Story’s Dick Johnson Racing squad had a hands-on involvement in the development of the latest-spec cars through its role as the Ford homologation team.

However, according to Story, there was a moment early in the development when he had to go above and beyond regular homologation duties.

It is well-documented that the early iteration of the Gen3 prototype caused comfort issues – namely leg numbness – for taller drivers.

Then-Triple Eight driver Shane van Gisbergen is believed to have flagged the issue early on after first driving the prototype, with the testing programme later paused so that modifications could be made to the chassis.

Two years on, Story has offered revealing new insight into the matter – including claims that he paid for the modifications personally despite the prototype hardware belonging to Supercars.

That revelation came as part of a wider point about the series needing to listen to its drivers made on The Hard Card at Authentic Collectables podcast.

“Roland Dane hit the nail on the head, in that we need to recognise the drivers as the talent in our industry,” said Story.

“We need to not only give them a voice, but we need to be prepared to listen to it.

“In the early days of the Gen3 development – and this is not something that I’ve talked about publicly before – Shane van Gisbergen hopped behind the wheel of the prototype, and jumped out of it pretty early because he was uncomfortable.

“I then went and paid, out of my own pocket, to have the prototype chassis modified to better accomodate tall drivers.

“Now that was under a previous [Supercars ownership] guise, and a lot of water has gone under the bridge since then, but to me that was a pretty sad indictment on our sport that we weren’t prepared at that point in time to listen to our reigning champion about what he needed in the race car.

“It wasn’t, by any means, an unreasonable request. Why in that situation did a team owner have to pay out of his own pocket to change and modify a prototype owned by the series?

“We’ve come a long way since then, and full credit to RACE, its board, and the Supercars board for recognising some of these challenges and some of the decisions in the past that haven’t been the right ones.

“But we really do need to ensure we recognise who the talent really is in this category.”

For more with Ryan Story, watch or listen to the full episode of The Hard Card.