Engineer preview: Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600

After a difficult Bathurst, the Supercheap Auto Racing crew has worked around the clock to get the Holden Commodore back together for the weekend's event.

Last year, the Gold Coast 600 was a strong event for the SCAR car, finishing on the podium in the final race with Russell Ingall and Ryan Briscoe behind the wheel.

The day before, competitor Tony D'Alberto was just shy of the podium, equaling his best result at the concrete-lined street track.

This time around,D'Alberto will co-drivealongsideTim Slade, and with the Walkinshaw Racing group's strong performances at street tracks this year - and positive news with Supercheap Auto to continue backing the team in 2015 -the crew is ready to hit the track.

Engineer for #47 Jason Bush described the damage to the Commodore as on par with Slade's Eastern Creek hit. "Maybe a touch worse," he told v8supercars.com.au.

"The right front corner back to the firewall needed to be replaced. It was stripped and in the WR fabrication department by 1pm Tuesday [after Bathurst], back in the workshop painted by lunchtime Friday and in the truck Saturday afternoon as good as new.

"The tight turn around means the workload has been high, but we didn't get a chance to dwell - instead turning our attention to the Gold Coast and the rest of 2014. It was great to have Supercheap Auto re-commit for 2015 and with the gains made at WR this year we move forward with confidence."

Bush explained the ins and outs of the Surfers Paradise circuit ahead of the weekend's Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600.

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

Bush: "Surfers Paradise is a classic street circuit - the corners are generally quite short and there are a few chicanes and changes of direction. The grip is generally quite good - since the move to the short track in 2010 a lot of the sections have been resurfaced though there are a lot of bumps and a fair amount of road camber.

"Compared to Bathurst/Phillip Island/Eastern Creek there is less time spent at high lateral load at Surfers Paradise, which puts a premium on a braking stability and drive traction. The last corner has a very long drive zone onto a reasonably long straight (for a street track) which shows relative strength and weakness across cars in the race. With most corners on the track the car needs to rotate in a very short period of time without having the rear unpredictable.

"The two chicanes place a premium on stability and kerb riding/recovery - though in the race being conservative can be a gain as many drivers in 2013 found out with suspension failures from taking too much kerb in the races.

"Compared to some of the other street circuits on the calendar (Adelaide and Townsville) the walls at Surfers Paradise have to be run to get a laptime - at most of the corners you brake and turn in from the outside wall, apex at the inside wall and drift out to the exit wall as you get on the power. If you don't use all of the available track you will be slow. Expect to see a nice collection of side mirrors around the track and any driver who hasn't rubbed a wall in qualifying probably isn't trying hard enough.

"The track will improve a lot, especially after the first morning of running as the track rubbers up and the dirt and fluids spilt from the last 12 months of road traffic are cleaned up."

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

"The race formats are the same as last year - 2 x 102 lap races where each driver can do no more than 68 laps (this generally translates to the co-driver doing a minimum of 34 laps).

"Passing at Surfers Paradise isn't easy in most conditions and there is often a reasonable field spread, so qualifying is extremely important. Expect to see a flurry of green tyres at the end of Practice 4 as teams work on their qualifying setup and tyre warming procedures. At short circuits with low degradation it can be difficult to get the tyres in the correct working zone as well as phasing the front and the rear for qualifying, so expect to see team's trialing different approaches before qualifying.

"The risk of safety cars is higher than most tracks so the teams have to be on their toes in terms of having contingency plans ready to go and being 1 stop ahead in planning their required driver laps.

"The change from last year's fuel delivery rules won't have a massive effect - there will be a change in when you would be willing to take a Safety Car for an extra stop and potentially a re-think on how you structure the driver laps."

What is the tyre allocation and what sort of degradation are you expecting? How will this impact setup and strategy?

"We are allocated 8 sets of Dunlop Soft tyres, one of which has to be returned before qualifying. For a standard green flag race we need 3 sets of tyres so there is an extra set that can be slotted in under the right conditions.

"Last year degradation was low (around 0.02 s/lap) so basically wasn't a consideration in terms of strategy.

"The biggest change since last year has been the recently mandated 17 PSI minimum tyre pressure rule. Many teams have been running the soft tyre at lower pressures to give better longevity, so there could be some teams who are running there pressures higher than they would have in 2013, so there is potential to see a higher level of tyre degradation. That said, even doubling last year's degradation still puts it much less than other circuits (Winton and Barbagallo) in terms of degradation per kilometre so it probably won't be a limiting factor in determining the race strategy.

"In terms of setup, looking after the rear tyre isn't as simple as inducing understeer - the short corners mean a quick rotation rate is needed so while drive is important, the best drive in the world is useless unless you can carry speed to the corner."

What are the options for managing co-drivers across the two races?

"As with all endurance races, the main drivers will most likely do the final stint in the race, the main decision is whether you start the co-driver and do one driver change, or start the main driver and put the co-driver in the middle of the race.

"All of the endurance drivers have done at least one start (Qualifying Race at the Sandown 500) so there isn't a huge concern in putting them in to start if that's the chosen strategy.

"With the proximity of the walls and the high speed chicanes, Surfers Paradise can show up reasonable differences in pace between the co-driver and main driver - if the co-driver isn't comfortable it is easy to lose a lot of time. That's not an issue for Supercheap Auto Racing - Tony qualified fourth in the Top 10 Shootout last year and finished the first race in fourth so I think he will be a standout co-driver there, as he was at Bathurst.

"One of the big items is ensuring the co-driver can recover on Saturday night for Sunday.

"We saw a lot of drivers struggle at Bathurst and while there are less stints at Surfers Paradise, the ambient and track temps are up, there is less time for a break down the straights and the concentration levels are so high it will be important that the co-driver is hydrated and in recovery mode as soon as they finish their stint on Saturday. We are lucky as Tony has been a main game driver for a long time so understands the stresses and we have a great team assisting the drivers."

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

"The Walkinshaw Racing cars are traditionally strong at street tracks (Adelaide/Townsville/Surfers Paradise and Homebush) with strong braking and rotation characteristics, so we have expectations of good performance this weekend. Russell Ingall and Ryan Briscoe bought the SCAR car home on the podium last year and the other WR cars have had winds and podiums at street tracks this year.

"The biggest factors will be keeping the rear tyre alive in the multiple traction zones and being able to tune the car to a point where both drivers (especially the co-driver) is comfortable to lean on the car to get consistent lap times.

"Tim finished fourth in Adelaide in his first outing for SCAR so with Tony's speed there in 2013 we think we have all the ingredients for a strong weekend."

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

"Unfortunately there is no single thing that will net a result - any weakness will be exploited by the opposition.

"From a co-driver point of view, having a car that is comfortable to lean on is very important. For the main driver, qualifying at the front helps the co-driver out a lot - it's easy to get shoved around mid pack.

"From a team point of view, being on top of all the possibilities in the race. You can't predict what will happen (Bathurst showed that!) but being ready for anything will help. Car speed never hurts either."

The Castrol EDGE Gold Coast 600 kicks off on Friday - tickets are still available to the event, which combines V8 Supercars racing with a party atmosphere over three days at Surfers Paradise.