V8 Supercars paddock in May 2013. WORDS: Lewis Isaacs IMAGES: Mark Horsburgh / Supercars (Lead) As the Supercars eSeries heads to the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas, Lewis Isaacs recounts the championship’s Stateside journey in 2013.