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Hands on knowledge to provide on-track benefits for Volkswagen privateer
Knowledge gained from the workshop will be of benefit to privateer Lachlan Mineeff when Supercheap Auto TCR Australia returns.
Debuting at Phillip Island in the Volkswagen Golf GTI TCR raced by Alexandra Whitley during the inaugural season, Mineeff was supported by Melbourne Performance Centre before running as a complete privateer program at Sydney Motorsport Park under Purple Sector.
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“We were very thankful to the team at Melbourne Performance Centre for providing the guidance and advice they gave to us at our first meeting,” Mineeff said.
“Our plan was always to run as a privateer effort and due to that we ran our own staff at Phillip Island. We had our own engineer, two mechanics and me as a driver, where we were sponges all weekend to MPC, taking on as much information as we could at that meeting.
“At Sydney Motorsport Park we went to a full privateer effort, with the transport, logistics and running of the Golf handled ourselves.”
Since Sydney Motorsport Park, Mineeff’s Purple Sector Volkswagen Golf GTI has been a fixture at team partner DNA Autosport workshop where the crew led by Andrew Schapp have completed all servicing and maintenance.
Through completing these jobs, Schapp and his crew gain a more intricate understanding of the Golf GTI TCR, which is expected to be advantageous when Supercheap Auto TCR Australia resumes.
“DNA Autosport do a fantastic job with the set-up and mechanical work including the servicing that is needed,” explained Mineeff.
“It’s great to have those guys working constantly during the week also handling looking after it on a race weekend.
“We’ve been hitting mileage intervals for the car, the team at DNA has been completing those tasks and learning more about the Golf from a technical standpoint, which I think is a definite advantage.
“As privateers, we need to work harder and chase a lot of that development the other teams have got on us.”
Focusing on his Bathurst 6 Hour campaign, Mineeff missed the Supercheap Auto TCR Australia round on the same weekend, but believes he won’t be too disadvantaged when the category returns to the Mountain for the season-ending round.
“We’re going to be a little bit behind as the other teams competed there earlier in the year, but I think the longer distance races will mean that the car set-up will be quite different to what the teams ran at the Bathurst 6 Hour,” Minneef explained.
“With every lap, we’re learning so much, myself as a driver and the team so I think it will be really exciting.
“I think that puts us in a bit better stead.”