February 16, 2012
Published on tags: Superleague
With half of the official tests completed and the expected open of RnD system Red Archer VRT is gearing up for the final stage of season preparation. Dave, Janne, Dale and Jason already spend tones of tyres around the test tracks trying to learn the car and its habits. Setups have always been a mystery to solve, different for every track, but the huge mystery of the season is the research and development areas.

The league administrators decided to extend the system to include oil efficiency upgrade, which means that upgraded engines can use less radiator for the cooling improving car aero and engine lifetime. The teams can now select from a wider variety of upgrades following a wider variety of upgrade steps. In addition some upgrades (eg the aero) give a weight bouns to the cars which is also important.

In the end of the season a huge mixup is expected if we display the RnD data again. Logically teams will go after the 2011 precious Aero upgrade plus some engine upgrade especially for mid ranged brands. However the uneven range of RnD steps allows different strategies and causes deep headaches to the managers and engineers.

Watching the passion in the first tests from all teams, i foresee a hard debut race at Melbourne while only the most consistent teams will be in the game of points by the middle of the season.