We’ve made no secret of our affection for Australia’s V8 Supercar series. Our friends over at Motorsport Retro pointed us towards this video. What happens when you take one of the legends of that series, and dump him into a vintage Formula 5000 race car for a lap? Well, he certainly performs well, but it seems like the performance surprised even a seasoned veteran of  what is arguably the best touring-car racing in the world.

For those unaware, Formula 5000 was a racing league that was originally intended as an alternative series for those teams who were finding the entry costs to Formula One to be just too steep. It lasted for about fifteen years, from ’68 to ’82, but it has seen a bit of a resurgence in New Zealand of late. Vintage F5000 race cars are raced in exhibition-style competitions, with a brief five-round “series” held in 2009-10. The cars featured a production-based 5.0L V8, tuned to around 500 horsepower, and were driven by some of the biggest names in racing during their brightest days. Mario Andretti, Al Unser Jr., Alan Jones, and Jacques Villeneuve all took their turn behind the wheel. And, back in January, Greg Murphy from the V8 Supercars gave it a shot. “Mid-Pack Murph” is well-known for his ability, having held the lap record at Bathurst for the better part of a decade even as the cars improved, so it shouldn’t be too much of a challenge.

Hit the jump to see how he did.

Ignore the awful music.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ilRMKKscy24[/youtube]

[Image borrowed from a forum post over on ProBoards]