Castrol EDGE Racing News Issue 8

Page 1

VOLUME 1 - ISSUE 8

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KELLYS ON THE PLUS

TELLY

CASTROL JOINS ELECTRIC BLUEBIRD HOLDER’S PODIUM HOT TUNER CHALLENGE ON AGAIN WINTERNATIONALS – WARMING UP JULY 15-17!

29th JUNE 2011


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CASTROL TO FEATURE IN NEW TV SERIES

Castrol-backed V8 Supercar team – Kelly Racing is embarking on an audacious new venture – to enter a fifth race vehicle in the 2011 Bathurst 1000 – with a twist. Not only will it have weatherman extraordinaire, former top 10 finisher and Fujitsu Series race winner, Grant Denyer behind the wheel, but a Rookie chosen from a group of 10 young hopefuls. The Series will be called the Shannon’s Supercar Showdown – and will air on 7mate starting on July 23. Whilst a Rookie in the Bathurst sense, the 10 hopefuls have lengthy racing CVs and all are aiming for their big motorsport break. One of the front-runners will be Castrol EDGE CIK Stars of

Karting racer, David Sera – who has history with the Kelly Racing team. The current driver of the V8 Supercars Safety Car, Amber Anderson is one of three female entrants being joined by Aussie Racing Cars driver, Hayley Swanson and South Australian, Samantha Reid. Other Formula Fordsters include Ben Small, who has broken away from racing and has been instructing snowboarding in Colorado and Queenslander, Shae Davies. Mildura’s Cameron Waters and Nick Foster also have current experience with Castrol products from the Australian Formula Ford Championship. Nick Cassidy (NZ) and Andrew Jordan – a British Touring Car Championship racer – add an international flavor to the Series.


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NEFF SPRINTS TO THIRD WIN Castrol GTX NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series racer, Mike Neff has extended his lead in Funny Car points standings after taking his third win of the season at Norwalk. The Ohio track is the only track on the NHRA schedule that Castrol’s John Force has never won at, so for Neff to visit victory lane was welcomed by the team. Ironically, Force had one of his best runs of the troubled 2011 season, making it right through to the semi-finals. He had a relatively easy run through early round competition. Neff defeated Ron Capps in the Final.

It extends his lead to 124 points over Jack Beckman. Last start winner, Robert Hight in the third Castrol-supported JFR Auto Club of America Ford Mustang still sits third in points. After top qualifying, he was knocked out in round two against Cruz Pedregon. Force moved himself up one placing in the points standings to seventh, but crucially, he is well inside the top 10 ‘drop zone’ for when the Countdown to the Championship begins. The next NHRA Full Throttle event will be across the weekend of July 7-10.


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TRIPLE TREAT FOR HOLDER Chris Holder has slotted himself into third placing in the World Speedway Grand Prix Championship after a hard fought third place at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Castrol’s Australian Speedway star was hopeful of repeating last year’s victory, which heralded his arrival on the greatest speedway stage of them all. By screaming into the Final, Holder had every chance of doing just that, however a collision on the opening bend with Russian, Emil Sayfutdinov caused a red flag stoppage. Holder wasn’t excluded from the re-run but was able to get himself into third position and net some more solid World Championship points. American 41-year-old, Greg Hancock is in the form of his life at the moment and took not only the win, but extended his Championship lead over defending World Champion, Tomasz Gollob. Former World Champ, Nicki Pedersen finished second. With Holder 23 points from the Championship lead in third, Speedway Grand Prix competition now goes into summer hiatus until the end of July, with the Speedway World Cup set to dominate the international speedway scene over coming weeks. Holder will form a key part of Australia’s strikeforce in the SWC competition. The Aussies begin their campaign against the fancied Danes, Sweden and Germany in Denmark on July 9. If they win the encounter, they go straight through to the Final on July 16, finishing second or third will place them into the race off on July 14.


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Electric Blue – Land Speed Record Chase Castrol has partnered with Bluebird Electric, the car which Don Wales (grandson of Sir Malcolm Campbell MBE) expects to drive to a new world land speed record of more than 500mph. The support for the project is part of Castrol’s commitment to work at the forefront of technological development in mobility. Castrol has previously supported Don Wales and the brand also supported Sir Malcolm Campbell MBE and Donald Campbell CBE and has a long history of world record breaking achievements.. For over a hundred years, Castrol has been pioneering firsts across all mobility fields, from helping Barnes Wallis cross the Atlantic in an airship in the 1920’s to driving Francesco Agello to 440mph in 1933 and now working with Donald Wales on his quest for more land-speed records.

The brand’s success has been underpinned by being a forward-thinking organisation which is always pushing the boundaries of technology and mobility. Announcing the sponsorship arrangement, Don Wales said: “I’m extremely pleased that Castrol is a major sponsor. They have been involved with so many records set by Bluebirds that it wouldn’t seem right to attempt a record without them and their support. The land speed record has been broken an amazing 21 times by cars using Castrol lubricants and its only fitting that they are our partner in this form of vehicle.” Wales has been maintaining the Campbell record-breaking tradition since establishing the UK Land Speed Record for an electric car in 1998. In 2009 he set the current World Land Speed Record for a steam car of 148mph.


