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Nov 30, 2002

AVESCO took advantage of recent uncertainty in the CART series to negotiate the change from a supporting role to equal billing with the Champ cars. This resulted in the V8 races becoming a full round of the championship series.

In past years, with nothing at stake, many teams would take a safety first attitude on the narrow concrete wall lined Surfers Paradise street circuit. Now that series points on the line they have to bring their normal race cars and flirt with the concrete walls by pushing their cars to the limit as they attempt to win.

Because the races now have championship status with equal billing to the Champ cars, they have been extended to the normal race series race format, including pit stops for the compulsory tyre changes. The sharing of the pits has always been a source of conflict between AVESCO and the race organisers. In their pit stops the V8’s use a system closer to F1 than the Champ cars requiring the overhead booms to carry the air hoses for the outside wheel changer’s rattle guns. Usually these are set up permanently in pit lane and you can see in the photo supporting classes have to work around them. Theses booms would be in the way of the Champ car’s pit crews and their equipment so they reached a compromise. Concealed anchor points were installed so that the V8’s air systems could be quickly bolted into place for their two races and then removed.

Over the weekend another compatibility problem surfaced, this time over the kerbs, particularly in the chicanes. This year the kerbs were lower making it easier for the touring cars to ride over them ands harder for the drivers to judge exactly how much of the kerb they were using. To go fast on this tight track the drivers need to use as much of the kerb as possible. To help the tourers judge their exact car position orange traffic cones were bolted on the inside of the kerbs at eh chicanes. The rule was if you touched them repeatedly then this meant a penalty for kerb hopping. The Champ car drivers were horrified because the markers could do serious damage to the front wing assembly of a slightly off line open wheeler, so they were hastily removed. Removing this point of reference made the judgement of what was excessive kerb hopping a much more subjective decision for the race officials and a cause of controversy over the weekend.