V8 Supercars teams are working around the clock to get their cars ready for this weekend’s non-championship Albert Park support races – less than one week after another gruelling Clipsal 500 Adelaide.
As reported on Saturday night, Steve Owen’s VIP Petfoods Commodore has been benched after its heavy shunt with the Turn 8 concrete. It is the only car that will be replaced for Albert Park.
Jason Bargwanna’s Brad Jones Racing Commodore is the most damaged from the event, although the team say it sustained just $40,000 worth of damage.
Bargwanna was collected by an out-of-control Todd Kelly during the opening laps of Sunday’s wet Race 2 at the street circuit.
When Bargwanna’s car is repaired, it will be ‘flat towed’ to the circuit as the transporters have to park up later tpday – well before the damage will be repaired and completed.
BJR’s general manager Chris Clark says that with the team being so self-sufficient, the costs of a crash like Bargwanna’s in Adelaide looks worse than it is.
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“It’s a relatively low-cost shunt for us because all of the parts are made in-house and it’s mainly man-hours that’s the big thing here,” he said.
“We repair the diffs ourselves. The only thing we don’t make in-house are the roll cages but we have the capability to fix that in-house because we’ve got a chassis jig.”
The BJR team’s extensive list the damaged parts includes bumper, rear diffuser, beaver panel, tail lights, parcel shelf, right and left-hand rear quarter panels, fuel filling device, fuel box, fuel cell, boot lid, rear wing and posts, rear chassis rails, tubular bracing down to the chassis rails, diff, bent watts linkage plate, rear screen and rear trailing arms.
The team predicts that 320 man hours will be spent reparing the car.
Other teams in a race to get their cars ready for the support race include Garry Rogers Motorsport, Kelly Racing and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport.
Lee Holdsworth (GRM) was inviolved in an incident during Sunday’s race when the team gambled with a slick tyre strategy. As soon as the team put the slicks on, the rain arrived, with Holdsworth collecting the Turn 8 wall.
Holdsworth’s Fujitsu Commodore will be ‘flat towed’ to the circuit tomorrow, after the team’s transporter arrives.
Todd Kelly’s #7 Jack Daniel’s Racing Commodore was another car involved in a heavy crash. When the car returned from Adelaide, the team deemed the car safe to repair and will be ready for Thursday’s first practice sessiomn
Warren Luff’s LDM Gul Westermn Oils Commodore is also getting a quick rebuild after Luff hit the wall in Sunday’s race.
The small six full-time have been working day and night since returning from Adelaide to get the Commodore ready.
“It’s a big ask for the guys, we only got the car back into the workshop Monday morning and we really need to strip it down before we will know the extent of the damage,” Dumbrell said.
“It was always going to be a crazy couple of days for us to turnaround the car in the time we had available, but then to have the accident damage to deal with too, that just makes it incredibly hard.
“We are a small team and we don’t have the advantage of a spare chassis like most of the bigger outfits but we’ve got a great bunch of guys who will work as many hours as required to ensure we’re on the grid at the Grand Prix.”
The Grand Prix support action kicks off this Thursday with practice.
While the Adelaide track has taken its toll on cars, the street circuit is considered one of the best in the world. CLICK HERE for this week’s edition of Speed Talk with Chris Jewell