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LOWES SUBS FOR REA IN SBK British rider Alex Lowes will join the Castrol Honda team for the Brno round of the World Superbike Championship next month, replacing injured rider Jonathan Rea. British Superbike competitor, Lowes will race in the eighth round for the Castrol Honda team after Rea, who suffered a fracture and ligament damage was told he would not be fit enough to contest Brno, despite initial reports of only a three week recovery period. “The first thing I want to say is that I hope Jonathan’s injuries heal quickly and that he’s back on the bike soon, said Lowes. “It’s never ideal getting a ride because another rider has been hurt, but it’s now happened to me twice this season. “Having said that, this is an incredible opportunity for me – I keep pinching myself because I’m riding for one of the world’s best race teams in the World Superbike championship.” Lowes will join Castrol Honda teammate Ruben Xaus in the Czech Republic when the World Superbike Championship resumes July 7 – 9.

CASTROL EDGE HOT TUNER CHALLENGE FINALS The Castrol EDGE Hot Tuner Competition – run in conjunction with MOTOR Magazine reaches a climax this week in Sydney. Some of Australia’s leading tuners will compete across three categories – less than $100,000 (manufacturer’s list price), $100,000$200,000 and over $200,000. The cars will be put through their paces for MOTOR Magazine this Wednesday and Thursday by Castrol ambassador – Steven Richards and V8 Supercar driver Warren Luff to determine who is Australia’s hottest tuner. Prizes will also be awarded for King of Power (dyno), The King of the Quarter Mile, The King of the Creek (outright lap time at Eastern Creek) and King of the ‘Khana (best over a motorkhana). The cars that have been attracted for the event are as diverse as a Ford Focus to a Mazda 3, a Porsche Cayman and Golf GTi’s. FPV Falcons are popular and so too are Subaru WRX STi’s. One of the hottest cars in the competition is the C63 AMG – and for a taste of what the cars can expect during the Castrol EDGE Hot Tuner Challenge, check out this video: http://bit.ly/lOlnZi Following are three profiles on Castrol EDGE Hot Tuner Challenge participants.


r e n u tt o H 0 2 CHALLENGE 11

What cars are you entering into the 2011 Hot Tuner Challenge and why? We are entering a BMW M3 and a FPV F6. We’ve chosen these cars as they represent two of our mainstream customer cars and are great base-cars to modify.

The FPV F6 has our Stage 3 kit, which is a good street drivable set-up that can still reel off 11sec quarters. Yet it looks and drives like a standard F6, so it’s the ultimate stealth road car.

What modifications does the car have and why? We are currently conduction R&D on a twin turbo M3. Our plan is to bring this one of a kind car to the challenge. We’ve chosen this route as we wanted to build something that really pushes you back in your seat with serious wow factor. What better way than having two turbos hanging off the V8? At the same time, we’re able to maintain the streetability and driveability of a regular M3.

The Castrol Contenders Pt.1

in all conditions - not just the experience of being at the Hot drag racing - for this challenge. Tuner Challenge is second-toHot Tuner is more than just none. straight-line stuff. This is your second year entering the Hot Tuner Challenge. What did you learn from last year and what will you be doing to improve your performance this time around? We learnt a lot from last year. It was an unbelievable event and experience. We have spent more time fine tuning and testing for 2011, as we didn’t do any pre-track testing last year.

What work is required (testing etc) during the lead up to the shootout?

What are your personal goals for the event?

Our goal for this year is to Many sleepless nights of R&D do well in all the challenges are necessary to deliver a good and hopefully come out on all round car that can perform top in all 3 categories. Yet the

What are your overall thoughts on the event and the benefits it brings? There is no other event in the country like it. It give us the opportunity to promote our work and the performance enhancements that we offer, as well as have them tested in a real situation by the best professional drivers Australia has to offer.

Why do you use Castrol EDGE products? Testing on our Dyno has shown that Castrol EDGE is the best product on the market, we only like to use the best products in our cars. We have done thousands of hours of driving and the product continues to perform well under extreme conditions.


The Castrol Contenders Pt.2

This year you are entering a Lotus Exige Scura into the 2011 Hot Tuner Challenge, why is this your weapon of choice?

removed a lot of the OEM hardware and bolted on our TVS transformer supercharger kit. To realise the full potential of the kit we have The Scura is a pretty mean looking also strengthened up the engine car from the factory but there is a and gearbox allowing us to almost double the factory spec power lot to be said for the performance gains it’s capable of. It puts us up a figures. With some suspension category in this years competition upgrades to a car already renowned but we strongly believe it gives us for its handling, and brake upgrades the perfect platform to build on to for the featherweight we should have what it takes to win. produce an absolute monster. What modifications does the car have and why? The Scura comes supercharged from the factory, however we have

What work is required (testing etc) during the lead up to the Challenge? Most of our testing takes place

out on the track. We have done years of racing in the Australian GT Series and other categories which give us the ideal proving ground for our products. Every minute we are out on track we learn more about the cars, what makes them tick and more importantly what makes them go faster. All of this knowledge goes into all the products we develop and fit here at Simply Sports Cars which means specific testing and set up for the event is kept to a minimum. This is your second year entering the Hot Tuner Challenge, what did you learn from last year and what will you be doing to improve your performance this time round? We have refined our supercharger set up since last year to squeeze that bit more out of the engine but most importantly we now know the one thing we can’t account for is the weather! This year we are making sure we have traction control set up to ensure

r ne tu ot H 20 CHALLENGE 11

we can keep the power down if the weather turns sour. What are Simply Sports Cars goals for the event?

