SUPERCARS REVEAL FURTHER GEN3 DETAILS

Supercars has officially confirmed the debut of the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang Supercars will happen during 2022 and not be delayed until 2023. And it could happen during the championship.

Supercars head of motorsport Adrian Burgess has now conceded an in-season debut was not being ruled out. He was also emphatic the cars would appear in the calendar year.

“There’s a few factors still at play,” Burgess said. “I don’t have a straight answer for you, but it is going to be 2022. I can’t say when yet.”

When asked about a mid-season debut he said: “I am not ruling anything out, but equally I cannot go on record and say when it is going to be because that decision hasn’t been taken yet.”

In the same in-depth briefing to the motorsport media, Burgess also confirmed:

• The cost of a car is expected to come in at around $400,000 ready to race. Running costs should also be substantially reduced compared to the current Gen2.
• The production-based Ford Coyote engine being developed for Gen3 will be 5.4-litres in capacity. The Chevrolet engine will be smaller than the 6.2-litre previously reported.
• The focus of the two homologation teams, Triple Eight (Camaro) and DJR (Mustang) right now is fitting the bodies over the previously revealed standard chassis. Burgess said the exteriors would “carry far more road car DNA” than any previous Supercar.
• Components such as uprights, suspension wishbones and roll bars are currently in the process of being turned from CAD (computer aided design) into engineering drawings and physical parts.
• Aerodynamic testing is being conducted now using CFD (computational fluid dynamics) to establish the position of the splitter and much smaller rear wing, before physical VCAT aero testing begins later this year.

This week was the first time since the announcement of the Gen3 ruleset at Bathurst last October that any Supercars employee apart from CEO Sean Seamer and now-departed chief strategy officer John Casey had spoken on the record at length about Gen3.

Burgess is deeply involved in Gen3 at the centre of the development process that includes his own department, a steering group, an engineering group, homologation teams Triple Eight and DJR, engineering consultancy D2H, engine builders KRE and Mostech, and manufacturer reps GM Racing and Ford Performance.

After an initial burst of information at Bathurst, further information had only leaked out in dribs and drabs to teams, media and the public, prompting significant speculation and concern, especially over launch timing at the start of 2022.

Burgess indicated the timing of Gen3’s debut was a complex issue.

“Things are sort of out of our control that we are working with and accommodating everybody’s wishes and everyone else’s plans, so it’s not that straight-forward.

“There are a lot of a stakeholders involved in this size program, not necessarily just teams and manufacturers. You’ve got state governments, there are lots of broadcasters, there lots of moving parts.”

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