FORD FALCON

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MOTORSPORT: Inside a winning V8 Supercar

words - Chris Fincham
motoring.com.au takes you inside FPR's latest V8 supercar weapon

Mark Winterbottom and Richard Lyons have taken Ford Performance Racing’s first win of the 2011 V8 Supercars Championship at the Armor All Gold Coast 600. 



Winterbottom overtook the long-time race leading #88 TeamVodafone entry of Jamie Whincup and Sebastien Bourdais with a bold out-braking move with just eight of the race’s 102 laps remaining.

So spare a thought for the hundreds of behind-the-scenes specialists who spend their working days trying to get your favourite ‘red’ or ‘blue’ team onto the podium.

To get some idea of the blood, sweat and tears that goes into the making of a front-running V8 Supercar, motoring.com.au visited the multi-million dollar workshop of Ford Performance Racing in Campbellfield, Victoria, where the 52-strong team operated by UK outfit Prodrive and backed by Ford Australia, is based.

There, we spent time looking over the brand new ‘FPR 1111’ racecar of lead driver Mark ‘Frosty’ Winterbottom; the last of the FG Falcon racers before the arrival of the game-changing ‘Car of the Future’ in 2013.

Fresh from its first outing at the Phillip Island 500, it sat ‘naked’ in the workshop, stripped of dented panels, engine and suspension bits. In just a few days it would be re-assembled and sponsors’ warpaint re-applied in readiness for another battle at the legendary Mount Panorama circuit.

Regardless of this year’s Bathurst result, FPR’s dedicated crew will continue to fine-tune the last FG Supercar, working hard within increasingly strict category rules to try and gain any edge it can over its rivals. As FPR engineering manager Mathew Nielson put it: “We’ve still got to get results next year, so we can’t stop…”


COCKPIT
Poor visibility is something with which V8 drivers have to contend. Not only is the rollcage intrusive but they sit low in a specially moulded, FIA spec seat. The seat is capable of taking a force of three tones without breaking.

While electronics aren’t quite up to F1 standards, Frosty's hi-tech yet spartan ‘office’ still features a sophisticated MoTec data acquisition system that monitors everything from oil/water pressure to brake rotor temperature and G-forces via 40 sensors within the car.

A mini dash display provides the driver with instant updates on vital data including lap times, brake bias and anti-roll bar position.


CHASSIS/ROLLCAGE

Despite sharing a familiar silhouette with the family four-door, the V8 Supercar is about as far removed from a road-going Falcon as you could imagine. For starters, the 1355kg Supercar is built on a fabricated floor pan upon which the chassis, roll cage and aerodynamic package have been designed, rather than ‘cut down’ from a factory shell as was the case a few years ago.

It takes 10 weeks to build a complete bodyshell with rollcage. Using about 70 metres of high-strength steel tubing, the intricate roll cage is a science in itself, designed for optimal torsional stiffness while keeping weight to a minimum.

BODY
When finished, the Falcon racer shares just a few production parts with its road going counterpart. Items like the steel roof, doors, front glass and Ford badge are pretty much the only things you can buy down at your local Ford dealer.

Lightweight, deformable ‘composite’ front fenders, rear door skins and rear quarter panels (attached with ‘quick release’ bolts, in case of mid-race bingles) are part of V8 Supercar's to the low fat diet regime.


BOOT/FUEL TANK
There’s plenty going on in the boot of this Mt Panorama ‘taxi’, with a trick fuel delivery system that makes sure there’s prompt delivery of E85 fuel from the Bathurst-spec 120 litre tank while lapping the rollercoaster, 6.2km circuit.

SUSPENSION/BRAKES, ETC

Keeping the big Falcon on track are stiffer springs and multi-adjustable dampers, monster 375mm front brake rotors with six-piston calipers, tough triple-plate carbon clutch, and bulletproof, six-speed Holinger sequential gearbox. Despite six years with FPR, Frosty still describes his heavyweight touring car as “physically and mentally very tough to drive”.




ENGINE

Engine technology is another major point of difference between racer and roadcar. The GT’s 32 valve, all-alloy double overhead cam supercharged V8 produces 335kW and revs to 6200rpm, whereas the racecar’s old school, eight valve, single cam donk produces 477kW and revs to 7500rpm. Despite its dinosaur origins – the Windsor iron block dates back to the 1960s! – constant development and modern internal components has seen significant increases of around 45kW over the last decade.

One of few ‘top secret’ areas where performance gains can be made is the design of the large carbon-fibre airbox that channels cold air into the injection trumpets.

Each race engine costs a reported $130,000 –almost a quarter of the car’s total cost. They last around 3000km before they are stripped and rebuilt. Bathurst Sunday will see a brand new engine in the FPR car.




THE FINAL WORD
While FPV’s latest supercharged V8 Falcon GT is the fastest Falcon ever produced, able to sprint from 0-100km/h in a claimed 4.9secs, it’s still a tad slower than its racecar ‘twin’. The FG V8 Supercar will race to 100km/h in just 3.8secs, and reach speeds of close to 300km/h down Bathurst’s infamous Conrod Straight. Part of the reason for that is the big weight difference: approximately 1355kg for the racecar, versus around 1800kg for the luxurious, leather-lined GT.

The racecar also has a number of aerodynamic aids that make it stick better to the tarmac. This reduces some of that undesirable floatiness experienced at maximum attack in the road car, and hopefully ensures the only time Frosty gets airborne at Mt Panorama is when he leaps onto the dais and gets showered with bubbly after the race!

Ford team principal Tim Edwards has motorsport running in his veins and leads a team with their collective eyes on the prize.

 Powered By Motoring.com.au Published : Wednesday, 5 October 2011
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