February 27, 2013
Published on tags: Superleague

 

Scott Bennett offers a rundown of the current Superleague research and development trends on the eve of the first race of the season, the Australian Grand Prix.
Winter is almost over and spring is almost officially here as marked by teams arrival in Albert Park this week. Pre-season has seen an incredible increase in spending by a lot of the established teams in the Superleague compared to this time last year, where only three teams had invested in more than three upgrades on the car - Midnight, Woods and Nordsjoen. This season however, there are teams out there turning up to Melbourne with more upgrades than they had all season combined in 2012, yes, I?m looking at you Mr Woods.

So what have we seen so far in this spending bonanza?

Green Stripes have already invested a whopping amount into developing a blown diffuser to take to Melbourne, giving them a huge traction advantage with the car, however it's not all understeer for them, with sizable upgrades to the front wing and rear wing the car looks like it will be far from a wrestling match in order to turn in.

Hawkeye have taken what would appear to be a more sensible approach to car development with a very balanced upgrade package, despite lacking a little in drag reduction compared to some of their closer rivals, the downforce they will be packing come race day will be useful at a track which to me, favours grip over speed.

Red Archer have personally surprised me with their pre-season development, two expensive seasons followed by a mediocre 2012 season in comparison to years gone by and several people questioned the financial, and R&D strength that they could have going into this season. Manager Nikos Evangelidakis has certainly gone out to dispel these rumours by packing on more updates for Melbourne than the Midnight team had on their car at this point last season. However the spending does all pale in comparison to the teams around them, and even below them.

Nordjoen, like Red Archer are another team that struggled to get to grips with the 2012 season, with Pavel Loknovski rarely knowing who would be partnering him come the next race. This year the team comes armed with league regulars Lee Morris and Dave Carr-Smith meaning driver issues should be a thing of the past, however the lack of showings in both free practice and races last season could be a concern - a concern perhaps, but not one that appears right now with the team matching big spenders Nijo to have the second most upgraded car going to Australia this week.

Nijo are another team amongst the big spenders going into Melbourne with a whopping nineteen chassis upgrades. Beaten in the spending by only Midnight and Woods, placing them joint second with Nordsjoen in the chassis upgrades leaderboards. Combine this car with the podium hounding Ruud Heesterbeek, and fellow Dutchman Tom van der Voort who appears to be giving even his team mate a run for his money pace wise - rivals beware, Nijo are likely to be dangerous at Melbourne, and providing Ruud?s 2012 successes can fund the R&D, they?re likely to be dangerous all season long.

Joint third in the chassis upgrade leaderboard lies Kernow Sport, who also have made hefty investments this pre-season however unlike Nijo, Kernow have forgone diffuser development and instead invested in drag reduction upgrades to enhance the straight line speed of the MW2. With several high downforce tracks appearing early on in the season this could prove to be an investment overlooked by several of their rivals however we will soon see whether the stability provided by the diffuser outweighs the straight line advantage needed to make a pass.

Constant are another team who have taken a similar path with investments in drag reduction over the diffuser it would appear that the Stanton brothers should be aiming to be battling with Kernow come thursday, although they haven?t quite managed to keep up with Kernow and Nijo upgrades wise, they are not exactly lagging behind either.

Woods, Woods, Woods. Where do I begin? A string of lower end points finishes last season saw the league furniture tumble down the Constructors standings, however all is not lost. Woods may have begun last season arriving to Melbourne with the second most upgraded car, halting development early in the season led to them still getting points finishes at the end of the season, despite having the least upgraded car on the field. Showing both steps forward with both driver ability, and a quietly healthy R&D points cache and financial package. A package which has already been vastly invested into developing the second most developed car that will be appearing on the grid this Thursday.

ST Racing have had one of the more troubled pre-season periods with a merry go round of a test driver seat with a massive seven drivers making appearances for the team before the season has even begun. However the arrival of Morten Wernerson should see stability back at the team. The driver wages and signing fees however are likely to have made a significant dent to the finances of the outfit. ST will be arriving in Melbourne not far short of the Nijo and Kernow in terms of chassis upgrades with another well balanced upgrade package investing a little in all areas of the car, opposed to the teams who have invested more heavily in one or two areas.

