Full Throttle

V8 Supercars chairman Tony Cochrane has taken note of Formula One’s foray into Singapore and F1’s first ever night-time championship race. As a result he has made it known to the Lion City’s powers-that-be he desires a place alongside Bernie Ecclestone’s plaything.

Reportedly, discussions are underway to add a V8 Supercar event to the undercard of the F1 event to be held September 28, 2008.

“Wouldn’t it be great if when the F1s raced at night, we raced during the day,” he said. “What an unbelievable double-header. It would be bigger than Ben Hur.”

Bigger than Ben Hur Tony?

Bigger than a Singapore Trishaw race maybe. But topping Charlton Heston as Judah Ben-Hur is stretching the hyperbole a bit thin.

Snark aside, Cochran may be on to something on several fronts.

The V8’s efforts at adding “international” flavor so far have resulted in mediocrity, at best. Of the two events in China one was poorly organized and attended, the second was canceled prior to the season starting.

Both events held on the island nation Bahrain have been poorly attended although the racing was fairly exciting.

Both Bahrain and China had the added problems of long flights with Bahrain’s one-way flight lasting double-digits while hauling thousands of tons of cargo and hundreds of personnel.

Singapore on the other hand is a short hop relatively speaking from the furtherest point, the east coast of Australia.

Additionally, if Cochran can pull of a Singapore V8 date, and tie it up long-term, he would ace out Ecclestone’s “second child” GP2 Asia that has confirmed Asian dates at Sentul Indonesia and Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia.

Singapore has another unique advantage for the V8s. It’s a popular tourist destination for Australians even without the lure of a joint F1 V8 Supercar event. It’s not hard to imagine package tour operators booking several plane-fulls of Aussies taking holiday in Lion city for the racing and the abundant shopping available.

And then there are the Brits. Singapore being a former colony England may send more tourists to the island city than any other western society, and they are bonkers over F1 and racing tin-tops. They may not know who the V8 stars are but they do know, and love, tin-top racing on road courses.

By my reckoning the V8 Supercars chairman might be on to something, whether he can pull it off is a far different matter. Now that his plans have become public I wouldn’t be surprised to hear Bernie Ecclestone is doing a little backroom arm twisting to prevent Cochran from gaining an advantage by latching onto F1.