Van Gisbergen turns to sprintcar to boost V8 Supercar form

Shane van Gisbergen has given himself a high-speed tune-up before returning to V8 Supercars action in Sydney this weekend.

He strapped into a 900-horsepower sprintcar for some serious dirt-track skids, returning to his motorsport roots and also ensuring he is pumped and primed for action at Sydney Motorsport Park from Friday.

He ran his laps at Archerfield Speedway in Brisbane in a brand-new car owned by World Series front-runner Andrew Scheuerle.

"Sprintcars are the fastest accelerating things I've driven, by far. It's pretty fun," van Gisbergen tells News Limited.

Van Gisbergen began racing on short-track dirt ovals in New Zealand as a teenager 

"They are just so violent and they look so agricultural. Just a 900-horsepower engine attached to a frame.

"The rush of that much power, and the cornering forces, really surprises you every time."

Van Gisbergen began racing on short-track dirt ovals in New Zealand as a teenager and says he is always happy to get back to his roots.

"I've been a big speedway fan all my life and that's where I started racing. I drove quarter-midgets and TQs, based from Western Springs Speedway."

He's no stranger to sprintcars but says he has a better appreciation now of their speed and how to tame one of the winged warriors.

"The first time I drove one I wasn't even on it. I was so scared. Now I've got a bit more of a hang of it. "But I'm still nowhere near the full potential."

He says the fear of crashing Scheurele's brand-new car slowed him a little, but he's now looking forward to the time when he can race a sprintcar.

"I was running the bottom, keeping it safe. It was a brand-new car, so I wasn't interested in trashing it.

"But I still love my speedway. I'd love to do some racing if we can make it work in the summer break from V8 Supercars."

But, for now, 'The Gis' is trying to get back to his best with his Holden Commodore after some lacklustre V8 Supercar results that were not helped by a gearbox blow-up in his most-recent start at Queensland Raceway.

"I feel like it's going to improve for us. We had a pretty big hard think after the last couple of rounds. It's always hard to criticise yourself and work through things but we had to do it," he says.

"We're going back to our old philosophy, which worked for us. I'm pretty sure we'll be better at Sydney Motorsport Park.

"We won two races there last year and we were second-fastest in the pre-season test. Hopefully we'll step forward again."