Work on Supercars wheel issues continues
Work on solving issues with the new-spec Supercars wheels is continuing at the Sydney test today.
The control wheel package for the new Gen3 cars has proven problematic during early running due to issues with both the retaining clip design and the spindle.
The retaining clip issue relates to the effectiveness of the circlip designed to hold the lighter, smaller nuts inside the rim on the Gen3 wheels.
Teams banded together to begin working on solutions across the shakedown and early testing phase in recent weeks.
That joint effort is continuing at the all-in test at Sydney Motorsport Park today with different clip designs from the likes of Tickford Racing, Erebus Motorsport and Triple Eight being shared among the teams.
It's understood some of the solutions in action include changes to the design of the nut itself.
As for the spindle issue, teams have been complaining about the difficulty of mounting cold rims to the car when the wheel hub is hot from on-track running.
Potential solves, such as different spindle tolerances, are also in action today.
Supercars has moved to this smaller wheel but in a bid to help teams avoid using noisy pneumatic wheel guns when working in the garage.
In theory they should be able to switch to quieter electric guns for use in the garage, while still using the air guns for pitstops.
However most teams are continuing to use pneumatic guns, although the likes of Grove Racing, Team 18 and Walkinshaw Andretti United are using a mixture of both.
Erebus has also joined those using cordless impact wrenches as of the switch to Gen3.
“Using electric wheel guns was something common in GT racing with Snap-on and now building it into the new Gen3 cars with the wheel nut change is fantastic," said Erebus CEO Barry Ryan.
“We look forward to giving Snap-on technical feedback and seeing if we can help further develop the tools.”
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