Gennaro Bonafede Press Release
Bridgestone Production Cars – Round 8 – Killarney – 22
September
Following what can only be described as an
encouraging maiden outing behind the wheel of the Ferodo Audi S4 at Zwartkops
last month, Gennaro Bonafede can’t wait to sample the four wheel drive handling
at Killarney.
Zwartkops was a baptism of fire for the
almost 22-year old as he held his own in a rather aggressive midfield pack.
Unfortunately rear suspension damage saw him miss the second race and then a
front suspension failure saw him crash out of the third race.
Moving from class A to class T requires a
whole new approach to driving as Bonafede explains.
“The driving style is completely different in
the Audi. With the front wheel drive Golf it was mainly about carrying corner
speed with a wider turn in and coming out the corner as narrow as possible and
being very careful about putting on the power with wheel spin being the
limiting factor.
“In the Audi it is all about getting the car
stopped on the apex and getting straight back onto the power as early as
possible, allowing the Quattro system do the rest of the work. With the car
being heavier, braking is much more important. Braking a few meters earlier can
cost you a lot of time. I think the main areas where the Audi is quicker than
the Golf is under braking and then acceleration out the corner.”
A car’s potential maximum speed is seldom
achieved on a race track as the straights are simply too short which means on a
track like Zwartkops the top speeds aren't very different.
Bonafede has given Killarney a lot of
thought. “We will see a big difference in times from the Class A to the Class T
due to the long sweeping corners and two fairly long straights. Getting on the
power was always an issue down in Cape Town in the Golf but with the Audi I’m
sure it will be much better.
“I can't wait to go down there!!”
Brandon More is the team’s data analyst and
he agrees with his driver. “With regard to the data, everything that G brought
up is quite evident. The apex speed of the Golf and Audi are very similar but
the Audi's Quattro system helps it accelerate much faster.
“For example, coming out of Turn 2 at
Zwartkops, the Audi accelerates from 55kph to 155kph over a second faster
than the Golf. On the brakes into Turn 2, the Audi decelerates 0.5 of a second
faster from 155kph to 55kph compared to the Golf.”
Besides the Audi being left hand drive, it
might not look as though there is a different technique for each type of car,
but when the straight talking Bonafede says the two are very different, he
means it.
Article and photos by Steve Wicks
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