THERE has been plenty of change in Supercars land since a controversial Melbourne SuperSprint wrapped up earlier this month.
V8 Sleuth touches on seven such items to provide a snapshot of what’s what heading into Round 3 this weekend at Wanneroo Raceway in Western Australia.
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Chassis upgrades
In response to concerns around the fragility of the new Gen3 cars, teams have been granted the option of adding gusseting around the chassis mounts.
The initiative has been hailed as likely to make a noticeable difference, which should come as a relief to mechanics after a string of late-night rebuilds at Albert Park.
Fire protection
The most glaring issue out of Melbourne was the fires which engulfed the Ford Mustangs of Nick Percat and James Courtney and forced the category into making a raft of emergency changes mid-event.
Deeper investigations have now been conducted, allowing for the return of standing starts.
Changes include to the ventilation system to prevent vapour build-up in the engine bay; the material used in the inner wheel guards is also set to be replaced having been deemed a contributing factor.
Parity tweak
Centre of Gravity testing was held at Tickford Racing’s headquarters in the days after Albert Park, discovering a minor discrepancy which has led to a 4.97kg adjustment on the Camaro.
That change is understood to equate to 0.006s a lap at Wanneroo Raceway… but as V8 Sleuth explored last week, that can still make plenty of difference!
LED panels
It’s a long-awaited Supercars debut for the LED panels, which will replace stickers on the left-hand side of the front windscreens.
In Perth, they’ll display the car’s track position (i.e. #01 for the driver in first place) as opposed to the usual number attached to that entry.
New engineer
PremiAir Racing has brought another race engineer back to the paddock as it continues searching for a full-time solution on Tim Slade’s #23 Camaro.
For this weekend, the team has called on Perth-based Rhys Lenegan, who guided Jake Kostecki last year at Tickford Racing.
New number
Out goes #18 and in comes #600 as Team 18 celebrates a milestone occasion for Mark Winterbottom.
The 2015 champion will on Saturday become the third driver in ATCC/Supercars Championship history to make 600 race starts, following Craig Lowndes and Garth Tander.
New livery
Well, new livery might be a stretch… but there’s certainly a change of major backer on the sister Team 18 Camaro of Scott Pye.
It’s back to Toyota Forklifts branding for Pye this weekend.
And… watch this space
As of late last week, Ford was awaiting an answer on whether its requested new engine mapping would receive approval in time for Perth.
The Blue Oval is hopeful the proposal will help rectify its alleged deficit to Chevrolet in high-end performance at Albert Park.
