Tassie V8 Supercar round a whole new ballgame

Because the Tasmania round this weekend will be a whole new ballgame.

For the past few years we've raced later in the season at Symmons Plains when the weather has been much colder and wetter.

This time the weather will be hotter and drier, so it means much of the technical information and car set-ups we've accumulated in the past few years will be totally useless to us this weekend.

Jamie was successful there last year and I had a win the previous year, but potentially our car set-ups from previous years just won't work.

We will be using hard and soft tyres again and with increased track temperatures, teams will have to adjust their suspension settings, their pit strategies and the way they use the tyres.

We discovered at last week's Australian Grand Prix round how to extract a bit more life our of the soft tyre, so that's something we will take to this round.

Because it's a short sub-minute track, qualifying is of paramount importance. You simply have to be up the front of the grid to avoid the carnage into the first hairpin.

Then it's a matter of having a good race and pit strategy to avoid going a lap down which is so easy to do here.

Qualifying is also very difficult on this short circuit because there is so much traffic and it's hard to find a bit of space to get a fast, clean lap and use your tyres when they are at their best.

After the crash in qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix between Greg Murphy and Jonathon Webb, the officials have said they will be watching carefully to ensure there is no balking or incidents.

Greg was on a fast out lap and came on to the last corner just as Webb was held up by other traffic and they had a nose-to-tail accident.

There were no penalties handed out as it wasn't Webby's fault. He was more the middle man being held up by banked-up traffic in front of him. Anyway, it's good to know the officials will be looking for these types of incidents.

If we can qualify in the first couple of rows, our strategy will be to get clear and pit early which is what 90 per cent of the teams did at the GP.

Obviously our strategy will depend on the weather pattern, but you can bet on us starting on hard tyres and pitting early to bolt on the soft tyres. Then we will try to extract as much life as we can from them.

Last year we found we could go further on this track on soft tyres than we thought. But it was cooler then and the tyres may not last as long in the hotter conditions.

Last week I mentioned how important history is in this sport. In that regard, I'm looking forward to driving a 1953 Holden FX in next January's Monte Carlo Historic Rally. It will celebrate 60 years since Holden's first international race.