MOTORSPORT: Bring on the Supercars

The forecast of temperatures of 22-24 degrees throughout Adelaide's tenth anniversary Clipsal 500 should also mean we are spared the endless hot air about how sweltering this season-opener always is.

The one certainty is that Adelaide will turn on a superb event for the spectators. It always does, and indeed in terms of event experience rather than projection of its event beyond the circumference fences, is the benchmark among Australian venues -- a title it has held unchallenged for almost a quarter of a century.

We've found the chat from the drivers leading into this season to be pretty bland and predictable, so we'll just stick to a few facts ahead of this weekend's two 250km races.

There will be 28 cars on the grid -- 16 VE Commodores against 12 BF Falcons -- following the demise of Craig Gore's WPS Racing and Brad Jones Racing's switch from the Ford to Holden camp with ex-Holden Racing Team machinery.

So the field has already shrunk close to the 26 that V8 Supercar honcho Tony Cochrane apparently reckons is the ideal number, although Ford Rising Stars Racing will join the championship for the next round at Sydney's Eastern Creek in early March. And Walden Motorsport is in the wings with another Falcon for Garth Walden that would bring Ford's strength up to 14.

Just 16 of the 31 car-driver combinations from last year's Clipsal 500 carried over into 2008.

Six drivers are competing this weekend at their tenth Clipsal: Mark Skaife, Garth Tander, Steven Richards, Russell Ingall, Greg Murphy and Craig Lowndes.

Skaife is the only one to have been with the same outfit -- the Holden Racing Team -- for the decade. Skaife has also been the most successful driver in the event's history, winning it three times, while Marcos Ambrose won twice, and Lowndes, Jason Bright, Jamie Whincup and Rick Kelly have been the other winners.

WPS Racing's collapse has denied Jason Bargwanna from being the seventh member of the 10-year Clipsal 'club'.

Indeed, this weekend is the first V8 Supercar series round Bargwanna has missed since he made his debut in the championship at the start of 1998. He had 128 consecutive starts with Garry Rogers Motorsport, Larkham Motorsport and WPS Racing.

Teammate Max Wilson's streak of 79 consecutive starts that began in 2002 with Briggs Motorsport and continued with Dick Johnson Racing, Triple Eight Race Engineering, Longhurst Racing and WPS is also at an end.

Russell Ingall, now with Paul Morris Motorsport/Supercheap Auto Racing and having his first start in a Holden since 2002, will celebrate his 44th birthday on Sunday. He's no doubt hoping for a better season than last year with Stone Brothers Racing when he finished outside the top 10 in the championship for the first time.

There are four rookies in the Clipsal 500: Ingall's replacement at Stone Bros, young New Zealander Shane Van Gisbergen; veteran Kiwi Kayne Scott; Andrew Thompson; and Michael Caruso -- who won last year's Adelaide round of Fujitsu development series in a Ford Rising Stars Racing Falcon.

So who's going to win this weekend?

We reckon there are eight drivers with cars capable of it -- and, despite the greater number of Holdens out there, five of them are in Fords.

Triple Eight/Team Vodafone's Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes were in the title fight to the end last year and are previous winners in the City of Churches; Ford Performance Racing's Mark Winterbottom is widely regarded as the coming man and teammate Steven Richards is always in the hunt; while James Courtney took pole position last year and was on the podium both days and could go even better this year provided recent fatherhood has not slowed him and that the Stones can regain their former form.

On the Holden side, new champion Garth Tander now alongside Skaife at HRT, Skaife himself, and Toll HSV Dealer Team's Rick Kelly are the men.

Beyond those eight, if there are to be any darkhorses we'd expect them to come from either the Tasman Motorsport camp (Greg Murphy and Jason Richards) or the recently-rescued Dick Johnson Racing (Steve Johnson and Will Davison). Otherwise we expect it to be pretty much a case of normal service being resumed.

Note: in 2000 and 2007 Garth Tander and Todd Kelly respectively scored more points over the weekend but Mark Skaife and Rick Kelly respectively were deemed the Clipsal 500 winners from their victories in the second leg.

We are hearing reports that the Great Lakes Rally, scheduled to be the fifth round of this year's Australian Rally Championship, is off. That will leave NSW, the country's most populous state, without an ARC round again -- and that can't be good for a national series.

Toyota is the only manufacturer committed to factory entries in the series, and even its plans have not been finalised -- or at least publicly confirmed.

And, while we always applaud drivers venturing on to the international stage, we note several who are doing that now for what we expect is the pretty simple reason that they don't see value in staying home to contest the ARC.

We already knew that Cody Crocker and Dean Herridge would be rallying overseas pretty much exclusively this year. Now we learn that Eli Evans -- younger brother of Simon, the national champion of the past two years -- wants to do six rounds of the Fiesta Sporting Trophy in the World Rally Championship this year, although he still needs to find the financial support for that.

His likely alternative is the Fiesta one-make series in the New Zealand Rally Championship.

While he hasn't entirely ruled out the ARC and has a Subaru Impreza in which he could compete, Rallysportmag.com reports that it's unlikely Evans would do the whole national series.

Scott Pedder and co-driver Glen Weston, who were leading ARC competitors with Mitsubishi Ralliart until that factory effort was abandoned at the end of 2006, have announced plans to contest the seven-round Asia-Pacific Rally Championship with the Perth-based Race Torque Engineering Team.

Race Torque has fielded APRC teams for years under the MRF Tyres and Mitsubishi Motors Japan banners with a degree of success, but never with Australian drivers.

The APRC begins in New Caledonia on April 12-13, with the Australian round in Canberra on May 10-11, followed by rounds in NZ, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia and China.

Darren Windus, who along with Michael Guest was left high and dry when Jason Bright's Britek announced its withdrawal of its factory-backed Super 2000 Ford Fiestas from the ARC, is still hopeful of doing the ARC.

West Australian Windus hopes to obtain one of the Fiestas -- which he claims are potential winners -- on favourable terms as a square-off for his contract being cut a year short. If that does not eventuate he may get back the Subaru Impreza WRX sold to Michael Thompson and driven by Will Orders last year to continue in the ARC.

ARCom chairman Trinder said "the consistent message coming through (from the forums around the country) is that people increasingly want to compete in simple events with simple no-nonsense rules and regulations."

That sounds very much like what the rival Australian Auto Sport Alliance (AASA) is claiming to be offering competitors.

Melbourne 2007, remember, was Alonso's first race with McLaren-Mercedes, his first after leaving Renault, where he had won his world titles and helped the French manufacturer to two constructors' world titles. It was also before any public signs of the frictions that developed with McLaren's star rookie Lewis Hamilton.

There are reports now that Alonso could earn US$46m next year if he remains with Renault.

The figure is symbolically US$1 million more than reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonen's reputed salary at Ferrari, which had been touted as Alonso's likely 'home' next year.

American journalist Robin Miller has written this week that the 12-year 'war' has cost American open-wheel racing "much of its sponsorship, audience and momentum" but that an outcome is close.

"George's offer of free cars and engines, plus US$1.2 million for any team able to compete the entire season, is expected to add a minimum of eight cars to the IRL grid in 2008," Miller said.

"Newman/Haas/Lanigan (two cars), PKV (two), Gerry Forsythe (two), Derrick Walker (one) and Conquest (one) are definites, while Dale Coyne is likely to field at least one car in '08. Minardi Team USA principal Paul Stoddart is a question mark, although partner Keith Wiggins may try to strike out on his own with one car.

"RocketSports is unknown while Pacific Coast Motorsports is believed to be headed to the ALMS (American Le Mans Series)."