Team Perkins breaks triple ton, or does it?

Speed controversy

Holden team claims it broke the 300km/h barrier on Conrod, but other teams on pitlane aren't so sure

A technical controversy blew up at Bathurst after Larry Perkins claimed his cars were the first to hit then exceed 300km/h on Conrod Straight. Steven Richards touched the magic 300 mark on the Thursday, while teammate Paul Dumbrell maxed out at an amazing 302.4km/h on Saturday, a speed Richo later matched.

Interestingly, Dick Johnson also said his cars had topped 300km/h but it was the claims by Perkins that raised eyebrows, especially with sceptics at other Holden teams.

As soon as these sensational top speeds were announced, teams up and down pitlane derided Perkins’ claims, saying it was impossible for cars to reach 300km/h, based on engine maximum engine rpms, the new (taller 3.15:1) diff ratio, and tyre diameter, most saying 294-295km/h was the fastest cars could go. Perkins was adamant, though, saying that talk of fudging figures was "sour grapes".

"I’m sure they’re not seeing it (300km/h) because we’re doing it and not them; they should be a bit more gracious in defeat," says Perkins. "Any man with a radar gun can go up (to Conrod Straight) and verify it if they want to. I don’t make claims that aren’t sustainable.

"The top speed at 7500 revs is 304 km/h, so if we had a tail wind we would could still go faster. The rules are very clear: 7500 rpm, which is monitored a millions times a day, the diff ratio is monitored, the control tyre has a precise diameter and you don’t have to be Einstein to work out whether it’s achievable or not, and that’s what the guys should focus on instead of not being gracious in defeat. We’ve had the same technical restrictions since ’93, and the same guys who pooh-pooh (302km/h) are the same guys who whinge about costs."

THE SCEPTICS SAY:

So what > Paul Dumbrell "You could definitely feel the (speed) difference compared to last year. You come through the Chase and you think, ‘Geez, it’s pretty difficult to keep a narrow line’. It is a significant change. I’m on the limiter as I turn into the Chase and we’re a couple of kays quicker at the top of the hill, too; it pulls all the way through. The engine is strong, and it has so much more progressive power and driveability out of the corners. It has more top-end and more bottom-end power and is very consistent in the mid-range. It’s a credit to all the boys in the engine shop. > Steven Richards "You can feel the difference, shit yeah! Going into the Chase is actually a battle now, to get through and pull up on the correct line and get around the next left-hander. When we got back the guys saw some high 299s then went through the data and found the 300; it wasn’t necessarily on the fastest lap. Since then it’s been pretty regular. It’s awesome. The engine is very good but the car is very good and we’ve been able to use all the power."

At Shanghai, respected HRT engineer Richard Hollway crunched the figures and told V8X that the theoretic top speed with the new taller diff was 302km/h. But HRT got nowhere near that speed at Bathurst, and Hollway is sceptical of Perkins figures

"If they’re doing 300km/h then we’re doing 300, but we’re showing 294km/h on the limiter and we use the same tyre, the same diff ratio, same gearbox, same revs – we don’t know how they got that figure. It’s the (tyre) rolling circumference calibration difference... unless they’ve pumped their tyres up to 40psi. We’re doing the same speed as them because we’re on the limiter (soft cut is 7430rpm, the same as the #24 Perkins car) and you can’t go any faster.

Neil ‘Part’ Burns, engine builder at Tasman Motorsport, is also amazed by the speed claims.

"We don’t talk speed, we talk rpm down the straight, and our limiters come on at 7400rpm. Everyone configures their dashes differently, and when the wheel diameter changes (as the tyre heats up and ‘grows’), that throws the (data) dash calculation out, it’s better to talk revs. I’ve got some of (Craig) Baird’s data from last year that says he was doing 306km/h, so who do you believe? Our top speed is only 291km/h at 7400 revs."

Team Betta engineering guru, Campbell Little, says: "300km/h is possible but I don’t know that it’s probable. Their speedo might say 300km/h, but I can make my speedo read 10km/h faster in the blink of an eye. We did a lot of work over the last couple of years to make sure that our wheel speed was our real speed. If they’ve got 8km/h more than us then TEGA better look at giving Ford an engine parity adjustment. We’re only doing 294 on a good lap and it’s on the limiter and I can’t see how they can go 10km/h quicker at the same place on the track."

