How V8 Supercars Compares To The DTM Series
The V8 Supercars and DTM championships are two of the world’s best touring car championships, but just how do the cars compare?
V8 Supercars
V8 Supercars (simply known now as “Supercars”) is Australia’s premier touring car series and runs under international FIA regulations. It evolved from the Australian Touring Car Championship and has been run under the V8 Supercars banner since 1997. It has rapidly evolved since the late 1990s and developed a reputation for exciting on-track action.
The vehicles raced are very loosely based on their road-going counterparts. Only a few body panels are shared, as well as the lights, but the cars are made to resemble the road cars they are based on. Control parts are used to cut costs and are created by an independent manufacturer. All cars run them and include the chassis, roll cage, differential, brakes, cooling, fuel systems and rear suspension.
The cars are front-engined, rear-wheel drive and are powered by beautiful 5.0-litre, naturally aspirated V8 engines with electronic fuel injection. They produce around 650bhp. There is the option to use a generic engine provided by V8 Supercars but all of the teams run modified engines produced by manufacturers. The engines are limited to 7500rpm.
DTM
Like V8 Supercars, DTM evolved from a previous championship, the original Deutsche Tourenwagen Meisterschaft held from 1984 to 1996. The new DTM (named Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters) hit the race track in 2000, with the majority of rounds taking place in Germany and a handful of races taking place elsewhere in Europe.
Like V8 Supercars, DTM machines are front-engined, rear-wheel drive, and are powered by naturally-aspirated V8 engines, but in this case, they are 4.0-litre units restricted to 500bhp. Limited to 9000rpm, its 0-60mph time is around 3.0 seconds and the cars reach top speeds of 186mph.
They use six-speed semi-automatic sport gearboxes, with the transmission from Hewland and Xtrac. In a similar way to its touring car rival from Australia, DTM uses a number of common parts like brakes, transmission, tyres and other small features in order to cut costs. They run Hankook tyres with 18-inch wheels and two types of tyres, slicks and grooved wets.
While the cars may look like their road-going counterparts, very little is shared between them – really only the lights and roof sections. They still very much resemble the cars on the roads but the chassis are purpose-built, closer to prototypes. The body is then put over the roll cage, with each manufacturer having its own detailed and intricate aerodynamic package, including rear wings, diffusers and side skirts.
(CarThrottle.com)
