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The revised front-end on the Gen3 Supercar has made its on-track debut at Sandown in the Chevrolet Camaro.
A late redesign process recently took place on the control Gen3 chassis, which forms the base of both the Camaro and Ford Mustang that will compete in the 2023 Repco Supercars Championship.
Changes were made to the suspension package, including the front upright, while the engine bay was widened to allow more working room around the Ford 5.4-litre Coyote motor.
The revised front-end is only being run in the Camaro test mule this weekend, however, the Mustang prototype will be modified after the event.
Supercars’ Gen3 prototypes were on track twice on Friday, with Craig Lowndes behind the wheel of the Camaro and Zane Goddard steering the Mustang.
“You can only make a certain amount of things in a certain amount of time,” Supercars’ Head of Motorsport, Adrian Burgess, told Speedcafe.com.
“We didn’t have the time or the resources to get both cars converted.
“The other car will be converted straight after [Sandown].”
Sandown’s large kerbs provide an opportunity to test the chassis update, after which Supercars hopes to sign off on the control front-end.
PACE Innovations and teams will then be able to build complete chassis with the final-spec design.
“The rush to get one car modified— and it didn’t really matter which car — was so that we could run it over the kerbs,” added Burgess.
“This is quite an aggressive circuit for kerbs; it was just a timing thing [modifying one of the prototypes].
“If we’d had a problem with it, you wouldn’t have had two cars sat at the side of the road, you’ve only got one car sat at the side of the road.
“In terms of risk mitigating here at this event, it’s better to only modify one car in case you have a problem with it.
“The other car will get modified as soon as we get back.”
Burgess said there is minimal on-track comparison to draw between the updated Camaro and the Mustang, which is running with the original front-end.
However, the latest version of the chassis sees a significant improvement in workability for teams.
“We’re not looking for lap times with the different front-end,” Burgess explained.
“Operationally, for the mechanics and the teams, the Version 2 front-end will be a lot easier for those guys to operate the car, to set up the car, to adjust the car, to service the car.
“It’s a lot easier system; that was mainly the reason why we changed it.
“Equally, when we were doing that, we opened up the clip a little bit more to help give the mechanics and the teams a little bit more room around the Ford engine specifically.
“Obviously, it’s a lot [tighter] with its quad-cam than the GM variant.
“We were just trying to make the car more serviceable for the teams to operate.
“We weren’t going and chasing lap time or anything; we’ve taken a little bit away from the steering just to make the steering demands easier to manage.
“This is what you build prototypes for, this is a constant evolution you go through before you actually sign off and start manufacturing.”
Gen3 is scheduled to be on track again on Saturday and Sunday at the Penrite Oil Sandown SuperSprint.
