Preparing for Success at Bathurst
Aug
4
Written by:
Wednesday, August 04, 2010 12:57 PM
A lot of Australian motor-racing teams are on holidays at the moment, thanks to the extensive off-season break in most racing series across the country.
However, Supaloc Racing is not one of those teams. On the contrary, the Supaloc Racing team members are working tirelessly throughout the next two months to give driver Kevin Weeks the greatest chance of success when he tackles Round 5 of the Australian GT Championship at Bathurst in October.
According to Supaloc Racing technical director Oscar Fiorinotto, the previous round of the Australian GT Championship exposed several areas in the team’s Lamborghini Gallardo GT3 where significant improvements were needed to bring the car up to a front-running pace.
“At Phillip Island, there were some problems with the car which restricted our ability to be competitive,” Fiorinotto said.
“Firstly, we were down on power because there was a problem with the variable camshaft timing (VCT). After the event, we discovered a wiring problem, which explained the reason for the VCT not allowing the car to perform to its full potential. It was causing us to lose a lot of straight-line speed compared to all the other cars.
“Also, we had some gearbox difficulties. Fourth gear failed altogether, so we sent the gearbox back to Hollinger, who repaired and rebuilt the gearbox.”
For Bathurst, the Supaloc Racing team is also making some technical upgrades to the car to bring it into line with the other Lamborghini Gallardos that contest the series.
“Up until now, we had been running the 2007 specification equipment,” Fiorinotto explained. “For Bathurst, we have upgraded to 2008-spec, which means larger throttle bodies, and upgraded ABS, gearshift and ECU software supplied by Reiter engineering.
“These upgrades will put us on a level playing-field with the other Lamborghini drivers like Peter Hackett, Peter Hill and Simon Middleton.
“One thing we haven’t changed though is the handling package. At Phillip Island, we were very happy with the way the car was handling, so with the improved straight-line performance combined with excellent handling, Kevin should be right on the pace at Bathurst,” Fiorinotto concluded.