Led by driving standards advisor Craig Baird, there has been a move to allow harder, more exciting racing in Supercars this year.
There have been some promising early signs, including an instant classic under lights at Sydney Motorsport Park at the first round, although the concept has been divisive in the paddock at times.
Concerns from drivers and team bosses have mostly been centred on consistency and the cost of crash damage, although Reynolds – one of the most experienced drivers in the field – has a different take on the matter.
His concern is the reprisal of a long-standing discussion point over the Gen3 cars – whether they are too fragile.
“The way everyone has been racing lately, the cars actually can’t cope with it,” Reynolds told Speedcafe.
“If they want to bring back the biff and argy-bargy and all that kind of stuff, you’ve got to re-design the car for it. Because right now if someone drills you in the rear your day is done.
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“You lose all of your downforce and the cars are so sensitive with downforce. We have so little, that losing a little bit makes a big difference.
“In Gen2 it wasn’t as bad and I feel like Gen1 was better again. The cars have become harder to race because things fall off them more, or parts are more sensitive to touches or whatever the case may be.
“Wheel-to-wheel contact, the old five-spoke rim was really strong, but these new wheels seem a bit more brittle.
“If you want us to race better, and have those relaxed rules with people drilling each other, you’ve got the re-design the cars. And I assume everyone would be on board with that, except the people that have to pay for it.”
As for concerns over the consistency of penalties, Reynolds said drivers need to stop worrying and overthinking what is and isn’t allowed in battle.
“Even when you know what’s going on, you don’t know what’s going on because every incident is separate and they judge it on its own merit,” he said.
“So even if you think you know what happened, their interpretation might be slightly different to yours, so you never really know what’s going on.
“But you can’t have that in the back of your head when you’re trying to pass someone you’ve just got to throw it down the inside or outside and try and make it stick, and worry about the repercussions later.”
Reynolds also made it clear that, concerns over car fragility aside, he is a supporter of the move to harder racing.
“If I could move everyone in front of me out of the way I’d love that,” he said. “It’s not as skilful to pass but you can rely on the biff and barge and it makes for better watching.
“It takes it back to the old days of Supercars when I started watching and it created a lot of rivalries and a lot of aggression and competition between the drivers.
“And those personalities helped grow the sport.
“We can’t really do that anymore, but people want to see a bit of both, clean racing and entertainment.”
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