Garry Roger’s from Wilson Security Racing GRM writes his thoughts on the latest round of the 2016 V8 Supercars Championship – Winton, Victoria…..
I know in my reports I often refer to Joey our transporter driver and again I can’t help myself. Joey is a most valued member of my team and at the risk of sounding biased Joe is the most organised, fastidious and caring truck driver in pit lane. To highlight my point Joey spends as much time on the “weather app” as he does caring for his Volvo Globetrotter FH16 700.
The unpack schedule for the round was at 3.30pm on Thursday, if I was driving the transporter I would head off from our Dandenong South Headquarters at 12.00noon that day. But Joey, having spent considerable time and effort to have his transporter and trailers absolutely gleaming and the truck being packed on Tuesday afternoon decided to head off Tuesday night to avoid the adverse weather that looked like coming over the following day. Thank goodness the sleeper cabin is so comfortable and Joey’s wife packs his meals! Thanks Joe, I always feel immensely proud when I arrive at a race track and see the transporter shining.
Winton is located approx. 220 kms north east of Melbourne near Benalla. Traveling to Winton always brings back many memories. It was the place in 1963 where I won my first ever race in an FX Holden and I have been hooked on racing ever since.
The Winton round was the Super Sprint format. That is 1x 120 km (40 laps) race on Saturday and 1x 200 km (67 laps) race on Sunday. The track was resurfaced earlier in the year and we had tested just following the resurfacing and again a month ago.
The test earlier in the year was not much help in regards to car performance and behaviour due to the very hot temperatures on the day and then amount of dust on the track as a result of the resurfacing works. To explain it simply as much as a particular race track is always the same in regards to layout, it can be totally different in regards to grip level depending on many variables. What works one day maybe the complete opposite to what works on another occasion. Certainly, testing at particular tracks familiarises the driver with the layout and they often discover little idiosyncrasies that are only discovered because of the volume of laps that they do. The Engineers must determine from the driver feedback what is required in regards to car set up to obtain the maximum performance out of the race car.
The year to date for Wilson Security Racing GRM has been extremely positive and the completion of this round marked the 1/4 mark of the season. Scotty has been very solid since the opening round at Clipsal and this consistency and back to back wins at Phillip Island has put him in a position near the pointy end of the Championship. For Scott and the team this is a good stepping stone for the remainder of the year as in past years we have constantly been chasing from back in the pack. Moff has had a mixed start to the season, but has certainly shown that when things go right that he has the skill to be in the mix.
Friday afternoon and we had 2x 1hour practice sessions. Prior to this there was a 30 minute session for the endurance drivers. As previously reported David Wall and GRM apprentice mechanic and Dunlop Series driver Bieber (James Golding) will compete in the Pirtek Endurance Cup. The idea of these 30 minute sessions is to give the guys track time in the cars. My advice to the boys in these sessions is to put consistent laps together and to drive as smooth as possible. During the endurance races it is vital that the drivers that support the “main game” drivers keep the car in good condition while been consistent with their speed. You don’t need a guy that can break a lap record one lap, and spear off into a sand trap (or worse) the next. If a so called co-driver can be steady and hand the car back to the lead driver in good condition that is what is needed. I was very happy with both boys performance on Friday.
Following the 2 x 1hour practice sessions in the afternoon Scotty was 5th and Moff 20th. Tim Slade (BJR) continued where he left off at the pre season test on top. The track was certainly quick with the first 18 cars all in the 1.19 bracket and at the same round last year the guys were doing 1.23’s. Obviously the track was very fast, but the track was impacted by the concrete dust that was brought back onto the track if a car went slightly offline. Unfortunately this would lead to a single racing line as the guys would be wary of going offline and being caught out by the dust that had been brought onto the track. In time this issue will rectify itself but it may require some further sealing works in and around the curbs and corners. To create really good hard and thrust racing the drivers need to be confident that they will have grip, when dust is on the track they will not choose a line other than the clean racing line.
Friday night and Barry and I were intrigued by the number of campers located opposite the pits. We went across and met up with some old and made some new friends. I was amazed by the number of campers and was particularly impressed by the family atmosphere and general happy feel in the camp ground and very appreciative of the kind people that offered us a cold beer. Of course Bathurst is famous for camping, but Winton should be commended on providing this opportunity for people to camp and watch the Motor Racing from their door step.
Saturday and I woke early after falling asleep with a piece of chocolate in my hand watching the footy on Friday night. I actually ate so much chocolate I had the guilt’s and decided I needed a good walk. I headed off from the motel in Benalla on the 10km walk to the track. If it wasn’t for all of the kind hearted people continually stopping and offering me a lift I would have made it, but was eventually picked up by Scotty and Barry as I neared the track.
