Sandvik Coromant helped leading motorsports team Prodrive Racing (Australia) to land its first-ever V8 Supercars drivers’ championship in 2015, in the culmination of a partnership lasting one and a half years.
Since the collaboration between Prodrive and Sandvik began in 2014, Sandvik has provided the team’s machine shop with tooling solutions to manufacture a number of performance parts used in house and distributed to race teams across the country. Sandvik has played a pivotal role in the success of the team to date, assisting with the development of new parts within its manufacturing division, particularly with the introduction of the FG X Ford Falcon.
The success of the team and its manufacturing department is not only driven by development, but through the reliability of the product and the speed of production, as well as by maintaining good relationships throughout the business. Prodrive CEO Tim Edwards believes the relationship between Prodrive and Sandvik has played a vital part in the team’s success this year.
“While having the right team of people working for us has been the key to our success, it’s important to have the best manufacturing equipment on offer in order to create the best and most reliable parts for our cars and that is where Sandvik has been incredibly important,” says Edwards. “The smallest issue with a car in our game can be the difference between starting on pole, or at the back of the field, or even winning or losing a race.
“The parts we manufacture in-house with the help of Sandvik Coromant have helped us to stay at the front of the field consistently throughout the year. Our machinists are the best in the business and the performance and reliability of the parts our machinists have manufactured with the help of Sandvik have played a big part in our consistency throughout the year.”
Successful race teams are built on the staff they employ and the quality of the product they use, which comes from their sponsors and suppliers. Sandvik’s tools, products and technical support help the Prodrive team ensure that its components are reliable and will hold up in any race situation. Reliability is not only determined by the tooling used by the team but also the metal alloy used to create each component. This is also backed by the quality of the machining. With the help of Sandvik, Prodrive’s machinists, mechanics and engineers are able to guarantee the part will do the job required for the length of its life.
Derek Skidmore, the head of the manufacturing department at Prodrive Racing, believes continued development within the team and with Sandvik was the key to the team’s success in 2015.
“We have worked really closely with Sandvik over the last year and a half to get our parts made at the highest quality,” says Skidmore. “They have been extremely helpful, with developing their shop online system to allow us to get the right tools to the workshop within 24 hours of us ordering it, to their technicians helping us produce these parts to the highest quality possible.
“What is developed today is not necessarily going to be good enough for tomorrow, particularly because our engineers are constantly designing new components for the cars so we have worked tirelessly together to continue developing their products to ensure that they are the best in the business and deliver the best success possible.”
Speed is key
As development is continual, another key part of the success of the Prodrive manufacturing department, and the business overall, is speed and efficiency. When at a race track, mechanics must be quick and efficient when making pit stops, changing parts in practice sessions, and between races and sessions throughout the weekend. If pit stops are not quick, the team may lose race position, and if the right component is not efficiently installed in the car, a mechanical problem may result, costing the team race results and valuable championship points. Prodrive driver Mark Winterbottom’s 2015 Championship win is evidence of the speed and efficiency of the team, with Winterbottom finishing each and every race in the 2015 season.
Within the team’s manufacturing department, the same principals can be applied. With the team’s engineers constantly developing new parts, Skidmore and his team must work quickly and efficiently to ensure the part is installed in each car prior to the trucks leaving for the next race event. With the Sandvik/Prodrive partnership extending into the 2016 season, turnover time will become increasingly important with the season condensing to 40 weeks while adding an extra event.
In most cases there will only be two weeks or less between events, so the machinists must be efficient when working to produce these new parts. In most cases, depending on the part, it can be produced within a few hours to be fitted to the car or shipped to the next race event. This speed and efficiency has contributed to the team’s success throughout 2015, allowing the team to improve their performance throughout the year.
Sandvik’s assistance for the duration of their partnership has played an important part in the team’s success. Sandvik’s work to further understand what the team requires and its endeavours to supply the team with the best tools, machines, and information to create the best possible components so that Prodrive’s cars are able to achieve the ultimate success has been a great contributor to the year that the team had.
Performance on track has a direct correlation with the performance of the team back at the workshop, in all departments. It is necessary for all departments to perform at their peak consistently throughout the year, and that is what Prodrive did in 2015. Both Prodrive and Sandvik strive to be the best in their field and their success goes hand in hand. Teamwork is a vital part of V8 Supercars, and Prodrive Racing is proud to have Sandvik Coromant as part of their team.