Four cars from three different teams across both sides of the manufacturer divide were in action at the Ipswich circuit in the past week, namely Chevrolet outfits Triple Eight Race Engineering and Matt Stone Racing plus Ford homologation team Dick Johnson Racing.
MSR was conducting a Rookie Test Day and, unsurprisingly, is known to have had the latest aero spec fitted to its #4 Camaro at the time.
Less can be inferred regarding the DJR Mustang, considering it was being used for engine development purposes rather than a ‘VCS Test Day’ or ‘Rookie Test Day’ (per Rule D1 of the Supercars Operations Manual).
However, the bodywork on that car was noticeably different in a number of areas compared to the state in which it finished the 2023 season in Adelaide.
At the front end of Car #11, the fog light bezel inserts remain, but the so-called ‘wheelbands’ on the leading edge of the wheel arches (added in the 2023 Gold Coast update) have been removed again.
Shots which Speedcafe captured of the Shell V-Power Racing Team machine are inconclusive with respect to any changes to the front splitter.
However, according to a recent tech video from Brad Jones Racing, both the Mustang and the Camaro will be fitted with tapered skid plates in order to solve a pitch sensitivity problem.
Along the sides of the Mustang, the skirts have also changed if the discrepancies between the Adelaide state of Car #11 and its appearance in Ipswich last week are any guide.
Speedcafe understands that the skirts on the Mustang have been brought closer, if not identical, to those on the Camaro.
In any case, the very subtle change to the livery design – note the red in/at the front end of the Mustang’s side skirts last week – points to probability of a change in that area of the VSD (Vehicle Specification Document, which sets out the aero for a given model of Supercar).
The side skirt packer immediately in front of the rear wheel arch also looks to be less chunkier than before.
Further back, the wider rear wing element, per the 2023 Gold Coast update, remains, but the boot decklid spoiler is noticeably narrower.
Another obvious change is to the mirrors, which are the larger, Australian specification.
One theory on that front is that larger mirrors induce drag, which squares with earlier Speedcafe intelligence about the likely reason for the gurneys which were placed on the Mustang during the first round of wind tunnel testing (noting also that video footage published by Supercars at the time seemingly showed the smaller, North American-spec mirrors on the car).
The unsightliness of said gurneys prompted the second visit to Windshear and presumably bigger mirrors was arrived at as a more elegant means of creating the drag to match the Camaro’s.
Not only is the package more elegant – and a better match for what can be found in the showrooms of Ford’s Australian dealers – the lack of gurneys reduces the wash issue which made following difficult, particularly during the latter years of Gen2 but also in the back end of the 2023 season.
As for the Camaro, it now also has the 100mm wider rear wing and new mounts which put the wing element in the same position as that of the Mustang, as well as a tweaked front splitter profile.
All up, both the Camaro and Mustang are expected to generate more downforce than they did in 2023.
There has been conjecture as to exactly how much, but figures will still be very low relative to those of Gen2, and insiders suggest that a small uplift will actually improve the quality of racing, perhaps by reducing overheating of tyres.
Speedcafe understands that the Ford aero is now a formality, and thus one could infer with reasonable confidence that the above noted changes relative to late-2023 spec are in fact the 2024 spec.
However, it will be instructive to keep an eagle eye on how the DJR Mustangs roll out today at Queensland Raceway, and then how those from Walkinshaw Andretti United, Tickford Racing, Grove Racing, and the Blanchard Racing Team do so on Wednesday at Winton.
Triple Eight, MSR, and fellow Chevrolet squad PremiAir Racing will also test today in Ipswich.
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