Learning Curve with Erebus Motorsport Driver David Reynolds.

David Reynolds speaks to 51 thoughts about his year so far and his thoughts on the upcoming Bathurst 1000

At the end of last year, former Prodrive Racing driver David Reynolds moved over to a restructured Erebus Motorsport, which moved from a Mercedes Benz, Queensland base with forty staff to a Holden, Victoria base and fifteen staff.

He feels that this has been an up-and-down year for him, including a strong fifth place at the Clipsal 500, race three and also at the Townsville 400, where he qualified fifth for race fifteen. He has enjoyed making the change to a smaller team. He knew there would be a big challenge in going to a brand new team for which he had no notes for comparison, but he has enjoyed the challenge and working with team owner Betty Klimeno, whom he feels is passionate about her team and racing in general.

One area that has taken David a while to get used to is having a car setup that he likes and that suits his driving style. He found that after some of the changes the team made, his car was good at Winton, Darwin and Townsville (which have small corners and more straights), where he was more competitive. However, when he got to different tracks like Queensland Raceway and Eastern Creek (long-load corners), he felt that he struggled, as the car wasn’t set up for it. He felt that the car’s tyre life was good at the start of the year, but got away from them as they concentrated on improving the qualifying pace. “At the start of the year we had really good tyre life but our overall qualifying pace was horrible. Then we decided to focus more on qualifying pace; we have kind of gotten that a little bit better. Then our tyre life has kind of dwindled a bit because you’re using the tyre a lot harder and a lot more effectively.”

At the first endurance race of the year at the Sandown 500, David and his teammate, experienced Kiwi Craig Baird, qualified for the 161 lap race on Sunday in 17^th, but felt that they were too far off the pace; with it being a long race, you never know what may happen. However, the race was shortened due to a major crash involving James Golding in the 34 Volvo S60, which hit the chicane at 200km/h. They made a call to bring Craig in earlier because of the race being shortened, which at the time looked like a good idea. Unfortunately, they were disqualified for it because of the rules not being clear in the book. “In the rules it says one-third of the scheduled race time and distance and two-thirds scheduled race time and distance. The rules are very unclear and everyone spoke about a magic lap number which, when you read the rules, it doesn’t read like that.”

David was happy that Craig had a chance to drive the car so that they would be in a good position to win the great race. At Bathurst, David will have former HRT engineer Alistair McVean as his engineer. The pair worked together when David was at HRT and HSVDT, and he is looking forward to working with the experienced and knowledgeable McVean. Last year’s pole sitter, with an amazing drive in the wet feels, if they made the top six he would be very happy. “It is one of those races where anything can happen; it’s very tough.”

David hopes to finish the year well by finishing in the top ten of the championship and making sure he qualifies for/races in the top ten more frequently.