Triple Eight Race Engineering has fired-up its Car of the Future Holden Commodore at the Performance Driving Centre at Norwell near the Gold Coast today.
Speedcafe.com was granted special access to the session as the team’s triple championship-winning driver Jamie Whincup rolled the Commodore onto the track to do some installation laps in a history-making day for the V8 Supercars Championship.
The chassis is the first to be completed by V8 teams in preparation for the introduction to the Car of the Future specifications for the 2013 Championship.
TeamVodafone used the 90 minute shakedown in preparation for a full blooded test at Queensland Raceway next Monday.
Team boss Roland Dane oversaw the ground-breaking day where Whincup put the Commodore through its paces, checking systems and bedding in the raft of new control components in the car.
Decked out in military camouflage livery, the car is the first of nine Car of the Future Commodores the Brisbane squad will have ready by February next year.
TeamVodafone’s special shakedown test follows months of negative speculation regarding the slow progress of the COTF.
Triple Eight has elected to begin its on-track testing using a variety of components that won’t be raced as teams continue to wait for clarification on areas including the fuel system and drive-line.
The move to the new-spec car has been made to encourage other manufacturers to join incumbents Holden and Ford and newcomer Nissan into the category next year.
CLICK HERE for Jamie Whincup’s reaction to the shakedown test.
CLICK HERE for Roland Dane’s thoughts on his team’s new car.
In other Triple Eight news, the team has also revealed that it will be supported by energy drink giant Red Bull in a new multi-year deal. CLICK HERE for more.
