Hectic schedule prompts BJR build
The hectic schedule that ends this year's V8 Supercars Championship has been a key driver for Brad Jones Racing's decision to build a new Holden Commodore VF for star driver Fabian Coulthard.
The new chassis, BJR005, will have a shakedown run later thisweek before making its debut for Freightliner Racing in the SKYCITY Triple Crown Darwin SuperSprint on June 19-21.
Coulthard's old car, BJR002, or Tallulah as it was christened, will become the team's fully built up spare, requiring only the installation of fuel tank to go racing.
From the October 8-11 Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 onwards, Championship events are run every two weeks until the finale at the Sydney NRMA 500 at Sydney Olympic Park on December 4-6.
In the middle of that swing, the entire circus must pack up and fly to New Zealand for the ITM 500 Auckland at Pukekohe on November 6-8.
"We have seen in this new era that cars are damaged and sometimes not repairable before the next round, so we would feel more comfortable if we have complete spare," BJR chief engineer Andrew Edwards told v8supercars.com.au.
"Some of the rounds (later) in the year are so close if we don't have a spare we could be in trouble for the next round.
"That is 100 per cent why we are doing this ... it's a good insurance policy to have."
BJR has direct experience of the dramas major shunts car cause. Last year Coulthard's team-mate Jason Bright barrel-rolled his Team BOC Commodore at the Clipsal 500 and had to have a new car built before the Australian Grand Prix.
BJR isn't the only team making contingency plans for the busy end of season schedule, with Walkinshaw Racing planning to have two VFs in the shed as back-ups, including the car rolled at Bathurst last year.
Prodrive Racing Australia already has two spare Ford Falcon FG Xs, while Triple Eight Race Engineering has spare options also.
Shane van Gisbergen will also debut the new Triple Eight-spec Darrell Lea STIX Holden Commodore VF at Hidden Valley in Darwin for Tekno Autosports.
Edwards said BJR005 was not a significant advance from 30-month old Tallulah, reflecting the fact the category's New Generation technical regulations define much of the car's componentry.
"This car only has some very minor tidying up. It's not what I would call a significant development.
"Most of the updates we make are in suspension which we apply to all the cars."
While Walkinshaw Racing boss Adrian Burges told v8supercars.com.au he had no plans to roll out the squad's new cars, Edwards said there were benefits in pressing 005 straight into service.
"We just want to try and do everything we can to make sure we have the best car," he said.
"Maybe there is some risk because what Fabian has at the moment is competitive and he is getting on the podium at most rounds.
"There's no specific reason why this car should be any different, but it is a complete freshen-up."
The new car will have quite a record to live up to as Tallulah is BJR's most successful V8 Supercar, claiming seven pole positions, eight race wins, 24 podiums and two lap records including Mount Panorama.
Coulthard retired Tallulah with second place in the 200km Race 12 at the NP300 Navara Winton SuperSprint and runs third in the V8 Supercars drivers' Championship.
