The championship vowed to complete testing of the impact of air inlet temperature on the performance of the Toyota engine ahead of the notoriously chilly Symmons Plains meeting.
It was a process that took place with the Ford and Chevrolet V8s 12 months ago and has now been replicated with the Toyota.
Walkinshaw TWG team principal Carl Faux confirmed to Speedcafe that minor mapping changes were locked in by Supercars this week.
“It’s part of Supercars’ job and part of our job is to make sure the engines perform equally across all the temperature ranges,” he said.
“A tremendous amount of effort has gone on with Supercars and their engine department to test across a whole range of temperatures.
“Obviously, this is the coldest event we go to, the next event’s going to be the hottest event we go to and from what I’ve seen it looks like they’re equal on that, which is great.
Buy tickets
“But the proof will be in the pudding on track.”
Faux declined to detail the actual results of the testing, which was undertaken at temperature intervals between five and 50 degrees.
He did, though, confirm that no major changes have been made to the engine, either for reliability or to fix a known “hole” in its power curve.
The Toyota is said to be shy on the low-down grunt of the Ford and Chev, which could be troublesome at Symmons Plains.
“We’ve got some deficiencies that we need to work on down low, which we are,” he said.
“Rolling that out across a fleet of engines across us and BJR where you’ve got over a dozen engines in the circulation is no mean feat.
“You’ve got to do due diligence, make sure everything’s tested properly from our end, then get it across Supercars to make sure that’s all what is required to fix it.”
Faux is back in the paddock at Symmons Plains after a two-month holiday that meant he missed the New Zealand double-header.
The Brit was in Hanoi, Vietnam, with his family when Ryan Wood scored the Toyota’s maiden victory at Taupo.
“I’d had Christmas Day and half a New Year’s Day off in the last year,” said Faux, who spearheaded the Toyota project.
“It was probably time to have a bit of a break and that seemed like good opportunity to get away. The guys didn’t miss me much!”
Faux is sporting a mullet at Symmons Plains, having pledged to his drivers that he’d do so whenever they took the Supra’s maiden victory.
He overcame language and cultural barriers to make good on the promise while in Hanoi.
Discussion about this post