Motorsport: Next NZV8 top model

The new car has come from the drawing board to reality in 11 weeks and will be merged into the championship series next season. Photo / Supplied

A car especially built for the upcoming NZV8 championships will be unveiled today at the Speedshow in Auckland.

The chairman of the Vee Eight Entrance Group Association (Veega), Andrew McKenzie, told Driven about the race to complete the car in time.

"It's been 11 weeks from drawings to reality," he said. "It is vital the cars stay true to brand with Holden engines in Holden cars and Ford engines in Ford cars, enabling fans to back their favourites and protect the DNA of the makes.

"The new car will be merged into the championship series and run alongside the existing race cars next season and the one after and be totally phased in by 2013.

"This will assure franchise owners a minimum life for their current cars of two years, protecting the value of their franchises and help constrain costs in a difficult financial climate."

The cost of the new car could be around $150,000. It will visually have much in common with the Australian V8 Supercar. In fact, the chassis is similar to that of the Australian V8 Car of the Future, to be introduced into the V8 Supercar series in a couple of years. "We have received the okay from Ford Australia and Holden to use the Intellectual Property of their makes for the car," said McKenzie.

"We have fitted V8 Supercars front splitters, front guards, the side skirts, the rear three-piece bumper, the rain light and the roof vent."

In keeping with the V8 Supercars theme, the new car will also have its interior fitted out with carbon fibre courtesy of Triple Eight Racing in Australia. It will also utilise the Motec system and RaceTech seats and use air-jacks. It'll sit on 18-inch wheels and have internal adjustment for its suspension.

"For all intents and purposes the car is the new generation NZV8," said McKenzie. "This car is a progression of what we currently have and will be migrated into the 2012 and 2013 season.

"What we've said to the current owners is that they can use their cars for another two seasons. A number will swap to the new car but a few will stay with the existing model.

"We are looking very seriously at the Quaife six-speed gearbox and we are looking at fuel-injected motors as a progression coming into the class. But for next season those motors [fuel-injection] will not appear in our cars."

McKenzie is confident the car is going to be good straight out of the box. "We had the plans and a prototype looked at a while ago and a few small issues were talked about regarding engineering," he said.

"We took that advice on board when building chassis number one and are confident it'll pass homologation and be pretty much sorted when we take it to the track.

"Providing the first car passes the test with flying colours we are hoping to have 12 cars finished by the end of the year."