Officials have painted the Armco barrier on the inside of the right-hander bright orange this year after poor visibility was blamed for multiple crashes 12 months ago.
Richie Stanaway, Cameron Hill and David Reynolds all crashed in quick succession at the corner during a Friday evening qualifying session that was ultimately abandoned.
Each did so after a touch with the Armco on the inside – which was under shade at the time –shot them into the outside concrete.
Jaxon Evans suffered the same fate in Sunday qualifying and, like Stanaway, was ruled out of the rest of the weekend with concussion.
A safety review was undertaken in the wake of the event, with the result a change to the colour of the barrier – but not to the actual layout.
“I think it’s a token gesture, to be honest. It doesn’t fix anything,” Reynolds told Speedcafe after completing his track walk on Wednesday.
“It might make a difference, but I don’t think so. If they wanted to be serious, they could do a lot more.”
The kerb on the inside of the corner is also brighter this year thanks to a move to BP colours around the circuit.
Officials have meanwhile realigned the concrete barrier on drivers’ left on the exit to avoid a repeat of the fate suffered by Evans.
The SCT Camaro ricocheted back to the inside of the circuit after initially sliding along the outside wall.
Asked if he had wanted more changes to be made, Reynolds said it’s a balancing act to improve safety without diminishing the challenge.
“You don’t want to make it easy, you want to make it hard so that shit goes wrong, like it did for a bunch of us last year,” he said.
“That’s what the best part of this track is. It’s the danger, it’s the risk, it’s everything. That’s what makes this circuit so awesome.
“When you get it right you feel like the King, but when you get it wrong, you feel like a dickhead. That’s what we love.”
Reynolds did though suggest a resurfacing of the corner ahead of next year’s event could be in order.
“The surface is really bad. There’s lots of crack treatment, it’s really dirty,” he said.
“They could probably reseal that part, from 150 metres out to 150 metres around. That would give all the cars a bit more consistency to make it a bit easier.
“When you drive up there the surface is all on the piss and rutted out, so your car starts moving around before you get there. That’s what does your head in the most.”
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