Supercars ace Will Davison gives us the lowdown on a driver’s off season, and how mechanics are key to his race career.
It’s a cool relationship with your mechanics,” says decorated Supercars driver Will Davison. “It means a big deal when they’ve got a can-do attitude, and you know they’ve got your back. You put so much trust and faith in them.”
Will’s the type of driver and personality you just know a team will get behind. Eloquent, amusing and extremely professional, it’s backed by a driving ability that’s seen him reach legendary status after two decades in Supercars. There’s been the 22 victories, 79 podiums and 28 poles. He was runner-up in the 2009 Driver’s Championship, and who can forget those two Bathurst 1000 victories – 2009 and 2016?
Australian Car Mechanic spoke with Will ahead of the 2024 season opener at Bathurst, quizzing him on what happens during his off-season, how important car development is with his Dick Johnson Racing team, and what it’s like to pilot that instantly recognisable Shell V-Power-liveried Gen3 Ford Mustang GT.
Looking ahead
Dick Johnson has acknowledged last season was a toughie, but the team’s co-owner and Will Davison are confident going into 2024, recognising how much work’s been done during the off season. It’s fascinating to hear how motorsport truly never sleeps.
“The two chassis we finished the season with, they’re effectively stripped down to a bare chassis,” Will explains. “It’s a very controlled category now (Supercars), but we’re always looking how we can effectively tidy up our build quality; whether that be losing any weight wherever you can, tidying up welds and bracketry and looking to refine build quality. It’s only when you get back to zero can you do that.”
There’s been a mighty amount of off-season development, aiming to get the Shell V-Power Racing Team back at the pointy end. “Aero testing has been done over in America, then we’ve had two or three days of engine testing very early in the new year,” Will says. “Our guys have had a hugely busy off season, with the cars built from the ground up with engine and aerodynamic changes this year.”
Rest assured, Will’s not lording it up on a Monte Carlo yacht downing endless champagnes once the flag falls on a race season. Instead, he’s the consummate professional fully in-tune with what’s needed before the Supercars circus fires up again. “After the last round there’s a fair bit of tidying up loose ends with the team,” he explains. “We debrief the season, discussing performances, any team restructuring, and attending sponsor events. It takes a few weeks, but then from mid-December I try to make a purposeful sign-off, otherwise it’s all-consuming.”
Fast, not furious
He’s not wrong. Race season runs from February to November, and between events he’s always on call, talking about racing, thinking about it and being in the thick of things at the Queensland factory. With age has come wisdom – at 41, Will’s now an elder statesman of the field – and he applies himself accordingly. “Having had as many years in the sport as I’ve had, you must be mindful to force yourself away from it to recharge the batteries mentally.”
Today’s drivers are proper athletes, and Will’s no different. He’s a regular at Australian triathlons, including the world’s largest at Noosa. Last year he was part of the entertaining Legends Triathlon ahead of the event proper, taking the start line with the likes of Susie O’Neill, Mat Rogers and Glenn McGrath. “I used to enjoy having a few weeks of no training in the off season, but I actually find it’s therapeutic to get stuck into something on my break,” he says. “I make sure there’s some enjoyable training in there, and I don’t mind then if I’m doing something on Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve.”
Fitness is one thing, but so is staying injury free. How does Will balance the risk versus reward equation? “There’s risk management from a team perspective, and I’ve some things in my contract I can’t participate in,” he says. “You must take a lot of responsibility on your own shoulders. Ultimately, it’s you who pays the price if you end up doing something silly.”
To that end, Will has spent less time cycle training on the road. He’ll use a stationary smart trainer at home with the Zwift cycling app, then hit a criterium (bike) track if he has a triathlon coming up. “I’ve had a few close calls (on the road), been knocked off and suffered road rage incidents,” he says.
“It’s become more common, drivers swerving at you. I do enough dangerous stuff, I don’t need it on a road bike too!”
Drivers must also keep their eye in between race seasons, so Will says his home simulator gets a decent workout. “It’s a lot about hand-eye reflexes,” he says. “You get the same thing playing ball sports or going mountain biking. You must stay sharp and coordinated and keep those skillsets up. The driving is pretty natural for me to be honest, it’s not something I get rusty at after a few weeks off over Christmas.”
Will’s raw driving talent has always been at the fore.
Racing evolution
He began in karts where he won multiple state and national titles, excelled in Formula Ford and Formula 3, and by 2004 was a test driver for the Minardi F1 team. His full-time Supercars career began with Dick Johnson Racing in 2006, and over the years has driven everything from the BA Falcon to the VE Commodore, Mercedes-AMG E63 and Ford Mustang GT for the Holden Racing Team, Ford Performance Racing, Erebus, Tekno, 23Red Racing and now, once again, for Dick Johnson.
Having driven such a rich variety of Supercars across almost 20 seasons, how did the Gen3 Ford Mustang feel on first try last year? “It was a huge change from a driver’s point of view,” Will says. “The cars were simplified and dulled down quite a lot; nothing blew your socks off from a driver’s perspective. There were a lot of things in the design that were controlled rather than custom, so straight away there were a heck of a lot of things you wanted to change because it wasn’t as nice as you were used to.”
With more controlled items in the category – suspension, front geometry, roll bar systems and the like – the opportunity to innovate was lessened. “Things we had a lot of engineering leeway with in the years prior, where we could redesign things how we wanted, we now couldn’t,” Will explains. “We had to think outside the square, whether that’s how we set the car up or me adjusting my driving style a bit. It still had the core DNA of a Supercar, but engine power delivery and how it handled with less aerodynamics were different. It didn’t do thing we were used to.”
No doubt frustrating for all involved, but improvements are in place for 2024. “The longer we run these cars, the more we’re going to truly unlock their full potential,” says Will. “Last year, early on, the car didn’t do things as good as our old car that we’d designed in-house and had one hundred percent freedom over. But you find new ways to come up with solutions.”
Start your engines
This is where the driver working with the team’s management, engineers and mechanics is vital. Will says after testing the new 2024 Mustang, some fundamental changes to engine mapping and aerodynamics means he’s immediately felt some gains. “In the off season you spend a lot of time doing trial and error,” Will explains. “When you get to the first test session you don’t want to be doing that; you need that spec locked down so you can fine-tune setups and suspensions and any new ideas you may have.”
Engineers are focused on performance, but it’s the mechanics who assemble everything and then prepare the car perfectly. “The mechanics get given a whole heap of numbers they’ve got to input into the car,” Will says. “There’s a lot of jigging from a scrutineering point of view; the way the car sits, the wheelbase, tracking, where the wings sit. They make sure the car’s measured right with toes, cambers and ride heights, and that can change between every single session.”
This is all well and good in the factory, but at the track and against the clock, Will knows the pressure’s immense. “The mechanics are working under the pump, making very quick changes in three or four minutes. Springs in, shocks in, shocks out, ride heights, geometry changes. And they treat the car like it’s their child; they always think they can do things a bit nicer. Look at the adjustments in the cockpit. The angle of my pedals, the way the seatbelts sit, the gear stick material. You’re tweaking and tweaking in a confined space with shed loads of stuff in there!”
Teamwork is everything, isn’t it? Let’s hope it’s a cracking Supercars season with Will and his Mustang mixing it at the front.