Reynolds opens up on Bathurst crash aftermath

"Fundamentally, you just don't crash cars."

That's the simple message by David Reynolds, who has watched on as Team 18 turned around a car build in quick time following his Repco Bathurst 1000 crash.

Reynolds suffered a 32G accident in Bathurst qualifying, leading to a poor race and decision to ready a spare car for the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.

It was a case of what could have been, with Reynolds comfortably in the top 10 at the time of his accident. Instead, he started down the pack after an all-night repair effort, before crawling to 24th with a bent car.

"When I reflect on Bathurst, it was actually going really well up until the crash happened,” said Reynolds, who will wear a special helmet to raise awareness for breast cancer.

"And that sort of took us down the wrong path after that. So up until then, it was actually going really well. But, you know, the one rule in racing is you don't have big crashes in cars, because nothing's ever repaired the same.

“We kind of got lost a bit after that, and then obviously there's problems that arise when you spend a whole 12 hours building a car when it should be a week's worth of build time there.

“Fundamentally, you just don't crash cars. And unfortunately, it's high stakes, high stakes track, high stakes racing, and we were going for pole.”

Team 18 got back to Melbourne and straight into the car build, with the new chassis set for a shakedown at Queensland Raceway on Wednesday.

Where Reynolds would have been a non-starter for Bathurst and a question mark for the Gold Coast with the old generation car, he is instead preparing to defend his 2023 win thanks to Team 18's efforts, something that isn't lost on the veteran racer.

"Obviously I wouldn't be here without the commitment of my guys or my whole team behind me,” Reynolds said.

"Everyone puts their heart and soul into this team, on the track and off the track too. A lot of people don't see how much hard work goes into preparing for every race.

"We're building a new chassis, which is probably about a thousand hours of work, and we've got about five days to do it. There's going to be a lot of long nights here, but everyone's more than happy to do it.

"They love taking on a challenge, so that's what's awesome about our team."

The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 25-27. Tickets for the event are on sale now.

Live coverage can be found on Foxtel, with live streaming available on Kayo. The Seven Network will take free to air coverage. International viewers can follow all the action on Superview.