Changes Abound at Supercheap Auto Racing
Saturday, 2 February 2008
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Forget everything you thought you knew about the team formerly known as Paul Morris Motorsport.
The lead-up to the 2008 V8 Supercar season has witnessed quantum changes in drivers, personnel, cars, technology, sponsorship and, most importantly of all, attitude.
In fact, about the only thing that hasn’t changed in the new-look squad, now named Supercheap Auto Racing and unveiled at the Brisbane International Motor Show today, is team owner Paul Morris – the man who has driven the Norwell-based team’s transformation from the top down.
The first piece of the jigsaw puzzle was the signing of 12-year series veteran and 2005 V8 Supercar champion Russell Ingall in a high-profile return to Holden after five years with Ford.
Along with Ingall has come a new naming rights sponsor in Supercheap Auto, Australia’s fastest growing national auto store chain with a long history of V8 Supercar involvement.
Morris then set in motion a chain of events that has seen a significant turnover in the team’s personnel, as well as sending one of its 2008 chassis to the US for high-level testing in a wind tunnel and on a seven-post shaker rig.
The result is a revitalised, cohesive team that is building two new cars armed with top-level technical data, with two experienced and highly motivated drivers keen to demonstrate their best form still lies in front of them.
Even the team’s eye-catching new livery, another masterpiece by leading Holden designer Peter Hughes, is a stunningly colourful departure from the signature black-and-white look of previous years.
Ingall said he had been extremely impressed with the new team structure Morris had built. “All the people involved have been carefully selected not only on their ability, but on their ability to gel well with others because that’s a major factor,” he said. “It was definitely a careful selection and I’d say it’s one of the best-assembled crew of any V8 Supercar team.
“To be honest, that’s the backbone of the whole thing. Without good people behind the scenes, you’re just not going to win so that was the number one priority. Everything else flows on from there. Yes, it’s important to build a good race car, but you can’t do that unless you have good people.”
A key addition for Ingall is his new engineer, James Small, who worked last season with Garry Rogers Motorsport to plot Lee Holdsworth’s stunning round victory at Oran Park. James is the son of Les Small, who will continue to engineer Morris’s #67 Commodore. Jamie Noonan, who last year joined the team after working with Stone Brothers Racing in its championship-winning era, continues to head up the engine program.
Morris said he had given Ingall the freedom to plot his own course. “I wanted Russell to be around as much as he can, and in the past month he’s probably been in the workshop more than I have, which is great,” he said. “He’s rolled up his sleeves and gone in there and is helping everyone as much as he can. I have given him free rein to do what he wants with his car, and how he wants to do it.
“He’s not just a steering wheel attendant at our place; he’s part of the whole operation. It’s been good for me to have someone I can rely on to do that stuff as well. Right down to the livery, Russell’s been involved in that as well.
“He has the results and we’re expecting him to perform, but we have to make sure we have good enough cars to do it, and he’s part of that process as well. There’s no one to blame except ourselves if it doesn’t go the way we want it to.”
For that reason, Morris arranged for the first of the team’s 2008 chassis – the #39 Commodore that Ingall will drive – to be air-freighted to North Carolina for five days of intensive suspension setup testing on Ohlins’ seven-post shaker rig in Hendersonville, and 20 hours in Ayrdyne’s wind tunnel in Mooresville – a research and development program that cost around $200,000.
“It was hugely beneficial, a lot more value than what you can learn by just driving a car around at a test track,” Morris said.
“There are a few small things that we’ll get gains from straight away. We’ve looked at what we’ve got now and how we can make it better, and now we’ve got to go away and make the parts to make the improvements.
“At the moment it’s all-hands-on-deck just trying to get the two cars finished in time for the test day and the first race. Those first three race meetings are really close together so to make any new stuff for the cars, you probably won’t see that until the fourth round.”
Ingall said he was confident that the “small things” would make a big difference to the new cars he and Morris would run. “The cars are coming along extremely well, they’ve got some very innovative ideas under the skin that hopefully will give them a bit of an edge over the competitors,” he said.
“The engine development program is going well, that’s stepped up another level, all the data picked up from the US has been analysed by the new engineers and they’re very happy with what’s been achieved over there. So far so good, everything’s been working extremely well. The short timeline to the first meeting (Clipsal 500) is probably the only negative, but that’s out of our hands.
“Saying that, we’re fairly confident that by the time we head there, we’ll get the test out of the way which will tell us a lot and we’ll be pretty much on the money by the time we get to Adelaide. It’s a big learning curve.”
