PLANS to make aero parity adjustments before the Repco Bathurst 1000 have been described by Triple Eight general manager Jamie Whincup as “outrageous”.
V8 Sleuth understands there is a very real possibility that a front bar tweak will be applied to help the Ford Mustang in the coming fortnight, just in time for the 2023 Great Race on October 5-8.
That comes as Blue Oval teams plead with Supercars for change to ensure they have an opportunity to fight the all-conquering Camaro at Mount Panorama.
But Whincup, who is head of the General Motors homologation team, feels that is not right – and that any further changes should wait until the off-season, when wind tunnel testing is on the cards.
“Supercars have got a plan. They have got a sensational plan at the end of the year to go aero testing,” he told the Castrol Motorsport News Podcast.
“I think we all just need to forget about it.
“This talk of doing aero updates for the next round is just outrageous. We’ve had enough.
“We’ve given the Ford guys all year to develop and they’re as close as they have ever been right now.
“We need to get through the next three rounds, go aero testing, and then I can’t wait to get through that because that’s it; that’s the end of the conversation.
“Whatever you bring to the table is what you bring to the table and ’24 we can put it behind us and just go out there and go racing.”
There has already been a number of changes made in the past seven months, including a rebalancing of the Camaro’s aero package just before Newcastle, various engine mapping and shift cut solutions, the raising of the Camaro’s Centre of Gravity, a rear-end Ford aero upgrade, and the introduction of a smaller throttle body to aid the Mustang’s driveability.
Whincup admitted the lack of recent changes to the Chevrolet have helped its relative on-track performance.
“We’ve had the same car all year,” he said.
“Of course, the more common things you have got, the more you refine it, the better you go.
“We got outqualified by two Fords (at Sandown)… we did the best we could and they were just faster.
“Over a race distance we were a little bit quicker because we have had the same thing all year.”
Whincup took his sixth Sandown 500 victory on Sunday, co-driving with Broc Feeney.
Next on the agenda is ending his Bathurst 1000 drought, having won the last of his four Peter Brock Trophies in 2012 with Paul Dumbrell.
