Australian V8 Supercars – Between NASCAR Sprint Cup cars and GT cars
During our stay in Melbourne for the Australian Grand Prix, Motorsport.com spent some time in the paddock of the famous, fast and furious Australian V8 Supercar series.
We also enjoyed a talk with Will Davison, driver of the No. 19 Holden Commodore VF entered by Tekno Autosports. Steve Hallam, former Chief Racing Engineer at McLaren F1 heads the Tekno team based in Stapylton, Queensland.
After two seasons with Erebus Motorsport – which saw him earn one win last season – Davison, the 2009 championship runner-up, now drives for Tekno Autosport and is behind the wheel of a Holden built by Triple Eight Race Engineering.
“I raced in the British Formula Renault 2.0 series in 2002, competing against Lewis Hamilton. He finished third and I was fourth in the championship”, Davison told us. “In British F3, I raced against Nelson Piquet Jr. and most of the guys who are in F1 today. Then, Will Power and I got the chance to test a Minardi F1 car thanks to Paul Stoddart. I got really close to F1. We worked very hard for many years to make it happen, but money was a big issue. I was high in debt, and I got a professional opportunity back here and I had to take it.”
Davison has been competing in the Australian V8 Supercars series since then. He told us where these very unique race cars fit in the global motorsport environment. “They’re probably in between a Sprint Cup car and a GT car. The regulation controls the category, but all the small details are very refined. The cars are built in-house, and although there are a lot of control components, there’s still enough freedom for the engineers to try to find an advantage here and there.
“The Supercar has more aerodynamics than a Sprint Cup car, but not as much as a GT car. The aerodynamic is still enough to make a difference, certainly because the tires we use are quite small. It is quite an under-tire car, which makes it quite sensitive to the aerodynamics and the mechanical balance; it’s very sensitive to getting it right. With 650 bhp under the hood and a locked differential, it calls for a unique driving style. It’s difficult to get the most out of it, but it’s an exciting race car. When it’s good, we can be pretty aggressive, going over the kerbs. It’s got quite big brakes, bigger than on a Sprint Cup car, so you can brake very late. It’s also nicely built inside with the sequential gearbox and the live telemetry with sensors on the dampers and the suspension, so we have quite some things to play with,” Davison told Motorsport.com.
