TOP 6 FOR JONES AT BATHURST

www.cartrek.com.au Round Five 2005 Holden Performance Driving Centre (HPDC) V8 Supercar Development Series Mount Panorama, Bathurst, 6-9 October 2005 Photos: Marshall Cass Photography, James Smith TOP 6 FOR JONES AT BATHURST EVENT SCHEDULE Day Event Format Times Thursday Practice 35 Minutes 09:35-10:10 Thursday Practice 35 Minutes 14:20-14:55 Thursday Qualifying 20 Minutes 16:20-17:10 Friday Race 1 14 Laps 12:45-13:25 Saturday Race 2 14 Laps 13:35-14:15 FAST FACTS Quite confidence as the professional privateers head north Team morale boosted with support of many sponsor VIP s One hundred kilograms in additional mandatory ballast does nothing to halt the Spies Hecker Commodore s improvements, a whopping one and a half seconds over last year Some of Robbie s lap sector times on a par with the best Mountain-top speed increased dramatically with suspension improvements, the Spies Hecker Commodore was on rails Robbie starts Race One from a very encouraging twelfth place and maintains it over the distance Spies Hecker Commodore stays out of trouble whilst predictable carnage-a-plenty unfolds in Race Two Robbie claims sixth place in Race Two

INTRODUCTION Quiet confidence, tempered by the realty that Bathurst can be the cruellest of mistresses, saw the Spies Hecker Racing Team bag a fantastic result and take the fight right up to the Level One V8Supercar teams that also field entries in the Holden Performance Driving Centre V8Supercars Development Series: Australia s greatest race track delivered Robert Jones the great result that his hardworking Spies Hecker Racing team had been longoverdue for: a top sixth place. Robert explained, the car had a bit too much understeer, the tendency for it to plough across a corner, in the left hand corners. This was pronounced at places like the drop into Reid Park, the first section at the top of the mountain, and Forrest s Elbow, the tight corner leading onto Conrod Straight. At Bathurst the left hand corners are critical. We made some suspension adjustments, normally all teams make several adjustments throughout the preliminary sessions and even between races, but this time we hit the bulls eye first time and our lap times dropped from 2minutes 18 s down to the 15 s which is a huge drop in one go. You can be lucky but these things also come from experience, and there's plenty of that in the Spies Hecker Racing Team. From this point we didn t need to make any further adjustments to the car over the entire weekend, the Spies Hecker Racing Commodore drove like it was on rails. The new shockers that we fitted for this event were a good choice and played an important part in this too. Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 2

Being a public road for 360 days a year you never quite know what you're going to find the track surface like, I didn t find any noticeable difference but we got some first-hand reports from teams in the Main Game (the level one V8Supercars Series) that the surface was pretty grippy across the top. In the early stages of the weekend we examined the sector times of our car compared to those in the main game and found that they were very similar on the top sections across the mountain, the major differences being the haul up the mountain and the run down Conrod Straight, due to more horsepower but also because our Development Series cars have to carry an additional 100 kilograms in weight. That s to eliminate the huge advantage that the main game teams get from the data and testing that comes from the Development Series cars that they run as part of their overall operation. PRACTICE SESSIONS The first session was the usual reacquainting time with the track s layout and we used old tyres from the last outing at Mallala. For the second session we fitted the best of the old tyres from Mallala and went progressively faster. During this phase we made those suspension adjustments and improved our speed and lap times substantially. Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 3

QUALIFYING SESSION As always, the Qualifying Session is divided into two based on each car s combined lap times from the Practice Sessions to make the track less congested and give the chance for each car not to have a fast lap ruined by traffic. We were just above the cut-off and went out in the lower fifty per cent of the field. This meant that most of the cars were slower than us with the potential for us to still get a fast lap ruined by traffic, so we had a plan. Instead of leaving pit lane at the same time as everyone else we waited until the first car reached The Chase (the kink in Conrod Straight) which put the front of the pack well out of our way with a minute of clear track ahead of the Spies Hecker Racing Commodore. Our lap times were amongst the fastest cars and we swapped places on the order several times with Evangelou and Fernandez in a tough qualifying battle. I really knuckled down to it and posted a very good best time of 2minutes, 15.1-seconds. Our plan went to plan and the Spies Hecker Commodore was the second fastest for this session. After the next lot of cars went out we were slated to start Race One from thirteenth place on the grid. The car was a gem, in our session it was the fastest across the top sectors of the mountain which was a real achievement because that is the most dangerous part of the track. It even felt quick. Last year, at the McPhillamy Park section (the final stage before descent) the car felt like a huge pogo stick as it went through the dip and around the very fast left hander, the front wheels lifted off the ground and I waited for them to come back down and touch the ground before I turned-in to the corner. This year I held it flat out from thirty metres before the corner, it was like it was on rails. I had total confidence in the car which then added to my ability to really wring its neck and my lap times went faster and faster each time around, the last lap being my quickest. We compared our lap times to the front running cars in the Development Series and found some very rewarding lessons, we had improved by one and a half seconds where they had gone slower by two. This was quite a massive gain for us despite carrying an extra one hundred kilos. All cars were checked by the Scrutineers as a matter of course after qualifying. Unbeknown to us one of the cars in front of us on the grid was found to have infringed or had an illegal specification on their car and put to the back of the grid, moving us up to Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 4

