New Commodores galore

The Triple Eight chassis that will replace the Team 18 Preston Hire Holden Commodore VF wrecked in Darwin is on course for a shakedown at Winton on August 22, the same day Garth Tander’s new Holden Racing Team entry should also get its first run.

Karl Reindler will perform the 20-lap shakedown for Charlie Schwerkolt’s team as well as race the car at the Red Rooster Sydney Motorsport Park SuperSprint while regular driver Lee Holdsworth continues to recover from serious injuries sustained in the Hidden Valley wreck.

Holdsworth is expected to return to the cockpit on the Monday after the SuperSprint when the team participates in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship ride day at SMSP.

Holdsworth and Reindler will then unite for a Winton test day before attacking the three-round Pirtek Enduro Cup in the new car. 

Schwerkolt’s new chassis, 888A-044, is being constructed at T8’s Brisbane workshop alongside a new car for Red Bull’s championship leader, Jamie Whincup, who will also swap into his new ride at SMSP. 

“The car has two weeks left at Triple Eight and then it will be shipped down to Melbourne and have a week down at our workshop to put on the panels and to make the final adjustments on the car before its shakedown,” Schwerkolt told supercars.com. 

“On that day we should iron out any bugs and all being good then the car will be fantastic. 

“This car incorporates a few years’ updates and is the latest specification of the chassis you can get,” Schwerkolt explained.

One area where the car will be different to the latest ‘factory’ T8 entries is in the front-end where it will retain the ‘Mk 4’ front uprights the team’s old car – built for the 2013 season and raced most famously as the XBOX wildcard at the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 that year – had.

The decision not to upgrade to Mk 5 uprights – as used in Kurt Kostecki’s T8 Commodore campaigned by Schwerkolt’s team in Townsville and at Queensland Raceway – or the newest Mk 6 specification developed by T8 has been made for several reasons, including the Mk 4 spares inventory it has already stockpiled.

“We need to continue with the Mk 4 uprights and make sure we know what we are doing,” Schwerkolt confirmed. “We can change at a later date if need be.

“We are staying with what we know for the moment.”

Meanwhile, Garth Tander is set to shakedown a new Commodore, WR 023, before its debut at Sydney Motorsport Park, parking the ‘crashed chassis’ he has been racing since last year’s Sydney Motorsport Park event.

That chassis was introduced for Sydney Motorsport Park in 2014, before Warren Luff’s accident at Bathurst, which saw the pair out of that year’s Great Race.

HRT shifted the 2007 Champion back into the car last August before SMSP after extensive repairs had been carried out.

But inconsistent performance from the car that don’t tally with team-mate James Courtney’s chassis has prompted the team to park it.

Whincup’s new chassis replaces 040 (or Jen), which he has raced since the 2015 Wilson Security Sandown 500. Teammates Craig Lowndes and Shane van Gisbergen started the championship in new cars. 

“It’s always an exciting time for the crew working on, and building, a new chassis,” the six-time Supercars champ told redbullracingaustralia.com.

“It gets even better once we can finally take it the track to dial in. Every car is different, so I am looking forward to trying to work through the new challenges a new car brings.”

Team manager Mark Dutton said the break between the Queensland Raceway and SMSP events gave the crew the chance to finish the car off.

“We are trying to add some refinements and improvements so we are not rushing it through, however, we still have a firm deadline and a lot of work to do,” said Dutton.

“Jen was the first Triple Eight chassis to have teething issues, so it was a steep learning curve at the time, which was on the back of a short build time, so it was a double hit. We have learnt from that experience.

“It is usually around this time of the year that we have the opportunity to physically build a new chassis and we learnt from last year where we pushed everyone hard the teething issues really hurt us. So this year, we have a dedicated team member who has been busy building 043 whilst the rest of the crew have been away racing, which has made a big difference.”

Whincup said he had yet to come up with a name for 043, which he will share with Paul Dumbrell in the Pirtek Enduro Cup.