Neal concerned about reliability

Despite finishing third in today’s test, Honda Racing Team driver Matt Neal is concerned about the lack of running time the team has had with the new engine.

Neal’s best lap in the NGTC-powered Civic was 1:00.251, just a quarter of a second down on the best lap set by Eurotech’s Andrew Jordan, but was only able to set 43 laps during the session.

Team-mate Gordon Shedden suffered with even less circuit time, completing 17 laps in the four hour test session.

“The engine’s obviously a big change for us and the way that’s installed and the heat that generates, that’s one of the problems on Flash’s (Shedden’s) car,” said Neal to TouringCarTimes.

“But, we’ve just got to go through them. Better they happen now than at Brands.”

On how the new NGTC engine has affected the handling of the Civic, Matt said:
“We’re struggling on the brakes now, with the lack of engine braking. Also the weight distribution’s changed quite substantially, cos the engine’s 30kg heavier than the old one so that makes a big difference. 1. You’ve got the weight in the car and 2. It’s all at the front end, so that’s changed.”

“What we’re losing is some of the engine braking which means we’re not going to be able to dive up the inside so much as we did, which is what this car was really good at doing.”

Neal echoed the sentiments of many drivers that the times seen today aren’t representative of many teams true pace, adding:

“Chevrolet aren’t showing their full hand, we’ve probably got a bit more in our pocket but what we need is reliability, the Chevrolet has proven to be bullet-proof, and that’s what we need to work on.”