The new teams must play catch- up to Holden and Ford in the V8 Supercars points chase
Nissan Motorsport’s return to V8 racing in Australia will take a bit of work this time around, unlike back in the day when they dominated. Rule changes meant the Japanese manufacturer was not eligible for the V8 Supercars category, and it wasn’t until this year they could come and play again.
When Nissan last entered the fray they at least had a car that was up to the might of Aussie big muscle racing. In 1984, Nissan made history in Australia Touring Car racing when George Fury plonked his Nissan Bluebird on pole for the Bathurst 1000.
Fury and co- driver Gary Scott brought the car home in 16th place but it signalled the start of things to come. By the early 1990s Nissan were winning championships and Bathurst titles and were the dominant force in the category.
Now they’re back on the grid and struggling a little. Not surprising, though, as they haven’t had the two decades to fine tune an engine as Ford and Holden have had. Despite all this Rick Kelly and his brother Todd took a leap of faith and decided to trade in their Kelly Brothers Racing Holden Commodores for Nissan Altimas.
‘‘ I’m quite excited about the whole thing,’’ said Rick Kelly.
‘‘ There are so many things on the new car that we can change to try and find the sweet spot and after the last round in Tasmania we’re heading in the right direction.’’
The results from the round showed James Moffat had the best finish, in 15th, with Rick Kelly in 16th.
‘‘ Tasmania was still a bit of a disappointment, though, because of the long straight and our cars being down on horsepower,’’ said Rick Kelly.
‘‘ It was exciting from a set- up point of view on the other hand, being able to get a performance gain by getting the set- up on the car right.
‘‘ We’re definitely making good progress with the car now and getting more confident and a whole lot more comfortable about how we go about getting more speed out of the cars.’’
The lack of engine grunt will be a handicap on the faster circuits, but less so on the more technical tracks. When the V8 Supercars were last at Pukekohe it was regarded as one of the fastest tracks on the calendar.
However, with the introduction of three new-corners down the back straight, horsepower may not be too much of a telling factor. The Nissan team needs every little advantage it
We’ve managed to come a long way in a short amount of time. Craig Spencer, engineering manager
can get at the moment because of practice sessions being just 30 minutes long, which isn’t time enough to maximise development of the car.
‘‘ If we want to change something or experiment during practice it takes five to 10 minutes to change something and then get all the gear back up to temperature again to push hard,’’ said the team’s engineering manager, Craig Spencer.
‘‘ Therefore, you can only get one or two things done in a session. We do have a pretty good understanding with the software side of things and the simulations we go through.
‘‘ Obviously, the engines are a massive project. That engine has raced in a different series, with different regulations and a different configuration [ 5.6- litres], whereas the Ford/ Holden engines have had continuing work done on them for the last 14 to 18 years.
‘‘ We’ve managed to come a long way in a short amount of time, but we need to find more power and the