twelfth place for the commencement of the first of two fourteen lappers, other years where we had only one race on twenty five. RACE ONE The worst thing you can at Bathurst is drop the clutch too hard off the Start Line and break something in the drivetrain because of the heavier fuel load, not to mention this year s extra hundred kilograms. I bogged it down off the start line because of this but just about everyone else did too. I was a bit concerned about some spots of rain that appeared on my windscreen, but it turned out to be just a passing shower. Shortly into the race I caught the leading pack and stayed with them whilst they diced for position over the ensuing laps. My race went really well and without major incident, but I did have one close call. Going into Reid Park the car drifted just a bit too wide through the high-speed left hander and glanced the concrete wall which is right up against the track s edge. It sounded pretty bad from inside the car and I was expecting to the side of the car pancaked, several seconds and several hundred metres later I was heading toward Skyline (the crest commencing the steep descent) it occurred to me that the steering or some part of the suspension such as the Watts Link might have been damaged; let me tell you, the run down the mountain is not the place you want to find out about something like that. As things turned out the Spies Hecker Commodore was unscathed went on went on to take twelfth. RACE TWO We started from twelfth place again. The weather was looking threatening but the decision was made to start on slick tyres. However on the Warm Up lap it rained as we crossed the top of the mountain, in fact it bucketed, the track was like an ice skating rink. I got a ripper start when the lights went green and I fired up the inside of someone, we went three-wide through Turn One. I got squeezed on both sides as Voight and Scifleet closed over on me, they contacted the Spies Hecker Commodore and got spat in opposite directions, reaching the top of the mountain front-running Luff hit the wall and that was just the first half of lap one. Exiting Forrest s Elbow Aaron McGill skewed sideways, I went to the left of him and gassed it and went sideways too, out of no-where Grant Denyer shot through the middle of us. The Red Flag came out so that the track could be cleaned of debris, the decision was made to stay on slicks and we followed the Safety Car for several laps. On the restart Holdsworth was punted into the wall before the first corner which almost presented an opening for me but I got baulked and held position running up Mountain Straight, another Safety Car period was called to allow Holdsworth s mess to be cleared up. The weather conditions were still dodgy and it was raining heavily across the top of the mountain but was completely dry on the lower half of the track. Cars ahead and behind of me chose to go into the pits to fit wet tyres but we didn t. Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 5

Upon resumption Savage hit the wall exiting The Dipper, Loadsman followed him in and drilled him in the door and was spat across the road. Apparently he was knocked unconscious and the race was called because a lot of time had already been lost behind the Safety Car and Top Ten Shootout was coming up. So we were awarded with a sensational sixth place. SUMMARY At conclusion of the event Bob Jones was ebullient with praise for Robbie s performance, understandably proud as a father but also impartially as a seasoned Touring Car veteran and Bathurst 1000 campaigner, Paris and Peter (team engineers) both commented how well he drove, particularly in the changeable wet and dry. Highlights for me were his 190km/h scrape with the wall at McPhillamy which took the paint off the mirror and only lost a few tenths of a second on that lap- he just didn t lift off, the kangaroo jumping out in front of him, and his call to go with dry tyres when the top half of the track was wet and treacherous which was very brave indeed. I don t think I would have made that call, in fact I said at the time I really wouldn t like to be driving right now on that track, it was just too dangerous. We had two special guests on Friday, Steve Corna (former South African Touring Car Champion) and Rick Naylor, General manager and Mobile Solutions Manager for ADI Thales Telematics, business partners of Recar. Peter Slack was there representing Spies Hecker as well as a number of Recar staff members from Brisbane and New South Wales. Robbie closed with, we didn t crack the magic 300 kilometres per hour barrier, but got very close with a fastest speed of 284 but it was a weekend that finally ran our way. It was the first time we had completed a Bathurst race with a clean car, and with consistently fast lap times. Behind the scenes the weekend was blast too, everyone always enjoys themselves and our morale was boosted with the attendance of numerous sponsor VIP guests from Thales, Recar and Spies Hecker The Development Series normally wraps up the year with its grand finale at Bathurst but we ve got one more outing to come. Its another conjunctional event with the Main Game at another of the nation s great tracks, Phillip Island. So stay tuned for this is on 6-8 November. Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 6

