Supercars teams are close to a solution to the Gen3 wheel nut issue, which is set to be put through more rigorous testing tomorrow at Winton.
Multiple potential fixes have been developed by teams after Grove Racing’s first Ford Mustang lost a wheel in its shakedown at the rural Victorian circuit just under a week ago.
The Gen3 cars feature a new wheel nut which is smaller than that which the old Supercars used, and is retained by a circlip rather than large machined tangs.
Said circlip has exhibited a tendency to pop off, with Tickford Racing coming up with a tweak which will be tested further tomorrow when it completes hot pit stop practice during the James Courtney and Declan Fraser Ford Mustang shakedowns.
“[Erebus Motorsport] have got a different solution but we’ve done a solution and ours seems to be working well so they’ve been trying that today as well; so far, so good,” Tickford Team Principal Tim Edwards told Speedcafe.com.
“We’ll do some pit stop practice tomorrow and try and put it further through its paces to just make sure.
“Hopefully, what we’ve done so far, which is pretty much a zero-cost solution, fixes it,” he added.
Erebus CEO Barry Ryan told Speedcafe.com, “We have one that we put together and we thought that it would be alright and it worked well, and we also used the one that Tickford did – [Team Manager] Matty Roberts gave us a couple of clips – and that seemed to be pretty good.
“I think we’re not far away from a solution, it’s just getting all the other teams to have a go at it, look at it, agree with it, and move on.”
Brad Jones Racing will also test the Tickford solution tomorrow.
“I think what Tickford have come up with, with bending the end of the clip, is probably the best option and then we’re going tor un with that tomorrow on one of the cars and see how we go, and hopefully that’s a really cost-effective fix,” team owner Brad Jones told Speedcafe.com.
Tickford Racing racked up another 100-plus laps for each of the Cameron Waters and Thomas Randle Mustangs which were officially on test days, while Will Brown is reported to have logged around 115 laps in his Chevrolet Camaro shakedown after Erebus team-mate Brodie Kostecki put his first miles into the sister #99 entry on the day prior.
BJR was in shakedown mode with all four of its Camaros, ahead of what is officially its first test day of the year tomorrow.
Walkinshaw Andretti United has already arrived at Winton with its two Ford Mustangs, meaning at least eight Gen3 cars will run, beating today’s water mark of seven.
VIDEO: Brad Jones explains wheel nut solution, reviews shakedown day
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