WHAT'S INSIDE ISSUE #57

Gas Man Giz

Shane van Gisbergen was barely old enough to hold a learner driver's permit when he entered V8 Supercars in 2007. Three years later, he's starting to rattle some cages.

Shane van Gisbergen is a rare breed of driver. He is one of those guys born to race and born with a level of car control most of us can only dream of.

Talent scouts picked him out early in Formula Ford in his native New Zealand. As a teenager, van Gisbergen was tremendously gifted. He won the Formula Ford title in 2005/2006, often thrilling crowds with outside overtakes that would normally result in crunching the fence. He followed Formula Ford success by finishing second in the Toyota Racing Series in 2006/2007 behind Daniel Gaunt, the latter making it back-to-back championships.

The open-wheeler cars weigh under 500kg and are powered by a modified 200bhp version of Ford's 1.8-litre four-cylinder 2ZZ-GE production engine, linked to a sequential gearbox. These are seriously cool and seriously fast race cars, and they're a tremendous platform for drivers looking to further their open cockpit careers, or – in the case of van Gisbergen – jump straight into V8 Supercars.

In fact when most young teenagers want to arrow straight into an F1 career, van Gisbergen wasn't even tempted. As far was he was concerned it was V8 Supercars or the bush...

That Aussie Spirit

Now a familiar feature of the NASCAR landscape, Australia's Marcos Ambrose admits he's a world away from V8 Supercars – but that doesn't mean he's forgotten his roots...

Love him or hate him, former V8 Supercar driver Marcos Ambrose is gaining a foothold in America not only as a racing car driver but as a personality in his own right.

Although this year has been somewhat of a letdown so far, the two-times V8 Supercar champion turned NASCAR driver showed flashes of brilliance on the track last year, and his Aussie patriotism has highlighted his profile in a crowd of 40-odd American drivers. In the land of Uncle Sam and Star Spangled Banners, Ambrose is more than happy to pose with a koala in a sponsor advertisement to get the product some publicity, while his thwarted attempt to make a one-off appearance at the inaugural Sydney Telstra 500 proves he hasn't forgotten his Aussie roots.

The level of interest from V8 fans – particularly on the blue side – surrounding his possible comeback in December bordered on mass hysteria, but sadly a Racing Entitlements Contract could not be secured for the 'Devil Racer'. V8X caught up with Ambrose at Texas Motor Speedway last November, about a week after...

CAR OF THE FUTURE: The Road Ahead

Some 18 months in the making, the Car of the Future program is finally here – providing a guiding light, and a raft of changes, to safeguard the future of the V8 Supercars Championship Series. The recent media conference called by V8 Supercars to unveil the plan may have been short on details, but it did point us all in the right direction.

Following 18 months of second guessing and speculation the eagle has landed – that eagle being the Car of the Future. Released in March, the plan holds no real surprises as to how the category intends to move ahead with the next generation of V8 Supercars. However, what it has done is finally provide answers to the many questions and points raised over the last 18 months since word of the project first emerged.

For example, drivers and fans have been calling for...

V8's NEW BOSS: Martin Whitaker – Reporting for Duty

You'd expect a glowing CV from anyone stepping into the big chair at V8 Supercars Australia and the organisation's new CEO, Martin Whitaker, certainly doesn't disappoint. V8X recently caught up with him for an exclusive interview...

Martin Whitaker was recently appointed as Chief Executive Officer for V8 Supercars Australia. The ex-pat Englishman brings with him a wealth of experience gained over many years, from a fledgling motorsport journalist, to a press officer at the FIA (Federation Internationale de l'Automobile), to roles at Ford and an involvement in Formula 1 and the World Rally Championship. More recently, he's been involved in running the race circuit at Bahrain, and it's from there that V8X caught up with Martin to pick his brains about his new role...

V8 Supercars 10 Most Powerful Men

Power. It is the lifeblood of motorsport. Inside a car it adds up to speed while outside it relates to momentum and growth. Importantly, both on and off the track, it is critical how the power is used. To overlay a parlance, there is no use just burning up the rear tyres just because you can.

This report on 2010's most powerful people involved in V8 Supercar racing rewards those who have the ability to get the right power delivery in place, those who understand when to wield Thor's Hammer and when to brush troubles away with a feather. The power delivery is well mapped and used judiciously because, fortunately, there aren't a lot of forces inside motorsport hell bent on destruction of our beloved category.

Strange, then, that the top half of the list is dominated by people we recognise more for their ability to use the hammer than the soft approach, but perhaps it is just easier for us to visualise and articulate force. We aren't privy to back-room lobbying, the games that are played to get us from A to someone else's B, and maybe that is where the feather comes into play.

The balance shifts and names have come and gone from one list to the next, and in the end only one person has rated on all four lists – and he sits at the top. More interestingly, though, is that from the 2007 list to now only three remain. Power in this game is certainly fluid and not to be taken for granted.

The Next Level

With an expanded three-car line-up and a new engine supplier this season, Brad Jones Racing is intent on bidding the mid-field farewell...

The great frustration for mid-pack V8 Supercars teams is that those at the front of the grid are moving targets in every sense. For Albury-based Brad Jones Racing (BJR), the challenge of rising from the middle of the field to consistently battle the likes of TeamVodafone and HRT fuels both its motivation and frustration. “When you're running between 20th and 10th, you think if you get into the 10 you'll be happy,” says BJR team owner Kim Jones. “But so far bar one race this season we've had at least one car running in the 10, and we're still a little disappointed.”

This year marks a season of expansion and development for BJR...