Shell V-Power Racing Team CEO Ryan Story has revealed the focus for the Ford Gen3 Supercars engine has switched to durability testing.
The programme for General Motors’ product has been far more public in recent months than the Blue Oval version, as KRE Race Engines and GM homologation team Triple Eight Race Engineering develop the 5.7-litre pushrod engine from scratch.
That has seen a number of tests take place at Queensland Raceway, with the engine fitted to a Mercedes-AMG C63 bodied TA2 car.
It’s been documented that the Ford 5.4-litre Coyote has more runs on the board, having been almost a decade in the making.
While there has been no track outings, Story – whose squad is the designated Ford homologation outfit – is pleased with how things are coming along.
He confirmed there were no plans to follow GM/Triple Eight in hitting the track imminently, but rather that durability was now the focus.
“The engine has done an enormous amount of time just on our standard water brake dyno, but the next step is just to explore some durability testing in some capacity,” Story told Speedcafe.com.
“The key thing to remember is the GM engine journey has been one that’s been a more difficult proposition than the Ford one has.
“And the LS engines don’t tend to rev as high as the 7500 mark out of the box, so they’ve had to do quite a bit of work there and hence the on-track testing and the programmes that they’ve undertaken.
“We’re very satisfied and confident with where we’re at, and as I said, we’ve done an enormous amount of work on just our standard water brake dyno and have plans around durability testing that will come online shortly.
“Certainly the prototypes will clock up plenty of miles as well.
“By the time we’re ready to go racing, we will have very much a proven product and something that we know can do the job.”
Speedcafe.com understands there has been significant progress made with the GM engine across its various tests, with driveability far improved since its QR debut on July 27.
Gen3 Mustang and Camaro prototypes are due to complete demonstration laps at the Repco Bathurst 1000, which will run November 30 to December 5.
It was confirmed during the week that the racing debut of the Gen3 machinery will take place at the 2023 season-opener, having previously been touted for a mid-2022 implementation.
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