CRASH-HAPPY PICK-UPS UNDER PRESSURE

SuperUtes under pressure

RUMOURS SURFACED at Townsville and continued at Queensland Raceway about the potential for engine changes to the ECB SuperUtes program.

By GARRY O’BRIEN

With ongoing engine reliability questions, uninspiring on-track performance and slow growth in category numbers, the industry rumblings have been building regarding the dumping of diesel power and making the move to petrol powerplants, even to a control V8 crate engine.

And now the safety of the fledgling category is also under scrutiny following two violent rollovers during last weekend’s events at QLD Raceway.

Although unconfirmed by Auto Action, it has been suggested that Supercars held a meeting in Townsville to discuss the potential to swap over to a control petrol V8 powerplant, however, the cost to change the whole package was seen to be prohibitive.

While the current the clutch/transmission/driveline package is suitable for a V8 upgrade, significant parts of the existing vehicle would require changing before an engine upgrade could be made. These include the exhaust system, MoTeC ECU system, wiring harness and fuel and cooling systems, with a potential cost to upgrade current vehicles of around $20,000 to $25,000 per vehicle.

While chat among industry insiders is that a change is on the cards, that has been categorically denied by both SuperUtes category manager Kurt Sakzewski and team owners, who say that current levels of investment prohibits a mid-season or end-of-year change.

“It would be inconceivable for us to change with what we have financially and technically put in so far, and also where would it leave potential newcomers if we proceeded to mess about with the rules?” said Western Sydney Motorsport’s Craig Thompson, owner of the Craig Woods-driven Toyota Hilux.

“We will have another four Utes on track before the end of the season. I have another Hilux, there is another Mazda on the way, and a couple of the others.”

Rod Dawson, who runs two of the Brett Peters Mazdas, claims that the category is tapping into a new fanbase and is getting some manufacturer support. “We are engaging new fans that actually own and/or drive these vehicles, plus interest from associated industries that don’t cater necessarily to touring cars,” Dawson asserted.

Sakzewski said he was pleased with the way the category has progressed despite criticism in some circles. “No doubt we rushed into it, we really weren’t ready when the series started in Adelaide,” he conceded.

“As for the rumours, they started before round one, and no doubt there are fractions saying they are going to Holden and Ford to see about engines.

“But the racing the SuperUtes have put on here this weekend was great, very close. The parity is something we worked hard at and it is really good now, it is just the level of the driving talent that is a bit out at the moment.

“And we do have more Utes coming along – another Toyota Hilux, Mazda BT-50, Ford Ranger and Holden Colorado are being built. There is also another Triton . . . well, that one may be a replacement now.”

With the latter, he was referring to debutant Michael Sieders’ big crash at the start of race three last Sunday. At the time of going to press, AA could not get a comment on that nor the rollover (his second) that Aaron Cameron had in his Mazda BT-50 two days beforehand.

However, the debate around the potential for rollovers is ramping up, with the two recent rollovers adding to the already raised concerns from the industry. There have been four rollovers now, three at race meetings and one during testing.

Another Ute lost a wheel and axle due to contact and that combination could have ended up bouncing off the track and into a spectator area.

A leading ute team engineer has confirmed that the rear end of the vehicles as they are currently built can’t be lowered any further, while they utilise the existing PACE Innovations modified factory-based chassis.

The move to a grippier dedicated race tyre also seems to have been put on hold, as the potential for a vehicle to roll would increase if fitted with a grippier racing-type of tyre. The current Yokohama control tyre is a road-based tyre and it was thought that a dedicated race tyre would be developed but that now also seems to be have put on hold, with the ongoing issues of rollovers.

One team principal added that if they had V8 engines in them, the incidents would have been far worse because they would have happened at higher speed.

No doubt the Board Room will be booked out this week as teams and management get together to digest what happened over the weekend, and what can be done to address some very concerning issues.

We delve further into the SuperUtes saga in Auto Action 1741, in stores now. Pick up your copy today to read more.

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