It seems ages already since the Christmas holiday break, so it was nice to be able to enjoy our annual pre-season staff party that took place over a weekend at the beginning of February on the Gold Coast. It was doubly enjoyable because, as we were relaxing in the sun, the Triple Eight crew in Europe were attempting to clear the snow off the Albacete race track in Spain so that they could resume their testing schedule over there with the two-litre shopping trolleys!

Parties aside, we’ve been flat out preparing the Betta Electrical Falcons for the 2006 campaign. We had our final test day of the 2005 season in mid-December and ran most of the new components we hope to use this year with positive results. There are several other changes to be tested before Adelaide, which we’ll be aiming to do in early March. Jamie had an excellent first run with us at that final 2005 test and showed his expected speed and consistency.

The days of finding big chunks of time in the cars have long gone. The regulations are such that it is purely a matter of continual refinement of the overall package and trying to eliminate all weaknesses. A part of that process is also trying to ensure that the pit crew are as well drilled as possible. We’ve been training hard not only for race pit stops, but also for making changes to the cars during practise sessions to maximise the use of time.

Race strategy is going to be interesting when we get to the reverse-grid races starting in New Zealand. As I’ve made clear before I’m not a fan of this type of format but we’ve got it so we’ll be working hard to understand the best approach. There are some potentially problematic scenarios that could develop for faster cars at some tracks... but I’ll keep our thoughts to ourselves for the moment! As is usual with almost any regulation change, teams will start off with different approaches to any situation but it never takes long for everyone to gravitate to the same answer to each question. Look at the change to the tyre-stop regulations in sprint races last year. Watching teams practice tyre stops in Adelaide was interesting as there were any number of different approaches. Within a couple of races there was a pretty uniform way of changing two wheels. We were the first team at the start of the season to have a system that allowed us to lift only the rear of the car if we chose. During the year, several other teams copied us but I was surprised that it took as long as it did for that to happen.

Commercially, we recently announced the addition of Dominos Pizza as a team sponsor for 2006. We’re really proud and pleased to have such a major consumer brand joining us to sit alongside Ford, Betta, LG, Sunbeam, Caltex and the rest of partners. It can only further help spread the V8 Supercar message and it’s also pleasing to be introducing another new name to the sport rather than just stealing a sponsor from another team – a practise some of our competitors seem happy to indulge in.

We’ll be aiming to consistently score points in 2006 and see where that leaves us as the season develops. Both Craig and Jamie are all fired up and ready to go. Roll on Adelaide – now the single biggest touring car event in the world! – Roland