Supercars Life is an Australian television series based on the Supercars Championship that airs on Fox Sports.

Supercars Life
GenreMotor racing program
Observational documentary
Country of originAustralia
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons4
No. of episodes54
Production
Executive producerRyan Sanderson
ProducerAME Management
Running time30 minutes (including commercials)
Original release
NetworkFox Sports, Kayo Sports
Release26 March 2015 (2015-03-26) –
present
Related

Format

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The series features a combination of behind-the-scenes footage, interviews and off-track features.[1] This includes fly on the wall footage of team operations on a race weekend as well as features on the personal lives of drivers away from the track.[1] In each episode, a different selection of teams or drivers from the Supercars Championship are featured. Twenty episodes were produced in 2015, spread throughout the year in conjunction with the 2015 championship.[1] Twenty further episodes were commissioned for the series' second season in 2016.[2] In 2017, the series extended to one hour episodes, at the same time reducing from 20 to 13 episodes in the year.[3]

The show is produced by AME Management, with the support of Fox Sports.[2] AME had in 2014 produced a similar series for 7mate, V8 Life. As opposed to the wider focus of Inside Supercars, the six episodes of V8 Life solely focused on the operations of the Holden Racing Team.[4]

History

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In late 2013 it was announced that Fox Sports, in a shared deal with Network Ten, had acquired the broadcast rights for the series, that was then known as V8 Supercars, as of the 2015 season.[5] To accompany their new coverage of the category, in early 2015 Fox Sports launched both this series as well as the panel-based discussion series Inside Supercars. Supercars Life was first aired on 26 March 2015, in the build-up to the second event of the 2015 season; the Tyrepower Tasmania Super Sprint.[1] The inaugural episode featured the Triple Eight Race Engineering and Prodrive Racing Australia rivalry at the 2015 Clipsal 500 Adelaide, including interviews with team principals Roland Dane and Tim Edwards, as well as a feature on Scott McLaughlin. The series also featured these two teams for their coverage of the 2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000, providing an insight into the key race strategies and decisions for both teams. The series' first episode in 2016 featured a season preview as well as a feature on Will Davison and his friendship with 2016 Dakar Rally winner Toby Price.[2] As of Season 2, episodes are also repeated in New Zealand on Sky Sport. The third season once again opened with a championship preview, with the series also to include features on former champions Russell Ingall and Mark Skaife.[3]

In 2018 and 2019, Supercars Life segments were embedded into race weekend broadcasts rather than airing as separate programmes. From 2019 segments were uploaded to the Fox Sports-owned streaming service Kayo Sports. In 2020, the show returned in a dedicated timeslot with seven dedicated episodes scheduled on Fox Sports and Kayo.[6]

Episodes

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Season 1

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Ep # Airdate Featured event Featured teams Featured drivers
1 26 March 2015 (2015-03-26) 2015 Clipsal 500 Adelaide Prodrive Racing Australia and Triple Eight Race Engineering Scott McLaughlin
2 16 April 2015 (2015-04-16) 2015 Tyrepower Tasmania Super Sprint Holden Racing Team and Nissan Motorsport Rick Kelly and Todd Kelly
3 30 April 2015 (2015-04-30) n/a n/a Michael Caruso, James Courtney, Lee Holdsworth, Scott McLaughlin, James Moffat, Jack Perkins, Scott Pye and Ash Walsh
4 14 May 2015 (2015-05-14) n/a n/a Will Davison, Scott Pye, and Jamie Whincup
5 4 June 2015 (2015-06-04) 2015 Ubet Perth Super Sprint Erebus Motorsport Will Davison, Scott Pye and Ash Walsh
6 18 June 2015 (2015-06-18) 2015 NP300 Navara Winton Super Sprint Holden Racing Team and Nissan Motorsport Lee Holdsworth and Craig Lowndes
7 9 July 2015 (2015-07-09) 2015 Skycity Triple Crown Brad Jones Racing and Rod Nash Racing David Reynolds
8 30 July 2015 (2015-07-30) 2015 Castrol Edge Townsville 400 Holden Racing Team and Prodrive Racing Australia David Reynolds
9 13 August 2015 (2015-08-13) n/a Garry Rogers Motorsport Craig Lowndes, Jamie Whincup and Dale Wood
10 20 August 2015 (2015-08-20) 2015 Coates Hire Ipswich Super Sprint Garry Rogers Motorsport and Triple Eight Race Engineering n/a
11 3 September 2015 (2015-09-03) n/a Prodrive Racing Australia Michael Caruso, Lee Holdsworth and James Moffat
12 10 September 2015 (2015-09-10) 2015 Sydney Motorsport Park Super Sprint Nissan Motorsport Chaz Mostert
13 24 September 2015 (2015-09-24) Compilation episode (Episodes 1-12)
14 1 October 2015 (2015-10-01) 2015 Wilson Security Sandown 500 Holden Racing Team James Courtney, Russell Ingall, Jack Perkins and David Reynolds
15 8 October 2015 (2015-10-08) n/a Holden Racing Team, Prodrive Racing Australia and Triple Eight Race Engineering Mark Winterbottom
16 22 October 2015 (2015-10-22) 2015 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Prodrive Racing Australia and Triple Eight Race Engineering n/a
17 5 November 2015 (2015-11-05) 2015 Castrol Gold Coast 600 Brad Jones Racing, DJR Team Penske and Walkinshaw Racing n/a
18 19 November 2015 (2015-11-19) 2015 ITM 500 Auckland Garry Rogers Motorsport and Tekno Autosports Scott McLaughlin and Shane van Gisbergen
19 3 December 2015 (2015-12-03) 2015 WD-40 Phillip Island Super Sprint Erebus Motorsport, Holden Racing Team and Rod Nash Racing Will Davison, David Reynolds and Garth Tander
20 17 December 2015 (2015-12-17) 2015 Coates Hire Sydney 500 Prodrive Racing Australia and Triple Eight Race Engineering Craig Lowndes and Mark Winterbottom

