BJR Tests Gearbox and Brake Upgrades

Revised versions of the V8 Supercars control transaxle and brake rotor both made it unscathed through a solid day’s testing in Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodores at Winton on Tuesday.

The team tested a complete version of the updated Albins gearbox in David Wall’s Wilson Security Commodore VF, while Jason Bright’s BOC Holden used some new components.

The update is scheduled to stay in Wall’s car for the July 26-28 Coates Hire Ipswich 360 and a subsequent ride day, giving it maximum miles in the shortest amount of time.

Excess gear pitting and dog ring wear have been issues for the Ballarat-made Albins gearbox introduced this year as part of the Car of the Future overhaul, but the problem has varied from non-existent to significant depending on the team. BJR is one team that has had some issues.

“It didn’t seem to have a problem,” BJR co-owner Brad Jones told v8supercars.com.au after the team’s first independent test session of the year. “It seemed okay.”

A revised version of the 40mm AP Lockheed rotor – which had proved prone to cracking earlier in the season – were raced at the Sucrogen Townsville 400 by some teams and were also tested by Red Bull Racing Australia at Queensland Raceway at the same time as BJR was at Winton.

The entire 28 car grid will be running the control rotor at the Coates Hire Ipswich 360 at Queensland Raceway.

AP Lockheed had been forced to supply Japanese GT-spec rotors to the V8 Supercars field when the cracking issue became apparent.

“They were okay but the jury is still out,” Jones said of the control rotor. “We are yet to pull them off the car and have a really good look at them, so I am hoping they will be good because we have Bathurst coming up and we need to be stopping the car for 1000km.”

Not all went smoothly for BJR during its test; it had originally planned to run for two days but Monday was a wash-out. On Tuesday the BOC Commodore encountered some gremlins which slowed its progress and then Bright had an off at turn three, albeit suffering only minor damage.

But Jones was generally upbeat the test session, which also included Fabian Coulthard’s Lockwood Racing Commodore, and Chris Pither’s Dunlop Series Ice Break Commodore, which is also run by BJR.

Coulthard’s Endurance Cup co-driver Luke Youlden had a steer of his car, while Bright’s co-driver Andrew Jones shared with Pither – who is thought to be the favourite to join Wall, replacing the late Allan Simonsen who was killed at Le Mans.

“The test was about learning more about the cars and having time to make big changes and understand where we are going and what we are doing,” Jones explained. “We didn’t have different uprights to throw on the car, it was just about learning what we currently have and making the most of that.”

He said there was plenty of focus on improving starts as well as suspension development. Lap times were fast on a slick surface although there were no specific attempts to go for quick laps on fresh rubber.

“Time will tell whether we made a step forward. It’s all about gathering information and making the most from it and I felt that we gathered a fair bit of information and we learned a bit.”