Engineer preview: Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint
Nissan Motorsport engineer Perry Kapper says that while the Altimas were quick at Queensland Raceway last year, it will be even tougher this time around.
James Moffat -who has been reunited with Kapper this season - earned ARMOR ALL Pole Position last year at Ipswich and sits 15th in a very close part of the Championship.
Kapper admitted the pole was a surprise even to the Nissan group in 2015.
"It actually caught us by surprise last year," he told v8supercars.com.au.
"We'd been going like crazy, heads down, bum up, developing the car and that weekend made us stop and take stock of what we had at our fingertips.
"If the car is balanced then I think we can be competitive, however it will definitely be tougher this year than last year. We've already seen a decrease in lap times over last year."
Kapper -who has been with Nissan since 2013, working with Todd Kelly the past two years -described it as "interesting" working with Moffat as both have honed their skills in the past few years.
The #99 race engineer explained the ins and outs of Queensland Raceway ahead of this weekend's Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint.
The circuit
While Queensland Raceway may look basic with a simple layout and just six corners, 'the paperclip' is actually quite tricky.
Kapper says the drivers play an even bigger part here, given the closeness of the field.
"At QR a simple change in entry speed at turn two or a particular brake release at turn six can be worth upwards of 0.2 seconds - and can mean the difference between first and just scraping into the 10," he said.
"The circuit has a mixture of corners, really only turn three and turn six could be considered somewhat similar - this makes it a challenge for setting up the car to be good everywhere.
"It's inevitable a compromise is required and the question then becomes which corner or corners do we sacrifice to gain everywhere else?"
While the track was recently resurfaced, the bump in braking and entry at turn one and the bumpy mid to exit at turn two remain and are unique to this circuit.
The cars
According to Kapper, good car balance is the key.
"A well balanced car that gives the driver confidence under brakes and entry, with good rotation on throttle will keep most drivers happy," he said.
The track is quite sympathetic on the mechanical parts of the V8 Supercars
"Drop offs and ruts begin to form over the race weekend and have caused tyre failures and bent rims in the past (for example the exit T2, T5, T6) but the driver can manage this dependent on how hard they are pushing."
The clockwise 3.12km track places the most pressure on the left hand side of the cars.
"Because of the layout, the left side tyres cop most of the load and therefore particularly the left rear can degrade quite quickly and has the biggest effect on overall lap time," Kapper explained.
Practice
Friday practice at Ipswich is the first this season with an exclusive session for additional drivers.
Teams are allowed to run a secondary driver -most likely the co-driver - for half an hour to help give them time behind the wheel before the start of the PIRTEK Enduro Cup in September.
Moffat's co-driver Taz Douglas -who he stood on the Bathurst podium with last year -will have a run on Friday.
"Taz will be in the car for the co-driver only session, with the focus on producing consistent lap times," Kapper explained.
"It's a good opportunity for him to have another taste of the car now that his entire focus is on the upcoming endurance races.
"Taz is always straight on it, he is definitely one of those naturally talented guys who doesn't need to over think what he's doing in the car."
Given Queensland Raceway is the local test track for Queensland-based teams, Kapper believes the locals may be focused on development during practice.
"I think a number of teams will dedicate a portion of the first practice to development, especially those Queensland-based teams thathave a solid base setup locked in," he said of practice one.
"Practice two will be for fine-tuning the weekend's setup and you will find everyone on a new set of tyres at the end of P2 doing a qualy sim.
"This can be a defining moment for the weekend, because if the car feels good at the end of P2 and it's in the top 10, then you have a solid platform to build from."
The final 15-minute session on Saturday morning is an opportunity to ensure the cars are ready for qualifying -back to back sessions, one on the hard and one on the soft tyre.
"Teams will be focused on fine tuning that Friday afternoon setup and you might see a mixture of soft and hard to evaluate any balance shift for qualifying," Kapper said.
Race format
The SuperSprint format run in Darwin will continue for this round, meaning the day's first race will run on the hard tyre, and the second on the soft.
That means teams need to make a call on how much the car setup is changed when going from the hard to soft compound.
"Typically we do the majority of our setup work on the hard tyre for obvious reasons, and naturally the car performs better on the soft tyre," Kapper explained.
"It is essential to have simple but effective pre-determined changes to achieve this and once you have these, typically the balance on the hard tyre translates over to the soft."
Sunday sounds reasonably simple: "Spending the greatest amount of time on that one set of soft tyres, without having them begin to cliff in the final stint".
Kapper suggests the racing will be particularly exciting in the second part of Sunday's race.
"The tyre degradation is quite dependent on the balance of the car. If it does what the driver needs without them having to drive around an issue then the rate of deg will be relatively low."
Pit stops
Because of the minimum fuel drop, which dictates that each car must take one 120 litres of fuel during Sunday's race, cars will need to make at least two pit stops.
"The minimum fuel drop creates an interesting situation where the cars start the race only half full," Kapper explained.
"This is due to the requirement of the min drop and having enough space to actually fit it in under all circumstances.
"There is approximately 32 seconds of fuel that needs to be delivered over two stops, so you will see people short filing at the first one and long fill at the second, and vice versa."
He suggests an early safety car may see cars file in to pit lane for some 'free' fuel time - but that would mean two very long stints at the end, with tyre degradation coming into play.
On what lap can the cars pit and make it home?
"Fuel economy has an effect even with the min drop, because of the SC window open to the end, which means it's a battle of how many laps you can do on a full tank - but complicating this is the amount of fuel the car started with and how much fuel the driver has used during the race," Kapper said.
"I would expect somewhere around lap 25 to come home on a full tank, which makes it a fairly solid 40 laps to the end."
Safety Cars
"The T1 sand trap has caused a few SC's in the past with cars stuck, but apart from a fairly major incident they are quite rare," Kapper said.
Given there is plenty of run-off at the track -opposed to a tight, concrete-lined street circuit - don't bank on too many safety car interventions.
The Coates Hire Ipswich SuperSprint kicks off on Friday, with tickets still available and coverage live on FOX SPORTS 506. Click here for moreinformation.
