Benetton works on clutch
Benetton decamped to the Santa Pod drag strip to test a new clutch, and practised over 40 starts to try out the durability of the new part
Alexander Wurz, who had experienced trouble with the old clutch, was much happier after the Santa Pod test - particularly when he approached the track record for an F1 starting time, previously set by Johnny Herbert.
Wurz and team-mate Giancarlo Fisichella were generally happy with the new clutch and other parts to be introduced before San Marino.
"Giancarlo and I are happy with the results," claimed Wurz on his personal website wurz.com, "...though we still need the material to be more reliable. Mind, there is a new record to announce: I did the fastest start ever clocked! Only Johnny Herbert was quicker some years ago - but that was with slicks then.
"With Santa Pod and tests in Silverstone we found quite some ground for improvements. Some new stuff will be taken to Imola. Restricted for practise will be our new rear wing. It looks promising in the wind tunnel, but it has not enough mileage yet."
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