MOTORSPORT: Bang, bang, bang in Sydney

Sydney's Homebush street circuit is notorious for carnage, Marcos Ambrose is back from NASCAR, there are a few moves afoot (Charlie Schwerkolt and Lee Holdsworth towards a Holden; another Racing Entitlement Contract holder, James Rosenberg, pulling out and Nick Percat in no man's land), while thunderstorms are forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

Still boiling amid all of this is the friction between V8 Supercars and the Bathurst 12-Hour. And despite the lengths to which V8 Supercars has gone to stop its "primary drivers" participating at Mt Panorama in February, on the weekend of its "super test" at Sydney Motorsport Park, the back page of the Sydney 500's official program carries an advertisement promoting upcoming major events in NSW ... including the Bathurst 12-Hour!

In the next couple of years much of the attention in V8 Supercars is going to be on possible new makes under the Gen2 rules from 2017, but this weekend the spotlight is mainly on Ambrose and how competitive the 2003-04 champion will be at his first Sydney 500 – particularly against the man who has won the title in six of the past seven years, Whincup.

Ambrose has played down the expectations on him, trying to project his Homebush wildcard as just a trial run for next year's full season with what will become DJR Team Penske. After a ride day and two tests in Queensland, he says the hardest part in driving a new-generation V8 Supercar after the more powerful but heavier NASCARs is getting comfortable braking deep and adapting to the sequential gearbox.

Others have more to play for at Homebush. Mark Winterbottom, Craig Lowndes and Shane Van Gisbergen are in a contest for second in the championship.

Lowndes and The Giz have the best records at this venue. Lowndes, the only multiple winner in 10 races at Homebush over the past five years, is trying to become runner-up for the sixth time in his career and the fourth year in a row to Triple Eight Race Engineering Holden teammate Whincup.

Van Gisbergen has been on the podium in five of the past seven races at the precinct that hosted the 2000 Olympics. He had a win last year and has had four third places.

He's just won NZ's SuperTourer endurance championship and four of his eight V8 Supercar victories have come on street circuits.

And Holden is undefeated in this championship's eight street races this year at Adelaide, Townsville and the Gold Coast.

All this could be ominous for Winterbottom, who has never finished outside the top five in the series since joining Ford Performance Racing in 2006, but only once has he been runner-up – in 2008. His lead this season is 98 points over Lowndes and and 134 over Van Gisbergen.

"We've struggled on street circuits this year, so now is the time to try a few different things to see if we can improve it," Winterbottom said.

It's the farewell of the FG Falcon. Next year FPR and DJR Team Penske will campaign the FG X shape in the last season of the Blue Oval's official involvement in the championship.  

While Winterbottom ought to have a big enough advantage to retain second place, his FPR teammate and this year's Bathurst 1000 winner, Chaz Mostert, is in a four-way tussle to finish the season in the top five but acknowledges that Homebush has "the highest stats for the most wrecked cars and DNFs".

"It's quite a dangerous track and it is the last event of the season so everyone goes a bit mental," Mostert says.

Volvo Polestar's Scott McLaughlin starts the weekend fifth in the points on 2295, Brad Jones Racing's Fabian Coulthard 2280, Mostert 2273 and Holden Racing Team's James Courtney 2265. HRT's other man, Garth Tander (2064 points), and Nissan's Michael Caruso (1875) make up the top 10.

McLaughlin has been the season's sensation with multiple race wins and nine pole positions to Whincup's 10. For Homebush the young Kiwi's vow is "all guns blazing to win races and also to win the pole position award of the year".

There are three poles and three races to be won this time, instead of the traditional two 250km races at Homebush.

As in the season opener at Adelaide this year, there are two 125km sprints on Saturday afternoon, with 250km on Sunday – all on Dunlop's hard tyre compound.

McLaughlin is content that his Volvo S60 is "good on street circuits".

"It is fast over qualifying runs and it is starting to get a lot better in the races as well," he said.

"We have had an awesome year that I really want to finish in the top five and on a high with the team, to build for a good result in next year's championship," he said.

Eleven drivers from seven teams have been race winners this season – or 13 when Paul Morris and Paul Dumbrell are included for their Bathurst 1000 and Sandown 500 co-driving successes – and Homebush's unpredictability could add another one, two or even three to the list.

The history books show that three previous Homebush races have been won from 10th or lower on the grid.

A few big bangs are guaranteed from the concrete canyon over the next couple of days.

Verstappen will line-up in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne in mid-March at 17 years of age. He was only 16 when Toro Rosso chose him.

This week the FIA's World Motor Sport Council decreed that from 2016 F1 drivers must be at least 18 and have at least two years of single-seater car racing experience.

Verstappen was third in this year's European Formula Three Championship – his first season out of karting.

The latest F1 calendar released this week has 21 GPs next year – with a Korean race suddenly reappearing. It is listed as subject to confirmation and is highly unlikely to happen – especially on May 3, when the "circus" would have been to Bahrain in the Middle East after the first three rounds in Australia, Malaysia and China.

The previous Korean GPs at Yeongam were a financial disaster, while the notion of a street race in Seoul at six months' notice is absurd.

Longer term Malaysia's round of the championship is said to be on the skids.

F1 teams have been called to a summit on December 18 to consider cost cuts that might keep Lotus, Sauber and Force India viable after the demise of Marussia and perhaps yet Caterham, which has been given the nod to run this year's car again next season if that will help it survive.

A 396-page report this week by a 10-man panel that investigated the Japanese GP crash of 25-year-old Frenchman Jules Bianchi found that incompatible software failed to cut his Marussia's Ferrari engine as he speared off the Suzuka track, hitting a 6500kg recovery crane at 126kmh.

"Bianchi's helmet struck the sloping underside of the crane. The magnitude of the blow and the glancing nature of it caused massive head deceleration and angular acceleration, leading to his severe injuries," the report said.

A virtual safety car system – under which a speed limit is imposed around tracks for incidents not requiring a physical safety car – will be introduced next season, after trials over the last three GPs this year.

However, the report on the Bianchi crash ruled out the idea of closed cockpits on F1 cars.

Image: V8 Supercars