Motor Racing
David Reynolds 2015 Season To Date and Bathurst Preview
51 Thoughts had the chance to catch up with David Reynolds to discuss how he felt he would go at Bathurst this year.
51 Thoughts had the chance to catch up with David Reynolds to discuss how he felt he would go at Bathurst this year.
David Reynolds came in to the start of the year, strongly believing the new Ford Falcon FG X with the new aero dynamics package would change and help him contend for the championship. He and his engineer Brad Wischusen had a very simple goal “if we can score 200 points every round, or more we will be looking pretty good in the championship”. He has done that and is sitting in third position in the championship, he has a car that he feels is a lot faster, he has been producing more constant results and has won one race so far at Hidden Valley.
He feels that enough there’s only a small change from the FG to the FG X, in terms of the shape of the car it has certainly helped him become more competitive and put him in a position to win the championship. “I suppose the aero dynamic kit it has been a remarkable change for our team because we are 1, 2, and 3 in the championship….. More aero you can build the faster you are going to go because it’s a constant thing that doesn’t change that much”.
David heads in Bathurst after a 5th placing at the Sandown 500, the first endurance race of the year. David and his co-driver Dean Canto were happy with the pace that they showed in the warm-up before the race. When they had the warm-up the temperature was roughly 17 degrees and during the race it got up to over 27 degrees. David says the race was difficult as “in the race it didn’t balance up and come across, I was a bit lost and didn’t know what to think because a few hours before we went into the race knowing that I was the fastest out there.”
David has finished second at Bathurst in 2012 and feels that they have a good chance to win the great race as long as they play there cards right. David also is wary about the fact that in last year’s Bathurst 1000, it was a new track surface and anything can happen as many drivers got caught out last year. “Just the normal things that come with the increase of track grip. Everyone is going to struggle with a lot of turning oversteer and a lot of drive problems. So it’s trying to tune your car for that, so its general things like; front spring, roll centre and rear springs it’s just simple tuning items.”
David hopes that he can continue on the good year he has had so far and is looking forward to finishing the year on his favourite tracks: Bathurst, Gold Coast, Philip Island, Pukekohe and Homebush.
