Supercars has changed the prescribed drop gear ratio for next week’s event at Symmons Plains Raceway.
Speedcafe has learned that teams will now be running the 1.042 ratio instead of the 1.074 which was originally set out in the 2023 Operations Manual.
The championship mandates a particular drop gear ratio for each track, which is the same for the Camaro and Mustang.
However, despite the change to new engines, a 5.7-litre pushrod in the case of the former and a 5.4-litre quad cam for the latter, the stipulated drop gear ratios remained the same at each track as they were in 2022, pre-Gen3.
What did change in the rulebook, though, is a requirement for teams to also carry back-up drop gears at each event, typically one slightly taller and another slightly shorter.
The 1.042 ratio is the taller back-up option for Symmons Plains, with its implementation perhaps due to concerns about cars spending an excessive amount of time on the rev limiter down the Tasmanian circuit’s long back ‘straight’.
It is already the standard ratio for Hidden Valley, which features a kilometre-long pit straight, and Sandown, which has been described as a pair of drag strips linked by a handful of corners.
In theory, cars can reach a higher top speed, but will be slower in acceleration off Symmons Plains’ iconic hairpin, which is the slowest corner on the Supercars calendar.
That was the case when Supercars changed the drop gear ratio for Mount Panorama back in 2015, while Albert Park was last year switched to a taller, 1.00 ratio in conjunction with a new track layout from which the Lakeside Drive chicane was cut out.
The 1.074 ratio was used in the most recent event of the season, at Perth’s Wanneroo Raceway.
Practice at the Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint starts on Friday week (May 19), with the Repco Supercars Championship field on-track for Practice 1 on the Saturday morning at 09:00 local time/AEST.
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