Jones' bogey corner modified for Clipsal 500
3/2/2002 23:57 (V8 Wire - Jason Whittaker) -
Adelaide’s infamous turn eight/nine chicane turned Brad Jones’ world upside down during the inaugural Clipsal 500 three years ago. So news that the corner was being modified for the 2002 event was met with unashamed glee by the OzEmail racer.
“Adelaide is one of the best venues we race at. It’s a fantastic event and changing the corner into a fast sweeper will only make it better,” said Jones, who spectacularly rolled his Falcon onto its roof at the corner during the 2000 event.
“I don’t really like chicanes, and that’s not just because I slid the OzEmail Falcon on its lid for several hundred metres in Adelaide. Sometimes they provide a passing opportunity but this one didn’t and it had the effect of unsettling the car.”
Jones’ sentiments are, no doubt, shared by the V8 Supercar fraternity. Many, including the corner’s numerous victims, believed the awkward complex was a blight on the renowned street course.
Renamed Dunlop Corner, the chicane has, in conjunction with race organisers and CAMS, been straightened to become a fast, flowing transition from Adelaide Straight onto Brabham Straight.
Jones predicted the corner could be up to 30km/hr faster than the original lay-out, with lap times to tumble by at least half a second.
The modifications shorten the track length by eight metres, to 3.24kms.
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