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NEW SUPERCARS ENGINE TESTING UNDERWAY

New Supercars engine testing underway - Image: Supplied

By Bruce Williams

New Supercars engine testing underway - Image: Supplied

New Supercars engine testing underway – Image: Supplied

Testing of the new low-cost V8s to power the Gen3 Camaro and Mustang has started, with more details of the engines emerging.

By MARK FOGARTY

As Supercars remains committed to introducing the cheaper next-gen cars next year, Auto Action has confirmed which American ‘crate’ motors the Gen3 engines will be based on.

The basis of the Camaro’s powerplant will be the GM Performance’s LS series V8s and the Mustang’s will be a variant of Ford Performance’s Coyote-derived ‘Aluminator’.

In conjunction with the engine suppliers for the homologation teams Triple Eight and DJR, Supercars has begun dyno testing of each to decide parity measures.

While the testing is being overseen by Supercars engine consultant Craig Haystead, AA has learned the testing and development is being done by Triple Eight supplier KRE and DJR motor builder Mostech.

The aim is to develop crate-based Gen3 V8s that, according to Supercars supremo Sean Seamer, cost $50,000-60,000 with a life before rebuilds of 10,000 – instead of the current $100,000 engines that last 4000 km.

Seamer revealed the motors would be limited to around 600 horsepower and paritised by the existing measurement system that enforces a maximum limit by tuning.

Seamer also didn’t rule out varying the capacities of the base Ford and GM V8s to achieve equal performance.

Whatever their final capacities and tune, the control-spec GM and Ford V8s will be cheaper to buy and maintain than the smaller existing engines, developed to an expensive peak for more than 20 years.

To discover what engines will power the Gen3 Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro, pick Auto Action #1806 now.

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