The Camaros underwent a series of tweaks ahead of the last two rounds at Ruapuna and Symmons Plains in the name of shifting their aerodynamic balance rearward.
It’s claimed the Camaro’s balance had moved forwards amid efforts to match downforce and drag levels with the modified Ford and all-new Toyota during off-season wind tunnel testing.
That had a bigger than expected impact on Chevrolet teams, which reported rear-end instability and trouble replicating setups from last year.
Supercars essentially rectified the issue in two stages across the last two events in a bid not to overshoot the target.
Team 18 and PremiAir Racing both showed improved form over the weekend, with the former’s David Reynolds praising the aero changes.
The category’s motorsport boss Tim Edwards has flagged the potential for even more tweaks, this time in the name of tightening the ‘balance parity box’, rather than helping the Camaro.
“We have two parity boxes,” Edwards explained to Speedcafe.
“We’ve got the primary one, which is the downforce and drag parity box, and then we also have a balance parity box, and you’ve got to be inside both boxes.
“The balance box is a larger box than the downforce and drag one, in simple terms.
“What you’ve seen over the last two rounds is the Camaro’s moved from being in sort of the top left corner of the [balance] box to being in the bottom right hand corner of the box.
“We’ve looked at it and gone, ‘well, is this box too big?’ Because you’re still inside the downforce and drag box, but now we’re all dancing around in the [balance] parity box.
“If we could just nudge it slightly in one direction, we think we could then reduce the parity box by a significant amount.
“But these things take time. You could say, why didn’t you just do that change now? Well, we’re still trialling all different things and looking at wind tunnel versus CFD correlations.
“You’re talking about another very, very small change. But if we can reduce it, that’s great, because it locks them all in a much smaller space.”
The combination of the off-season wind tunnel testing, CFD modelling and track data means Supercars has more information than ever to work with.
Asked directly if another change is on the cards for Darwin, Edwards said: “Maybe. We’re exploring it. If we can’t find the right tool, then we wouldn’t make a change.”
The desire to reduce the size of the ‘balance parity box’ is the latest example of Supercars’ determination to make the three different body shapes perform as equally as possible.
Its wind tunnel-enhanced efforts to achieve overall downforce and drag parity in recent years have put the spotlight on any difference in aero balance between the cars.
Ford successfully lobbied for a change midway through 2025 that shifted its aerodynamic balance rearward – a move that appeared to turn around its on-track fortunes.
Edwards stressed the magnitude of the changes in aerodynamic balance being talked about are incredibly small.
“It’s like when you check in at the airport and you’re one kilo over and you open your bag up at the counter and take a pair of jeans out and put it in your backpack,” he said.
“We’re taking the pair of jeans off the front bumper and putting it on the rear bumper. It’s such a minute changes we’re making,
“But that’s how close we are now, that these minuscule changes. We’re all dancing around the point of the needle.”
Discussion about this post