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The Arciero-Wells CART team will use the new version of the Toyota powerplant, the RV8B, on the street circuits in Gold Coast, Australia and Long Beach, California. Max Papis will make his debut at these two events driving the No. 25 MCI Racing Reynard 97I/RV8B car.
"We are certainly more pepared to race on the street circuits of Gold Coast and Long Beach than we were a year ago," said team co-owner Cal Wells III. "The RV8B powerplant has proven to be more reliable and with the number of tests we have held since Miami, we are making substantial improvement with overall performance. These two races will be key in the development of Toyota's RV8B engine for the street circuits."
"In addition to the engine speed," continued Wells, "a new challenge we are facing this year is that we have expanded our program to two entries with two different configurations. As the lead development driver for Toyota, Max Papis is driving the only RV8B-powered '97 Reynard and Hiro Matsushita, like the other Toyota drivers, is supporting this effort by driving the '96 Reynard with the RV8A engine. This definitely increases the work load for our crew, but I feel with the guidance of people like Richard Buck, Gordon Coppuck, and Ed Nathman we are handling this challenge very well."
One year ago, Arciero-Wells debuted the Toyota engine on these two street circuits, scoring an 18th in Australia and a 26th at Long Beach. The team's top finish last year was a ninth at Road America.