Last minute testing took place yesterday at Winton Raceway with the new Ford FG that will be featured in Round 1 of the Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series – protected by Armor All.
Former Auto One Wildcard driver, Adam Macrow and V8 Ute regular Gary MacDonald tested the Ford FG, Ford BF and Holden VE and were happy with the result.
“The times were pretty close overall the FG showing great potential. We were just fine tuning the new Drummond Suspension to dial out a bit of the understeer in the Holden, but initial indications are that the three are very close in lap times,” said MacDonald. “Other than a throttle sensor problem, the FG ran trouble free and was very impressive to drive.”
Tests were also run on the new Rodney Jane control V8 Ute wheel in preparation for the Series launch at Clipsal 500.
Technical Director Bob Riley, Category Manager Craig Denyer and control engine builder Craig Hasted were all on hand to assess data and go over any final tweaking.
Hasted is awaiting the arrival of new Coyote Ford engines, due to land from America this weekend, which will then be run in, sealed and dyno’d at his work shop next week. The Series is anticipating eight FG’s to debut at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide in a few weeks time.
The following teams are working toward having an FG at the first round; Ben Kavich, Jack Elsegood, Ryan Hansford, Jeremy Gray and the Sieders team (Andrew Fisher, David Sieders and Ben Dunn.) The Sieders teams are under the pump, literally, as their workshop was flooded last weekend.
“Everything is back to normal now, we washed an inch of mud out of the workshop when it happened and worked all night Thursday to get it in a working state for when the guys came back into the office on Friday. We’ll keep working hard to get the FG’s ready and hope to have them on the track at Clipsal,” said Sieders.
The 2012 Auto One V8 Ute Racing Series – protected by Armor All features 32 Ford and Holden production based V8 racing utes - covering 8 championship rounds, and 24 races through five states of Australia. The series is televised nationally on the SEVEN Network, through Fox Sports, TV3 New Zealand, Motors TV Europe and over 40 countries worldwide.
