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Engineer Preview: Winton 400

03 Apr 2014
Michael Caruso's race engineer Steven Todkill explained the nuances of Winton Raceway, after the Norton Hornets' great results there in 2013.
4 mins by James Pavey
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The Nissans reigned supreme in the first race last year, and with Michael Caruso having earned an ARMOR ALL Pole Position already this season at the Rolex Australian Grand Prix, the Norton Hornets will be looking to get to the front at the 3km Victorian track.

“I believe Winton is a good track for our cars, we are hoping to go well on the weekend,” #36 race engineer Steven Todkill said.

“Track conditions are fairly tumultuous there, however; a few degrees of track temp can put your car out the window. If we can perform solidly and consistently the entire weekend I will be content.”

Todkill had confidence Caruso could score another front row start, given the car was right.

“Michael can do it; we just have to make sure manage to get the car dialed in… It was fantastic to get pole at AGP, Michael was doing it fairly easy in practice on relatively old tyres in practice. So going into qualifying we were quietly confident, but still obviously elated when he got the job done.” 

Todkill explained the nuances of Winton Raceway to v8supercars.com.au ahead of this weekend’s V8 Supercars racing.

V8supercars.com.au: What are the main characteristics of the circuit?

Todkill: “Winton is a fairly unique circuit. It has the slowest top speed of any other track on our calendar and both first and sixth gears don’t get used during the lap. The majority of track is made up of second and third gear corners with one long radius fourth gear corner, all of which test out every aspect of the car’s handling.

“The low top speeds make Winton one of the easiest tracks on brakes mechanically, however, to produce a good lap time engineers will be spending a lot of time during the weekend optimising the car in braking zones, which sets up the rest of the corner.

“We run the shortest final drive ratio available at Winton, which makes it harder for the cars to ground their power without wheel spin and unlike a lot of other places, the cars ability to ride kerbs is not important.”   

How will the weekend’s format affect setup and strategy?

“With the new shortened practice sessions, the pressure is on for both engineers and drivers to sort the car out as quickly as possible as you only get time to do one or two changes during the session. 

“The 10-minute qualifying sessions only really allow the driver a quick warm-up lap and then possibly one go at securing a fast time. As a result the field can be quite mixed between the sessions. 

“No one will be planning to stop in the 100km races on Saturday unless there is a late safety car, in which case it may be worthwhile coming in for fresh tyres.

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“On Sunday however, the 120L fuel drop forces everyone into a two stop strategy. As in Tasmania, you would expect a lot of cars stopping very early in the race to avoid the risk of queuing behind their teammate in the event of a safety car.

“Just like Tasmania though, we are likely to see numerous strategies at play during the race on Sunday.”

What is the tyre allocation and what sort of degradation are you expecting? How will this impact setup and strategy, particularly in the 200km race?

“The allocation for the weekend is six sets of soft Dunlop tyres, one (set) of which has to be handed back after practice. We are also allowed to practice on two sets of tyres that have been allocated to us at a previous event.

“Tyre degradation is significant here which makes stopping early for your next set of tyres enticing, especially when you’re bleeding time on your old tyres. If you do give in to the temptation of stopping early for fresh tyres you do pay the price later on in the race when the competition is on better rubber than you.”

What aspects of the circuit are you expecting to suit your cars and what do you have to be mindful of?

“Our cars are still struggling relative to the other cars in a straight line, so we welcome the lower speeds the Winton track offers. More time spent in corners rather than on straights is better for us. This is why we were strong at Albert Park but weak in Tasmania.”

What are you expecting to be the most important thing to do well this weekend?

“Qualifying well is very important for the Saturday’s races – where you qualify is where you will race.

“Tyre life will be important on Sunday so the emphasis will be on ensuring you have a good race car over the 200km distance.”

How doe the short turnaround from Tasmania to Winton affect the team?

“The short turnaround is obviously tough. The boys are fairly tired after a fairly brutal round at Tasmania and they will not get a day off in a while still. Everyone is happy to get two rounds out the way rather quickly though and looking forward to taking some time off mid-year when the calendar eases up.”

The Winton 400 begins tomorrow, with tickets still available.

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