BEHIND THE GARAGE DOOR

Brendan says everything on the car is adjustable and it’s much more of an up-spec car than Big Red: “Everything is all new. It’s a Nascar engine of 410ci [6719cc], running through a G-force four-speed gearbox, and it runs a nine-inch Ford rear end with cambered rear-end hubs.

“It has the latest Brembo, six-pot calipers on the front. Grant [Dalton] said to Wayne, at the time when the America’s Cup was running, that if we win the America’s Cup then he could order those brakes. They were very expensive! Wayne made the phone call the moment they won the cup, so the new brakes came for the car!”

Managing the top-shelf mechanicals are some special electrics.

“It’s a really trick electrical system, and when the car was stripped Wayne rewired the whole car with aircraft wiring because it was lightweight. To rewire the car was $8500!” says Brendan.

Some America’s Cup experience can be seen in a light, carbon-fibre driveshaft. Special Italian alloy wheels also save weight.

“I have 10 of them and they were $1800 each. They are each 4kg lighter than a Simmons wheel. Grant was right into lightweight and the car is 260kg lighter than Big Red. Grant just designs everything for light weight,” Brendan explains.

The car is built to CMC regulations but features a host of other technical additions to improve performance of both the car and driver.

“Everything is just so upbeat in the way everything has been done,” Brendan says. “It’s got an in-car camera system that came with the car, which is real trick. One camera is inside and one outside. You can download everything at the track and it can tell your lap times too. It has a lap-time computer, which you can get up easily on the dash. Grant doesn’t hold back!”

A big step up from Big Red, Brendan has been very happy with the development of the car so far.

“No, it’s a good car and it’s certainly nice to drive. I’m very pleased with it, and it’s just so much faster. Straight away out of the box at Teretonga, it was twoand-half-seconds faster around Teretonga straight away than Big Red, and five seconds a lap faster around Highland Park! I did a 1min 8s at Teretonga, and it was still wheel spinning out of corners.”

A change was made to the rear springs, lightening them to get more traction before Highland Park.

“That’s probably why it went so fast!” he reckons.

Hopefully motor racing can resume this coming season, once the current emergency is under control. The new car is a worthy replacement for Big Red.