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V8 Supercars CEO James Warburton is formulating a white paper on what the next generation V8 Supercar might look like and what form the Championship could take.

Warburton is researching how the automotive landscape will change once Ford, Holden and Toyota cease local car manufacturing. He will present his initial findings to the V8 Supercars Board in the coming months.

As part of his investigation, Warburton is meeting with car makers already involved in the Championship and others who are not.

Warburton has made it clear he has an open mind on what the future potentially holds for the V8 Supercars Championship, declaring “there are no sacred cows”.

He is also adamant there needs to be respect for the achievements, the success and stability the past two decades has delivered.

“We have to be very mindful about our heritage, our past; and the fact that we’re about high octane entertainment,” Warburton told v8supercars.com.au.

A variety of elements are sure to be considered; a potential move to coupe body styles alongside or in place of sedans, the appeal to existing and future manufacturers and international possibilities.

“What we’re working towards is a 2017 generation ‘two’ and a completely different landscape without manufacturing,” Warburton explained.

“So everything’s on the table and that’s why we’re talking to manufacturers at the moment, participating and non-participating.

“The beauty of the landscape we have is that anything is possible. So you could look at a different configuration, different power plants. That’s not to say we are suddenly going to make wholesale changes, it may be that we decide to stay as is.”

While for traditionalists a V8 engine is integral to the category, Warburton said Australia’s changing demographic needed to be considered.

“Let’s look at the entire framework,” he said. “The ethnicity of the country’s changed. We’ve got a third of the population that weren’t born here and have probably never driven a V8. So all I’m saying is we need to look at it from an overall point of view and think about what we’re doing and where we are heading.

“I don’t think you’d rule anything in, or out,” he added. “You’ve got to be very careful about it – the great thing about V8 Supercars is the act has been very well defined; what we’re about and the show we put on. And so you’d be reticent to mess with too much of it.”

Warburton said a key part of discussions with car manufacturers was determining how they could gain value from being involved in the Championship. He said that could mean “a completely different approach to how they’re using the platform” and “what we can do and what they should be doing”.

“People love coming to the races, they love the sound, they love the show we put on, so the relevance of this platform is the participation and the audiences we achieve and then how you use those to actually sell cars and sell product.”

Warburton said that the longer term strategy for the way V8 Supercars raced internationally could remain as it is, with the Championship continuing to be paid sanctioning fees by overseas promoters. At the other extreme, the concept could be franchised to other continents.

“I think we’re a little way off going down that tunnel,” he cautioned. “We’ve still got a number of things that we’re looking to achieve here.”

But when he says "there are no sacred cows" it makes me think "oh I dunno, I think Bathurst is tbh!"

A burning issue this week has been the story that V8 Supercars favours holding its 2015 pre-season test and promo day or days at Sydney Motorsport Park on the same February weekend set for the rival international Bathurst 12-Hour sports car enduro.

The likely clash has angered motor sports fans who would love to attend both events, and some star V8 Supercars drivers intending to enhance their chances of racing abroad by strutting their stuff in the sports GT classic.

Craig Lowndes, Shane van Gisbergen and Rick Kelly are more than disappointed to learn they might not be free to race in the 12 Hour.

V8 Supercars is looking at moving from its usual mid-February testing date to avoid running into cricket’s World Cup, which kicks off on February 14. The World Cup is a prime property for Fox Sports which, as part of its V8 Supercars TV deal for next year, will also televise the pre-season V8 test. That should be riveting.Though the calendar for next year won’t be confirmed until September, V8 Supercars Australia’s CEO James Warburton says Fox is keen on the February 7-8 timing for the official test.

The Bathurst 12-Hour’s event director James O’Brien indicated he would be disappointed should his race lose some of the local V8 drivers.

“V8 Supercars have the right to schedule their test day when they like,” he went on, adding that his focus is to further build the 12 Hour’s international status.

“If [a clash with the V8 Supercars test] is the outcome, it may open up available seats to more high- profile international drivers who have been vocal about competing in the race already.”

