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Walkinshaw Andretti United plans to continue working with Supercars to perfect next year’s engine platform following a positive maiden track test of its 2020 specification power unit.
WAU enlisted its former GT3 driver John Martin and current Pirtek Enduro Cup pilot Jack Perkins to log laps in the squad’s spare chassis fitted with a modified V8 engine including the team’s in-house developed drive-by-wire throttle system.
The outing was the first track running for WAU’s drive-by-wire system and 2020 spec engine which left co-team principal Mathew Nilsson ‘pretty happy’ with the results following more than 100 trouble free laps.
“We had good reports from the drivers (about the engine and drive-by-wire throttle),” Nilsson told Speedcafe.com.
“There is the engine side of it and the control systems and the throttle pedal itself, so it was good to work through a program on those things and get good feedback from the drivers and get to a point where they’re quite comfortable.
“It was a solid day of engine testing. It was good to rack up a good number of kilometres but the day was all about understanding the new drive-by-wire system and the ECU and those kind of things, and that was all achieved.”
Nilsson admits there are areas for both his team and Supercars to work on with the new engine package, but is confident they are only minor fixes.
“There are some things that Supercars need to work through but they will be relatively quick solutions and bigger picture things,” he added.
“I think fundamentally for our first attempt on track we are pretty happy with what we have achieved.
“Collectively we will look at it (the data) and they will look at it.
“We will keep working with Supercars on what was learnt and what some of the next steps might be.”
Changes to the engines are among a number of adjustments expected for next year’s technical rule package that could include a reduction of aero on the cars and the introduction of control dampers.
