WHAT’S IN THE WORKSHOP – SONIC MOTOR RACING SERVICES

What’s in the Workshop – Sonic Motor Racing Services

Synonymous with being an integral step along the way to bigger things, the Mick Ritter led Sonic Motor Racing Services are one of the teams located within Melbourne’s lockdown but have been kept occupied through a variety of projects.

By HEATH McALPINE

“It’s been an interesting time, to be fair we’ve actually been reasonably busy up to this point,” Ritter reflected.

The team at Sonic have completed two Supercars restorations that hold a major significance in the history of Triple Eight Race Engineering in Australia.

“We ran both those cars in the Development Series at different periods, one was the 2008 Bathurst and Championship winner of Jamie’s,” Ritter explained.

“The chassis had been back to Queensland, been on the jig, soda blasted, painted and effectively all the panels were sitting there, ready for us to assemble for probably three to four years. We never got a chance to touch it, so that was one of the things that we picked up.

“That car was underway prior to this coming about, but it gave us an opportunity to fix it.”

The other is the final FG Falcon produced by Triple Eight before it transitioned to Holden in 2010. This is a unique restoration due to the fact it has been returned to how it was last run in the Development Series rather than as it ran in 2009 V8 Supercars Championship.

“The other one was the last Triple Eight Falcon ever produced, which Rodney Jane owned and raced in the Development Series,” Ritter told Auto Action. “Whereas the BF is a complete restoration back to how it exactly ran in 2008, the FG has been restored back to how Rodney ran it at the end of the 2013 season in Bob Jane colours.

“Every single bit of it has had a birthday and it’s a seriously nice race car.”

Another restoration the team has tackled is one that kicked off a successful run for the team in a category that it continues to be part of to this day, Formula Ford.

It’s nearly 20 years since Supercars stars Will Davison and Jamie Whincup drove to victory in the championship, so the chassis that took the pair to the title in successive years is receiving a well-deserved birthday

“We’re doing a restoration on Richard Davison’s Van Diemen that Will [Davison] and Jamie [Whincup won Formula Ford Championships in 2001 and 2002,” said Ritter.

“This job is an enjoyable one to do.”

Also receiving some love has been the team’s Formula Ford transporter ahead of the national season where it will field three entries.

Outside of that, a new PC was built for Sonic’s simulator, one of its Porsche GT3 Cup Cars has been re-shelled and rebuilt, while the team has worked on an Aussie Racing Car on behalf of a client.

It appeared three weeks ago that everything was returning to normal as testing had begun ahead of a planned restart, however a return to lockdown and border restrictions have put pay to that.

“There was a five-week period there from early to mid-June where we could go testing again,” said Ritter. “We jammed half a dozen test days into about four to five weeks to get our driver’s bums back in seats.

“Up until two weeks ago, for that four to five-week period everything that we were catching up on we stopped because we were busy and focused on going testing again.

“It was coming back to normal and running on the adrenaline like we’re used to, but of course back two weeks ago it was flick the switch and revert back to all the jobs away from racing.”

As racing gets back underway, What’s In The Workshop will continue albeit in a staggered manner.

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