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What is inside this issue of V8X Magazine #59?

V8X Magazine turns 10 years old this issue so we thought we would celebrate with a bumper issue including extra pages at no extra cost. Here is just a taste of what is in this issue of V8X #59.

Leethal Weapon

Before Lee Holdsworth re-signed with Garry Rogers’ outfit until the end of 2011, he was faced with two choices: more dollars in his back pocket or the potential for more trophies in his cabinet. In this interview, he reveals to V8X why he chose the latter.

Lee Holdsworth has already been touted as V8 Supercars’ next big superstar, but the 27-year-old is putting plans in place to make it happen. The rumours flew thick and fast that he would move to Ford Performance Racing this year, but he went on to cement an agreement with Garry Rogers Motorsport (GRM) until the end of 2011. Rather than chasing more dollars, the agreement included ...

Mega Bathurst Preview

The season of endurance is upon us and teams are gearing up for the Big One: Bathurst. And it’s no easy feat to cross the finish line first after 161 laps of the Mountain when fuel economy, weather and other factors come into it, as V8X delves into on page 66. Then we have Mark Larkham giving us his picks on who will stand on the top step of the podium come 5pm on October 10, 2010.

Then there’s the new co-driver ruling, which will change the face of the enduros, but is it for better or for worse? Adrian Musolino investigates the new rule’s far-reaching implications

When V8 Supercars Australia announced last December its new endurance co-driver rule, which requires full-time drivers to stay in their own cars and forbids them from pairing up, opinions along pitlane were split. Some called it common-sense, while others labelled it “ridiculous”.

Even before a wheel has been turned at Phillip Island and Bathurst, its impact has been significant, with ...

V8 Supercar’s 10 best drivers ever

It is the most subjective debate in V8 Supercar racing; who was – or is – the best driver in the sport? How do the modern day heroes like Jamie Whincup and Garth Tander stack up with the best of the days gone by – Mark Skaife, Marcos Ambrose and Glenn Seton? And where do the guys who straddle different eras, such as Craig Lowndes, sit?

We set each of our judges the task of ranking their top 10 since the sport dropped Group A in favour of what would become V8 Supercars. So what we are really asking is who do we think is the best touring car pilot of the past two decades. And by best, we don’t just mean a driver who has hung around long enough to score points, wins or fans, we mean the drivers who laid it all on the line and came out on top – the drivers from one to 10 that you would hunt out for your team if your life depended on a race’s outcome.

CRASH BANG WOLLOP!

Speed, skill, commitment, flat-out thrills and glory – it’s what V8 Supercars is all about. But what happens when everything goes wrong? Here we revisit the biggest, most violent fender-benders in the history of the category. Hold onto your hats!

The Trail Blazers

Turn back the clock with V8X as we examine the engineering landmarks that shaped V8 Supercars into what it is today...

Any organisation’s history is defined by a number of landmark turning points, and V8 Supercars is no exception. In terms of impact on the sport, the emergence of Tony Cochrane and Sports Entertainment Limited (SEL) must surely top the list. Then there’s the refinement of the technical rules through such initiatives as Project Blueprint and the rise to dominance of the Lowndes-led younger generation of drivers (a generation that now, in turn, finds itself being usurped). But narrow the focus down to the racing – to the engineering imperatives that underpin the cars and the philosophies and attitudes of the people who build and race them – and identifying those landmarks is harder...

Whitaker: 100 DAYS

Its been whirlwind introduction to V8 Supercars for Martin Whitaker. One hundred days in, Bruce Newton sat down with the new CEO and found out just what he’d been doing and, more importantly, what he plans for the category in the future

V8X: When we spoke in April you said you were confident of quickly getting up to speed. Has that proved to be the case? MARTIN WHITAKER: This is such a job I think you have to be up to speed pretty damn quickly, I arrived and went into a board meeting my first day! One of the first things on the agenda was Car of the Future (CotF). So clearly with the teams forum less than one month later, preparing for that and learning what everyone had to say at Ipswich and Winton before that meeting, I think it was very important to be up to speed as quickly...