Oran Park: Security review notes

Security review for V8 Supercar Championship Series August 16 2004 An investigation into the discovery of foreign objects in the engine of PWR driver Jason Bright's car has produced no evidence of impropriety on the part of rival V8 Supercar ...

Security review for V8 Supercar Championship Series
August 16 2004

An investigation into the discovery of foreign objects in the engine of PWR driver Jason Bright's car has produced no evidence of impropriety on the part of rival V8 Supercar Series teams following the eighth round of the championship at Oran Park in Sydney.

Australian Vee Eight Supercar Company (AVESCO) Chief Executive Wayne Cattach said today that an official investigation into the incident began on Friday following the discovery of bolts and washers inside the engine of the Holden Commodore.

Bright's throttle was thrown open minutes into the first practice session prior to the weekend, causing him to lose control of his car. The bolts and washers were later discovered when the engine was stripped down.

"The moment this was brought to our attention AVESCO technical director Paul Taylor commenced an investigation into the circumstances and found absolutely nothing to suggest that this was the case of another team tampering with the PWR car," Mr Cattach said.

"It is not clear who the perpetrator is but I can say with absolute confidence that our teams would never compromise the safety of any person, certainly not in this fashion."

As a result AVESCO has called an immediate review of security of all teams and circuits. Where required, teams and circuits will be asked to upgrade security, particularly overnight.

"Safety and security are our absolute highest priority," Mr Cattach said.

"This is an unusual circumstance incident in that the PWR team did not take the precautions they usually might by housing the cars inside their transporter with the bonnets locked. It could well be pure coincidence that it was the PWR team that became the subject of tampering."

The PWR team conducted an internal investigation and decided not to take the matter any further apart from alerting AVESCO and rival teams to what they claimed was a security breach by an entity outside of the PWR team.

PWR claimed it was not a human error on the part of the team. The team chose not to refer the matter to the Police.