Triple Eight Race Engineering has moved to ensure that the disaster which befell Jamie Whincup last time out at Queensland Raceway does not re-occur this weekend.
Whincup’s chances of victory in Race 18 of the championship were dashed when he was forced to return to the pits on the warm-up lap to remove an air-intake cover that had been overlooked in final pre-race checks.
All four Triple Eight VE Commodores, entered by TeamVodafone and Paul Morris Motorsport, are sporting large ‘remove before starting’ tethers while in the pitlane this weekend.
According to TeamVodafone team manager Adrian Burgess, the Queensland incident was a reminder of the potential consequences that can arise from small oversights.
“Clearly we learn from any mistakes that we make, and from the last event we have put a couple more processes in place to make sure that particular event can’t happen again,” Burgess told Speedcafe.com at Phillip Island.
“I think it’s a timely reminder for us coming into three important endurance races that we are all human.
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“This weekend there’s a nice brightly coloured tether that gets fastened to the guard and hangs out over the guard.
“It’s an obvious way of addressing something that shouldn’t have happened but did.”
This weekend, TeamVodafone is one of many teams taking advantage of the increased number of team members allowed at V8 Supercars endurance events.
While (two car) teams are usually limited to 14 performance staff, Burgess says the open regulations provides the chance to reward TeamVodafone’s factory-based crew.
“We take the opportunity to let the factory guys come out to the enduro events – it’s up to them which one they want to come to,” said Burgess.
“Giving them meaningful jobs to do where they can feel part of the team when they’re at the track is important.
“It’s good to have those guys come out and see what we do at the race meetings and to enjoy the weekend.”
For more on the L&H 500, see Speedcafe.com’s V8 Race Guide below