In years past, this potential clash would be a non-issue, with the controlling body of motor sport CAMS “protecting” the Bathurst 12 Hour date. Times have changed.

“No, we do not intend to pressure or ask either party to reschedule,” CAMS CEO Eugene Arocca told this column. He said CAMS is reluctant to start dictating to event organisers when and where they can hold their events.

One potential headache is a shortage of track officials for the events.

Race fans will make up their own minds whether the V8 Supercars and Fox are playing hard ball with the Bathurst 12 Hour and its new telecaster, Seven. Or is the clash merely a sign of a crowded calendar and these increasingly commercial times?

Former world touring car champion Rob Huff wants to race V8 Supercars.

And the 34-year old Englishman doesn’t just mean in the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 or the Pirtek Enduro Cup. He’s talking about shifting down under and taking on the entire Championship full-time.

Huff, who won the WTCC in 2012 driving a factory Chevrolet Cruze, is conscious of the potential issues that face him in V8 Supercars, acknowledging Alex Premat’s unsuccessful two year stint at Garry Rogers Motorsport, his successor Robert Dahlgren’s struggles and the failure of many internationals to come to grips with the category.

But he is confident that with the right car and team he can do the business.

“I think I would adapt,” Huff told v8supercars.com.au. “I don’t want to come across as arrogant or anything but I have been very lucky all the way through my career that I have jumped in everything and anything and we have always done well.

“I understand they are quite strange things to drive, but at the end of the day it’s got four wheels, it’s got an engine, it’s got brakes. If you can adapt then you can adapt.”

While primarily known for racing front-wheel drive touring cars in the WTCC and the British Touring Car Championship, Huff has a wide and deep CV that extends through historics, sports cars and endurance racing.

Huff has shown off his talent racing in Australia at Mount Panorama in an Audi R8, while he and manager David Madgwick have also made contact with several V8 Supercars teams about gaining enduro drives.

There were discussions with both Tony D’Alberto Racing and Brad Jones Racing in 2013, but in 2014 Huff’s commitments to race for the factory Lukoil Lada team in the WTCC means he couldn’t do the 2014 Pirtek Enduro Cup.

However, Huff has confirmed he will visit Australia again in 2015 and renew the search for an enduro drive, which he hopes will then lead to an opportunity to race here full-time.

“They are just my kind of car, stonking great engines, not a lot of grip and proper close racing. That’s what I love,” he enthused.

“I have always said if I could get a full time drive out there I would go,” Huff added. “If I could get a full time drive I know I would do a good job.

“I love Australia, I have mates out there who moved from my home town in the UK and it’s something I would quite happily do.”

Huff said seat time would be vital to getting a proper handle on the cars and doing a good job.

“I think when the European guys go out for the three enduros they get very little time in the cars because the emphasis is around the main driver, which is understandable,” he said. “It is something you need to build up to, you need the experience.

“If we get a foot in the door then I think we can do a good job. And I think we can build on it.”

Huff will get some indication of how competitive he would be in a V8 Supercar by gauging the performance of compatriot Oliver Gavin, who he has raced against for years, is also managed by Madgwick and co-drives the HHA Holden Commodore in the Pirtek Enduro Cup with Nick Percat.

“It will be interesting to see how Olly goes because we know how we run against him.”

Huff said experience in other categories has also left him with a love for the Mount Panorama circuit.

“Awesome, absolutely awesome,” he said. “The only place I have driven that comes close to it is Macau. That’s a pretty crazy street circuit and I have six wins around there in 10 starts. I just love street circuits.

“So Bathurst came quite naturally to me, I felt comfortable there straight away; skimming wing mirrors on concrete walls and I just love the fact there’s no room for error.

“The up and down, it’s just an awesome track. The fact you have then got the sweeper (Chase) in there as well, 280-290 kay corners, and trying to stop the thing in time for the left-right… it’s just a circuit that suits me.”