CAM Waters has called on Supercars to continue investigating and fixing an alleged disparity between the Gen3 Mustangs and Camaros.
Waters has the only Ford win of the season, but that came in a Newcastle race where he crossed the line third behind both Triple Eight Chevrolets which were later disqualified.
The Tickford Racing star has become one of the championship’s absolute A-graders in recent seasons but is growing frustrated by what he believes remains an uneven playing field in Gen3.
Prior to the Perth SuperSprint, the Centre of Gravity on all Camaros was moved higher while Ford was granted an engine mapping update to help improve low-end throttle response.
That did little to halt the Triple Eight/Erebus show, with Waters still convinced the Camaro is in another league.
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“The sport is so close, you have got so many good teams and good drivers that any differences in qualifying shows up and in the race it’s the same thing,” he told V8 Sleuth.
“For me, we have got different gearcuts between cars and that proves we don’t have engine parity. We should be exactly the same.
“It doesn’t matter what it is, if it’s aero, CoG, engine, the cars need to be exactly the same and let the teams and the drivers make the difference.
“We don’t have that.”
Acceleration through gears four, five and six continues to be a concern for the Mustang, with more software changes tipped in an attempt to unlock the best from its 5.4-litre Coyote powerplant.
Ford drivers also found third gear to be rather ineffective at Wanneroo Raceway due to a lack of torque.
“There’s certain corners where we feel like we’re struggling in wide-open throttle in a particular rev range,” Waters noted.
“For whatever reason that is, I’m not sure. It’s up to the engine builders and manufacturers and Supercars to sort that out.
“I know they’re not the same right now and it just needs to get fixed.
“I don’t think it’s massive amounts but unfortunately in this sport everything is so close and if it is a little bit (out), it does mean something.”
Waters did take accountability that he was off the pace during the first couple of days in Perth, with teammate James Courtney helping him make inroads on Sunday to get closer to what he labelled the class win.
“I think for us this weekend, you have got to focus on being the first Ford and then you know where you’re at after that,” he said.
“For this weekend we weren’t the first Ford which made it hard but (in Race 3) I was the third Mustang and wasn’t too far off Chaz (Mostert) in that last race so that was positive.”
Waters hopes to at least carry some momentum into Round 4 at Symmons Plains in less than three weeks’ time.
“We learnt a lot as a team, so that’s great. We have got a lot of data to go through, we did so many changes,” he said.
“I think Tassie, it will be super tight around there.
“There’s some stuff we learnt this weekend that will definitely help in Tassie and I love going to Tassie, we have been fast there in the past.
“I don’t know if that means a lot now with the new car, it’s more about getting your car in the window, but I enjoy going there.”
