ERROL PARKER | Editor-at-large | Contact
From next season, Chevrolet Supercar teams will remove their fuel filler caps in a tribute to the Holden Commodore, which was more often than not seen without one.
From the iconic VL to the VE, the fuel filler cap would frequently be removed from the vehicle by either the owner or a helpful member of the public looking to help themselves to 15 litres of E10. The most common reason, however, for the fuel filler cap to go missing was the fact that the releasing mechanism would often die.
As a nod to a time when the championship was exciting, loud and full of personalities. When there were special rules that teams had to follow around the manufacture of the base car and production numbers.
Local Supercar fan, Garth Moist, laughed as he said that while the Supercars now are like “pulling yourself off with a dish glove” now, it’s great to see teams pay tribute to the V8s that came before them.
“Nah, I reckon it’s mad,” said the 38-year-old medium-rigid licence holder.
“You don’t see a dunny door with a filler cap these days, well, not around Betoota Heights anyway. I dunno if they even have V8s those cars anymore, and I watch them on the telly all the time. Yeah, but perhaps also nah, it’s good to see in the Supercars. A bitta (sic) tradition and respect is long overdue.”
However, it seems the move to remove the filler cap is for a different reason, according to Chevrolet Australia’s media liason, Chuck Chet.
The filler caps were removed from all Chevrolet team Supercars next season because they kept getting stuck at “inopportune times”.
“Nah, dawg,” he said.
“We’re taken (sic) them off because in the middle of a race, they’d get stuck shut and we’d have to go through the pits looking for a flathead screwdriver or something else to snap the lock off. Sometimes, you end up snapping the whole cap off. It’s just the way it is, my dude.”
More to come.
