THE Gen3 Supercars should be capable of breaking through the magical 300km/h barrier at the 2023 Repco Bathurst 1000.
That’s the word from Triple Eight’s technical director Jeromy Moore, who was the lead architect of the Gen3 platform.
The 300km/h mark has long been elusive for the category, at least based on official numbers.
A radar gun for the television coverage claimed Glenn Seton cracked the figure in 1996, while Perkins Engineering said its data showed a 302.4km/h reading in 2005.
However, in recent years the cars have topped out in the 290s, with even a much-hyped change in drop gear for 2015 failing to push them to the triple-ton.
Supercars teams will start this weekend with the same 0.931 final drive ratio as used last year, but the category could switch to a taller 0.909 if the cars end up on the rev limiter for too long.
Although not all in the paddock agree that 300km/h will be reached, especially in light of the current parity debate, Moore says it can theoretically be done with either drop gear.
“I believe the number is 304km/h on the hard limiter with the current drop gear, that’s what the math says,” Moore told V8 Sleuth.
“From the rev limiter and the gearing, it’s pretty straight forward. We should see over 300 without a big headwind.
“If (the drop gear) gets changed, it’ll go even faster.”
Supercars had hoped to run the 0.909 ratio from the beginning of the weekend, but opted to start with the older one due to a late delivery of the new gears.
It will only make the switch if the engines are deemed to be spending too long on the rev limiter at the end of the straight.
“It should be OK to judge on Thursday and Friday,” adds Moore.
“Friday is looking like it’s going to be a tail-wind down the straight, which would be the worst-case scenario (for hitting the rev-limiter).”
Moore says set-up choices and the approach of the drivers to the kink at The Chase will also impact what speeds each car gets to.
“It depends on the team’s set-up, if they choose low drag, they can go quite a bit faster. It’s really going to be interesting to see what we actually get to,” he said.
“I think that’ll develop during the weekend. Everyone will probably start a bit conservative with the downforce and then chip away at it, potentially. We’ll see what the other side do.
“It’s also up to, can you take the kink flat? Probably not (due to the reduced downforce). The braking zone of course will be earlier for The Chase.
“The slipstream has still been really powerful the last few rounds, so you’ll definitely be able to crack over the 300 with a good tow.
“Hopefully we’re not limited in the race to hitting the limiter early and you can’t overtake.
“That’s the whole intention of changing the drop gear, so you can have a slipstream and pull up and then divebomb, rather than pulling up and not being able to go any faster with the rev limiter.”
Opening practice for the Repco Bathurst 1000 is scheduled for 1:20pm local time.
