The failure necessitated a full rebuild, with the car undergoing a shakedown at Winton today.
Mason Kelly himself was one of the three team members who stripped the vehicle down when it returned to the Kelly Racing base, before father Todd used their own Kelly Precision machinery shop to produce new parts, including the exhaust system.
“We got the car stripped down pretty quick, which is normal practice as it only takes a day or two with a couple of people working on it,” explained Kelly junior.
“A lot of the fire damage on the paintwork and chassis had to be repaired by sanding it back before repainting the shell. PPG has been helping me this season, so it was a good opportunity to practice my painting with base coat and clear for the cage and direct gloss for the panels.
“There was so much burnt stuff that could not be repaired and had to go in the bin and we ordered a big list of items to replace it.
“Ed my mechanic is away, so I’ve been working with Mikey, who’s on the other car to help with bits and pieces. As much work as it’s been, I’ve enjoyed it and it’s given me a chance to learn all the aspects of the car.
“It was good to have access to the Kelly Precision side of the business and we’ve got really good guys working there. Any parts we need to dig out from the server and make is quite straightforward, the personnel in there can search for any part to produce.
“With this new exhaust system, we needed a set of some new flanges to bolt to the engine and these were on the server ensuring we got the parts the following day.
“I really enjoy working on the car. It’s good to have a solid knowledge of what’s underneath me. I think one of the most important things about being a race driver is having a good understanding of the car.
“It’ll be good to get back in the car again to shake it down. There will be a lot of mechanical and data checks throughout the day, but to be behind the wheel again will be good.”
Ironically, Mason Kelly was enjoying his best weekend of Super2 so far, running fifth at the time of the failure in Race 2 at Wanneroo Raceway.
Today, he is on-track with team-mate Aaron Cameron, who is currently second in the series standings, as they test ahead of Round 3 at the NTI Townsville 500 on July 5-7.
“Coming from Perth, it was the strongest pace we’d had up until this point and we were quite competitive, but if we can carry a little bit of that momentum into Townsville then we should go okay,” he added.
The Car #22 fire caused the first of two red flags that afternoon, with Cameron McLeod’s #92 ZB Commodore going for an especially wild rollover after contact with Cooper Murray on the restart lap.
That too has been repaired, by car owner PremiAir Racing, and is set to turn laps again this week.
PHOTOS: Kelly Racing Mustang rebuild
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