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V8 Supercars
IN THE COCKPIT: Jason Bright, Gold Coast 600
V8 Supercars driver Jason Bright reports on a tough couple of rounds at Bathurst and the Gold Coast, and revelas his desire to race at the Rolex 24.
Jason Bright was reunited with his former Aston Martin co-driver, Stephane Sarrazin, but the Brad Jones Racing team endured a tough weekend at Surfers Paradise. (Photo: Marshall Pruett)
Over the last couple of rounds we’ve had to introduce a few new components to the car, which in hindsight seem to have caused us a few problems particularly at Bathurst with horsepower.
It was a bit of a funny one really because, although the car felt good, we lacked pace. At Bathurst, for example, we flagged that the car was down on speed in practice and qualifying, compared to the other cars in the team, but it wasn’t really evident until the race just how much we were really losing on the straights.
Back at the workshop we found a problem with the airbox that had been restricting airflow to the engine and costing us horsepower on the big straights. We’d probably had the same problem for the two rounds before that as well.
We fixed that for the Gold Coast but then it took us until near the end of that weekend to establish just how much one of the other new components was affecting our handling as well.
Things like that are pretty frustrating because we’ve only got very restricted running time to sort them out. At each round we get between two and four 40-minute practice sessions, depending on where you are in the championship, and we only have a few test days a year. It was just impossible to go through every possibility in the time we had.
I’m not after more testing though. That’s all part of the sport and unfortunately we didn’t do a good job of it. As teams, we have to continue to develop and not make mistakes while doing it. If we do more testing then the teams that have a bigger budget will develop faster and win a lot more races. It’s the same for everyone and it keeps costs down, which improves the racing or at least the cost of being competitive.
That was just one of a lot of things that contributed to a very difficult weekend at the Gold Coast. From the weather catching us out in Saturday’s qualifying to the end of my weekend - a head-on collision with Gianni Morbidelli, who was going the wrong way around the track - all-in-all a weekend to forget.
The concept though, to have all drivers paired with an international co-driver, was a big success. Last year I was very nervous about having all the international drivers in the event, more so because it was only half the field so there was a big advantage for all the drivers who could use their Australian co-drivers from Bathurst. This year, with all the guys having an international driver, was a much bigger success and I think it puts V8 Supercars on the radar of a lot more drivers and teams around the world.
That can work both ways, whether it’s teams and drivers coming to Australia to race V8 Supercars or giving a benchmark for teams overseas to look at Australian drivers in a better light. It also gives the Australian drivers the chance to talk to other drivers and find out what’s available. We’re a long way from Europe and North America and sometimes those teams aren’t aware that Australian drivers are keen to go and do those races. I’m hoping that awareness will soon change.
I’m definitely keen to go over and do Le Mans and the Rolex 24hrs at Daytona and believe it’s just a matter of getting over and doing the right amount of testing to make sure you can do a good job. I’m ready to go and I’ve got my bags packed.
~Jason
Jason Bright races in the V8 Supercar Championship with Team BOC. He is a race winner in the category and finished third in the standings in 2001 and 2004. He progressed to V8s after a successful single-seater career, which included winning the 1995 Australian Formula Ford Championship and finishing sixth in the 2000 Indy Lights series with five podiums. Learn more about Jason by visiting www.jasonbright.com.au and on his official Facebook page.
It was a bit of a funny one really because, although the car felt good, we lacked pace. At Bathurst, for example, we flagged that the car was down on speed in practice and qualifying, compared to the other cars in the team, but it wasn’t really evident until the race just how much we were really losing on the straights.
Back at the workshop we found a problem with the airbox that had been restricting airflow to the engine and costing us horsepower on the big straights. We’d probably had the same problem for the two rounds before that as well.
We fixed that for the Gold Coast but then it took us until near the end of that weekend to establish just how much one of the other new components was affecting our handling as well.
Things like that are pretty frustrating because we’ve only got very restricted running time to sort them out. At each round we get between two and four 40-minute practice sessions, depending on where you are in the championship, and we only have a few test days a year. It was just impossible to go through every possibility in the time we had.
I’m not after more testing though. That’s all part of the sport and unfortunately we didn’t do a good job of it. As teams, we have to continue to develop and not make mistakes while doing it. If we do more testing then the teams that have a bigger budget will develop faster and win a lot more races. It’s the same for everyone and it keeps costs down, which improves the racing or at least the cost of being competitive.
That was just one of a lot of things that contributed to a very difficult weekend at the Gold Coast. From the weather catching us out in Saturday’s qualifying to the end of my weekend - a head-on collision with Gianni Morbidelli, who was going the wrong way around the track - all-in-all a weekend to forget.
The concept though, to have all drivers paired with an international co-driver, was a big success. Last year I was very nervous about having all the international drivers in the event, more so because it was only half the field so there was a big advantage for all the drivers who could use their Australian co-drivers from Bathurst. This year, with all the guys having an international driver, was a much bigger success and I think it puts V8 Supercars on the radar of a lot more drivers and teams around the world.
That can work both ways, whether it’s teams and drivers coming to Australia to race V8 Supercars or giving a benchmark for teams overseas to look at Australian drivers in a better light. It also gives the Australian drivers the chance to talk to other drivers and find out what’s available. We’re a long way from Europe and North America and sometimes those teams aren’t aware that Australian drivers are keen to go and do those races. I’m hoping that awareness will soon change.
I’m definitely keen to go over and do Le Mans and the Rolex 24hrs at Daytona and believe it’s just a matter of getting over and doing the right amount of testing to make sure you can do a good job. I’m ready to go and I’ve got my bags packed.
~Jason
Jason Bright races in the V8 Supercar Championship with Team BOC. He is a race winner in the category and finished third in the standings in 2001 and 2004. He progressed to V8s after a successful single-seater career, which included winning the 1995 Australian Formula Ford Championship and finishing sixth in the 2000 Indy Lights series with five podiums. Learn more about Jason by visiting www.jasonbright.com.au and on his official Facebook page.
Supercars Darwin Australia
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