1996 Nissan Mobil 500

[Homer]

Hi All

Hopefully someone will be able to answer this. I just came across some footage of the 1996 Nissan Mobil 500 and was interested to know why there were only 10 or so V8s entered. Was this not a round of the series and more of a promotional thing or were there other reasons?

[RSZWEI]

It was its own series wasnt it? I cant recall the Nissan Mobil 500 being part of any other series apart from the WTCC in 1987.
Also, remember back in 1996 there werent a lot of full time professional teams like we have now in the V8 Supercars:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1996_Australian_Touring_Car_Championship

[Homer]

Hi there

thanks for that, Didnt even think to look it up on wiki. looks as though it was a one off event which would explain the small fields..

[Steve Holmes]

Sorry Homer, I wanted to reply to this much earlier, but haven't been around much lately. Basically, it goes something like this, and this is based mostly on memory, so I'm happy to be corrected on anything I've got wrong. Back in the early 1990s, the 2 Litre Super Tourer category looked to be taking over the world. I think this concept was created by Alan Gow, but could be wrong about that. It kicked off in the UK, and after several years of Group A racing, where the races were strung out affairs with the Sierra Cosworths driving off into the distance, the 2L Super Tourers were action packed, dogged, no-holds barred, with unpredictable results. There was also plenty of manufacturer support.

Super Tourers quickly spread into Europe, and also to Asia, and I think it was even attempted in the US for a while. The World Touring Car Championship title was resurrected for the first time since 1987, although it'd be just a one-event affair, rather than a whole series.

In Australia, as Group A was winding down, and being constantly tweaked by CAMS to keep the racing close, there became a division about which direction the ATCC should take. Some wanted the Super Tourers, others wanted the new domestic 5 Litre Touring Cars category, which would eventually get renamed as V8 Supercars. Early on, the strength was with the 2L Super Tourers, and this category even managed to get the traditional October Bathurst date, with the 5 litre V8s then holding another race at Bathurst in November.

In New Zealand, there was no Wellington street race in 1995, but the 1994 event had been for the 2 Litre Super Tourers, and these put on quite a good show, and this is what the event organisers wanted for the return of the street race in 1996. Eventually, for whatever reason, a good field of these cars couldn't be organised, as NZ didn't actually have a domestic series for them, so had to import almost all the teams. At the last minute, a decision was made to send a dozen Australian 5 Litre Touring Cars across for the street race instead, with the plan to return to 2L Super Tourers from 1997. The V8s proved such a hit, despite this being a non-championship event, and a small field, that plans for the Super Tourers were dropped, and the V8s would be sent out again for 1997.

Of course, there was no 1997 street race, in fact, 1996 was the last event.

[Homer]

Thanks for that Steve, I cant recall the year I went however it was when Peugeot ran Justin Bell (son of Derek) and Rob Gravett in the Motorola 405. Alfa Romeo also had a 2 car team of 155s however the drivers names escape me at the moment. Im pretty sure this class didn’t run to Supertourer specifications though. I always thought they were run under the NZ 2L touring car rules???...

[Mike Price]

I think I have a couple of hours of that race on VHS somewhere.