Triple Eight Race Engineering will roll out the very first team-built Car of the Future V8 Supercar at Queensland Raceway on August 6 with a special one-off livery.
As previously reported, the champion Holden squad will become the first team to put a new-generation V8 on the race track, with a private test scheduled for the day after the Coates Hire 300 at the Ipswich circuit.
The date had originally been scheduled as a group test for all accredited COTF builders – a concept that was recently scrapped by V8 Supercars.
The team will unveil the special look of the car during the week leading up to the race meeting, before putting it on display across the weekend for fans to view.
According to team owner Roland Dane, Triple Eight’s first COTF (referred to by the team as its ‘laboratory car’) is currently undergoing finishing touches before its public unveil.
“The car should be ready next week. The car will be at Queensland Raceway on display, ready to run on the Monday,” Dane confirmed to Speedcafe.com.
“The car has a special camouflaged livery with generic Triple Eight branding. It will be unique to that car for the first couple of tests.
“It’s the first, proper Car of the Future, because the prototypes are not really serious race cars. They are just validation tools. We’re looking forward to getting ours on the race track.”
While Triple Eight will become the first V8 Supecars team to get a COTF on the circuit, it will not be in the final specification that the cars will compete in next year. Some technical regulations are still to be finalised, while teams are also waiting for a number of control items to become available.
Triple Eight plans to build nine COTFs prior to the start of next season, with a race car and spare car allocated for both of the team’s own drivers Jamie Whincup and Craig Lowndes.
The ‘laboratory car’ is expected to become the team’s ride car, while other chassis have been earmarked for Tekno Autosport (two) and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport (one). The ninth car currently has no official destination, but could be built up as an extra spare chassis available for the customer teams.