Ingall said he was delighted with his interactions with new sponsor Supercheap Auto. “The feedback we’re getting so far is that they’re very happy with everything that’s happened so far, and we haven’t even turned a wheel yet,” he said.
“They’ve got a great marketing plan for this year and it’s going to very much involve motorsport and the race team. So we want to make sure we’re a winner for them.”
Morris agreed. “I’ve been involved with some good sponsors but Supercheap Auto has been the best team of guys to work with once the deal has been done, they have been fantastic,” he said.
Ingall said his move from Ford to Morris’s Holden-based team – a return to the marque with which he raced in his early years in the sport and twice won the Bathurst 1000 – had initially received a lukewarm response from some fans.
“Now, all of a sudden, they’re hearing about the stuff that’s going on and the effort that’s going on behind the scenes, and all of a sudden the feedback we’re getting is that we could be a bit of a surprise package this year,” he said.
“We’ve gone public with what we’re doing, not because we care what other teams think, but because we do care what our fans and potential fans think,” he said. “This is a serious effort, and I think a lot of people are suddenly thinking ‘these guys could be the dark horses in this year’s championship’ and it’s a nice position to be in.”
Morris also confirmed he had in-principle agreements with US NASCAR road course specialist Boris Said and two-time British Touring Car Championship winner Matt Neal to join the team for the 2008 enduro rounds.
“I think Boris is even shelving one of his Sprint Cup races to come here and race Bathurst, he’s so keen,” Morris said. “Matt has raced at Bathurst with me before and has always wanted to come back again.”
Andrew Thompson signs with PWR Racing
Release Date: 25/01/2008
PWR returns with single car Holden Commodore VE entry for rising star Young gun Andrew Thompson has signed to drive a Holden in this year’s V8 Supercar Championship Series.
Thompson, 20, will campaign the #50 PWR Performance Products Commodore VE in his first fulltime V8 season, with additional backing from Hog’s Breath Café and Queensland property marketers InvestQld.com.
PWR Racing will run the single car program from its Dandenong, Melbourne, race headquarters, with technical assistance from Walkinshaw Performance.
“I have been chipping away at a V8 ‘main game’ deal for the past six to seven months and it’s taken some work. I’ve had to be patient and wait until it was all signed and sealed, and now it is its full steam ahead,” an excited Thompson said.
PWR Racing Team Principal, Kees Weel said the opportunity to sign one of the sport’s brightest young stars was enough for him to reverse his decision not to field an entry in this year’s V8 series.
“You’ve got to introduce new blood and Andrew’s a fast and extremely talented young bloke worthy of being given a go. When this opportunity came up it wasn’t a difficult decision to jump straight back in,” Weel said.
“With continued technical support from Walkinshaw Performance we’ll give Andrew a good car and he’ll impress.”
The electrifying Gold Coaster first came to notice in karting, winning 13 State and two National titles and the CIK/FIA Oceania Championship before he won the Ford Kart Stars ‘scholarship’ series as a 15 year old in 2003.
In his first season of circuit racing in 2004, Thompson ran a shortened Formula Ford campaign, securing a race win and second overall in the Bathurst FFord Trophy and a round win in the Victorian State Series, finishing 11th in national series points.
Sitting out 2005, Thompson signed with Dick Johnson Racing the following year to contest the second tier Fujitsu V8 Supercar Series, finishing eighth overall and winning the season’s two final rounds – blitzing the field at Bathurst before backing that win up at Phillip Island.
He again contested the development series last year, but cut short his campaign with Howard Racing after just five rounds, electing to concentrate on his Sandown and Bathurst enduro debut with DJR.
After mechanical problems forced Thompson and co-driver Alex Davison out at Sandown, he struck back to finish eighth in his maiden Bathurst 1000 appearance, the highest placed rookie.
Thompson will have his first taste of a Holden at the official V8 Supercar pre-season test at Winton Motor Raceway, near Benalla, in two weeks before heading to Adelaide for the season-opening Clipsal 500 on 21-24 February.
“The first goal is to get into the car and get comfortable before Adelaide, while also trying to feel the difference between the Commodore and Falcon,” Thompson said.
Touted as a potential future champion, Thompson said he won’t feel any external pressures to perform when he makes his fulltime V8 debut next month.
“The only pressure I feel when I’m racing comes from within me, trying to achieve what I’ve set my sights on. If I can satisfy myself, then everything else will be looked after.”
This post has been edited by MR.HRT: 22 February 2008 - 11:10 AM
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