Garry Roger’s from Wilson Security Racing GRM writes his thoughts on the latest V8 Supercars round, the Sandown 500 ….
First held in 1964 the Sandown 500 has become an iconic Touring Car/Supercar event. The location of the track in Metropolitan Melbourne and with its own railway station makes it very easily accessible. Personally I have very fond memories of Sandown going right back to my early years of racing in the 1960’s. One particular event that I recall vividly and smile about today, but was far less impressed at the time was in 1969 when I launched my EH Holden into the dam that existed on the right hand side where you now turn into the main straight. Anyway plenty has happened throughout the years since and I certainly hoped for a good weekend.
Joey our transporter driver thrives when the long distance travel is required as he loves his Volvo Globetrotter FH16 700, but is like “a cat on a hot tin roof” when we race at Sandown as the trip is less than 20 minutes from our Dandenong South headquarters and he is very flat on arrival as a result of the limited cabin time, actually he reminds me of a race car driver!!
Our boys and girls arrive on Thursday and complete all the necessary setup requirements for the race meeting. Over the years this operation has certainly changed. Back in my early days we would tow the race car on what was known as an “a-bar” behind your everyday road car and you would talk a few of your mates to come along and would load their cars with fuel drums, a couple of spare wheels and some tools. Today we arrive with enough electronic equipment to build a Space Shuttle.
On board the truck we obviously have our two Volvo S60 Supercars, plus 88 sets of wheels, 2 spare engines, 2 spare transaxles (gearboxes), 4 spare front bumper bars and enough body and mechanical parts to repair almost any damage sustained, all of our catering equipment including sinks, stoves, tables and chairs and tools and equipment as per what we have in the workshop.
This Wilson Security Sandown 500 is the first race for the Pirtek Endurance Cup. Alex Premat is again sharing with Scott this year, and David Wall and Chris Pither are teaming up. Chris has been doing a very solid job throughout the year in the Dunlop series and he had a feel for the #34 car at this year’s AGP when he filled in for David. Alex has been doing some racing in both Europe and the United States and was right up to speed at our test day last week at Winton. Alex brings a warming touch to the team with his vibrant personality and enthusiasm.
Friday’s timetable saw the V8 Supercars undertake three practice sessions. Two of these sessions were allocated for the co-drivers only. During the first session both David and Scott’s main objective was to set the car up so as Chris and Alex could complete as many laps as possible when their opportunity arrived. Jamie Whincup was the quickest in this session followed by the three Prodrive Fords. Scotty was 8th (4/10ths off) and David 19th (9/10ths off).
The co-driver sessions went well for us with both drivers completing plenty of laps without a mishap. Chris was second fastest in the first of these sessions and Alex was the second in the second session.
In the “old days” the co-driver was not as important as they are today and would often be a number of seconds slower than the main driver. As with most sports the professionalism has led to a greater demand on performance. Today, all of the co-drivers are within 100ths of a second of the main driver and can often match them for times.
The format for the Sandown 500 required the main drivers to qualify the car in a traditional 20 minute qualifying session on Saturday and was then followed with 2x20lap races. The first was between all of the co-drivers and the second the main drivers. Where you finished following all of this resulted in where you would start on Sunday.
Scott again put his S60 inside the Top10 in 9th and David was 24th. As with most of the qualifying sessions this year very small margins result in many grid positions. Scotty was just over 2/10ths of a second off a front row start.
Chris began the first 20 lap qualifying race well picking up 5 positions on the opening lap. This good work was soon undone as Chris went a little wide through turns 8 & 9 opening the door for the Nissan of Dean Fiore who inadvertently took car#34 out as Chris turned in on him. In the meantime Alex was making good ground after dropping a spot off the line but was taken out by Andrew Jones when he locked a brake and got out of control in his Holden. This left both cars at the rear of the field eventually finishing 23rd and 24th.
