March 26th, 2009
With superlap coming up this weekend, we got the opportunity to interview two of the leading contestants. And without Peter Lucas and his winning Lotus Exige, both Mark Berry and David Loftus have a good chance of winning it outright this year…
Mark Berry was the favourite to win last year, with his monsterous R32 GT-R. This year, he has upgraded to the ever popular R34.
Alan Li: A new year, and a new car - tell us the reason for the change/upgrade.
Mark Berry: We wanted to modernise a bit, and head towards a later model car. I’ve always liked the R34.
AL: What is different about this car, and how much faster to you want to be?
MB: The chassis is better, and more stable. There were a lot of enhancements to the GT-R with each successive model.
We don’t really have a target on how fast we want the car to be, aside from ‘as quick as it possibly can be’.
We learned a lot in Japan, when we competed against the big-name Japanese workshops at the Rev Speed Tsukuba Superlap Battle. We engineered the R32 as an all-rounder. It could have been used for the circuit, at the drags, and road rallies and hill climbs. At Japan, the compromises really showed up against focused circuit machines and so our times weren’t as good as we know they could have been.
With the R34 we’re giving it a circuit focus. The car sits a lot lower to the ground than the R32 (it is now 65mm), and we’re taking it back to Tsukuba at the end of the year to try again.
AL: Will you have trouble adapting to the new car? How has testing been?
MB: I’m enjoying the new car. The R32 is more of a driver’s car, whereas the R34 tends to be easier to drive. For competition the latter is preferable, since the easier it is for the driver the more consistent they can be and the more confidence they have.
We did our first test at Queensland Raceway recently, and the new car is 1 second faster. The majority of our testing time has been spent setting up the suspension.
We haven’t had issues with dialing the car in. A lot of the knowledge gained from the R32 has carried over, and what is different has been easy to learn.
The car is very stable, even over the bumps. That’s a plus given how much lower it sits. Our only issue is ground clearance - we will probably have to stay off the ripple strips at Oran Park.
AL: Are you confident in winning?
MB: I’m not sure if we’ll win this year. It’ll depend on what the other racers bring. There are some quick drivers out there.
I’ll be happy with setting the same time as last year in this new car.
AL: What is the appeal of Superlap?
MB: The appeal is the freedom to go as fast as we can. The homologation rules are a lot more relaxed than most racing series, so we don’t have to artificially restrict the car to meet the rules.
It’s also a lot more relaxed on the track. It’s a different feeling to racing door to door. In time attack you have the freedom to push yourself to the limit; in a field you’re restricted by what the other drivers are doing.
The racing driver ego isn’t as ugly. You don’t get people baulking you to hold a position, or trading paint if they care about their car. We do care about bending ours.
It’s also a lot gentler on the car. At Superlap we do 2 or 3 flying laps, and then bring it in to let everything cool down. Racing for position, you’ll be out there for a dozen laps and you’re basically breaking the car.
David Loftus on the other hand is driving the same BSM R32 GT-R from last year. A well seasoned racer, how will the car perform now that it is completely stripped of IPRA regulation disadvantages?
Marc Hammond: You were close to winning last year, but then again, not close enough. Has the car changed from last year? Mark Berry, obviously has a new one…
David Loftus: Mark is a switched on driver and he will no doubt settle into the new car quickly…it is though a new car and with time I know they will make it quicker than it currently is.
The big wing fitted last year is gone as provided too much rear down force and upset the cars balance…time was short last year and it was kind of something we just threw on.
The focus this year has been on balance, reliability and general refinements.
This year we have reworked the front aerodynamics with an improved front splitter…no secret F1 under tray designs needed.
We also Tweaked the 4WD system with trick diffs and a new transmission to handle the power of the engine…the car makes some big HP.
Larger rear brakes and a whole host of other little adjustment to make the car more drivable and more reliable.
Delays over Christmas have meant the new transmission has only just come through in time for testing at Eastern Creek this weekend.
MH: Are you confident in winning this year?
DL: Confident, the win if not top three. You can’t be too confident though there are some seriously fast cars and good steerers out there.
MH: What is the appeal of Superlap for you and/or BSM?
DL: The biggest and the best tuning workshops, each bringing out their hero cars, the best of the best – it is an incredible exciting atmosphere and something i wouldn’t miss.
Most of us are all mates but when that helmet goes on its all business and its time to back up all the talk in pit lane with the winning lap time.
We are all competitors shooting for the title and the prestige yet if anything were to go wrong with your vehicle everybody would lend you a hand to get you back on track.
Last year when we blew the engine help came to us from everywhere…Mark even offered to ship one down from QLD!
