Music buffs watching the ABC  music trivia show Spicks and Specks last week were given a specialised treatment of the 2008 Yokohama V8 Ute Sporting and Technical Regulations.Host Adam Hills introduced the weekly segment “Substitute” where guests on the show have to sing paragraphs from a nominated publication to the tune of various songs. Hills boldly held a copy of the regulations on screen for all to see.American sixties protest singer Barry McGuire, in Australia for the Byron Bay Blues and Roots Festival starting tomorrow, was given the task of singing 3 songs to various paragraphs from the Sporting and Technical Regulations while team members had to guess the song title to be awarded points. Regular Spicks and Specks star Myf Warhurst picked 2 out of 3 however we’re not sure if it was her intimate knowledge of V8 Ute racing or music that helped her across the line.

Given that the American singers only one hit wonder was Eve of Destruction, he was the perfect fit to be singing about grid formation.

Round 3 of the 2008 Yokohama V8 Ute Series will head to Barbagallo Raceway Perth over the weekend of May 9/11. This will be the first time the series has crossed the Nullarbor with reigning champ and Perth based Grant Johnson expected to be the Sandgroper to beat. Johnson came out of the box early with a win in Adelaide, however struggled to bank points at Eastern Creek recently.

A lap 1 incident in Race 2 forcing his retirement and handing Ford’s Layton Crambrook the series lead.The new VE will fill most of the Holden grid spots in Perth, with more teams taking delivery of the new Brock Race Engineering built unit.

Round 1 of the New Zealand V8 Ute series will also commence next month at Timaru over the weekend of April 4/5. A field of 18 utes will contest the first round, with Round 2 following at Invercargill a week later. V8 Ute Technical Director Allan Pitt, James Brock, Craig Denyer and Bill West will attend the first round on behalf of V8 Utes Australia.