V8 Thunder Cars, previously Camaro Cup or the Camaro Cup 2000, is a Swedish-based stock car racing series.
V8 Thunder Cars, previously Camaro Cup or the Camaro Cup 2000, is a Swedish-based stock car racing series.
The idea about an American class in Swedish racing was born by the SSK acting director Robin Shorter in 1974. He spread his idea to active racers and to dealers selling American car brands. Work was begun by a group of people, including Shorter, Sven Hjansons, Picko Troberg and Göran Boström, to start a series called the Woodhead Super Star Cup. The first season was held in 1975 and was won by Bo "Emma" Emanuelsson, who also won the first ever race of the championship, held at the SSK premiere at Kinnekulle Ring. The series continued for several more seasons and had a couple of famous drivers including Swedish Formula One driver Reine Wisell. 1982 saw the class being changed into the Swedish Super Saloon championship and it was opened for other manufacturers.
Super Saloon was a somewhat extreme championship concerning the cars participating - e.g. Volkswagens and Porsches with double turbos. Some of the old Camaro Cup drivers stayed, including two-times champion Peter Norlander who won the premiere in a space frame Camaro. In 1988 Camaro Cup was resumed, with Boström being one of the driving forces behind the series' resumption. Between 1994 and 1998 the series was dominated by Thomas Engström, winning five driver's titles.
The first cars of the current generation of Camaro Cup cars took to the track in 1999. The old cars were phased out during 2000, when two classes (one with the new cars and one with the old cars) was run. Some of the old cup cars later found a new home in the V8 Challenge championship organized by the Swedish Long-distance Championship (SLC). During 2000 the series was called Super Stock Racing.
Camaro Cup had for several years run as a support series to the Swedish Touring Car Championship, but in 2004 it was axed and was forced to return to its SSK roots. The 2005 season was a miserable one, with an average of six cars per weekend, and the grid never made it over seven cars. To bolster the number of starters other SSK classes were added, including old Super Touring cars such as the Audi A4 Quattro and BMW 320i.
2006 saw the series somewhat return to its former glory. It returned as a part of the STCC program, and grid sizes increased to around 20 cars again. Several notable drivers made guest appearances, including ex-F1 test driver and current Formula Nippon driver Björn Wirdheim, OMV Kronos Citroën WRC driver Daniel Carlsson, Junior WRC champion Per-Gunner Andersson and STCC driver Edward Sandström. As of February 2006, 24 cars have confirmed their entry for the full 2007 season.
Since 2013 the championship is open to other manufacturers and was renamed to V8 Thunder Cars.
Camaro Cup is one of the two available championships (along with STCC) in the Digital Illusions, CE PC game STCC 2. It is also included in SimBin Studios's game STCC – The Game (2008 season) and its sequel STCC – The Game 2 (2010 season).
| Season | Champion |
|---|---|
| 1975 |  Bo "Emma" Emanuelsson |
| 1976 | Ulf Granberg |
| 1977 | Bo "Emma" Emanuelsson |
| 1978 | Ulf Granberg |
| 1979 | Peter Norlander |
| 1980 | Peter Norlander |
| 1981 | Ulf "Rökar'n" Larsson |
| 1988 |  Anders Berggren |
| 1989 | Greger Kronegård |
| 1990 | Greger Kronegård |
| 1991 | Greger Kronegård |
| 1992 | Anders Hultqvist |
| 1993 | Anders Hultqvist |
| 1994 | Tomas Engström |
| 1995 | Tomas Engström |
| 1996 | Tomas Engström |
| 1997 | Tomas Engström |
| 1998 | Tomas Engström |
| 1999 | Göran Boström |
| Markus Lundström (Classic) | |
| 2000 | Thomas Nielsen |
| Jörgen Eriksson (Classic) | |
| 2001 | Ole Martin Lindum |
| 2002 | Ole Martin Lindum |
| 2003 | Kristoffer Lundström |
| 2004 | Kristoffer Lundström |
| 2005 | Ole Martin Lindum |
| 2006 | Ole Martin Lindum |
| 2007 | Anders Brofalk |
| 2008 | Anders Brofalk |
| 2009 | Ole Martin Lindum |
| 2010 | Tomas Engström |
| 2011 | Thed Björk |
| 2012 | Tobias Brink |
| 2013 | Fredrik Ros |
| 2014 | Jens Edman |
| 2015 | Mattias Lindberg |
| 2016 | Alexander Graff |
| 2017 | Mattias Lindberg |
| 2018 | Emil Persson |
| 2019 | Emil Persson |
| 2020 | Dennis Strandberg |
| 2021 | Dennis Strandberg |
| 2022 | Andreas Nilsson |
| 2023 | Andreas Nilsson |
Touring car racing is a motorsport road racing competition that uses race prepared touring cars. It has both similarities to and significant differences from stock car racing, which is popular in the United States.
