Been waiting for today to post this so here we go. Australia does tend to have a pretty decent history in motor racing, be it Sir Jack Brabham in F1 or Mick Doohan in the 500cc bikes. But what could 2008 bring for a nation that prides itself on punching above its weight when it comes to sports?

The V8 Supercars kick off at the end of February in Adelaide for the Clipsal 500, raced on the streets where the F1 boys used to be until they moved to Melbourne. Garth Tander has moved from Toll HSV to the Holden Racing Team (HRT) and will be favourite to retain his title. Helping him should be the fact that Holden have released a new Commodore so that should be better than the old one. However, we'll have to see on that since AVESCO have regulations in place that neither manufacturer can have a significant advantage over the other so the racing still should be pretty even. His closest rivals will most likely be Rick Kelly, Craig Lowndes and Jamie Whincup...in other words, the same three as last season. Dark horses could be Mark Winterbottom and Lee Holdsworth. My money will be on Tander but since I'm president of 'The Stoppers', I doubt Garth will be happy with that idea.

Formula One sees Mark Webber flying the flag...again. Mark seems to make a habit of joining teams that then inexplicably decide to push the self destruct button on the cars' reliability (Jaguar, Williams and now Red Bull), but he is one quick guy, particularly when it comes to qualifying. He's twice visited the podium and will be needing some serious good luck if he wants to stand on the top step and hear Advance Australia Fair being belted out. But, with Adrian Newey on board, anything is possible...hopefully Vettel won't take him out again like last year in China when they were behind the safety car. That could have been the first win for an Aussie since Alan Jones back in the 80's, but hey, some people say you "have to lose one to win one," before you can fully appreciate it.

Mark had been running in 2nd and quicker than the leader until this happened.

Casey Stoner is the reigning champion in the MotoGP series after trouncing everyone in his Ducati. Chris Vermeulen is also in the series and he won a rain-soaked race at Le Mans which didn't really surprise many as he's considered somewhat of an expert when the skies open. But Casey has the added advantage of a new teammate this season and his confidence levels will be skyhigh so we could very well wind up finishing 1-2 at the end of 2008...I'd settle for just the 1 to be honest but the main thing for both will be whether their bikes are competitive enough.

Casey celebrating one of his 10 wins in 2007.

The Sebastien Bourdais World Ser...uh, Champ Car Wolrd Series, apologies for getting the name wrong...will be moving into unchartered waters as Seb has left to persue his F1 dream (driving for Toro Rosso). Will Power managed to increase interest from Australia by having a great start to the year, so much interest that the TV networks were forced to show the races instead of just a highlights package...a win for the public finally. Unfortunately, I don't live in Australia so the only race I get to see in NZ is the one on the Gold Coast but that's ok, my interest in the series is nowhere near as high since the death of Greg Moore in 1999...yes Will, that's a challenge that you're welcome to tackle and I truly hope you have better luck on the streets of Surfers Paradise this time around.

With a bit more luck, Will might have challenged Seb for the title.

NASCAR...bit like F1 really where Marcos Ambrose is the only representative. His debut season in the Busch series last year went exceptionally well with the only thing missing being a victory. And if I know Marcos , he'll be keen to put that right this year. He'll also be making his Cup debut (ok, so he did at Watkins Glen last year but the weather ruined his chances as qualifying was cancelled so that doesn't count in my books) and run a part-schedule (around 15 races or so). I am not really expecting much in the Cup series since the Wood Brothers aren't exactly what you'd call a topline team anymore...but they do have a great heritage and the knowledge he'll get from racing with them will put him in great stead if he manages to make the switch to Cup fulltime in 2009.

Back for another tilt in the States, Marcos is looking to improve on his best finish of fourth.

Discounting the V8's since it's a home series, our best chance of winning clearly comes from the MotoGP...but we like to spring surprises and I know I won't mind if any (or all) of the rest pulls a Steven Bradbury ;)

So why did I wait until today before posting this? I suggest you look up January 26 and Australia on Google and find out.

'Australiana' by Austen Tayshus (from 1983)...thanks to HotFootLori for the instructions although the sound needs to be up quite high to hear it

...what would it be? The old points format back? The top 35 qualifying 'lock in' to be chucked out?

Mine isn't really going to be much of a surprise...unless they actually did it in which case it would then be a huge surprise.

Mexico City, Montreal, Sonoma and Watkins Glen; the four tracks where the Cup and/or Bu...uh, Nationwide cars have to turn left as well as right. They also tend to come under fire from people as strategy plays the main role, more so than on the usual ovals. However, when things go right, they also can throw up the most exciting races...the '07 Watkins Glen race missed out on my 'Race of the Year' by a whisker, mainly since Nurburgring had that amazing, wheel-####ing dual between Fernando and Felipe for the win while the only wheel-####ing Jeff Gordon was doing was whacking his head repeatedly on the steering wheel after throwing away the race.

But I'm not asking for more road courses, no. My point is that since next year is the last year for the 'normal' cars in the Nationwide series (assuming they do switch in '09 that is) and the first full year with the new car for the Cup guys...that makes 2008 the best opportunity to correct the one thing that royally ticked me off this year; wet weather.

There is absolutely, without question, no reason why NASCAR can't race in the rain on their road courses. V8 Supercars do it, Formula 1 do it, Champ Car do it...even the bloody MotoGP bikes can handle wet conditions, yet, despite having a roof (something F1, CCWS and bikes don't), NASCAR cancel the sessions to wait for Mother Nature to let up.

What's good enough for the rest of the world apparantly isn't for NASWUSS...uh, NASCAR

Yes, that kind of weather isn't the best with the fans at the track (been there, done that) but the slippery conditions bring out the best in the drivers...and isn't that what racing is all about?

So my '2008 one thing' would be to see the cars roll out on every road course with lights, wipers and Goodyear to have brought some wets just in case of adverse weather (they should remember how to make them from their F1 days). It won't happen of course, but I don't mind...just means the drivers will remain soft whenever someone spills their beer on the track *shrugs*