Ford completes successful shakedown with FPR Car of the Future | CarAdvice

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Ford completes successful shakedown with FPR Car of the Future

FORD FALCON
By Tim Beissmann
FIND DEALS

Ford Performance Racing (FPR) says the first shakedown session with its all-new Car of the Future (COTF) chassis went better than expected, giving Ford Australia’s factory team confidence to make a strong start to the 2013 V8 Supercars championship series.

FPR is conducting its first full test day with the COTF Falcon at Winton Raceway in Victoria today following last Tuesday’s shakedown.

The session saw drivers Mark Winterbottom and Will Davison complete a handful of single laps for a TV crew before knuckling down for 16 serious laps and a series of long runs at the request of V8 Supercars’ technical staff to assist with the evaluation of different transaxle cooling options.

FPR team principal Tim Edwards said the information gathered from the test day would prove invaluable to his team and the category as a whole in the lead-up to next year’s series.

“It has been an unbelievably successful day and everything ran as well as we could’ve planned, if not better,” Edwards said.

“The rest of the shakedown this morning went fine and Will got his first chance to drive the car before we did 80 laps for the category so they could evaluate some transaxle cooling options.

“This information will be passed onto the other teams and I must say all three options ran successfully and potentially could all be used at the first race next year.”

Winterbottom said his initial impression of the new car gave him confidence it will be able to lap consistently next year.

“The great thing about our team is they gave me a car which was perfect ergonomically so everything was positioned correctly allowing me to make the most of the limited time with the car,” Winterbottom said.

“I was immediately able to concentrate on learning how the car handles differently, though I must say I was instantly happy with the gearshift and the brakes are a lot better so we made the most of our shakedown today.”

FPR’s testing comes just days after V8 Supercars’ new kid on the block, Nissan, unveiled its first bespoke all-aluminium race engine as it continues development work ahead of the 2013 series.


 

  • Peanut

    I can’t wait for this car to lob into Texas next year as part of the championship to show the USA what they should have been driving all these years.
    I hope it blows them away.

    • DoubleBlue

      100% agree.  Nissan have a  DOHC 4 valve under the bonnet of their v8 supercar hopefully Ford can use their DOHC 4 valve 5 litre V8 also.!  Mean while Holden will be allowed to use a 7 litre[push-rod OHV 2 valve] Noahs Arc variety v8, just to keep it competitive.!

    • DoubleBlue

      100% agree.  Nissan have a  DOHC 4 valve under the bonnet of their v8 supercar hopefully Ford can use their DOHC 4 valve 5 litre V8 also.!  Mean while Holden will be allowed to use a 7 litre[push-rod OHV 2 valve] Noahs Arc variety v8, just to keep it competitive.!

    • DoubleBlue

      100% agree.  Nissan have a  DOHC 4 valve under the bonnet of their v8 supercar hopefully Ford can use their DOHC 4 valve 5 litre V8 also.!  Mean while Holden will be allowed to use a 7 litre[push-rod OHV 2 valve] Noahs Arc variety v8, just to keep it competitive.!

  • Zaccy16

    V8 supercars is a sport were bogans unite!

    • Fairlane

      Jee, those bogan references are getting really tiring.

      • chook

        Yes it is Fairlane …….they carefully learn their vocabulary from each other , otherwise they would be lost about what to write !!

    • Andrew M

      I bet “Bogans” can spell better than you….

    • Andrew M

      I bet “Bogans” can spell better than you….

      • Robj

        Actually, this sport supports a lot of engineering talent in Australia. We really need that right now…

    • Fellow coffee drinking bogan

      Unlike rugby, AFL, & cricket – supported by sophisticated and open-minded men not dissimilar from yourself.

      • Huwtm

        Look lets accept that many of us here aren’t bogans and we still watch V8SC. By the same token, The vast majority who ignorantly like the sport and believe blindly what they are told, would probably classify as bogans. It’s as much about Ford and Holden (and soon Nissan and Merc) as those little Aussie race cars with fibre glass shells.

  • Andrew M

    What will be interesting to see is if this COTF really levels the ledger in terms of performance between the teams.

    Team Vodafone has had money to burn for years so it will be interesting to see if cutting down the build cost of the car frees up money for the other teams.

    Also what will be interesting to see is how 888 perform with out the big bucks from Vodafone next year.
    I havent heard how much Redbull is going to send their way but I doubt they can maych 888′s previous budgets

    • Huwtm

      Levels the playing field. What are you saying? Since V8s started they’ve been arguing the point of sameness, (equality) which means amongst other things very little passing, and No relationship to a road car. Which is where we are at, at the moment. This is going even further.  As for cost and homologation of a road car that provided benefits to the cars produced down the line. There is none of that going on now. The costs are out of control because everything is custom made.

  • Simon Dale

    Shouldn’t FPRs COTF resemble a Taurus or Fusion? That is what is Fords future after 2016.

    • Andrew M

      Well this is the 2013 race car so your point is quite silly.

      I dont see anyone sticking the boot into Nissan for racing a car they dont sell here….

      Come back when you have a low dig that actually has merit

      • Huwtm

        I think he has a good point. So what is left of the Falcon – The headlights. This series of racing, and don’t get me wrong, I love racing, but this is becoming totally irrelevant. Hence the need to entice other manufacturers which they pushed out because they were to fast. What happens when Mercs and Nissans are crossing the finishing line first. Will people start complaining about their engines?  

    • Schah7

      Smart ars.!

  • Jonty

    Ecoboost plastered all over the car…perhaps a preview of FPV (6 ecoboost) to come?

    • Andrew M

      Dont think so.
      Ford use the windscreen banner to promote all sorts of their products.
      Ecoboost is just the current promo Ford are making the supported teams wear.

      When there is nothing in particular they want to promote they just revert back to a Ford banner