Reynolds blown away by 'phenomenal' new car turnaround
Supercars
23 Oct
David Reynolds blown away by "phenomenal" new car turnaround
Team 18 rapidly prepared new chassis after Bathurst accident
Reynolds, Team 18 complete crucial shakedown on Wednesday
David Reynolds has hailed Team 18's "phenomenal" effort to prepare his new TRADIE Beer Camaro, which completed a successful shakedown on Wednesday.
Reynolds and Team 18 rolled out new chassis T18-003 at Queensland Raceway, just two days before track action commences at this weekend's Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500.
The 2017 Bathurst winner damaged his previous Camaro in a 32G accident during qualifying at the Repco Bathurst 1000 earlier this month.
With a little over a week to unload at the Gold Coast, Team 18 rapidly turned around a new car for Reynolds, which finally hit the track on Wednesday for a crucial systems check.
While he only put 60 kilometres on the car on Wednesday, Reynolds cut a renewed figure ahead of his bid to defend his 2023 victory at Surfers Paradise.
“Today at Queensland Raceway, we rolled out a brand-new chassis. The team has worked tirelessly over the last week to pull it all together after our Bathurst incident,” Reynolds said.
“As soon as I rolled up the lane, there was absolutely nothing wrong with it. The boys and girls in the workshop have done a phenomenal job just to put everything back to how it was.
“When you swap so many components from one chassis to another, things can be missed, but today everything was spot on.
“It’s great to have that new car feeling and new car smell and I’m excited to see what we can achieve this weekend.”
Team Principal Adrian Burgess echoed his driver’s comments, suggesting “all the little bugs” have been shaken out before track action begins on Friday.
“After a big week last week, massive effort by all the guys to put together T18-003, which is a brand new car from the ground up. A lot of work, but everyone has done an amazing job,” Burgess said.
“The car rolled out today without a single problem, only a few little niggly things like TPMS sensors not working and seatbelts for Davey, but fundamentally the car ran really well.
“It’s a nice thing for everyone, knowing you can go into Practice 1 on Friday and you have found out all the little bugs already. Hopefully we can go down to Surfers now, finish the unload, put the car in the garage.
“Tomorrow we'll just check the setup and everything, and then Friday, roll out into practice knowing that everything's good, all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed, and we can be hopefully competitive straight out the gate in Practice 1.”
The 2024 Repco Supercars Championship will resume at the Boost Mobile Gold Coast 500 on October 25-27. Tickets for the event are on sale now.
Live coverage can be found on Foxtel, with live streaming available on Kayo. The Seven Network will take free to air coverage. International viewers can follow all the action on Superview.
