Nissan aero change ahead of Bathurst

Kelly Racing will head to the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 with a revised aerodynamic package on its four Nissan Altimas.

Supercars’ technical department has signed off on the latest tweak, intended to offer a small drag reduction without impacting downforce.

The change comes in the form of the addition of an outboard bootlid extension, incorporating a continued gurney across the full width of the boot.

It is the third change to the Altima in 2019, following a re-homologation over the off-season and a further revision ahead of The Bend in August.

The new-for-2019 Ford Mustang and the ZB Commodore have also undergone changes during the season in Supercars’ quest for technical parity.

Supercars’ Head of Motorsport Adrian Burgess confirmed the latest change will come into effect immediately.

“The Supercars Technical Department received an application from Kelly Racing for an aerodynamic adjustment following the most recent event at Pukekohe,” he said. “Upon assessing the application and the information supplied, the Technical Department approved the submission as the delegated authority of the Supercars Commission.

“This adjustment will be in effect from the Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 onwards.”

A new gurney will extend across the full width of the boot

Following its development in CFD [Computational Fluid Dynamics], Kelly Racing tested the latest change during its pre-Bathurst test at Winton on Tuesday.

Although not able to detect an improvement at the low-speed Victorian venue, team owner Todd Kelly hopes it’ll provide a minor gain on the straights at Bathurst.

This year is the seventh for the Altima in Supercars racing, fighting to be competitive with Ford Mustang and ZB Commodore.

“There’s really nothing left in our cars. With that body shape and the way it’s been designed, it’s pretty much tapped out,” Kelly told Supercars.com.

“In CFD there is a very small gain with the latest change, a slight amount less drag with the same downforce, but it’s absolutely splitting hairs in the CFD.

“At Winton, we did three back-to-back runs and we couldn’t tell the difference in driver feedback, lap time or the data.

“But given there’s a very small difference in CFD and it didn’t show up as anything negative at Winton, we’re quite keen to just bank it and hope that it shows up at 300km/h at Bathurst.

“It’s splitting hairs, but it’s worth splitting hairs when we’re going to the fastest track we race on.”

Kelly Racing has three new driver combinations for Bathurst this year, with Simona De Silvestro and Alex Rullo its only carryover pairing.

Dunlop Super2 Series leader Bryce Fullwood joins Andre Heimgartner, Dale Wood teams with long-time friend Rick Kelly and Dean Fiore links with rookie Garry Jacobson.