FPR COMPLETES VALUABLE FIRST TEST DAYS OF THE SEASON AT WINTON
18/7/2004 22:49 (Press Release) -
Ford Performance Racing (FPR) has completed a comprehensive
two day test at Victoria's Winton Raceway.
Venue of the 7th round of the 2004 Australian V8 Supercar Championship Series
(being held in ten days time), weather conditions at the regional Victorian
circuit were dry and cool for both FPR test days, enabling the team to carry
out a number of detailed technical changes to both FPR Falcons.
Craig Lowndes, Glenn Seton, Alain Menu and 2003 FPR endurance race driver Adam
Macrow took part in this detailed two day test programme, Menu gaining his
first laps in a V8 Supercar since his last enduro co-driver role with Ford's
Mark Larkham in 2000.
Lowndes was kept very busy throughout the two days, FPR's race engineers making
the most of this first test of the season to try a number of set-up
modifications to his CAT FPR Falcon.
Seton completed a detailed shakedown of his new 2004 Ford Credit FPV Falcon
chassis and he also participated in a number of back to back comparison runs
with Lowndes.
The team reported consistent performance from the engines of both FPR Falcons
throughout the test, enabling FPR's engineers to concentrate on various
suspension configurations and settings at this highly technical circuit.
FPR was also able to compare the team's performance with a number of other
leading V8 Supercar teams present at Winton raceway over the two days that
included Castrol Perkins Racing, Brad Jones Racing, Holden Racing Team, Garry
Rogers Motorsport and Paul Weel Racing.
FPR endurance race driver and double British Touring Car Champion Alain Menu
enjoyed a solid run at Winton over the two days, with 2003 FPR enduro driver
Adam Macrow also gaining some valuable V8 Supercar mileage on Tuesday.
#6 Craig Lowndes - "I am pleased with the depth of changes that we were able to
test over the two days at Winton as we badly needed to do this. While our lap
times weren't as fast as we would have liked, the main aim of the test was to
understand the car much better than we have to this point. We now have to look
at all of the data we have gained and translate that into stronger performances
for our forthcoming races. It was also good to be able to swap cars with Glenn
and compare our thoughts for the first time with identical cars."
#5 Glenn Seton -"I didn't get as many miles completed during the test as I
would have liked, as the team carried out a great deal of work on the new car
during the first day. I think the race at Winton could be a bit of a struggle
for us because the cars weren't as quick as we expected them to be during the
test. On the positive side we have gained a lot of data from which we can no
doubt improve in the remainder of the season. We are suffering a bit from
starting our testing programme too late into the season."
Alain Menu -"I'm fairly pleased with my first FPR test. It was very interesting
to drive and trying to understand the characteristics of the car, as it is very
different to what I am used to. It took a while to get up to speed and even now
I am not completely up to speed with these cars as I struggled a bit with the
brakes - that was my main problem. There is definitely a few tricks to driving
these cars and you certainly need to be very sensitive with throttle and
steering input. Overall I had a very good test, I am very pleased with the team
and while some more laps would have been great, the team had some important
testing to carry out and that was their primary goal.
Adam Macrow -"It was good to get back up to speed with FPR, the car feels good
and the more race miles I do in it the better I will be, so all in all it was a
positive first V8 Supercar run for this season."
FPR Chief Engineer, John Russell - "It was certainly good to be able to get on
the track and try a number of different things and answer a few questions that
have escaped us so far this season. We now hope that the hard work we have done
over the past two days helps us in the forthcoming races."
Release Date: 13/07/2004
Ford Performance Racing
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