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BJR reveals ongoing efforts to repair Heimgartner Commodore

Supercars
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A car seemed destined for the scrapheap after a 38G crash is being brought back to life by BJR
  • Brad Jones Racing chipping away at rebuild of chassis BJR 012

  • BJR 012 initially set for scrapheap after scary 2022 crash for Andre Heimgartner

  • Chassis has "come up amazingly well" following new front end replacement

Brad Jones Racing is chipping away at the rebuild of chassis BJR 012, which was heavily damaged in startline accident for Andre Heimgartner over two years ago.

Heimgartner walked away from a horrifying accident in 2022, after ploughing into Thomas Randle's stalled Ford Mustang at The Bend Motorsport Park.

Both drivers were hospitalised, while the two cars were set for the scrapheap following the dramatic incident. At the time, BJR said the Commodore "definitely" wouldn't race again.

BJR has, however, picked away at Gen2-specification chassis BJR 012 in the years after the crash, with the front of the cage recently replaced and completed.

Jones suggested the car, which was benched after the crash, could turn back into a "proper race car," leaving the door open to a track return.

"We've put a new front on this chassis, and it's come up amazingly well," Jones said in a team video.

"It's at a point now where we take it off the jig, and then we put it on a rotisserie, so then it can be turned upside down and flipped around a little bit.

"All the bits that need to be welded on with a jig are all done, pretty much, so now it's just a matter of finishing it off."

BJR is complementing the works with repairs on Jaxon Evans' Chevrolet Camaro, following the New Zealander's big accident at the VAILO Adelaide 500 last month.

Evans' season came to an early end after he clouted the outside and inside walls at the notorious Turn 8, with the Kiwi ruled out of the race with concussion.

On BJR 012, Jones added: "Once it's finished, it will stay on the rotisserie... we weigh it to find out what its dry weight is, put it back on the rotisserie, paint it, take it off the rotisserie, weigh it again. And then what we do is start assembling,.

"So the boys will start digging out bits and pieces that were on this car, to turn it back into a proper race car."

The Bend will return in 2025 as the first endurance race of the season next September, with the new campaign to commence in Sydney on February 21-23.

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