Motorsport: V8 racing future revealed

After nearly a year of waiting, the Australian V8 Supercars' Car of the Future has finally been unveiled and it will open up the series to manufacturers other than Ford and Holden.

At a launch yesterday in the run-up to the last round of the V8 Supercars series in Sydney, former multi-championship winner Mark Skaife pulled the covers off the next generation of tin-top racers.

After 19 years of successful Holden and Ford V8 racing, the category thought it was time to introduce a whole new car, purpose-built from the ground up.

The new car also opens the door for other manufacturers to enter the fray.

The fact the series has been taken to the international market, with races in places like Bahrain, makes it more attractive to prospective teams.

When the new car hits the track in 2013, it'll be lighter, have improved safety features, reduced vehicle build and repair costs, and technical advances including bigger wheels allowing for better brakes.

"The Car of the Future is an integral part of our long-term business and sporting strategy that'll result in V8 Supercars embracing new opportunities domestically and internationally, on and off the track," said V8 Supercar chairman Tony Cochrane. "It's a watershed for V8 Supercars."

Developed primarily to assure the long-term viability of the sport and its teams, the Car of the Future maintains the essence of V8 racing - it looks like the car a fan can buy from a showroom.

"The major changes are under the skin or in the design architecture, primarily to make the cars cheaper to build and to repair," Skaife said.

V8 Supercar teams start building their new cars as early as this month before the compulsory 2013 roll-out.