Robe rrtt tthank s tthe generrous supporr tt off:: VAWDREY TRAILERS Produced by Eric Norton. Telephone 03-9710-1711 For more photos and team information visit. www.cartrek.com.au Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 7

Practice Race Day: Thursday, 09:35-10:10 POS CAR DRIVER VEHICLE LAPS LAP LAP 1 60 Warren Luff Falcon BA 13 13 2:12.5293 2 71 Dean Canto Falcon BA 13 13 2:12.5444 0:00.0151 3 41 MacDonald Falcon BA 14 14 2:14.8265 0:02.2972 4 27 Adam Macrow Falcon BA 13 12 2:14.8424 0:02.3131 5 31 Mark Porter Falcon BA 11 11 2:15.4731 0:02.9438 6 98 Grant Elliott Falcon AU 11 6 2:16.6345 0:04.1052 7 65 Phillip Scifleet Falcon AU 11 11 2:16.6662 0:04.1369 8 30 Evangelou Falcon BA 13 12 2:16.6882 0:04.1589 9 99 D'Alberto Commodore VY 12 11 2:17.0850 0:04.5557 10 72 Holdsworth Commodore VY 7 7 2:17.4573 0:04.9280 11 69 Robert Jones Commodore VX 11 10 2:18.2180 0:05.6887 12 19 Steve Voight Falcon BA 12 10 2:18.5031 0:05.9738 13 42 Jay Verdnik Commodore VY 12 11 2:18.5263 0:05.9970 14 66 Adam Wallis Commodore VX 12 12 2:18.5723 0:06.0430 15 56 Henderson Falcon AU 11 11 2:19.1160 0:06.5867 16 81 Grant Denyer Falcon BA 13 11 2:19.2106 0:06.6813 17 28 Dean Wanless Falcon AU 12 11 2:19.3022 0:06.7729 18 37 Mark Howard Falcon BA 12 11 2:20.7605 0:08.2312 19 26 Fernandez Falcon BA 2 1 2:21.6202 0:09.0909 20 68 Shane Beikoff Falcon AU 12 10 2:21.6221 0:09.0928 21 40 Papendell Commodore VX 12 11 2:22.4696 0:09.9403 22 91 Gary Deane Falcon AU 5 5 2:24.9007 0:12.3714 23 62 Loadsman Commodore VX 10 8 2:27.2440 0:14.7147 24 57 Dean Savage Commodore VX 10 10 2:30.3263 0:17.7970 25 86 Greg Smith Falcon AU 10 9 2:35.3823 0:22.8530 26 32 Aaron McGill Commodore VX 1 GAP Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 8

Practice Race Day: Thursday, 14:20-14:55 POS CAR DRIVER VEHICLE LAPS LAP LAP TIME 1 71 Dean Canto Falcon BA 12 11 2:10.3438 2 60 Warren Luff Falcon BA 12 10 2:11.6476 0:01.3038 3 72 Holdsworth Commodore VY 12 11 2:11.9260 0:01.5822 4 99 Tony D'Alberto Commodore VY 14 12 2:11.9364 0:01.5926 5 31 Mark Porter Falcon BA 13 12 2:13.5594 0:03.2156 6 41 MacDonald Falcon BA 10 3 2:13.8473 0:03.5035 7 65 Phillip Scifleet Falcon AU 11 8 2:14.0498 0:03.7060 8 98 Grant Elliott Falcon AU 13 9 2:14.6543 0:04.3105 9 27 Adam Macrow Falcon BA 5 2 2:14.7730 0:04.4292 10 81 Grant Denyer Falcon BA 12 10 2:15.2114 0:04.8676 11 28 Dean Wanless Falcon AU 10 9 2:15.4031 0:05.0593 12 19 Steve Voight Falcon BA 12 11 2:15.4203 0:05.0765 13 37 Mark Howard Falcon BA 12 11 2:15.8106 0:05.4668 14 30 Evangelou Falcon BA 11 10 2:16.0853 0:05.7415 15 69 Robert Jones Commodore VX 12 11 2:16.1465 0:05.8027 16 42 Jay Verdnik Commodore VY 13 10 2:16.7793 0:06.4355 17 66 Adam Wallis Commodore VX 13 12 2:17.0316 0:06.6878 18 32 Aaron McGill Commodore VX 13 12 2:19.8250 0:09.4812 19 62 Loadsman Commodore VX 13 12 2:20.6316 0:10.2878 20 40 Papendell Commodore VX 13 5 2:21.3391 0:10.9953 21 68 Shane Beikoff Falcon AU 11 8 2:23.3577 0:13.0139 22 57 Dean Savage Commodore VX 5 4 2:30.3287 0:19.9849 23 86 Greg Smith Falcon AU 12 11 2:30.6826 0:20.3388 GAP Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 9

