Volvo hunts for Whincup-beating performance

An exclusive inside connection to Swedish shock absorber company Ohlins could be crucial if Wilson Security Racing GRM is to find the edge that will give Scott McLaughlin the best possible chance of dethroning perennial V8 Supercars champions Jamie Whincup and Red Bull Racing Australia.

While the team chose not to rehomologate the aerodynamics of the Volvo S60 for 2015, it has delved under the car's skin in search of speed, as well as looked wider into every aspect of the operation in an attempt to make it more efficient and faster.

Part of that investigation has been making better use of its Volvo links to work more closely with Ohlins, which was once a major player in the category.

In its debut year in 2014 the combination of the long-established V8 Supercar knowledge of Garry Rogers Motorsport, Volvo's racing partner Polestar, the backing of local passenger car distributor Volvo Car Australia and McLaughlin's precocious talent won four Championship races, equalled Whincup with 10 ARMOR ALL Pole Positions and finished fifth in the championship.

McLaughlin has already declared publicly the only acceptable step from here is winning the championship, which kicks off with the Clipsal 500 on February 26-March 1. And while some might dismiss that as the expected pre-season bluster that racing drivers always indulge in, the 21-year old's confidence is backed up by the team's brains trust.

"We definitely rate ourselves a chance," team chief engineer Richard Hollway told the latest issue of V8X magazine, which is on-salenow.

"We need to believe in ourselves. That is part of the whole thing; stand back and look at it and go 'we can win the championship next year'. We need to believe. There is no point going 'oh we might win it'.

"We actually have to believe we can win the championship and then start putting in place and tidying up all the things we need to do it."

Hollway is no stranger to the strength-in-depth required to win V8 Supercars Championships. He was at TWR in the Holden Racing Team's halcyon days and he recognises something similar at GRM.

"It doesn't happen all that often, but we have good car speed, a very good driver and a good team," he asserts.

While the New Generation V8 Supercar is tightly controlled technically, Hollway says there are still enough freedoms to find an advantage. For instance, the S60 runs GRM's own front-end design and uses Swedish Ohlins TTX 40 shock absorbers, whereas most of the field purchases the front-end set-up developed by Triple Eight and the Sachs Formula Matrix TRD dampers that the Brisbane-based operation acts as the Australian agent for.

Hollway agrees the Ohlins connection could be an important one, helping to erase the T8 Commodore's class-leading ability across kerbs and on coarse surfaces - think of Whincup and Pirtek Enduro Cup team-mate Paul Dumbrell's Sandown and the Gold Coast dominance as evidence of that.

"I understand we are the only cars left (running Ohlins) and that's a tricky one... We haven't had a whole lot of input there and we are trying to build that relationship and work more closely with them next season. I guess that's the best way to put it.

"Clearly, they are a top level damper company and they have ties with Volvo. We would be smart to tap into that and as yet we haven't done a good job of that. That's something again in the off-season we are going to work more closely with them."

Hollway and his brains trust are also grappling with the implications of the changes to 2015 formats, which will increase testing at events and cut down independent test days.

"The whole speed of change of stuff, that is key to it now," he explains. "Everything you design now you must be able to change it quickly, otherwise you can't test it.

"Anything you do you need to be able to baseline to your new spec quickly and then be able to change it back again. That goes back to the guys being smart in the drawing office and making stuff so you can make those changes quickly and accurately and also doing a lot of pre set-up work where you have a corner set-up and you have all the parts pre-toed ready to go so you can throw them on quickly.

"The well organised and structured teams that do the best job to make the most of those test days are going to be the ones who leap forward."

For the full feature on GRM's 2015 plans, check out the Issue 85 of V8X.