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Speedcafe understands that the category will be running a torque sensor test on Tuesday at the Ipswich circuit, with a Ford Mustang from Dick Johnson Racing and a Chevrolet Camaro, presumably from Triple Eight Race Engineering, on-track.
The move is the next step in the ongoing initiatives to achieve technical parity between the two competing race cars after the first season of Gen3 was marred by controversy on that front.
The revelation comes ahead of a Mustang going back into the Windshear wind tunnel in the United States in coming hours, as the category closes in on aerodynamic specifications for the season ahead.
While aero was the more prominent parity gripe during 2023, with the Mustang adjusted twice during the season following official parity reviews, engine performance was also a question mark.
With the Chevrolet engine being a 5.7-litre pushrod and the Coyote-derived Ford unit being a 5.4-litre of quad cam design, there were suggestions that the latter was on a wrong end of a transient disparity and it too was tweaked during the year.
It led to Supercars confirming midway through 2023 that it would be undertaking transient dynamometer testing in the future, although that endeavour is still to come.
The other plank of its engine parity project though, namely torque sensors, is about to kick in.
Torque sensors, unlike transient dyno testing, are nothing new to the category, although they were deemed unnecessary in years past when engines were considered essentially paritised.
Earlier intelligence had Supercars receiving two sets of torque sensors, enough for one car from each side of the brand divide, but that should suffice given the Gen3 ruleset.
During prior technical eras, there were several suppliers, but now it is KRE Race Engines supplying all of the Chevrolet teams and DJR’s new business unit performing that role on the Ford side, with engines dyno tested by Supercars’ Craig Hasted and allocated last year by way of a lottery.
It is expected that any Supercars technical staff who have made the trip back to the US for wind tunnel testing tonight (AEDT) will be on-hand at Queensland Raceway next week for the torque sensor test.
