New Anzac technical partnership in V8 Supercars
26/11/2004 21:08 (Press Release) -
An Australian and a New Zealand team in the V8 Supercar Championship team have cast aside traditional Trans-Tasman sporting rivalry and formed an ANZAC alliance for technical development of their Holden Commodore race cars.
Gold Coast-based Paul Morris Motorsports and Team Kiwi Racing, New Zealand's only team in the championship, announced their technical partnership today.
TKR will move their operations and staff from Melbourne and will soon be based alongside PMM's Sirromet Wines-sponsored team in their workshop and V8 Supercar manufacturing premises at the Holden Performance Driving Centre.
"We are both single-car teams, so instead of doing separate things this joining of finances and staff to assist with the technical development simply makes logical sense," said TKR boss David John.
"It will bolster the chances of both teams running inside the top 10 on a regular basis next season, and be in the best possible position to win races."
PMM owner and driver Paul Morris said the two teams would test together at Queensland Raceway near Ipswich, but the partnership would allow both to retain their own identities, staff, franchises, tools and equipment, including separate engines, gear boxes, rims and tyres.
"Aussies and Kiwis have a strong rivalry in any sport, and V8 Supercars is no exception," said Morris.
"Both our teams will remain rivals when we're racing, but by joining up for testing and pooling our budgets and technical resources it will speed up development which means better performance on the track for both cars."
TKR entered the championship in the 2000 Bathurst 1000 race. This year the team purchased a PMM-built chassis and then claimed their first pole position in the round at Winton in Victoria.
PMM joined the championship in 2000, and the following year Morris won the round at Calder Park in Victoria. Since 2001 they have designed and built their own cars under the guidance of Technical Manager Paul Ceprnich. This year Morris has qualified for the Top 10 Shoot Out at four rounds.
"We have worked closely with PMM over the last season, and are excited at the potential of this new association," said John.
"TKR have already purchased a new PMM chassis for 2005 along with two Holden Motorsport engines that will be developed as part of this new relationship prior to the start of the 2005 season."
"Paul (Morris) and his team have very impressive manufacturing facilities and the cars they are now building are clearly 'state-of-the-art'."
The PMM manufacturing process includes utilising Computer Aided Design-Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAD-CAM) technology, a new $220,000 Haas Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machine, fabrication area with flat plate, an engine room and dyno, offices for technical engineers to draw and design, and a race shop and car assembly area.
Morris said a bonus of the association was providing added impetus to the new V8 Super School, which was launched in October and is also located at the Holden Performance Driving Centre.
The V8 Super School packages offer tours of the on-site V8 Supercar workshop and manufacturing facilities, as well as opportunities to drive or ride as a passenger in race-replica V8 cars around the Holden Performance Driving Centre track.
"There are thousands of New Zealand tourists visiting the Gold Coast on a regular basis, so all the Team Kiwi fans can now come here and have a look around the workshop and see how the car is built and maintained," said Morris.
There will also be Team Kiwi merchandise on sale at the Holden Performance Driving Centre.
Release Date: 03/11/2004
Sirromet Wines - Paul Morris Motorsports
|
|