And now we come to the newbies to the league. Phoenix, Halcyon, and Torrent. We?ll begin with league regulars Phil Cullen and Adam Rouse?s Halcyon. The Supercup promotees have been the biggest spenders of the new teams which should place them in good stead to be finishing Melbourne as best of the newbies, however it is likely that Torrent are going to be far from a pushover. I don?t think anything needs to be said about the quality of Torrent's drivers, but with the car having three times less upgrades than some of the usual midfield contenders it would appear that Torrent could have their work cut out to challenge the comparative technological masterpieces further up the field.

Phoenix however are the team who have delved into their pockets least out of every team on the grid with three times less upgrades than rivals Halcyon. Looking at the incredible investments so far up and down the paddock it would seem Kieran Ryan and Boyd Bryson will have a mountain to climb on Thursday in a car that falls well short of both those around them, and where they want to be challenging. Recent comments from team boss Andy Graydon however indicate that the team is playing a waiting game, and although start of season developments look slow the team is focusing more on not destroying its bank balance like it would appear many of the teams up the grid have done with their monstrous investments at this early stage.

By now, you should have realised I have missed one huge name off of this list so far, that of Midnight Motorsport. I was hoping that in the time it took me to write this article I would be able to shed some light on what is going on at the Manchester based outfit, but alas. The team remains with just a single upgrade on the car with their R&D plans being a closely guarded secret until the team officially arrives at Melbourne. Superleague champions last year, along with appearances at every test and practice session would indicate a huge pool of resources to call upon to create this years car, so it would be safe to assume that although that car has one upgrade on it now, by the time it takes to Free Practice on Thursday I would expect it to be the most technologically advanced car on the grid - prepare to be walked all over.

All of these investments however are likely to prove insignificant if the weather takes a turn for the worse. We saw it attempt to make an appearance on Tuesday with the Formula Challenge series however it was not enough to truly see the effects that could entail should Melbourne?s coastal weather decide its had enough of being hot and sunny. Should the rain come we are likely to see the grid turned on its head as it becomes less about the car, and more about the driver. Although we did not see much in terms of finding out people's true pace at the infamous Jerez test in monsoon conditions it would seem that there are a few people in the paddock who will spring surprises should we get drenched.

Once the monsoon settled in at Jerez Nordsjoen drivers Carr-Smith and Morris headed the timesheets of those who had run in the worst conditions and, for much of the day, headed that portion of the timesheets by an astonishing three seconds a gap that was only closed when the session showed signs of drying up late in the evening. Expect these guys to turn in a performance at the first hint of drizzle. Rouse, van der Voort, Verloy and Euler also showed good pace in the dreadful conditions. Times from Rouse could be particularly useful for Halcyon which could see them jump up the field if the rain comes, with Nijo also benefiting as their rookie driver could threaten even higher up the field, as if he wasn't looking fast enough for a rookie season.

So, now I believe everything has been covered in preparation for Thursday, how do I think the night will end? Well I find it hard to look past Midnight for the win, and as long as Cooper can settle into the jump from Supercup he should be able to support Lukas en route to what I would expect is a 1-2 finish. Third place however is a bit more of an uncertainty. with several teams able to push and fight over this ?best of the rest? spot behind Midnight. Likely contenders will be Carr-Smith, Morris, Heesterbeek and van der Voort. The Nordsjoen boys have shown that they have the edge pace wise over Nijo which would lead me to believe it will be either Carr-Smith or Morris to take the third place, but I don?t believe it will be easy for either of them with Nijo hot on their tails. Recent comments from Morris about struggling to get to grips with the car and a lack of confidence behind the wheel of it leads me to believe that if its going to be one of the Nordsjoen drivers taking third, it will be Carr-Smith, with Morris and the Nijo?s filling out 4th to 6th places - providing there are no unexpected problems from any of these guys once the lights go out.