Scott and David now had a job ahead of them to work their way forward, but there was no panic, as throughout an endurance race there are often many opportunities to make up ground, but in saying that the safest place to race is at the front. Both drivers did a very good job staying out of trouble but also managed to pick up several positions. Scott finished 16th and David 18th.
Saturday night and the normal “tinkering” to the car as the Engineers and drivers put their thoughts together as to how they wanted the car set up for the 500klm. race the following day.
Sunday and the sun was shining. As we know Melbourne’s weather can be do all sorts of things. We have had Sandown 500’s where it has snowed, and races that have been cut short due to excessive rainfall. But, this year the skies were clear and it was a lovely 25 degree day. The strategy for the race was to start with the co-drivers as all the other teams also did.
The race required that the co-driver do a minimum of 55 laps. This could be done as consecutive laps or in separate stints. Our plan was to run these laps consecutive. The race also required that you stop a minimum of 4 times, and the race was on hard compound Dunlop tyres only. The fuel tank in the car holds 111 litres and the consumption at Sandown is 2.65 litres per lap. This equates to 41.8 laps per tank. In theory you could complete the 161 laps with only 3 stops as you start with a full tank, the minimum 4 stop requirement adds to the strategy of the race.
Race time and we chose to immediately pit Chris Pither #34 at the end of lap 1. The theory behind this is it gets him away from the other cars and uses up one of the necessary pit stops. By putting back on the track in “clean air” he should be able to do lap times quicker than the cars caught up in the mid to rear of the pack. When the others all begin to take their stops the theory is that you should be able to pass some of these cars while they are pitting.
This worked well for #34 as Chris worked his way up to 9th position by lap 39 when he pitted for the second time. Chris’s final stint that took him to lap 76 was not quite as strong as his earlier effort and he handed over to Dave in 16th position. David was racing in a group with the Nissan of Moffat and Mercedes of Davison in that mid teen area. Car#34 took its final stop on lap 119 and maintained a position of 14th until lap 139 when tyre degradation led David to start losing positions. He required a final pit stop on lap 156 as he felt the car had a problem and finished 21st.
In Car#33 Alex began strongly and kept the car very clean while also driving with well controlled aggression and had worked his way up to 13th by the time the first compulsory pit stop was taken on lap 12. Unfortunately this pit stop was going to end any real chance of a front running result. As Alex entered the pit bay the car rose on its jacks and the wheels were changed and fuel added. The fuel required was 10 seconds worth (approx. 40 litres). The wheel change happens well inside this time in approx. 6 seconds so everybody can stay relaxed, yet still very alert.
The rules of Supercars require that the car be up in the air while any refuelling is being done. The manner in which the car is raised is via a piece of equipment known as a “spike”. The spike is attached to an air line and when it is plugged into a female connector located on the side of the car the air jacks deploy and raise the car. Opposite to this is when it is removed the car drops back on to its wheels. If the car is dropped before the fuel filler is removed you receive a drive through penalty.
Unfortunately during this pit stop the car dropped, but the spike controller mistakenly thought the fuel filler had not been removed and went to reattach the spike at the same time Alex had been given the all clear to drive off. The result was the spike was torn from the air line and left attached to the side of the car. Alex had to return on the following lap to have the spike removed and again had to return to pit lane a lap later to serve a drive through penalty.
This resulted in Car#33 going a lap down. Of course these instances are very disappointing, but it’s important to remember the essence of time and urgency in these pit stops. It’s easy afterwards to look back, but when every tenth of a second is so important it can happen when a car is dropped a little prematurely.
Following this Alex drove exceptionally well and matched the times of the front running cars and by lap 76 when the Safety Car was deployed had managed to fight his way back onto the lead lap. Scott jumped in the car and he was the last car on the track. With a well controlled 85 lap double stint he ended up finishing 14th. In normal circumstances a very disappointing result, but given the set of circumstances that unfolded I was very proud of the manner in which all the crew pressed on.
Certainly not one of my fondest Sandown 500’s, but we will return and who knows in 2016? But for now it is head down and bum up for all the crew as we prepare for the biggest race of the year the Bathurst 100.
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