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A Mustang from Ford homologation team Dick Johnson Racing and a Camaro from Chevrolet homologation team Triple Eight Race Engineering will both cut laps around Mount Panorama, the same circuit where the Supercars Championship season starts on the following weekend.
According to the announcement via Supercars’ official website, “The demonstration runs are an opportunity to showcase the cars to a potential new audience, and promote the Thrifty Bathurst 500.
“Additionally, both cars will be fitted with torque sensors and other non-standard sensors for further data collection.
“Following the demonstrations, select data results will be shared with all teams once Supercars have analysed.”
The announcement follows parity testing with torque sensors at Queensland Raceway, while select Mustangs have been running with a proposed new engine specification.
As previously reported, Speedcafe understands there had already been an instruction to slow the new Ford engine following Monday’s test day at Queensland Raceway.
The tight timeframe for finalising a spec means that transient dynamometer testing will not take place until after the season starts, making the demonstrations a real-world opportunity to assess the recent developments in relatively controlled conditions.
Two demonstrations will take place on the Friday and one on the Saturday of the 12 Hour event.
Both cars will run on soft tyres, rather than the hards which have been allocated for the Supercars race weekend, and on a set-up generated by the championship’s staff.
According to the category’s announcement, “No chassis tuning will take place, and no data relevant to tuning will be provided to the homologations teams to ensure fair competition at the Thrifty Bathurst 500.”
“We’re excited to be able to showcase our Gen3 Supercars to a potential new audience,” Supercars General Manager of Motorsport, Tim Edwards, told the championship’s official website.
“The Repco Bathurst 12 Hour has proven a great event for all motorsport enthusiasts, and we’re keen to showcase what Supercars is all about.
“The demonstration runs also enable us to collect more data, with torque sensors now a major benefit when it comes to additional technical performance measures.
“We are always keen to provide teams with as much data as possible to produce best outcomes.”
2010 Supercars champion James Courtney praised the new engine when he sampled it via rookie team-mate Aaron Love’s Mustang during the Blanchard Racing Team’s two-day test at Winton this week.
