Ford teams have this month tested aerodynamic and engine tweaks to the Mustang package as Supercars evaluates whether a pre-Bathurst boost for the Blue Oval is warranted.
Data gathering took place during a pre-enduro test at Queensland Raceway on August 12 and on Monday at The Bend, where Grove Racing was running a rookie day with Kai Allen.
The latest process is understood to be the result of newly reinstalled Supercars CEO James Warburton’s determination to stamp out the parity debate ahead of the Great Race.
Ford runners have lamented the straight line performance of the Mustang versus the Camaro throughout the season, drawing concerns over competitiveness at Bathurst.
“I see V8 Supercars are still conducting tests on engine parity, it’s in the headlines again. Clearly there’s something going on there,” said Morris in a brief social media video.
“I’ve come up with an idea, a simple idea to evaluate this. Just do an engine swap. Put a Ford engine in a Camaro, put a GM engine in a Mustang. It wouldn’t be that hard to do.
“Go to the track, run it around, see what the difference is. That’s how Larry Perkins would have fixed it.”
Morris is a mentor to Dick Johnson Racing star Brodie Kostecki, who has been at the forefront of the Ford parity fight since switching from GM squad Erebus Motorsport for 2025.
The duo recently raced together in the TA2 Tag Team Enduro at Ipswich, driving a Mustang-bodied car that like all Australian Trans Am/TA2 machines runs a control GM V8 engine.
Supercars’ Gen3 chassis was initially intended to have the Ford Coyote as a control engine, but that plan was kyboshed as the Blue Oval did not want its V8 in a Camaro.
While it’s unclear if a swap for testing purposes would face similar roadblocks, the process is achievable with the control Gen3 platform and appears a logical step for Supercars to take.
The testing of both aero and engine tweaks show the parties involved remain unclear as to what is causing the ongoing straight line deficit on track, despite wind tunnel and AVL dyno testing.
While engine transplants have not taken place, early efforts to understand the parity imbalance ahead of the 2023 season did involve a notable driver swap.
On that occasion Shane van Gisbergen sampled Supercars’ prototype Mustang while James Courtney drove the Camaro during a performance test at Ipswich.
Toyota will add a third engine to the Supercars mix next year when it enters the championship with a version of its 2UR-GSE V8 developed for its Gen3 Supra in the UK.
The Japanese giant will reveal its car on Monday ahead of the start of track testing.
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