Erebus Motorsport will use Friday practice for the Sydney 500 to test a new suspension package ahead of the 2014 season.
The Tim Slade-driven E63 AMG will ‘back-to-back’ the team’s existing Sachs dampers with the Supashock units that were made eligible from the Armor All Gold Coast 600.
The alternative dampers have already been used by Ford Performance Racing and Lucas Dumbrell Motorsport, while Slade also enjoyed a brief trial of the product at Phillip Island.
“This weekend we’ve got two sets of the Supashocks so we’ll back-to-back them during the early sessions and then make a call on where it’s heading,” Erebus general manager Ross Stone told Speedcafe.com.
“It’s all a work in progress for next year to make sure that we’re strong out of the box.”
V8 Supercars undertook a dedicated homologation program with FPR and Supashock prior to making the units eligible, with their durability, cost-effectiveness and Australian-made status touted as key reasons for the eventual green light.
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Stone, however, says that his team’s trial of the product in Sydney is “absolutely” in search of improved performance and is a cost he does not need.
“We’re really disappointed that the whole thing (Supashock) was allowed in the category in the first place,” he said.
“We applied to have an English shock brought in 12 months ago and it was knocked back, but allowing in the Supashock now has other teams talking about bringing in other shocks.
“If they think that’s cost containment, they’ve got to be dreaming.”
Erebus is plotting a major in-house engineering push for the 2014 season following a reshaping of its AMG Customer Sports agreement.
While the initial development of the E63 V8 Supercar’s engine and bodywork package was undertaken at HWA’s German headquarters, a gradual migration of duties to Australia will be complete by the end of the year.
“The plan is to be 100 percent self contained in Queensland from our race base in Yatala next season,” Stone confirmed.
“We’ll do engines, bodywork and everything from there. It’ll give us much shorter lead times and more control over our own destiny.”
Stone added that scaling back from three to two cars will not hinder the team’s development process next season.
“There’ll be a lot less work and less of a logistics as well,” he said.
“We’ve just got to do the work so that we come out really strongly next year and put ourselves in the mix from the start.”
Erebus will field Lee Holdsworth and Will Davison in its two entries next season, with Slade headed to Walkinshaw Racing and the still under contract Maro Engel being touted for a switch to the team’s GT program.
