The team’s move from Ford to Holden back in 2010 included building a Project Blueprint Falcon chassis as a Commodore for testing and later ride car purposes.
While conversions are far easier under the common chassis rules of Car of the Future, Gen2 and now Gen3, the team is ruling out any such move this time.
Team manager Mark Dutton says its 2026 car build plan is clear, but whether a final new Red Bull Ampol Racing Camaro debuts this season is currently undecided.
“The one we can lock away is we’re not going to convert anything, we’ll build new for next year,” Dutton told Speedcafe.
“But what we do this year we need to reconfirm. Do we build a new one for this year or not?
“It just comes down to workload, timelines, the practicalities of it.
“We don’t need a new one, per se, for Will [Brown], we’d only do that because we can as much as anything.”
Triple Eight did have a new chassis built for reigning champion Brown to race as car #1 this year, but that will instead hit the grid with Team 18 and its recruit Anton De Pasquale.
“We had [a new chassis] ready to go but then we sold it,” said Dutton.
“Will was devastated, he thought I was joking when I said we’d sold that to Team 18 in December! But they needed another one, so it’s gone.”
Triple Eight has subsequently been busy rebuilding two Jason Gomersall-owned ZB Commodores for the team’s return to the Super2 Series this year.
That has included converting a VF Commodore to a ZB after one of the cars originally slated for use was crashed heavily by Reuben Goodall at last year’s Adelaide 500.
The Mustang unveiled in Red Bull colours by Triple Eight at Ford Australia headquarters in Broadmeadows on Friday was the Blanchard Racing Team’s spare car.
Built by Tickford Racing, the car has been loaned out for various Ford promotional purposes over the last 12 months, as well as crankshaft testing at Ipswich in the lead-up to the 2024 Bathurst 1000.
Dutton admitted at the Friday launch that it’s unclear what the team’s Ford deal will mean for its customer relationships beyond this season.
PremiAir Racing campaigns complete Triple Eight-built cars, while Team 18 builds its own from chassis supplied by the team.
Pace Innovations chassis customers Matt Stone Racing and Brad Jones Racing are also linked to Triple Eight through data supply deals.
