By: Eric Johnson - What do you call a 3,000-pound piece of racing machinery graced with Triple Eight Race Engineered double wishbone front suspension, Triple Eight 4 link rear suspension, a 6-speed Holinger gearbox and an SBRE-developed 5.0-liter V8 Ford with SVO cylinder R302 cast iron block and SVO aluminum heads mill that puts out 635 horsepower? You call it a Ford 888 BF Falcon V8 Supercar. And it¹s exactly what 2004 AMA Supercross Champion and 2007 AMA Supercross Vice-Champion Chad Reed drove on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 at Queensland Raceway in Ipswich, Australia. Set up as a full-on Driver Evaluation Day by the TeamVodafone outfit, Reed took to the 3.12-meter, six-turn roadcourse in the same 888 BF Falcon that ran in the top five at the recent V8 Supercar Championship round held at the same venue.
"I feel as though I got better and better each lap, it¹s just a matter of being receptive and getting the basics right,² said Reed of driving a car that requires Control Alcon 6 piston front calipers front calipers and 375mm discs and 4 piston rear calipers and 343mm disks to slow it down. ³The learning curve in incredible, there is so much going on and you need one hundred for one hundred percent of the time! The opportunity has been fantastic, and to be able to spend a day with one of the best teams in the championship has just been amazing.
Roland Dane, TeamVodafone Team Principal, was present at the test and was quite impressed with Reed¹s one-off outing.
Chad has done everything we asked of him and is rapidly improving lap after lap, to his credit he is taking on board all of the advice the team are offering and his times are getting better and better,² said Dane. ³The purpose of the evaluation is to introduce him to the nature of the car and what it requires of him, it was never about going out and chasing a time. He¹s got an incredible gift and for someone with absolutely no racing experience he is doing a great job.
The NASCAR of Australia, the V8 Supercar Championship is as popular and omnipresent as the Nextel Cup Series is here in the United States of America. Thus while former supercross champions Jeremy McGrath and Ricky Carmichael work at cutting their teeth in late Model stock cars in this nation, Reed is up to the same business in his home nation < albeit in a different car and a different discipline of motorsport.
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