Erebus Steers New Power Course

The decision to temporarily drop electric power-assisted steering from its Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG V8 Supercars appears to have paid off for Erebus Motorsport V8.

The three-car team, led by Heavy Haulage Australia E63 driver Tim Slade, has posted a series of top 10 qualifying and race results since the swap to hydraulic assistance was made after the disastrous Austin 400, where the high temperatures forced the Benzes to pit because of over-heating power steering pumps.

Also aiding the improved performance is local engine development work being conducted out of the former SBRE (Stone Brothers Racing Engines), which has helped eke more power from the AMG M159 engine, although the team is scoffing at pitlane reports of a 40 horsepower gain.

At the SKYCITY Triple Crown in Darwin Slade managed a sixth place in Race 17, while teammate Maro Engel (SP Tools) was ninth in Race 19. At the Sucrogen Townsville 400 Slade made the team’s first appearance in the ARMOR ALL Top 10 Shootout and then finished a hard-fought eighth in Race 21.

The team’s next outing is the July 26-28 Coates Hire Ipswich 360 at its Queensland Raceway test track.

“The change to a hydraulic steering pump has been very successful,” Erebus Motorsport V8 CEO Ryan Maddison confirmed to v8supercars.com.au. “We definitely haven’t seen any failures and no indication it is going to fail.

“At this point in time, risk is significantly reduced with the mechanical pump so we will stick with that for the time being until we know exactly where we are at.”

The ‘SBRE’ work focuses on exterior ancillaries such as exhausts and is being conducted in parallel with AMG’s performance partner in Germany, HWA, which developed the 5.0-litre version of the M159 employed in Slade, Engel and Lee Holdsworth’s racers. 

Electric-assist power steering was one of a number of concessions granted to the Erebus team to aid the competitiveness and authenticity of its E63 V8 Supercar. Of the others, the E-Gas drive-by-wire throttle has already been set aside.

However, a flat-plane crankshaft continues to be employed in the engine, while the AMG-developed E-Cell safety seat also remains part of the package.

Maddison stressed the move away from electric power assistance and E-Gas will be temporary.

“We don’t want to lose the Car of the Future aspect and technology out of the vehicle. These are effectively AMG components that are successfully used on AMG race and passenger cars and we would like to utilise them. But right now we need to make sure we are not going racing and compromising our program.

“In short, we need more time with these technologies before they are proven for V8s for our application.”

Local engine work began as early as March, but has cranked up in terms of development since the calendar began to stretch out in May, allowing the team to think about development as well as maintenance.

“These parallel programs being run between Germany and Yatala have tasks defined by tight time lines and efficiency toward results,” Maddison said. “If not for the capabilities of AMG (and HWA) as a key component to our project we would not have had Erebus Motorsport V8 cars on the track within 109 days for this season.

“The flat plane crankshaft is good example of these tight timelines. It provides no performance advantage over the 90 degree cranks in rivals engine, but it was more efficient to utilise because HWA has a lot of expertise in this area.”

While performance is improved, the Erebus E63’s engine – as well as the Nissan VK56DE powering the Nissan Altima – remains shy of the established Ford and Chevrolet powerplants in terms of both power and fuel economy.