The Supercars Championship currently known as the Repco Supercars Championship under sponsorship, is a touring car racing category in Australia and New Zealand, running as an International Series under Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) regulations, governing the sport.
The Kwik Fit British Touring Car Championship is a touring car racing series held each year in the United Kingdom, currently organised and administered by TOCA. It was established in 1958 as the British Saloon Car Championship and was renamed as the British Touring Car Championship for the 1987 season. The championship, currently running Next Generation Touring Car regulations, has been run to various national and international regulations over the years including FIA Group 2, FIA Group 5, FIA Group 1, FIA Group A, FIA Super Touring and FIA Super 2000. A lower-key Group N class for production cars ran from 2000 until 2003.
John Rickard Rydell is a retired Swedish racing driver. He won the 1998 British Touring Car Championship, the 2011 Scandinavian Touring Car Championship, and has also been a frontrunner in the European/World Touring Car Championship.
Swedish Touring Car Championship (STCC) was a touring car racing series based in Sweden, but also with rounds in Norway. They began operating in 1996, heavily influenced by the British Touring Car Championship and the success of BTCC racing on Swedish television. STCC replaced the 1991–1995 Nordic Touring Car Championship. There were also a number of accompanying support classes that raced alongside STCC; Radical, the Camaro Cup, Superkart, Pro Superbike, the JTCC and the Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia. The final STCC season was in 2010, as the series merged with the Danish Touringcar Championship to form the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship.
Paul Francis Wade Radisich is a retired New Zealand racing driver and businessman of Croat origin. He has competed in saloon cars for many years — both European-style tourers and the V8 Supercars of Australia and New Zealand.
Jan Stefan Sören "Flash" Nilsson is a Swedish former race car driver. He is most famous for his appearance in the Swedish Touring Car Championship, having driven full season in 15 seasons and for being the third most victorious driver.
Engström Motorsport is a Swedish motorsport team owned by its driver Tomas Engström.
The Australian Super Touring Championship was a CAMS-sanctioned national motor racing title for Super Touring Cars.
Race 07 is a racing simulator computer game from SimBin Studios. The game is the sequel to the 2006 title Race – The Official WTCC Game. Like the original Race, the title is officially licensed by the World Touring Car Championship (WTCC).
Rudskogen Motorsenter is Norway’s oldest asphalt race circuit, opened on May 20, 1990. It has hosted rounds of the TCR Scandinavia Touring Car Championship, Danish Thundersport Championship, Swedish GT Series, NBF GT Championship, GT4 Scandinavia, Danish Super GT, V8 Thunder Cars, Formula STCC Nordic and F4 Danish Championship.
The Australian Motor Racing Series is a collection of national motor racing series travelling to a series of circuits across Australia under a single banner. These race meetings represent the banner race meetings for the Australian Auto Sport Alliance who sanction the series through circuits aligned to the AASA. The series has since collapsed due to poor entry numbers.
Tommy Rustad is a Norwegian racing driver. He currently drives in the FIA European Rallycross Championship and occasionally in the FIA World Rallycross Championship. Tommy is the son of former well known Norwegian racer Ola Rustad.
Björn Thomas Robert Dahlgren is a Swedish auto racing driver who currently competes for the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship. He previously competed in Australia and New Zealand for a single season in the V8 Supercars Championship for Garry Rogers Motorsport, as well as in the World and for Polestar Racing, making him the longest-serving factory-supported Volvo driver.
Leif Tomas Engström is a Swedish auto racing driver. He is married with four children. In the 1990s, he dominated the Swedish Camaro Cup, winning five back-to-back titles between 1994 and 1998. Since then, he has mainly competed in touring cars, driving in the Swedish Touring Car Championship since 1999, when he entered an independent Chrysler Stratus. After this, he managed and drove for the Honda Racing Team in a Honda Accord, with his best season for the team coming in 2003, when he finished third overall. Also in 2003, he competed in four rounds of the European Touring Car Championship. In 2007, he was runner-up in the S2000 Class of the European Touring Car Cup.
Andre Emil Heimgartner is a New Zealand motor-racing driver who currently competes in the Repco Supercars Championship driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Brad Jones Racing.
Thomas Schie is a former racing and rally driver. He previously competed in the International Formula 3000, Swedish Touring Car Championship and World Rally Championship.
Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky is a Swedish racing driver currently competing in the Extreme E Championship for Rosberg X Racing.
The VHT S5000 Australian Drivers' Championship was an open-wheel road racing series in Australia. The series was created by a merger between two proposed series, Formula Thunder 5000 and Super5000. The series was promoted by the Australian Racing Group.
The 2020 STCC TCR Scandinavia Touring Car Championship was the tenth overall season of the Scandinavian Touring Car Championship and the fourth under the internationally recognised TCR formula. It was also the third time the championship has run under the STCC TCR Scandinavia Touring Car Championship banner. Originally due to start on 15 May at Ring Knutstorp and end on 4 October at Mantorp Park, the season start was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A revised calendar was due to be published sometime after Easter.
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