Extreme makeover at PMM

Paul Morris Motorsport have gone through some major changes in preparation for the 2008 V8 Supercar season.
The lead-up to the 2008 V8 Supercar season has witnessed dramatic changes in cars, sponsorship, drivers, personnel and technology. But the most notable change is, their attitude.

In fact, about the only thing that hasn’t changed in the new-look squad, now named Supercheap Auto Racing and unveiled at the Brisbane International Motor Show, is team owner Paul Morris – the man who has driven the Norwell-based team’s transformation from the top down.

Along the recent anouncements of Russell Ingall joining the team and the change of car from Ford to Holden, alomg has come a new naming rights sponsor in Supercheap Auto, Australia’s fastest growing national auto store chain with a long history of V8 Supercar involvement.

Morris then set in motion a chain of events that has seen a significant turnover in the team’s personnel, as well as sending one of its 2008 chassis to the US for high-level testing in a wind tunnel and on a seven-post shaker rig.

The result is a revitalised, cohesive team that is building two new cars armed with top-level technical data, with two experienced and highly motivated drivers keen to demonstrate their best form still lies in front of them.

Even the team’s eye-catching new livery, captured here by Brett Hewlett, another masterpiece by leading Holden designer Peter Hughes, is a stunningly colourful departure from the signature black and-white look of previous years.

Ingall said he had been extremely impressed with the new team structure Morris had built. “All the people involved have been carefully selected not only on their ability, but on their ability to gel well with others because that’s a major factor,” he said. “It was definitely a careful selection and I’d say it’s one of the best-assembled crew of any V8 Supercar team.

“To be honest, that’s the backbone of the whole thing. Without good people behind the scenes, you’re just not going to win so that was the number one priority. Everything else flows on from there. Yes, it’s important to build a good race car, but you can’t do that unless you have good people.”

A key addition for Ingall is his new engineer, James Small, who worked last season with Garry Rogers Motorsport to plot Lee Holdsworth’s stunning round victory at Oran Park. James is the son of Les Small, who will continue to engineer Morris’s #67 Commodore. Jamie Noonan, who last year joined the team after working with Stone Brothers Racing in its championship-winning era, continues to head up the engine program.

Morris said he had given Ingall the freedom to plot his own course. “I wanted Russell to be around as much as he can, and in the past month he’s probably been in the workshop more than I have, which is great,” he said. “He’s rolled up his sleeves and gone in there and is helping everyone as much as he can. I have given him free rein to do what he wants with his car, and how he wants to do it.

“He’s not just a steering wheel attendant at our place; he’s part of the whole operation. It’s been good for me to have someone I can rely on to do that stuff as well. Right down to the livery, Russell’s been involved in that as well.

“He has the results and we’re expecting him to perform, but we have to make sure we have good enough cars to do it, and he’s part of that process as well. There’s no one to blame except ourselves if it doesn’t go the way we want it to.”

For that reason, Morris arranged for the first of the team’s 2008 chassis – the #39 Commodore that Ingall will drive – to be air-freighted to North Carolina for five days of intensive suspension setup testing on Ohlins’ seven-post shaker rig in Hendersonville, and 20 hours in Ayrdyne’s wind tunnel in Mooresville – a research and development program that cost around $200,000.

“It was hugely beneficial, a lot more value than what you can learn by just driving a car around at a test track,” Morris said.

“There are a few small things that we’ll get gains from straight away. We’ve looked at what we’ve got now and how we can make it better, and now we’ve got to go away and make the parts to make the improvements.

“At the moment it’s all-hands-on-deck just trying to get the two cars finished in time for the test day and the first race. Those first three race meetings are really close together so to make any new stuff for the cars, you probably won’t see that until the fourth round.”

Ingall said he was confident that the “small things” would make a big difference to the new cars he and Morris would run. “The cars are coming along extremely well, they’ve got some very innovative ideas under the skin that hopefully will give them a bit of an edge over the competitors,” he said.

“The engine development program is going well, that’s stepped up another level, all the data picked up from the US has been analysed by the new engineers and they’re very happy with what’s been achieved over there. So far so good, everything’s been working extremely well. The short timeline to the first meeting (Clipsal 500) is probably the only negative, but that’s out of our hands.

“Saying that, we’re fairly confident that by the time we head there, we’ll get the test out of the way which will tell us a lot and we’ll be pretty much on the money by the time we get to Adelaide. It’s a big learning curve.”

Ingall said he was delighted with his interactions with new sponsor Supercheap Auto.

“The feedback we’re getting so far is that they’re very happy with everything that’s happened so far, and we haven’t even turned a wheel yet,” he said.

“They’ve got a great marketing plan for this year and it’s going to very much involve motorsport and the race team. So we want to make sure we’re a winner for them.”

Morris agreed. “I’ve been involved with some good sponsors but Supercheap Auto has been the best team of guys to work with once the deal has been done, they have been fantastic,” he said.

Ingall said his move from Ford to Morris’s Holden-based team – a return to the marque with which he raced in his early years in the sport and twice won the Bathurst 1000 – had initially received a lukewarm response from some fans.

“Now, all of a sudden, they’re hearing about the stuff that’s going on and the effort that’s going on behind the scenes, and all of a sudden the feedback we’re getting is that we could be a bit of a surprise package this year,” he said.

“We’ve gone public with what we’re doing, not because we care what other teams think, but because we do care what our fans and potential fans think,” he said. “This is a serious effort, and I think a lot of people are suddenly thinking ‘these guys could be the dark horses in this year’s championship’ and it’s a nice position to be in.”