We also enjoyed a talk with Will Davison, driver of the No. 19 Holden Commodore VF entered by Tekno Autosports. Steve Hallam, former Chief Racing Engineer at McLaren F1 heads the Tekno team based in Stapylton, Queensland.
After two seasons with Erebus Motorsport – which saw him earn one win last season – Davison, the 2009 championship runner-up, now drives for Tekno Autosport and is behind the wheel of a Holden built by Triple Eight Race Engineering.
“I raced in the British Formula Renault 2.0 series in 2002, competing against Lewis Hamilton. He finished third and I was fourth in the championship”, Davison told us. “In British F3, I raced against Nelson Piquet Jr. and most of the guys who are in F1 today. Then, Will Power and I got the chance to test a Minardi F1 car thanks to Paul Stoddart. I got really close to F1. We worked very hard for many years to make it happen, but money was a big issue. I was high in debt, and I got a professional opportunity back here and I had to take it.”
Davison has been competing in the Australian V8 Supercars series since then. He told us where these very unique race cars fit in the global motorsport environment. “They’re probably in between a Sprint Cup car and a GT car. The regulation controls the category, but all the small details are very refined. The cars are built in-house, and although there are a lot of control components, there’s still enough freedom for the engineers to try to find an advantage here and there.
“The Supercar has more aerodynamics than a Sprint Cup car, but not as much as a GT car. The aerodynamic is still enough to make a difference, certainly because the tires we use are quite small. It is quite an under-tire car, which makes it quite sensitive to the aerodynamics and the mechanical balance; it’s very sensitive to getting it right. With 650 bhp under the hood and a locked differential, it calls for a unique driving style. It’s difficult to get the most out of it, but it’s an exciting race car. When it’s good, we can be pretty aggressive, going over the kerbs. It’s got quite big brakes, bigger than on a Sprint Cup car, so you can brake very late. It’s also nicely built inside with the sequential gearbox and the live telemetry with sensors on the dampers and the suspension, so we have quite some things to play with,” Davison told Motorsport.com.
]]>Jeff Gordon has started more consecutive races than anyone in NASCAR history.
“It’s incredible,” Gordon said. “I remember when Ricky (Rudd) set that record. I was in amazement, like, ‘Wow, how does a guy run that many straight races?’ Certainly the way Ricky did it, he had to overcome a lot of things – the eyelids taped open and everything else. For me, I’ve been fortunate to come along at a time when the sport’s safer and I’ve stayed healthy and I’ve been in amazing race cars to go out there and never miss a race. I’m very proud of that.”
The driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet SS has now started 789 straight races – every single one since his Nov. 15, 1992, debut at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Taking the green flag at New Hampshire Motor Speedway made the new “Ironman” record official.
]]>In addition, Johnson and Hendrick Motorsports have agreed to a two-year contract extension that will keep the driver behind the wheel of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS through 2017.
The agreements build upon a partnership launched in 2001 when Johnson was selected to drive for the new No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team. Now in its 14th full season, the sponsor-driver-team relationship has become one of the most successful in NASCAR history. Lowe’s, whose NASCAR involvement dates back to its first car sponsorship in 1960, has been Johnson’s primary sponsor for each of his 497 career Sprint Cup starts.
“Lowe’s has a longstanding history with NASCAR and knows its fans are some of the most loyal in all of sports,” said Tom Lamb, chief marketing officer of Lowe’s. “Our partnership with Jimmie and Hendrick Motorsports has been an amazing ride as we chase history, and more than 265,000 Lowe’s employees are proud to be part of such a legacy.”
Since his first full-time Sprint Cup season in 2002, Johnson has earned 74 victories — the most in the series during that span — and averaged a third-place (3.07) championship points finish.
“My relationship with Lowe’s and Hendrick Motorsports means so much,” said Johnson, 39, who has won four races in 2015. “To me, this just reinforces how committed Lowe’s is to our sport and to our partnership. It says a lot to have one sponsor and one team for this amount of time. I couldn’t be prouder to represent everyone at Lowe’s and Hendrick Motorsports. This is my home, and I’m looking forward to many more victories together as a team.”
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