Season 2

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Ep # Airdate Featured event Featured teams Featured drivers
1 2 March 2016 (2016-03-02) n/a Triple Eight Race Engineering Will Davison, Chaz Mostert, Shane van Gisbergen and Mark Winterbottom
2 30 March 2016 (2016-03-30) 2016 Clipsal 500 Adelaide DJR Team Penske and Garry Rogers Motorsport n/a
3 13 April 2016 (2016-04-13) 2016 Tyrepower Tasmania SuperSprint Team 18 and Erebus Motorsport Aaren Russell
4 4 May 2016 (2016-05-04) 2016 WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint Nissan Motorsport Michael Caruso and Dale Wood
5 18 May 2016 (2016-05-18) 2016 Perth SuperSprint Rod Nash Racing and Super Black Racing Chaz Mostert, Chris Pither and Mark Winterbottom
6 1 June 2016 (2016-06-01) 2016 Woodstock Winton SuperSprint Brad Jones Racing n/a
7 15 June 2016 (2016-06-15) n/a n/a Renee Gracie, Andre Heimgartner and Mark Winterbottom
8 29 June 2016 (2016-06-29) 2016 CrownBet Darwin Triple Crown Prodrive Racing Australia Cameron Waters and Mark Winterbottom
9 6 July 2016 (2016-07-06) n/a n/a Craig Lowndes
10 20 July 2016 (2016-07-20) 2016 Castrol Edge Townsville 400 Holden Racing Team James Courtney and Garth Tander
11 10 August 2016 (2016-08-10) 2016 Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint Garry Rogers Motorsport n/a
12 24 August 2016 (2016-08-24) n/a n/a Shae Davies, David Reynolds and Jamie Whincup
13 7 September 2016 (2016-09-07) 2016 Red Rooster Sydney SuperSprint Nissan Motorsport n/a
14 14 September 2016 (2016-09-14) n/a n/a Will Davison, Jack Le Brocq, Cameron Waters and Jonathon Webb
15 28 September 2016 (2016-09-28) 2016 Wilson Security Sandown 500 Team 18 and Tekno Autosports Lee Holdsworth
16 5 October 2016 (2016-10-05) n/a Supergirls Craig Lowndes, Scott McLaughlin, Chaz Mostert, Mark Winterbottom
17 19 October 2016 (2016-10-19) 2016 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 Triple Eight Race Engineering n/a
18 2 November 2016 (2016-11-02) 2016 Castrol Gold Coast 600 DJR Team Penske n/a
19 30 November 2016 (2016-11-30) 2016 ITM Auckland SuperSprint Garry Rogers Motorsport and Super Black Racing Scott McLaughlin
20 14 December 2016 (2016-12-14) 2016 Coates Hire Sydney 500 Holden Racing Team and Triple Eight Race Engineering n/a

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "New V8 Supercars TV show to make debut". SpeedCafe. 25 March 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  2. ^ a b c "Supercars Life returns for season two". V8 Supercars. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2016.
  3. ^ a b "Supercars Life expands for 2017". Supercars.com. 28 February 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  4. ^ "Walkinshaw Racing launches reality TV series". SpeedCafe. 26 June 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  5. ^ "V8 Supercars signs $241m media rights deal with FOX SPORTS, Foxtel and Ten Network from 2015". Fox Sports Australia. 18 December 2013. Retrieved 9 November 2015.
  6. ^ Bartholomaeus, Stefan (23 March 2020). "New insight into Mostert Bathurst rescue". Supercars. Retrieved 23 March 2020.