Wood’s welcome

Dale Wood has been welcomed to Nissan Motorsport with the keys to his new boss’s V8 Supercar.

Wood will shakedown Rick Kelly’s brand new Altima tomorrow at Calder Park Raceway, as the former series champion is unable to attend due to sponsor commitments.

It means the new Nissan recruit will have his first opportunity to sample the Altima V8 Supercar, after driving a Brad Jones Racing Holden Commodore for the past two seasons.

“To be honest, I was surprised,” Wood said of getting the call-up.

“The hardest thing in our game is, we go out and effectively jump into a new car which, just from sitting in it in the workshop is extremely different.

“The layout feels a lot different to what I’ve been used to, so to do one test day at Winton and then fire into the first round is always a challenge. But to get some added miles in the new car will be nice.”

Joining the squad for this season, Wood is still putting names to faces but welcomes the opportunity to work in a racing environment with some of his 2016 crew.

The team on the ground will include Wood’s engineer Nathan McColl with Kelly’s mechanics.

“We can start to build a relationship on that front,” Wood said.

While Wood admits he may not be able to give solid feedback given his lack of experience in the Nissan, he’s confident the team will have built a flawless car.

“Shaking down the cars these days, we’re not in the ‘60s in anymore … these days the cars between rounds are virtually stripped down to nothing and rebuilt,” he said.

“To be honest, when I jump in this car, I haven’t driven it before so I’m not going to be able to give solid feedback on the Nissan as such.

“For me, it’s just understanding the positioning of everything – initially when you jump in the Nissan you feel like you’re sitting further back in the car, just because of where the body position is in relation to where the Holden is.

“So for me it’s just familiarising myself with the inside position of the car.

“Obviously for the guys making sure everything is doing what it should what they expect it will do and myself and that car the team can tackle Winton next week without any issues.”

Wood has spent plenty of time at the workshop dealing with his seat and positioning in the car, so there will be some differences for him jumping in Kelly’s.

“With Rick’s [car] it’s going to be a bit of a compromise – I think we’re a similar body size but he’s just a lot longer than me.

“It’s a good opportunity for me to at least throw my seat insert into the car and, like I say, just familiarise myself with how the dash works, where all the buttons are and the things I’m going to need to know going into a Nissan.”

While Kelly is tied up with sponsor functions, he knows it is imperative to get his car running before the crucial test day on Monday and is looking forward to getting behind the wheel at Winton next week.

“It’s always an exciting thing to drive a car for the very first laps of its life – we’re very excited to offer that to Dale to shakedown a brand new chassis,” he sad.  

“It’s also a great opportunity for him to feel a Nissan Altima for the first time, to see what it goes and handles like.

“We’re pretty proud of where the car is and what the guys have achieved with development over the last three to four years; so it’s exciting to have Dale’s feedback given what he has driven for the last few seasons.”

Learning the nuances of a new car is something Wood is “absolutely” looking forward to.

“You love that opportunity – I’m more than excited about it, I’ve really enjoyed the little dealings I’ve had so far with the team," he said. 

"I think the team seems to be extremely professional in the way they handle everything. So far, it’s only early but it’s a really nice feeling.”