David Reynolds believes there’s still plenty of potential to unlock at Erebus Motorsport as he nears the end of a challenging first season with the Betty Klimenko-owned team.
Reynolds landed at Erebus this season after being dropped by Prodrive, with which he finished third in the 2015 standings with two wins.
Signing with Erebus in October, 2015, while the squad ran Mercedes-AMG equipment from its Gold Coast base, the team subsequently switched to Holden and moved to Melbourne over a turbulent off-season.
Further challenges followed early in the year, including the departure of engineer Campbell Little (June), an unexpected change of second driver (July) and a second move of workshop (August).
Sitting 18th in points heading into the season finale with just four top 10 finishes to his name, Reynolds remains encouraged by the team’s potential heading into 2017.
The work of recent engineering recruit Alistair McVean has, according to Reynolds, lifted the operation, which will take to Winton today to test a number of development components.
“It’s been a fantastic ride and I’m loving being a part of it,” Reynolds told Speedcafe.com of his first season at Erebus.
“They’ve taken on a tonne this year with the new manufacturer, new staff and moving workshops twice.
“Teams might do that once every 10 years and we’ve done it twice in one year.
“It’s been very, very difficult at times but we’ve managed to get through it.
“There was a period there that was a struggle just to get to every race on time.
“But now there’s a few more systems in place and people are getting used to the way things are run.
“It’s just getting easier and easier and it’s good fun.
“This year we’ve taken what Walkinshaw gave us and put our own spin on the set-up and engineering.
“We haven’t made it yet, we’re nowhere near it, but there’s still a lot more we can do.
“Next year with the tyre changing (new construction, as confirmed by Dunlop in September) is a big variable for everyone.
“It’ll give everyone a fresh start to try and catch the guys at the top.”
Reynolds says that the addition of McVean has brought a renewed focus on pre-event preparation, which is vital in such a competitive formula.
A former long-time member of Walkinshaw Racing, McVean’s appointment at Erebus removes workload from general manager Barry Ryan, who took over race engineering duties on Reynolds ‘car following Little’s departure.
Ryan and McVean work alongside data engineer Mirka de Rosa in the team’s lean engineering department.
“For the whole year we’ve been trying to build something, but we’ve had good rounds and bad rounds,” said Reynolds.
“Since Al has come onboard our preparation has been a lot better before the weekends, which is what you need.
“Most of the races are won and lost at the workshop before you get to the track, making sure you roll the car out strongly and can just fine tune it.
“We’ve worked really hard to get the balance right to allow me to push the car and trust that it’s going to grip.
“The longer style corners have been particularly difficult for us, we struggled at Phillip Island, Eastern Creek and Queensland Raceway.
“But there have been other rounds where we’ve had a good balance and straight line speed that’ve been really enjoyable.
“I’m really enjoying working with Al, he’s calm, intelligent and doing a very good job.”
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