Supercars supremo Shane Howard believes Gen3’s difficult development is “worth it”, asserting that the new-generation Camaro and Mustang have boosted interest.
Gen3’s introduction has been dogged by on-going parity concerns and reliability issues with new control components.
Asked by Speedcafe about the “agony and pain” of Gen3’s on-the-run refinement, Howard declared: “Yes, I think it has been worth it. The cars are resonating with the fans.”
The Supercars CEO cites continuing work on aero and engine parity, plus the development of stronger parts, as proof of the commitment to making the Mustang and Camaro both equal and bullet-proof.
He also revealed that independent research has confirmed that the Gen3 cars are more popular.
Supercars conducted more aero testing of the Mustang at The Bend following the OTR SuperSprint, as well trialling a stronger common steering rack on the Camaro.
The Fords received an aero adjustment at Townsville last month after the parity review process was triggered at Darwin, getting more rear downforce to improve braking stability.
Mustang teams still have straight-line speed concerns ahead of the up-coming Sandown 500 and Bathurst 1000, both of which feature long straights.
Still to come is transient dyno engine testing and the return of torque sensors to further paratise engine response of the 5.4-litre quad-cam, multi-valve Ford Coyote versus the 5.7-litre pushrod Chev LTR.
Amid the on-going parity controversy, Howard is happy that Supercars’ technical team, headed by Adrian Burgess, is making progress to get Gen3 sorted before the enduros.
“When you embark on such a significant change … there’s a lot to get right in all that,” he said. ”Yeah, we’ve had some issues that we needed to work on. And we’ve been working very closely [with the homologation teams] on that.
“There’s probably still a little bit more work to do there, to be honest. But we’re getting on top of it. We have good plans to improve our tools and processes going forward … so I think there are good things ahead.”
Despite suggestions that broadcast viewing and crowds are down, Howard counters that an independent study by UK-based international sports market research and data analytics company YouGov confirms Supercars is attracting new interest.
“Basically, [it’s] our health check in comparison with other sports,” he explained. “There’s very, very good news in all that our attendances have been very strong. And in regard to our demographic, we’ve increased the number of women watching and attending our sport, and we’ve really increased our numbers in the 18 to 34 demographic.
“So there are some really good signs there that the [Gen3] cars are resonating with the fans. We have a little bit more work to do on the getting the cars perfectly balanced, but we have a good plan to execute on that.”
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