OF GARDENING LEAVE AND BUDGET CAPS

MAFS OR LOVE ISLAND? REGULAR AA COLUMNIST CHRIS LAMBDEN RAISES A COUPLE OF RELEVANT ISSUES AS THE ‘REALITY SHOW’-LIKE FORD/TRIPLE EIGHT REUNION SINKS IN …

Yet again, as Roy and HG used to say, a week when too much news was barely enough. Certainly the news that Triple Eight and Ford – who were married once before – have kissed and made up, and that T8 will walk out on its current relationship with GM to get back with its ex from Detroit has made waves …

The awkward thing is that, unlike US basketball, the ‘transfer’ isn’t immediate.

T8 is going to see out 2025 with its soon-to-be ex (GM), then move in almost immediately with the old flame, Ford.

It’s going to be tricky.

In the competitive world of motorsport, it’s even more problematic, because the team, Triple Eight, is the current GM ‘homologation’ team – ie handles everything to do with the tech spec, development and parity of the Camaro – and has been offered the same role with Ford, which means that the manufacturer’s current ‘homologation’ team, DJR is getting dropped – after completing this year’s season.

It’s almost MAFS, Farmer Wants a Wife, The Bachelor and Love Island all rolled into one, on wheels (and no, I don’t watch any of them …).

Supercars rules do require the teams to agree to a change of homologation team for the respective brands, and I suspect that this discussion – which will take place pretty soon – may not be the formality it might have been if it wasn’t for T8’s jump from one homologation gig to the next.

Is it really to be the case that one day, at the end of the year, GM’s homologation team will shut up shop and open up the next day with Ford signage on the door?
I don’t think so – not in motorsport!

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When key technical staff leave a Supercars team, there’s usually a ‘gardening leave’ requirement, before they can start work for an opposition team. It’s often six months. The same applies in Formula 1 – often more than six months depending on the significance of the departing person’s role.

This is going to need to be somewhat similar in its effect, you’d think.

If I was one of the teams who has cast my lot in with GM, I’d be wanting that change of technical leadership to happen asap, not at year’s end. The concept of T8 running the GM tech show until the day they leave, while at the same time developing their Mustang car and set-up will send shivers down GM spines …

It’s a case of watch this space, but I’d be stunned if there wasn’t agreement for a change of GM homologation team sooner rather than later …

It was the news that shocked the motorsport world, and we have all the analysis on Triple Eight’s move to Ford for 2026 and what it means to have Jamie on a stage alongside other Ford luminaries, like Christian Horner.

In a related vein, there’s another issue that Formula 1 has dealt with over recent times that should perhaps be on Supercars’ agenda.

F1 introduced a budget cap in 2021 for very good reasons – the massive difference from one end of their grid to the other in funding. Mega-rich teams such as Ferrari, Mercedes and Red Bull had almost unlimited resources to pour into achieving success. Lesser teams were running at often significant losses to try and keep up.

It’s a fact – success in motorsport is usually directly proportional to dollar input.

The F1 budget cap has worked. In the case of the big teams, it’s forced them to be more efficient and, in several cases, turned them from loss-leaders into normal, profitable businesses, while allowing the more modestly budgeted equipes to become more competitive.

So … is this the time for Supercars to take a leaf out of that book and impose a budget cap for its teams? Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull were very ‘anti’ at first – but ask them now and they’re more than happy about where it has led them, in a business sense.

Triple Eight’s success has built on itself – and is the reason Ford has come calling again. Can’t blame either of them for that. Look at the range of high-worth brand stickers on the T8 Camaros – success builds on itself for sure. I don’t know the latest numbers, but there isn’t a team in pit lane that comes close in sponsorship revenue.

Would a Supercars budget cap deliver, at last, the cost savings across the grid that Gen-3 was supposed to, with all the common parts across both car brands (soon to be three – unless GM ‘cracks it’ and decides to go and concentrate on its upcoming massive F1 project!)?

Would it increase the competitiveness further down the grid and stabilise the smaller teams? The F1 experience says yes. Something for R-A-C-E to think about?

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