Triple Eight has completed the first track test of the Gen2 V6 engine which is set to make an appearance in the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship next year.
The squad fitted the 3.6 litre V6 turbo unit to its Supercar-based Sandman car, which completed 256km of running at the Norwell Motorplex on the Gold Coast.
The engine, based on the unit used by the factory Cadillac GT3 program, has undergone extensive development by General Motors in America.
Six-time champion Jamie Whincup, Craig Lowndes and his Pirtek Enduro Cup co-driver Steven Richards all clocked laps in the car during the test.
The squad will however race a new Commodore next season which will be powered by the existing V8 engines.
The test is understood to have been a success with the team pleased with the performance of the V6 unit.
“We’re very pleased with the initial running,” said team owner Roland Dane.
“A huge amount of work has been done already, both at GM Racing in Pontiac, Michigan and also here in Queensland.
“There’s still plenty more to do, but we’re now going to crack on with the development behind closed doors.
“There aren’t any advantages or disadvantages to running the engine in the Sandman for what we’re doing at the moment. expained Dane.
“It’s about getting kilometres on the engine and understanding what it needs at this point to prepare it for racing in Supercars.
“It’s not far away from being competitive, but Supercars is a very competitive category, so we can’t leave anything on the table.”
Dane was also positive of the noise the new engine created.
“Awesome,” he said. “We’ll let people in on it soon.”
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