Re: 2019 Aussie Supercars & Supports discussion | Adelaide 500 (Feb 28 - March 3)
Posted: Sun Mar 03, 2019 06:57 am
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Scott wins from Waters and SVGIncorporating Farzad's F1 Gallery & F1Onboard.com
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Scott wins from Waters and SVGThere seems to be two schools of thought on it. One side says it is a good idea, others not so sure. Surprisingly Tim Edwards, whose team was at the centre of last weekends mess is not so sure. SVG is another who feels it will change the dynamics of the racing and make for earlier stops to avoid having to pit after an SC.Supercars will trial closing the pit lane during Safety Car periods at the WD-40 Phillip Island SuperSprint next month.
The championship is keen to investigate the deployment of the regulation, used by IndyCar and NASCAR, to see how it affects the racing.
Closing the pit lane under the Safety Car is thought to reduce the amount of pit lane incidents and eliminate teams stacking their cars for service which creates congestion and increases the safety risk for team members.
While understood to have been agreed by the Supercars Commission last year, news of the trial has emerged following a chaotic pit lane incident under the Safety Car in Sunday’s race at the Adelaide 500.
Tickford Racing copped an unsafe release penalty when Chaz Mostert joined the fast lane in the path of Kelly Racing’s Rick Kelly, resulting in contact which Mostert left broadside, forcing cars to squeeze past the stricken Ford Mustang.
https://www.speedcafe.com/2019/03/05/su ... afety-car/Closing pit lane under Safety Car will have pros and cons according to Tickford boss Tim Edwards, who was critical of Sunday’s incident.
“We’re trying it at Phillip Island,” said Edwards.
“We all know it’s always been a challenge but, personally, I’m in two schools of thought.
“Yes, it’s dangerous, yes, there’s always incidents, but for some of the people that watch our sport it’s also entertaining, it adds to the spectacle.
“There was a car turning sideways in the pit lane and all that; it is part of the spectacle.
“You’ve got to remember we are in show business so you’ve got to be a bit careful sanitising it too much, so yeah, two schools of thought.”
Edwards believes the rule change will have an effect on strategies but will improve the safety for pit crews.
“It’ll change the strategy of the racing by doing it. You will have to approach it with a different mindset, that’s why we need to try it and see how teams adapt to it,” he added.
“Obviously we need to make sure it’s a safe working place as well.
“You’ve got crews out there in the pit lane and cars turning sideways is clearly not a safe thing to be doing in the pit lane, so fortunately it’s very rare an incident like that happens, but even just a normal pit lane, it’s a challenging environment, so we’ve got to do the right thing and explore what options there are for making it safer.”
Triple Eight driver Shane van Gisbergen agrees with Edwards view that the rule will have an impact on races.
“You could close it like NASCAR but then it changes the dynamic of the racing,” said van Gisbergen when asked if Supercars should close the pits during Safety Car periods.
“Every pit stop will be as early as possible so you don’t get caught with the pit lane being closed.
“It will just change the dynamic of the racing.
“There’s probably things we can do to make it safer, wider pit lanes and stuff like that but then you’ve got Phillip Island which is the opposite.
“There’s probably some things you could do to make it safer for everybody working in pit lane, but I think the racing we’ve got with pit lane being open is good.
“There’s things we can do to make it safer for sure.”
Onboard camera lap:Ricciardo was closely monitored by Kelly, who sat in the passenger seat before letting the former Red Bull F1 driver loose for a solo run.
Kelly was impressed by how Ricciardo adapted to the machinery which left the 2006 Supercars champion confident Ricciardo could quickly make a touring car transition.
“Watching Dan in the Supercar, there’s no doubt that he could get the hang of this and race it successfully in a very short amount of time,” said Kelly.
“We’ve seen so many international drivers come over and try and drive a Supercar after very successful careers in other forms of motorsport and not do so well at it, but from my point of view, watching him in that, he would get hold of it and throw it up the front very, very quickly.
“Dan’s obviously used to driving an F1 car that you obviously have to be very quick with, things happen a lot quicker in an F1 than they do in a Supercar, and so it was very impressive to sit next to Dan in a Supercar and watch how he reacts to the car moving around and just watch his inputs.
“I mean, the car starts to slide a little bit and he was reacting to it well and truly before I would even think about it, and so he’s an absolute machine and almost like a robot inside the car, and from my point of view, that was really great to witness.
“Every single lap, he would just step it up a little bit in the braking and everything, to the point where I think he was very much on the limit of the car after five or six laps, and everyone knows just how difficult to drive a Supercar is, so that’s an absolute credit to him.”
Kelly admitted the opportunity to watch Riccardo drive his car from the passenger seat was a special experience.
“Normally you sit next to a driver and critique them a little bit,” Kelly added.
“For me, it definitely wasn’t the case; it was watching his inputs and learning from the way he went about it.
“He was very kind on the machinery, obviously, so shifting well and truly early and stuff like that, which was pretty nice of him.
“But to see the way he got in, went out, and did laps with me in the car with him, and then he stepped it up every single lap, just crept up on the brake markers and changed his inputs to improve every single lap, I mean, that’s why he’s the champion he is.
“And for me to sit next to him in the car and witness that firsthand was pretty special.”