Why do you use Castrol EDGE products?

Whether it’s for a street car in for a service or our GT race cars out on the track we only ever We are keen to show everyone use Castrol EDGE. It gives us the what the Lotus is really capable of performance, reliability and piece and what it can achieve when it’s of mind we need to keep our cars pushed to the limit. Ultimately we at their best. The prompt service would like to take out the event and and laboratory testing which prove it to be the supercar killer it Castrol carry out on our used race was designed to be. car oil is always superb. What are your overall thoughts on the event and the benefits it brings? The Hot Tuner Challenge really is a fantastic event and gives performance workshops like ourselves the chance to showcase our capabilities whilst mixing in a bit of healthy competition. It also gives the public a chance to see what they can achieve with their cars. Whether it’s a change in air filter or a full engine re-build the boundaries are limitless in aftermarket tuning.


r ne tu ot H CHALLENGE 2011

This is your second year entering the Hot Tuner Challenge, last year HPF ran the Ford ute. This year we see you have become a Walkinshaw Performance agent and bring a Holden to the challenge. Planned or coincidence? Last year we brought along a customer’s FPV ute which was setup for circuit racing, the only change we made for Hot Tuner was to remove the race seat. This year we’ve stepped up and built a car specifically for Hot Tuner based on our experiences in 2010. Last year we brought a very sharp knife to the gun fight, this year we have guns blazing! The HPF VE SS code named “G4S” has been built under the HPF

banner to showcase the more extreme level of upgrades available to our customers. Our new partnership with Walkinshaw is something we are very excited about. We see it as the perfect complement to HPF’s strong branding and existing work with late model Holden’s and look forward to continuing to provide WP warranted performance upgrades. What modifications does the car have and why? The brief from the start of the project was to create a vehicle that was just as capable on a racetrack as it was driving to the boardroom during the week. In addition it was to have the performance, looks, drivability

The Castrol Contenders Pt.3

and uniqueness to be a comparable option for those looking at more exotic European and Japanese performance cars. The performance upgrades centre around the now 500kw 6ltr engine, which is force fed with a monster 2.9ltr Whipple supercharger. The power is handled by a heavy duty cushioned clutch and upgraded diff. All components were selected, setup and tuned to provide smooth linear performance on the road and track. A race bred heavy and noisy clutch and brutal power delivery was never an option if we were to meet our original design brief. One area we have focused heavily on is the handling of the car, working closely with Pedders Suspension to develop a package that inspires confidence on the racetrack whilst maintaining comfort on the road. We also understand that with cars like this it’s about more than just the numbers, it’s about the experience, the feeling driving a car like this can create, after all this is what makes us car enthusiasts. With this in mind we’ve carefully selected wheels and body modifications and given the interior a racing orientated makeover.

We understand you have carried out some track testing during the lead up to the shootout. How did that go and what do you expect from the car in Sydney? We have spent some time at Phillip Island circuit as it’s the most like the Hot Tuner Challenge venue at Eastern Creek in its speed and layout. This has been critical to the cars development as it has allowed us to setup the handling and performance for a similar racetrack as well as give us a chance to test the car and its upgraded components at the limit.

The Hot Tuner Challenge is a unique event in our industry that allows us to showcase what HPF is capable of and provide valuable data that we use to continue to improve our upgrade packages for customers. Of course there is also a fair amount of friendly rivalry amongst the competing workshops which inspires everyone at HPF to perform their best throughout the year. Why do you use Castrol EDGE products?

We use Castrol products exclusively throughout our workshop from What are your goals for the event? general servicing to our high (eg win at least one discipline in performance cars. We have used your group) Castrol EDGE oils in some of the world’s most powerful street cars We have built the car to perform well across all disciplines which we including Horsepower Hero winning TRYHRD with 1895rwhp and MRPSI hope will allow us to finish in the with 1731rwhp, both of which are top end of our group and perform admirably against all challengers. still running strong after years Whilst we would love to win the of abuse. different driving events outright it is The excellent results and reliability the overall result we are shooting for. of the Castrol EDGE products combined with the support we What are your overall thoughts receive from Castrol make the on the event and the benefits it brings? choice a no brainer.


GREAT PERFORMANCE

DEMANDS STRENGTH. No matter the challenge in-front of you, it takes strength to perform at your best. That’s why we seek out the toughest environments to test Castrol EDGE, so you know you can drive the way you want whenever you want. Castrol EDGE. Strength to perform. Freedom to drive.


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