Qualifying Race Day: Thursday, 16:20-17:10 POS CAR DRIVER VEHICLE LAPS LAP LAP TIME 1 71 Dean Canto Falcon BA 5 1 2:10.4891 2 27 Adam Macrow Falcon BA 5 3 2:10.8219 0:00.3328 3 60 Warren Luff Falcon BA 5 3 2:10.8261 0:00.3370 4 41 Gary MacDonald Falcon BA 5 2 2:12.4263 0:01.9372 5 99 Tony D'Alberto Commodore VY 5 2 2:12.4596 0:01.9705 6 72 Lee Holdsworth Commodore VY 2 2 2:12.4616 0:01.9725 7 65 Phillip Scifleet Falcon AU 5 3 2:13.4238 0:02.9347 8 31 Mark Porter Falcon BA 5 3 2:13.5850 0:03.0959 9 98 Grant Elliott Falcon AU 6 3 2:13.7158 0:03.2267 10 81 Grant Denyer Falcon BA 4 3 2:14.0502 0:03.5611 11 30 Tony Evangelou Falcon BA 7 6 2:14.3447 0:03.8556 12 28 Dean Wanless Falcon AU 4 4 2:14.5819 0:04.0928 13 69 Robert Jones Commodore VX 7 6 2:15.1900 0:04.7009 14 66 Adam Wallis Commodore VX 7 6 2:15.7006 0:05.2115 15 37 Mark Howard Falcon BA 5 4 2:16.0964 0:05.6073 16 26 Jose Fernandez Falcon BA 5 5 2:16.3836 0:05.8945 17 42 Jay Verdnik Commodore VY 8 6 2:16.6265 0:06.1374 18 32 Aaron McGill Commodore VX 6 6 2:18.0665 0:07.5774 19 68 Shane Beikoff Falcon AU 8 7 2:18.2649 0:07.7758 20 56 John Henderson Falcon AU 8 3 2:18.8056 0:08.3165 21 62 Scott Loadsman Commodore VX 6 5 2:20.1985 0:09.7094 22 91 Gary Deane Falcon AU 5 5 2:20.6889 0:10.1998 23 86 Greg Smith Falcon AU 7 6 2:22.5460 0:12.0569 24 57 Dean Savage Commodore VX 6 6 2:23.9391 0:13.4500 40 Mark Papendell Commodore VX 19 Steve Voight Falcon BA GAP Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 10

Race 1 Race Day: Friday, 12:45-13:25 POS CAR DRIVER VEHICLE LAPS RACE TIME LAP TIME 1 71 Dean Canto Falcon BA 13 28:54.4213 10 2:10.7623 2 60 Warren Luff Falcon BA 13 29:01.8095 12 2:11.3118 3 99 Tony D'Alberto Commodore VY 13 29:08.5016 13 2:11.8781 4 27 Adam Macrow Falcon BA 13 29:08.8392 8 2:11.1571 5 41 MacDonald Falcon BA 13 29:16.9775 9 2:12.7904 6 31 Mark Porter Falcon BA 13 29:29.5898 10 2:13.0243 7 81 Grant Denyer Falcon BA 13 29:31.7582 10 2:13.0307 8 72 Lee Holdsworth Commodore VY 13 29:33.1992 10 2:12.4016 9 98 Grant Elliott Falcon AU 13 29:41.8393 12 2:14.2074 10 26 Jose Fernandez Falcon BA 13 29:47.1373 12 2:14.8504 11 65 Phillip Scifleet Falcon AU 13 29:48.3034 11 2:13.4919 12 69 Robert Jones Commodore VX 13 29:49.8792 10 2:15.2897 13 42 Jay Verdnik Commodore VY 13 29:54.4490 11 2:15.4893 14 19 Steve Voight Falcon BA 13 30:02.5223 7 2:15.6184 15 66 Adam Wallis Commodore VX 13 30:05.2483 13 2:16.1539 16 91 Gary Deane Falcon AU 13 30:25.0372 9 2:18.2827 17 68 Shane Beikoff Falcon AU 13 30:45.1033 12 2:19.4858 18 32 Aaron McGill Commodore VX 13 30:51.8794 9 2:18.1152 19 62 Scott Loadsman Commodore VX 13 31:11.4750 6 2:21.2652 20 86 Greg Smith Falcon AU 12 29:01.0003 7 2:22.6705 21 57 Dean Savage Commodore VX 12 29:02.4509 11 2:21.8044 22 30 Tony Evangelou Falcon BA 12 30:23.9712 7 2:15.4923 DNF 56 John Henderson Falcon AU 12 28:31.1016 11 2:18.3177 DNF 37 Mark Howard Falcon BA 6 25:17.4629 4 2:30.0444 DNF 28 Dean Wanless Falcon AU 3 7:31.6357 2 2:19.3557 Results and lap times tables for Race Two unavailable at time of publication Race Report. Spies Hecker Racing 11