TRIPLE Eight have been working on improving the stock Sportech Gen3 steering rack for over 12 months, but team principal Jamie Whincup is not averse to switching to the Tickford Racing-developed alternative.
Quite the opposite, in fact.
“There’s been a lot of talk about steering racks since the Gen3 launched. I don’t have shares in either company, I just want the best product for the category,” Whincup said in Sydney.
“But the fact that the Tickford rack is manufactured by a charter holder and is in-house is good.
“But of course we intend to make the most of the Sportech rack for Supercars. We’ve made some progress, but Tickford is obviously doing the same thing.
“It’s a big debate within the Commission at the moment to determine what the best rack is and, once we have established that, if there is a change, to determine how and when it can be implemented.”
Triple Eight have sampled Tickford’s version and Whincup thinks that’s the likely direction things will go.
“We gave feedback to Tickford on improvements we thought we could make. They made those improvements, they started testing the product again, and it seems like the product just keeps getting better,” he said.
“So if I had to make a guess, this rack will probably be (standardized) across the category at some point.”
Team owner Matt Stone explained why he supports the Tickford product.
“In terms of performance and driving feel there’s not a huge difference between the two, but obviously the Tickford rack is made in Australia, by Supercars people, and built to a standard that I think we’re much more used to,” Stone said.
“I think for me the most important factor is reliability.
“In our experience the Sportech rack works well but there can be an unexpected failure that you can’t really predict and the Tickford rack seems much more robust which is why we’re a big fan of it, just so you can race with confidence.”
There are currently a mix of Sportech and Tickford racks on the pitch, including some teams using one of each.
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