V8 School terms

Racing has a lot of technical terms that people don't understand, so during mid-season break in the V8 Supecars I thought I'd try to de-mystify the process by explaining one or two each week.

First up, let's look at heat cycles in tyres since this was an issue at the last round in Townsville.

Another technical point is about the bleed line at the entrance and exit to pit lane. There was a lot of controversy about this in Townsville when Garth Tander hit the line and the "floppy" (the upright floppy marker) on his entry to pit lane.

The bleed line is supposed to delineate the lane so that cars entering or exiting pit lane stay out of the line of racing cars for improved safety. The penalty for crossing the line is a slow drive through pit lane at 40km/h which Mark Winterbottom copped for his last-second decision to swerve into the pits in Abu Dhabi at the start of the year.

I also got one for accidentally clipping the bleed line on the exit in New Zealand last year. So I naturally expected Tander to been given a drive-through penalty for his infringement.

However, the stewards have ruled that Tander's right wheels only touched the line and didn't cross it, therefore escaping a penalty. It seems that the ruling is like tennis - if it's on the line, it's in.

There has been a bit of a misunderstanding about this in the past and so long as the officials stick to this ruling, I'm happy. The problem is when the stewards are inconsistent or when there is no clear rule.
It's a tough job and a position I'd never want to be in, but the teams and drivers just want some consistency. Hopefully the new V8 Supercars Commission will sort this out.

Good to see Mark Skaife has been appointed to this commission which will mainly look into racing rules, regulations and formats. He's got a level head and is still racing on a part-time basis, so he has a good understanding of the driver's point of view. He was also a team owner, so he understands their concerns.

At Townsville, a couple of drivers, including me, had failures in their cool suits. When this happens and its 50 degrees in the cockpit it's even hotter in the cool suit because it has an extra layer of insulation. I normally don't sweat a lot, but I had sweat dribbling down inside my helmet. It was uncomfortable, but I train for the heat, so it didn't affect me.

Anyhow, it's good that it failed now and we can look into why this happened and get it fixed before it occurs in the hotter part of the year or in a long stint during an endurance race.