Dunlop Super2 Series rookie Mason Kelly has returned to the track for the first time since his fiery incident in Perth for a shakedown at Winton Motor Raceway today.
At the Wanneroo circuit last month, fire caused significant damage to Kelly’s Mustang Super2 car, forcing the small Kelly Racing squad to complete a full rebuild of the car ahead of Round 3 of the Dunlop Super2 Series at Townsville next weekend.
The chassis arrived in the Kelly Racing workshop the Thursday after Perth when the three team members, including Kelly himself, completed a complete strip down of the Mustang.
“We got the car stripped down pretty quick, which is normal practice as it only takes a day or two with a couple of people working on it,” explained Mason.
“A lot of the fire damage on the paintwork and chassis had to be repaired by sanding it back before repainting the shell. PPG has been helping me this season, so it was a good opportunity to practice my painting with base coat and clear for the cage and direct gloss for the panels.
“There was so much burnt stuff that could not be repaired and had to go in the bin and we ordered a big list of items to replace it.
“Ed my mechanic is away, so I’ve been working with Mikey, who’s on the other car to help with bits and pieces. As much work as it’s been, I’ve enjoyed it and it’s given me a chance to learn all the aspects of the car.”
Having the ability to use the Kelly Precision machinery shop to aid in producing parts proved advantageous as the final touches were made earlier this week ahead of the shakedown at Winton today.
“It was good to have access to the Kelly Precision side of the business and we’ve got really good guys working there,” Kelly explained.
“Any parts we need to dig out from the server and make is quite straightforward, the personnel in there can search for any part to produce. With this new exhaust system, we needed a set of some new flanges to bolt to the engine and these were on the server ensuring we got the parts the following day.”
Kelly’s father, Bathurst winner Todd, played a hand by producing parts, including a new exhaust system.
The fiery Perth exit came while Kelly was enjoying his best weekend in the competitive Super2 field where he was running comfortably inside the top 10.
“I really enjoy working on the car,” Kelly said.
“It’s good to have a solid knowledge of what’s underneath me. I think one of the most important things about being a race driver is having a good understanding of the car.
“It’ll be good to get back in the car again to shake it down. There will be a lot of mechanical and data checks throughout the day, but to be behind the wheel again will be good.
“Coming from Perth, it was the strongest pace we’d had up until this point and we were quite competitive, but if we can carry a little bit of that momentum into Townsville then we should go OK.”
Kelly Racing is at Winton with both of its two Ford Mustangs, as Aaron Cameron aims to build on his strong campaign to this point – currently second in the standings driving the SCHRAMM Group Mustang entry.
The Dunlop Super2 Series continues at Townsville on July 5-7.