Behind the scenes with Perfection Racing

Friday at seven o’clock the alarm clock bells at Hotel Quellenhof, and after a solid breakfast the Perfection Racing team is ready for day two of their WTCC debut at Oschersleben. The order of the day is to get the Chevrolet Lacetti race car ready for the first free practice on Saturday.

The car has to be checked, put through pre-scrutineering and go through a thorough engine test.

Driveshafts, brakes and engine management have to be controlled and every part which could be worn or possibly faulty will be exchanged for new parts.

All the official WTCC suppliers will have to be represented by stickers on the car, and all the FIA WTCC engine management sensors in place. Also the national Danish flag will be put on the car, both on the side of the car and on the mirrors.

The black gold in racing is the tires. Perfection Racing has their tire engineer, Torben Pedersen, on the spot. Friday has been a busy day for Pedersen, as all the tires must be paid, picked and marked with barcodes by the end of the day.

The tires; 16 grooved wet weather tires and 16 slick tires all made by Yokohama, now reside in their tire trolley. All ready for the first run in anger Saturday morning. For the Danish team a lot of new rules have to be implemented. The WTCC is a control series as far as tires goes, and to prevent any mishaps all tires are marked with a unique barcode.

Friday morning the Danish tire engineer picks up his load of brand-new tires which the Yokohama engineers already has put onto the white Chevrolet rims, and starts to check every single tire. All tires are handled by hand, and have to be checked for imperfections and faults. Once the visual control is over, all the Advan tires are pumped up with nitrogen.

“I have set all tires to the same reference pressure, and left alone overnight, “ Torben Pedersen explains. “Saturday morning I will check every single tire again. If I get any fluctuations in the pressure, I will know that we have a possibility for a puncture. Then the tire will go back to Yokohama for inspection.”

“I personally rate Yokohama as the best Touringcar tire at the moment. It is apparent, that the standard from tire to tire is very high. There are extremely few abnormalities, and the sets are very much identical in performance.”

“The rules are so much more complex than the DTC rules. But they seem to secure that all competitors are treated equal. For example; if you use a wet weather tire in practice, you are not allowed to use it in qualification or in the race. That way everyone starts out on new tires when it really counts. And they can’t run the wet weather tires down to almost slick grooves.”

“The Yokohama tire is a harder compound than the Dunlop we use in Denmark. Mostly due to the longer races in the WTCC, but they also secure that the performance window over the period of the race is bigger. These tires last longer, so I quite like them.”

“Here in the WTCC it is allowed to use tire heaters, and thanks to the Chevrolet factory team Ray Mallock Ltd, we are gathering data regarding to tire pressure. Once you use tire heaters, you need to know which tire pressure you set before you heat the tire, in order to achieve the correct tire pressure once you race the heated tire.”

“Perfection Racing has the advantage of being a small but very well knitted team. We have been racing together for many years, and everyone posses great knowledge. So formally the race engineer decides which tire pressure I have to set, when we go out. But in reality, we respect each others opinions and experience. So it is often a joint decision.”

During the afternoon, the FIA controllers inspect the car for pre-scrutineering, everything is controlled. All seals must be in place, everything must correspond to the regulations.

Also the FIA crash pack box must be in place, sensing impact force. Last but not least the transponder for the laptimes and driver ID must be installed. The driver must be weighed in, driver suit, underwear, gloves, shoes and everything else must have the right FIA approved labels.

At 16.05 the Lacetti 2.0 16V engine barks to life, after Ray Mallock engineer Darren has worked on the engine for hours. But after a brief warm up, the engine refuses to get started. As it soon turns out, a fuse in a box has given up, and is quickly replaced.

After a well-earned dinner at the Ray Mallock Ltd hospitality, consisting of sweet and sour pork, with apple pie as a dessert, the extra bodyparts is fitted to the car. The goal is to prepare the team for quick rebuilds, should Nykjær run into any damage on track.

At 21.15 the team is finished rehearsing, and returns to the hotel for an early night. Tomorrow will be the first free practice and qualification.