A REPEAT mechanical failure has caused concern for Ford runners ahead of the Repco Bathurst 1000.
The #5 Tickford Racing Mustang brought out the red flags during Supercars Practice 3 when a mechanical issue led Zak Best to stop the car on Conrod Straight.
Best limped the car back to the pits, where it was found that one of the engine’s serpentine belts – which turns the power steering pump, alternator and water pump – had shredded.
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Team boss Tim Edwards confirmed it was the same problem that took the team’s #55 Mustang of Thomas Randle/Garry Jacobson out of contention during the Sandown 500.
“The front belt of the engine just shredded itself,” he explained.
“We think the cause is picking up debris. You get a ball of rubber or something goes in there – because the whole front of the engine is exposed – and it just gets caught between the pulley and snaps the belt.
“We’ll learn from it (and) we’re already talking about if happens in the race on Sunday; you’ve just got to roll down the hill because you lose the water pump as well, so everything’s getting hot.
“The first sign is the driver saying ‘I’ve got no power steering’, then everything goes red on the screen with all the temperatures going through the roof.”
The belt sits low on the Ford’s 5.4L ‘Coyote’ V8 engine and is now more exposed to debris due to the deletion of the front undertray for the Gen3 car.
“We’re putting fresh belts on all the time, but it doesn’t matter if the belt’s done one kay or 1000 kays, if you just get that rogue ball of rubber that bounces up through.
“We don’t have the diffuser under the bottom of the car anymore so it’s a lot more exposed and potentially prone to debris coming in.
“It won’t be the only issue (we’re looking at for Sunday’s race), but now that it’s bitten us twice, it is a concern.
“We’re just going to work through it and try and work out a plan; you can’t drive around all Sunday avoiding the balls of rubber, so it’s going to be a challenge for everybody.”
