Ford Performance motorsport boss Mark Rushbrook has said that he is “frustrated with Supercars” amid ongoing Chevrolet dominance of the championship.
Camaro drivers won both races at the Beaurepaires Sydney SuperNight although the spread of podium finishers was more even than usual, if not for the application of penalties on Saturday night.
However, the results still suggest that there is a technical disparity between the Mustang and the Camaro, with work ongoing on updates since the opening event of the season in Newcastle.
Speaking to selected media including Speedcafe/Torquecafe in recent days, he said, “Am I frustrated with Supercars? Yes.
“Do we evaluate our future in Supercars? We evaluate our future in every series on a very regular basis and we look for the ability to win races and championships; we don’t race if we can’t.
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“But, there’s also the technical innovation transfer between road to race and back.
“We [also] look at the marketing benefit from it; the audience, the reach, that we’re able to tell stories about our products.
“We use it for employee development, both technical development and marketing, and we use it for employee pride.
“And we look at every racing series in the world and we decide where we’re going to race and not race.”
The Mustangs received a new aerodynamic package at the NTI Townsville 500, two events ago now, which was designed to prevent a loss of downforce in pitch.
In recent days at Sydney Motorsport Park, they raced for the first time with an 80mm throttle body rather than the 87mm which they had been running with, in a bid to improve driveability.
Neither is thought to be the silver bullet, a position supported by how the weekend played out at ‘Eastern Creek’, and individuals from Ford homologation team Dick Johnson Racing were underwhelmed by the throttle body change even before action began.
A not uncommon school of thought within the paddock is that the Ford camp has been given whatever it has asked for in the quest for parity, including the second VCAT, a succession of engine map changes, and now the new aero and throttle body.
Rushbrook argues that Ford still does not have the data transparency it enjoys in categories such as NASCAR, although the situation is improving.
On whether matters are serious enough to take the ‘nuclear option’, he said, “Any decision with any series, whether it’s to join or to leave, is a difficult decision, because we don’t want to be coming and going into series.
“What I will say about Supercars is: I said I was frustrated [but] they are starting to make the changes.
“I wish they would have done it before the season started, but they are making changes now to try and improve the situation.
“There are certainly still limits or things that aren’t happening, and I’ve been very open about it, the transparency of data.
“I can sit here in this building [the Ford Performance technical centre in Charlotte] or I can sit on my couch at home and I can see what every car on a NASCAR track is doing.
“I know what [Toyota Camry driver] Martin Truex Jnr is doing with his throttle on every single lap, I know his brake pressure … I can’t see that in Supercars.
“And without that transparency of data, it’s very difficult for us as a manufacturer or our teams, that we love, to understand what the differences are in the cars – the Chevy and the Ford – and what changes we can make in the parameters and the restrictions that Supercars [employ].
“It’s a guessing game in many ways.”
The Repco Supercars Championship continues with the OTR SuperSprint at The Bend on August 18-20.
Additional reporting: Stephen Ottley
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