Dunlop says it's possible V8 Supercar’s official tyre supplier Dunlop has done the sums and agrees it is possible the Castrol Commodore topped 300km/h down Conrod Straight. According to the tyre company’s calculations, if you combine the 680mm diameter of the rear slick, 3.15 differential ratio and 7500rpm engine limit you come out with a theoretical top speed of 305.18km/h. That’s inclusive of any tyre growth, although with radial tyres that’s actually negligible these days. Dunlop rates that at less than one per cent.

V8 Supercar calendar breaks cover

Clipsal to kick off '06

Revised schedule after Melbourne's Commonwealth Games play havoc with planning for next season

THE Sandown 500 could have been shifted to February under a radical calendar proposed for the 2006 season.

The traditional Bathurst September warm-up would have instead been one of two or three races scheduled before the traditional Clipsal 500 season opener because of the unique challenges AVESCO and TEGA face in shaping next year’s calendar.

Those challenges were brought on by Melbourne hosting the Commonwealth Games from March 15 to 26, which prompted the Melbourne F1 GP to move to March 30-April 2 and in turn meant the Clipsal 500 had to be repositioned.

All that led to a debate within the AVESCO board about positioning the 500 and potentially other events early in the season, according to a senior source familiar with the calendar process.

"The board did discuss it but it was judged it wouldn’t have worked," the source reveals. "That 500km race could have been at Sandown as an opener before going to Adelaide "

The Clipsal event now leads off a calendar on March 23-26, with the non-championship AGP races second on the 14-race calendar announced at a swish event at the Crown Casino in September.

On the night AVESCO revealed the addition of the Bahrain International Circuit to the calendar as the penultimate championship round, meaning that Sydney’s Eastern Creek has been dropped after several years of heavy promotion and disappointing crowds.

The championship stretches an extra week in duration in 2006 compared to 2005, heading in the opposite direction to AVESCO’s oft-stated aim of fitting more races into a shorter timeframe.

With the addition of the Middle East there are now three fly-away races, the first at Pukekohe on April 21-23, the second in China on June 9-11 – although date might vary by a week – and Bahrain on November 22-24, which is Wednesday through Friday to fit in with local religious beliefs.

Teams face a hectic close to the season with Bahrain the second-last of four closely packed meetings. Because the Middle East adventure is less than two weeks after Symmons Plains, Queensland teams will not be able to return home, instead heading straight to Avalon for the Gibson Freight-organised airlift.

All indications from AVESCO are that the addition of Bahrain signals the end of the international expansion for the time being.

"We are not actively courting any more international races, we’d rather like to digest what we have got," says AVESCO CEO Wayne Cattach. "There is a lot to be done domestically, too. We’d like to focus on doing it better rather than stretching our resources further."

Townsville now seems almost certain to join the 2007 calendar, although what would depart to make it happen is less clear at this point. Alternatively, AVESCO may be able to convince the team’s to expand the number of annual races beyond 14, as the first year of a new and potentially more lucrative TV deal will be in place by then.

* A hole could be created in the calendar if the V8s pull out of the AGP support races. The current contract is up in 2006 and negotiations on an extension could have reached a conclusion by the time you read this.

Meanwhile, in terms of formats it appears the era of the mini-enduro is over, with a three-race format to become more prevalent in 2006. Under this format the first race will be conducted on Saturday afternoon with television coverage that night on Network 10.

V8 Supercars Series Calendar 2006 ROUND DATE EVENT LOCATION 1 March 23-26 Clipsal 500 Adelaide * March 30-April 2 Australian Grand Prix Melbourne 2 April 21-23 Placemakers V8 International New Zealand 3 May 12-14 V8 300 Perth 4 June 9-11 Shanghai Round China 5 June 30-July 2 City Triple Crown Darwin 6 July 21-23 Queensland 300 Ipswich 7 August 11-13 Oran Park Sydney 8 September 8-10 Betta Electrical 500 ` Melbourne 9 October 5-8 Super Cheap Auto 1000 Bathurst 10 October 19-22 V8 Supercar Challenge Gold Coast 11 November 10-12 Ferodo Triple Challenge Launceston 12 November 22-24 Bahrain International Circuit Bahrain 13 December 8-10 Grand Finale Phillip Island *Non Championship race