EXCLUSIVE: CUT-PRICE GEN3 PLAN

Supercars Cut-Price Gen3 Plan

The cost target for the next generation Supercars racer has been slashed by a quarter as the push for cheaper racing ramps up amid the coronavirus lockdown.

By MARK FOGARTY

Supercars is now aiming for the Gen3 rules, due in 2022, to reduce the total build price per car to under half the current bill.

Rumours that Triple Eight supremo Roland Dane is planning his own cut-price design have been dismissed.

AUTO ACTION has learned that the Gen3 target is now $300,000 a car, down from $400K – a 25 per cent cut.

A current Supercars racer costs between $650,000 and $700K to make.

Latest Gen3 planning is also to slash annual running costs, with a low-maintenance control V8 under consideration, along with more standardised mechanical components and heavily restricted data acquisition.

Engine savings alone are targeted at up to half, with the much cheaper motors lasting all season without a rebuild as well.

AA has also learned that Triple Eight Race Engineering has designed a new control chassis for Gen3, while DJR Team Penske has explored sweeping operational cost cuts.

Both teams are working on Gen3 under the direction of Supercars head of motorsport Adrian Burgess, who is in turn overseeing engine constraints.

As revealed by AA, Supercars is considering a control engine, with the Ford Coyote V8 a prime candidate.

It is understood the proposition of adopting a version of the Blue Oval’s five-litre race motor has been put to Ford Australia.

It’s also come to light that Supercars has acquired Ford Coyote and GM Racing ‘crate’ V8s to evaluate their suitability as potential Gen3 control engines.

Supercars senior executive John Casey, who heads the Gen3 working group, confirmed the accelerated and more cost-driven resumption of the project during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has brought racing to a halt since the mid-March Australian Grand Prix.

Triple Eight and DJRTP, the respective Holden and Ford homologation teams, were drafted to directly assist because they had excess capacity due to the lockdown.

Gen3 will adopt a new control chassis adaptable to a wide variety of body shapes, allowing small and large two-door coupes that – unlike the current Mustang – retain a close association with the look of the donor road car.

Reduced aero downforce, equalised air drag and more control components, including standardised front suspension uprights, are high on the agenda.

On-board electronics, especially real-time data-acquisition sensors, are also on the Gen3 hit list.

Triple Eight’s Dane confirmed his operation had conducted computer design work for Gen3 on behalf of Supercars.

“We’re not doing it off our own bat,” Dane told AA. “ We’re giving Supercars some design input on the Gen3 car.

“We’re doing various tasks on the design for them so it (Gen3) didn’t come to a grinding halt.

“It’s all been on paper. We’ve done a whole lot of (computer) design work, both conceptual and practical.”

Dane also affirmed that the aim was to come up with a much less expensive control chassis design.

“Gen3 has always been about being cheaper,” he said. “The only reason you’d change is to take cost out of it.”

He warned that Supercars had to become leaner and more cost-efficient to survive the long-term economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The sport is not going to be at the same scale going forward,” Dane declared. “If you think that, you’re kidding yourself, whether it’s F1 or us.

“The fundamental approach to racing has to change.”

He referred further comment on Triple Eight’s Gen3 design role to Supercars’ Casey, who is leading the project.

Dane has been widely rumoured to have commissioned the design and construction of a low-cost MARC Cars-style silhouette V8 racer as a Gen3 proposal.

According to the speculation, his plan is for Triple Eight to produce a $300,000 car powered by a fixed-spec Coyote V8 and sheathed in road car-replica composite body panels, adaptable to a wide range of models.

Part of Gen3’s mandate has always been to facilitate two-door coupe body shapes such as the reborn Toyota Supra and forthcoming new BMW M4, as well as Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro.

However, Casey dismissed suggestions that Dane had gone ‘rogue’ with his own Gen3 design as “a conspiracy theory”.

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