Ford Performance Racing has completed a greatly extended second day of its Car of the Future shakedown at Winton as V8 Supercars continues to search for a way to effectively cool the transaxle gearboxes in its new-generation vehicles.
Having used the morning to tick off the remainder of its 20 allocated shakedown laps, the factory Ford team completed a further 80 circuits of the Victorian venue in the afternoon testing three different transaxle cooling options on behalf of the category.
Overheating of the Albins-sourced gearboxes proved a persistent issue over the course of V8 Supercars’ own COTF prototype testing program, while Triple Eight also grappled with the issue at the maiden test of its first car early last month.
FPR team principal Tim Edwards says he’s highly pleased with the progress made at today’s Winton test, which also saw the team wrap up the testing program for its three current-specification championship entries.
“It has been an unbelievably successful day and everything ran as well as we could’ve planned, if not better,” said Edwards.
“The rest of the shakedown this morning went fine and Will (Davison) got his first chance to drive the car before we did 80 laps for the category so they could evaluate some transaxle cooling options.
“This information will be passed onto the other teams and I must say all three options ran successfully and potentially could all be used at the first race next year.”
Today’s running followed an interrupted first hit-out on Monday that saw the car suffer from oil surge.
CLICK HERE for Speedcafe.com’s video of the car completing its maiden laps yesterday
The team will return to Winton on September 10 to undertake the first of its two COTF ‘manufacturer’ test days. The car will then return to the track at Sydney Motorsport Park as part of a group COTF test on October 15, while a second 2013-specification FPR Falcon is also expected to make its debut later this year.
