Tim Slade. Image: Mark Horsburgh
Tim Blanchard, co-owner of CoolDrive Racing, says supercars should listen to their smallest teams if they are looking to make significant cost reductions under the upcoming Gen3 regulations.
The Blanchard Racing Team is in the middle of its first season as a solo operation in the Repco Supercars Championship.
Blanchard previously ran his Racing Entitlements Contract from Brad Jones Racing’s stable (2017-2020), but this year he’s been on the road alone and has used Tim Slade in a Ford Mustang.
Speaking to Speedcafe.com, the Supercars team boss said the COVID-19 pandemic had made it clear to the championship that it needed to become more efficient.
Live data from car to pit was restricted when the championship returned to racing in mid-2020 after a break caused by the coronavirus and sensors were also removed.
Access to data loggers was limited to the time after the event, which means data engineers were less dependent.
Outside the car, Supercars introduced a curfew and reduced most meetings from three-day to two-day events, which largely continued in 2021.
However, some of these sensors have been reintroduced.
Blanchard believes supercars should have let them out of their cars because they were unnecessary and led to increased personnel costs.
“I think there were some really good things that COVID caused; two-day meetings and weekend curfews were really good, ”Blanchard told Speedcafe.com.
“Last year they removed a lot of the sensors from the cars, which saved us a lot of money in terms of manpower, but then slowly they all crept back in, which meant we had to carry an extra head here. We didn’t budget for the year.
“That was probably a little disappointing.”
The reintroduction of these sensors, Blanchard said, is a great example of where supercars should be talking to their smallest teams who know how to be frugal.
“Some of the smaller teams probably need a little more hearing about what actually saves us money,” said Blanchard.
“All the sensors and stuff that we’ve been told will come back this year to help the small teams, but that was really a massive disadvantage for us.
“Sometimes the smaller teams have to have a little more say, which actually saves us money, instead of finding out what is saving us money. That’s part of it.
“We have probably one of the smallest budgets this year, and some of the decisions that are made to seemingly save us money end up costing us a lot more.
“All of these sensors coming back this year are a great example. It is an additional employee that we hire full-time and had to fly through the country to every event, which we did not plan. “
The impact of these sensors, the data collection process associated with it, and the cost of a data engineer is something that Blanchard is not a fan of.
In his eyes, most fans are not privy to or interested in the data aspect of the championship.
Blanchard believes that drastically reducing data collection and analysis would bring driver skills to the fore while saving teams significant costs.
“I think that’s what it takes to reward the real racers,” said Blanchard.
“The guys who really understand what they’re doing and the riders who can give good feedback and understand that the technique you ride and the harder you do it, the more exciting the race becomes and the more talented it becomes Guys get rewarded.
“The more sensors and things you put in, the more you put in more engineers to produce a result. I think we need a category that rewards the real racers.
“The more data you provide, the easier it is for an engineer to analyze it and find the right thing or the right direction.
“I think if you keep it raw, engineers who have a real understanding of racing cars and mechanical engineering and the drivers who have a really good instinct will be in the box.
“Ultimately, people just want to see good races. I think they don’t care how much the car costs, or how much it costs, or what data you can and can’t get out of the car.
“All they want to see is as many cars as possible on the grid with close races with many overtaking maneuvers. That’s what they come for. We have to concentrate on these new cars. “
