The 45-year-old intends drawing on his US experience when the Sprintcar Racing Association of Victoria series roars into action at Mount Gambier’s Borderline Speedway tomorrow night.

Ludeman, who turned spanners for six-time national champion Garry Brazier during a three-month tour of Pennsylvannia, said he noticed several major changes to how teams set up cars since his last foray to the US 10 years ago.

For a sport renowned for its unpredictability, Ludeman said some of the guesswork that went into setting up a car was being eliminated.

“Why we went back was to see what the latest things are people are doing,” Ludeman said.

“They have got smarter. There is nothing coming out of the cars that is hugely different but they have just smartened things up. They are better at setting cars up.

“They test a lot more things now like suspension components and rate them and know exactly what they are going to do. They test their shockers and know what they are rated at and know for sure when they make a change they are heading in the right direction.”

The rating system related to track conditions so on a slick surface certain shockers would be better than others, he said.

Ludeman said some Australian teams had already adopted the practice.

Ludeman opened his SRA campaign with a ninth placing at Avalon earlier this month.

“The car is running pretty good,” he said.

“It is going well and we qualified well last round but just got loose and dropped back a few spots late.”

Ludeman said he had stuck with a three-year-old Maxim chassis and opted to replace the running gear in the off-season.

He has his sights set on contesting each of the 12 rounds this season with steady improvement his main goal, having finished in the top 10 the past two seasons.

He said he expected a tougher field than the one which lined up at Avalon on November 7.

Ludeman predicted several hard-charging South Australians would enter, including Steven Lines, Glen Sutherland and the in-form Dave Murcott. The former Tasmanian has won four feature races from his past five outings in South Australia and Queensland, including the Australian Sprintcar Masters.

Victorian Mike Van Bremen, who won the opening round of the SRA series, multiple series winner Matthew Reed and Simpson’s Johnny Vogels are also among the leading contenders.

Warrnambool’s Jamie Veal is another with strong claims.