The rebuilt #9 Erebus Motorsport chassis is like “brand new” having returned to the track for a pre-Bathurst test on Wednesday.
Will Brown suffered a 56G impact at Pukekohe Park Raceway, which left significant damage to the car only a few weeks out from the Repco Bathurst 1000.
Erebus was able to turn around the car in time to complete essentially a shakedown at Winton Motor Raceway as part of the squad’s final preparations for the Great Race.
Barry Ryan, Erebus’ CEO, said the revived #9 ZB Commodore ran faultlessly.
“The rebuilt process of Car #9 has been a huge task,” he began.
“It was just second nature to the boys, they just got straight into it after it was unloaded off the plane from New Zealand.
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“We got it to Mount Gambier, it spent six days there straight; only 10-hour days, not crazy days just to keep everybody fresh.
“Jimmy, our fabricator, did an awesome job. Basically, we had to cut the whole back off the car, weld it all back together properly on the jig…painted it.
“A lot of guys supported us with getting parts and making sure we had everything when we needed it.
“We never really waited on parts, that was an important part of it. When it got back to the workshop it only took like four straight days to turn it around.
“The boys did an awesome job and it’s just like a brand new rebuilt car again.
“Ready to go to Bathurst; faultless on the test day.”
Brown, who will partner with Jack Perkins in next weekend’s Great Race, was impressed with the effort of the Erebus crew.
“It was pretty cool to get to the workshop and see all the boys and girls working on it and getting it ready and just coming back to life,” added Brown.
“It was a hefty crash and for everyone to work so hard over the last few weeks and rebuild the car to the standard it is, is just awesome.”
Reflecting on the Winton test, Brown said the day was “pretty basic” aside from ensuring the rebuilt #9 ran smoothly.
“We’ve got the Bathurst set-up in it, just checking all that sort of stuff out and just doing driver changes,” he explained.
“We’ve done about 10 driver changes, make sure we’re happy with that and then the boys are doing rotor changes and all that.”
The opening practice session at Bathurst will get underway at 11:00 AEDT on Thursday, October 6.
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