Following Friday’s practice we were all well aware of how important this qualifying session was going to be. With the track being extremely difficult to pass qualifying well would most likely mean finishing well. Scott has a tremendous mindset when it comes to qualifying and he gets himself in a zone where he is able to blank out any outside influence and totally focus on that one important lap. Over the years I have had some very good drivers drive for me and I have observed some of our all time greats from close quarters and Scott is up with the best of them when it comes to making the very best out of what he has at his disposal.
We were struggling to find the exact balance in the Volvo that gave the driver the confidence to really have a go. But Scott was able to put aside the little doubts and negatives and do a tremendous job on qualifying 4th . Moff was unable to get the set up to a level where he was comfortable and was 7/10ths back in 21st. Tim Slade continued his Winton form, posting pole.
Starting from 4th Scotty had a blistering start ducking left and then right as they headed into turn 1. Scott had passed both Winterbottom and Waters (Prodrive) and followed Slade who led from pole. The race would require that all cars stop a minimum of once and change all four tyres. Unfortunately for the third time this season Moff’s race was done on the opening lap when he bent a steering arm as result of racing contact. I know this is said often but the only way to lessen the chance of this damage is to qualify further up where the racing is cleaner and less congested.
The leading cars began to pit around lap 10 and Scotty came in on lap 11. Following all of the stops Slade led from Scotty and Winterbottom with the Nissan of Rick Kelly in 4th, and that is how it ended.
Saturday night and as usual the engineers and drivers discussed the day’s activities. Without going into too much detail, the overall message was the guys were not totally comfortable with the car that only a few weeks earlier at the test felt great. The “head scratching” began and a direction on set up was required. The things that are discussed and mulled over in these discussions are “do we want to make big changes when we had a car that finished 2nd?”, “is the result and the fact that Scott did a really great job in “holding” the field behind him for 30 laps masking the fact that our cars weren’t quite right?”. All of these discussions take place and a conservative approach was taken. As there was no practice on Sunday morning and it was straight into qualifying, it was deemed too big a risk to make changes that potentially could be worse and then not have the time in a qualifying session to return the car to where it was.
Again Scott showed his qualifying prowess qualifying 6th, .18 off the pole time of Chaz Mostert (Prodrive). Moff, the same as yesterday was still 7/10ths back.
The 200km (67lap) race would require the mandatory 120 litre fuel drop over two pit stops where tyres would also be changed. Based on yesterday’s race and the fact that there was little tyre degradation due to the billiard table smooth surface it was likely that there would not be a lot of overtaking. Off the start Coulthard (DJR Penske) got a rocket like start and led Mostert off pole into turn 1. Scotty picked up one spot and was 5th.
During these 200 km races many strategies play out. The first thing that teams try and do is separate their cars. What I mean here is you want to put your two cars on different race strategies so as to avoid them having to queue in pit lane. In most circumstances you will allow the lead car (and in that I mean the one in front of the other on the track) to take the more conservative or traditional strategy based on a clean (no Safety Car) race and pit the second car around that. With little tyre degradation likely here many teams chose to pit early. Moff was caught up in traffic and he pitted on lap 5.
It was evident from the start that Scott lacked speed and he did a commendable job to hold 5th, with a gaggle of cars led by Caruso (Nissan) behind him when he stopped on lap 17. Unfortunately the lap following Scott’s stop the Safety Car was deployed for debris on the track left by the Plus Fitness car of Aaren Russell that had a puncture.
The Safety Car allowed the teams that had stopped in the opening couple of laps to again take on part of their 120 litres of fuel. As Scott had just stopped there was no room in the tank for anymore fuel. Moff also couldn’t benefit as the Safety Car fell a couple of laps short of what would have been required for him to put the mandatory fuel requirement in.
All of this led to Scott racing in a pack midfield. The race upfront had changed as Tim Slade put out consistently quick laps and by mid race he led from Winterbottom and Coulthard. Not much changed from here and that is how it finished. Scotty and Moff both battled, and finished 11th and 19th respectively.
Really big congratulations to the entire BJR Team and Tim Slade on a dominant weekend of racing. It is really tremendous to see a guy that has been racing and trying for many seasons to have breakthrough like this. Yet another winner this season, the racing although this weekend didn’t produce the excitement of Perth has been the best it has ever been and we all can’t wait to get to Darwin in a month.
With four weeks until Darwin it’s vital that we all take stock, prepare thoroughly for the next stage of the Championship. As previously mentioned as far as race weekends go we are only a little over a ¼ of the way through the season. As a team we are in the mix and have certainly an opportunity to push further up the ladder as the season progresses. This won’t happen by writing or talking about it, we must all work hard do our little bit and those little bits will add to something bigger.
I look forward to reporting to you all after Darwin!
Garry
PS I won’t be going fishing!
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