The Mustangs have undergone a series of changes ahead of this weekend’s Bend 500 after a parity analysis showed the Ford to have a straightline deficiency relative to the Chevrolet Camaro.
That’s despite Supercars having spent more than $1million on sending a Mustang and a Camaro to the Windshear wind tunnel in the USA over the 2023-24 off-season.
While various engine parity tweaks have taken place since, the cars have until now been run in the aero configuration signed off by both marques and Supercars following the tunnel test.
“We just hope it’s based on numbers,” Dutton told Speedcafe of the changes made to the Mustangs, which are aimed at reducing drag.
“I’m sure to some extent it is based on numbers, but as everyone knows there’s CFD data, wind tunnel data and on track data and trying to correlate the three of those together is very difficult.
“That’s all the way to F1 and if it’s difficult for them, it’s probably very difficult for Supercars to nail it.”
Triple Eight’s Camaros have dominated much of 2025 to date, but its four closest rivals in the teams’ championship are all Ford squads.
Asked if Triple Eight is concerned by the change being made, Dutton said: “There should be concern that they didn’t get it right because… weren’t they right out of the wind tunnel?
“If they were right out of the wind tunnel, we need to understand what has changed since the wind tunnel.
“Or if they weren’t right in the wind tunnel, we need to understand why they said they were balanced in the wind tunnel.
“We need to understand so that if there is a process that hasn’t been done as well as it could be, or if it’s implementation, we need to understand that as a collective so we can improve for the future.”
Supercars is currently working on improving its wind tunnel processes ahead of a return in December that will homologate the Toyota Supra alongside the Mustang and Camaro.
Triple Eight is involved in that process as Ford’s homologation team for 2026, but continues to fly the GM flag this season.
Dutton said Triple Eight was not directly involved in the latest parity changes although noted the team’s initial research indicated aero – and not engine – was the source of Ford’s straightline issue.
“We did some investigation which showed different things because there’s obviously been talk from the Ford camp for a while that it was engine stuff,” he said.
“We thought it was pointed more towards drag and downforce. Everything plays a part, there’s always little bits and pieces that could be contributing.
“Not saying nothing should have been done, but it’s always a tough one to not overstep the mark. That’s happened in the past by a fair margin and hopefully that hasn’t happened.”
Changes to the Ford largely revert the Mustangs to the specification in which they dominated the final two rounds of the 2023 season.
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