Supercars steering rack testing continues

Testing of potential changes to the Gen3 Supercars steering rack package continues during the off-season.

Speedcafe understands that a Brad Jones Racing Camaro was used for such purposes at Winton in the past 24 hours.

It comes after Tickford Racing was granted permission to run with an alternate rack in Thomas Randle’s Mustang at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500, as a development exercise on Supercars’ behalf.

That rack was based on that which the Campbellfield-based outfit used prior to Gen3, and was tested at Winton before Car #55 and the rest of its fleet were dispatched for the Glitter Strip.

This time around, it is believed that the rack is the Sportech unit which is the standard for Gen3, but with some upgraded components.

Steering feel has been a not uncommon complaint from drivers during the first season of the new technical ruleset, and reliability of the racks has also been questionable.

Tim Edwards, then Tickford’s CEO/Team Principal and now Supercars’ new General Manager of Motorsport, declared mid-season that the 2023-spec racks were “not fit for purpose”.

The racks were tweaked in the weeks before the season started in order to improve on a lightness in handling, and modifications were tested again between The Bend SuperSprint and the Sandown 500.

It is believed that most stakeholders would prefer that the current Sportech racks can simply be retrofitted with updates to iron out the pain points.

If possible, that solution is preferable to yet more expenditure on brand-new racks for the 24 cars up and down the field, plus spares.

The steering rack is one of multiple off-season technical projects for Supercars, with wind tunnel testing in Windshear’s North Carolina facility imminent.

Transient dyno work is also set to commence soon, although initially also in North America given the facility in Melbourne still needs work in order to be fit for purpose with respect to race engines, as opposed to its usual function of gearbox testing.

Meanwhile, Jack Perkins was also reportedly in attendance at Winton, driving a Blanchard Racing Team Mustang as part of an Evaluation Day.

Perkins recently announced that he has parted ways with Erebus Motorsport after three seasons as one of its enduro co-drivers, although it remains to be seen if he will land at BRT for next year’s Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000.