CHEVROLET homologation team boss Jamie Whincup has hit back at Ford’s fury over the rejection of a proposed engine upgrade for the Mustangs ahead of the Gold Coast 500.
Supercars confirmed on Tuesday that the Mustangs will sport an upgraded aerodynamic package this weekend, after the Repco Bathurst 1000 triggered a parity review.
However, a simultaneous request from Ford for an engine upgrade was denied.
According to a Ford statement, the proposal “included a requested torque increase of 8Nm throughout the entire rev range, via a larger restrictor and minor calibration changes.”
Ford revealed the engine rebuff in a strongly-worded statement bemoaning its belief that the Mustangs “will remain at a larger disadvantage this weekend”.
Ford’s plea was based off analysis of track data undertaken by Dick Johnson Racing and Ford Performance and validated through its own testing and simulation tools.
However, it’s understood the engine tweak would have put the Ford over the category’s Accumulated Engine Power measure – one of the cornerstones of its technical parity formula.
“Supercars have done everything they can to help them, without compromising the integrity of the sport,” Whincup told V8 Sleuth of the situation.
“Giving someone more power is completely against the DNA of Supercars and just doesn’t make any sense.
“You can’t just give someone more power, that’s not what we all signed up for, that’s BoP (Balance of Performance), it’s not Supercar racing that we know and signed up for.”
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News of the Ford aero change and engine standoff immediately followed confirmation that Supercars will significantly upgrade its parity processes for 2024.
That is headlined by the planned use of the Windshear wind tunnel in the United States, where a Triple Eight Camaro and DJR Mustang will be tested.
Investment has also been made in an AVL dyno in Melbourne, which will host testing of the engines next month, and torque sensors to gather data.
Uprated engine testing should better account for any differences between the double-overhead cam Ford and the pushrod Chevrolet.
The move to upgrade the parity tools has been welcomed on both sides of the fence.
“Supercars have come up with the ultimate solution to go ‘righto, we’re going wind tunnel testing’,” added Whincup of the overall parity saga.
“What is world’s best practice? Wind tunnel and AVL (dynos). That’s the best chance we’ve got of putting this debate behind us, and they’ve implemented it and off we go.”
Whincup confirmed that Triple Eight will supply the Camaro raced by Craig Lowndes and Zane Goddard at Bathurst for the wind tunnel testing in December.
“The homologation teams gave Supercars the ability to take two cars over there, it’s our wildcard they’ve taken,” he said.
“Two cars, not prototypes, cars that have actually raced are going over there to do the testing. It’s quite exciting, it’s a big step up for our sport.
“We’ll validate the cars as they are and make adjustments if needed to make them as close as possible.”
The Gold Coast marks the debut of the Mustang’s third aerodynamic package this year, following earlier tweaks made ahead of the Townsville 500 in July.
