Motorsport: New V8 pairing rule divides Australian drivers

A set of brake discs are seen prior to round 10 of the V8 Supercars Championship Series. Photo / Getty Images

Take a stroll down Victor's Walk on Russell St in Bathurst and you'll see some of the greatest names in Australian motorsport immortalised on the pavement.

Peter Brock, Dick Johnson, Larry Perkins, Allan Moffat, Jim Richards - they're all there, as are modern greats such as Craig Lowndes, Mark Skaife, Greg Murphy and Jamie Whincup.

But in 2010 a new rule change forbidding regular drivers from pairing up for the V8 Supercar endurance events could see a Steve Owen, Warren Luff or Luke Youlden added to the hallowed list of Bathurst winners.

Ten months after the rule was announced it's still dividing opinion up and down pitlane.

Some drivers such as Holden star Garth Tander are unwilling to accept it as good, or even necessary, while championship contender Mark Winterbottom is one of those who supports the move.

Tander, the defending champion at Mt Panorama, was one of the most outspoken critics of the co-driver rule and after last month's introduction to the format in the Phillip Island 500 he is still against the move.

"Watch the Phillip Island race and you go, 'did it really change the race that much?' No, not really," said Tander.

"Probably safety cars and a bit of strategy stuff is what made the race interesting. It wasn't the fact that there was this new co-driver rule. I still don't agree with it."

Tander says the history of Bathurst is being degraded by the rule and he hopes this year is the only time we'll see non-regular drivers sharing rides with the category's main men.

"I'm not sure that these rulemakers saw the last 10 laps of Bathurst last year," he said.

"I'm not too sure you can make it more exciting than what it was.

"Bathurst is one of the races with so much history, so much tradition attached to it and to go and force these driver rules upon the teams, I think it changes the course of history. "

Ford star Winterbottom, who finished as runner-up in the Phillip Island race alongside Youlden, disagrees, and feels that race showed the merit behind the switch.

"Some of the drives that people put in ... there was a lot of people who surprised you with how good they were going," he said.

"Jack Perkins, Dean Canto, Steve Owen, all these guys that did a good job. They probably haven't shined like that before when they haven't been teamed up with the main guys."

- AAP