08/12/2005
NEWS STORY
The New Zealand A1 Grand Prix team doesn't believe inside knowledge of the Dubai Autodrome circuit will be a competitive advantage for this weekend's sixth round in the World Cup of Motorsport.
West Surrey Racing, the engineering and logistics team behind the New Zealand challenge, designed the track, including the run-off areas and crash barriers, as consultants to the principal architects.
A1 Team.NZL technical director Dick Bennetts says they have a wealth of information about the circuit and every twist and turn, but the race won't be won on their computer.
"The driver still has to learn the track and it's quite a technical circuit with a number of optional lines heading into the corners," Bennetts said. "Factor in twenty-three other cars, car set-up, tyre maintenance, weather conditions and other variables and any advantage we may have is quickly pegged back."
A definite variable is the team's second chassis. They will run with the untried car body this weekend, taking advantage of two extra 20 minute sessions awarded to teams to run their new cars in.
Matt Halliday, who was the most recent driver of the original chassis, walked the track today with two of the team's engineers and will drive the first 20 minute session to evaluate differences between the new chassis and its predecessor.
The team hopes 2003 IndyCar Series champion Scott Dixon will make his first appearance behind the wheel of Black Beauty in the second 20 minute session. Dixon may also drive the first official one-hour practice session before handing over to Halliday for the remainder of the weekend – two more official practice sessions, qualifying and Sunday's two races.
Bennetts says the New Zealand team has gone back over all the set-up data collected over the first five rounds and will try and minimize the amount of tweaking in set-up "to keep the car as soft as possible".
Tyre management in the heat is also a priority. At 9.15am this morning it was already 24 degrees and yesterday the mercury hit 31 degrees.
"We're evaluating our use of tyre warmers because the hotter the tyres get, the quicker they harden and lose grip. We may also cut down on wear by limiting the number of laps we do."
A1 Team.NZL chief executive Bob McMurray says there is a special vibe around this weekend's round given that Dubai is the home of A1GP founder Sheikh Maktoum and where the Series was conceived and born.
"The A1 team has its headquarters in London, but Dubai feels like the spiritual home of the Series and every team has been looking forward to this round," McMurray said.
"With so much anticipation there's sure to be some extra spice in the actual racing, especially as we break for a month before Round 7 in Indonesia. There's no point leaving anything in the tank."
Tomorrow will be a busy day for the team with four separate practice sessions, starting with the two 20 minute shakedowns for the second chassis.
France, on 92 points, has a spectacular 27 point lead over second-placed Switzerland (65) with Brazil third on 60 points. New Zealand is fourth on 42, just four points clear of Great Britain (38), with the Netherlands and Malaysia a further six points adrift on 32.