If you thought we just raced cars and had a nice break in the off-season you’d be completely wrong.
Yes, we do race cars and yes, we do have a nice (little) break in the off-season but that’s not all…
Each year is different and we’re often developing or building something shiny and new but this year, we’ve had a whopper of a season, putting together the Next-Gen Commodore which will hit the track in 2018.
Red Bull Holden Racing Team Manager Mark Dutton knows all too well the juggle the team have managed this year and says we’d have no qualms doing it again.
“It’s definitely been our toughest and our biggest year yet,” Dutto said.
“Each and every year we do something big – whether it’s the Sandman or the drift car and sometimes we do a few more models but this year has been the biggest.
“Not only was it a whole new car but it was quite a different package from the previous ones. Being a hatch there’s a lot of times when there was no precedence already set which in turn made the job bigger.”
READ: Aero testing success for the Next-Gen Commodore
Developing the Next-Gen Commodore, whilst chasing both the Teams and Drivers Championships, the team has also been working on the V6 twin-turbocharged engine, due to make its competitive debut in 2019.
“Everyone stepped up and helped each other out where they could,” he said.
“We’re just juggling the balance of trying to go racing against some fierce competition and work towards the future as well.
It’s the business we’re in and Triple Eight wouldn’t be Triple Eight if we weren’t developing and moving forward. We just need a few Red Bulls on hand and we’re right!
“It’s about what you’re used to and what you have to do – you have to prepare for tomorrow,” Dutto continued.
“Every time you look at rebuilding a part, you’re always looking at redeveloping it.”
VIDEO: Check out the Next-Gen Commodore in action
Considering the Formula 1 guys and girls have a new car every year, we’ve got off pretty lightly, don’t you think?
“We only do these bigger model changes about every three years or so. And it’s just one of those years where it’s all hands on deck,” he said.
A big year calls for an even bigger celebration but we’ve just got to get through the final round, a homologation test for the Next-Gen Commodore AND then we can let our hair down… Until we start it all again in 2018.
