The category is utilising precious Bathurst track time to tick off a range of tasks with a Tickford Racing Mustang and Team 18 Camaro.
It’s an extension of a test with the same two cars at The Bend last December, where close analysis of suspected panel deflection on the Mustang took place.
That followed complaints from Ford runners about lacking top-end speed during October’s Bathurst 1000, despite wind tunnel and AVL dyno parity testing having been completed.
“We have a few small updates on some bodywork pieces,” Ford Australia’s motorsport engineering lead Brendan McGinniskin told Speedcafe of the Bathurst testing.
“Supercars identified some issues that came out of the back of Bathurst, some slight panel stiffness issues, so we’re making some improvements there.
“There were some small concerns they raised, particularly once they get above that 250km/h mark, which at least from the data Supercars has talked about, is where they saw a deviation.”
The trouble spots for deflection were the boot and the doors. This followed efforts to reduce weight from several panels on the Mustang across late 2023 and early ’24.
“The DJR guys have designed an additional set of boot pins to stop that deflection and keep the seal as tight as it can be,” he said.
“And Tickford, who manufacture the doors, have come up with another spec that’s got a significantly stiffer door top in it.”
McGinniskin cautioned the changes aren’t necessarily “a silver bullet” solution to Ford’s Bathurst woes, but the deflection issues needed to be addressed.
“What it does is it takes our surface away from what is homologated,” he said of the panel deflection.
“For example, if the bootlid is flexible and it’s coming up at high speed, that’s not what we signed off on in the tunnel.
“We’ve got to rectify it so that it maintains the shape that was signed off.”
McGinniskin affirmed that the revised parts should be on all Mustangs for the Sydney Motorsport Park season opener later this month, pending approval.
“Whatever comes out of the test, whatever is approved, as soon as Supercars give the direction to say we can run these items, they’ll be on the cars,” he said.
“Our teams are already gearing up as though they’re going to be approved. They’re getting ready to make sure they go on the car.”
Ford also hopes critical engine data will be taken away from this weekend’s Bathurst running, which consists of four sessions across yesterday and today.
DJR boss Ryan Story last year stated the altitude of Mount Panorama could be hampering the performance of the Ford engine against the Chevrolet.
“They’ve now taken the exact same pair of cars from The Bend to Bathurst, same engines, everything,” said McGinniskin.
“They have torque sensors, they have all the additional aero sensors, so effectively now they’ve got that sea level to altitude comparison with the same cars.
“That’s something we’ve not directly had before, it’s always been a different chassis or a different engine.
“Now we’ve got that delta and if there is a question around performance at altitude, which has always been a question mark for us, hopefully that will give us enough data to show if that is or isn’t a thing.”
