The original Holden VE Commodore V8 SuperTourers prototype built by PACE Innovations is being offered for sale by one of the category’s architects, Mark Petch.
The car is considered infamous by some for the part it played in causing a damaging rift in New Zealand motorsport.
In the early 2010s, NZV8s began work on developing a successor to its wildly successful Trans Am Lite (TL) formula and TLX was born.
The team owner-led V8 SuperTourers was a breakaway category to the MotorSport New Zealand-sanctioned NZV8s.
NZV8s and V8 SuperTourers both sought to build cars based on what Supercars was running at the time, with each loosely based on the Car of the Future (COTF).
Famously, in 2011, the first TLX-spec NZV8s prototype and V8 SuperTourers prototype debuted at Auckland’s SpeedShow on the same weekend.
The co-existence of both categories caused lasting damage to the domestic racing scene, and has arguably never recovered.
Only a handful of new cars were ever built for NZV8s. Meanwhile, V8 SuperTourers debuted with 16 cars and ran independently of MotorSport New Zealand.
The V8 SuperTourers were a much more basic product relative to the Supercars of the early 2010s.
PACE Innovations was responsible for the chassis designs of the V8 SuperTourer and Supercars’ Car of the Future that debuted in 2013.
The Kiwi series kicked off in 2012 with the Holden Commodore VE and the Ford Falcon FG, both powered by a 7.0-litre LS V8.
Like Supercars, the hope was that multiple silhouettes would join the series, with the Toyota Camry, Hyundai Sonata, and BMW M5 touted as options.
The Holden prototype bore such a close resemblance to V8 Supercars of the time that category management later made a bespoke front splitter and rear wing design amid IP concerns.
Former NZV8s team owner Petch was one of the orchestrators of the V8 SuperTourer series alongside team owners Garry Pederson and Wayne Anderson.
It attracted big-name interest. The inaugural 2012 season included five-time Bathurst 1000 winner Steven Richards and four-time Bathurst 1000 winner Greg Murphy.
A young Scott McLaughlin also competed alongside a throng of local stars who defected from NZV8s.
The series was split into a sprint season and endurance season, with Supercars drivers and other internationals joining for the two-driver races.
Among the most high-profile internationals were ex-Formula 1 driver Christian Klein and Porsche Supercup champion Jeroen Bleekemolen.
Having taken most of the high-profile NZV8 competitors away, the V8 SuperTourers prototype cheekily debuted with the ‘V8 Series of Champions’ slogan on its front and rear bumpers.
V8 SuperTourers ultimately lasted just a few seasons before its demise after its original architects walked away.
Eventually, the series merged with NZV8s to form the NZ Touring Cars, which later became an all-comers series dubbed Super V8s.
New Zealand’s domestic scene is on the verge of a V8 racing revival with the growth of TA2, which will have its first season as a standalone category later this year.
Now the car that began a feud is up for sale, albeit in a different guise to how it began life.
Petch sold the car nearly a decade ago to John De Veth, who ran it in the North Island Endurance Series.
The car has undergone some modifications, including the addition of ABS and traction control and a modified rear wing.
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