While most people around the world may recognise the Ford name, they won't recognise the cars they produce - the Ford Falcon and the Falcon based Ford Territory SUV. Nor may they be familiar with the Holden name, the Australian branch of General Motors, producing the Holden Commodore and Adventra SUV.

The cars themselves are a semi-production semi-silhouette category, where production shells are used, but common components are mandated - such as suspensions, gearbox and differentials. The engines are still unique to each brand - just as they are in Nascar. In fact the engines themselves are pretty much the same as that used in Nascar, except in Australia a control ECU is used, rather than Caburettors as is the case with Nascar.

V8 Supercars is enjoying strong popularity in Australia, as it is currently the only mainstream sport that visits nearly all Australia States and Territories - with the exclusion ot the ACT There was a race around the Australian Parliament House in the ACT for 3 years but that has since been discontinued. Races are even held in Tasmania and the Northern Territory.

A recent announcement to the change of free-to-air television telecaster for the start of the 2007 season has been anounced, taking the V8 Supercars from Ch10 - who many would argue were one of the main factors in the rapid growth of the category over the last 5 years - to Ch7 - who many would also argue were responsible for the heyday of the Australian Touring Car category in the late 80's, but which also led to the near bankruptcy of the formula at the time.

Australia has a 40 year heritage of racing V8 Touring Cars around the country, starting from the mid 1960's. Of most note is the annual race held in the NSW country town of Bathurst of course over the gruelling Mount Panorama. And believe me, you have to drive over this road yourself to appreciate how steep it is. This isn't as silly as it sounds - the circuit itself is a normal road for most of the year, closed to the public only during the race. A 60km/h speed limit is strictly enforced year-round.

Each year tens of thousands of Australians make their pilgrimage to the mountain to enjoy a week of 'roughing' it at the campsite on the mountain. Myself included. It's a big weekend, and not for the faint of heart - of the shallow of stomach - as constant beer drinking and snags on the BBQ are the expected diet for the weekend.

Racing over 1000km, the race itself takes between 6 and 7 hours to complete, and is the 'cultural and historical' pinnacle of the category.