Jamie Whincup makes no secret that the Supercars Gen3 parity saga has been a personal sore point for Triple Eight.
The introduction of Gen3 this season has sparked plenty of controversy, a lot of which has been centred on the topic of parity.
The Chevrolet Camaro has been by far the more successful package, with Fords only crossing the line first on three occasions so far this season.
All of those wins came since aero updates were introduced to the Mustang, with the most recent triumphs on the Gold Coast following a second round of changes to the Ford package.
It’s hoped that the massive investment will put an end to the parity discussion ahead of the 2024 season.
Among those to welcome the decision for better parity testing is Triple Eight managing director Whincup.
His team has been the architect of Gen3, designing the majority of the control platform that sits underneath the bodywork.
As the GM homologation team, Triple Eight was also responsible for the design of the Camaro aero package.
Given it has had such a hand in both Gen3 as a whole, and the Camaro specifically, T8 has copped plenty of backlash from inside and outside the paddock during the parity war.
That, says Whincup, has been hard to swallow, given the hours that T8 invested in ensuring Gen3 was ready for 2023.
“We unfairly bear the brunt [of the criticism],” Whincup told Speedcafe.
“The message that hasn’t got out is that we burned the midnight oil. We had five engineers that were working around the clock making Gen3 happen for this year.
“It was touch and go whether it was going to debut this year. Can you imagine sitting here right now with ZB Commodores and the world’s ugliest-looking Mustang, again for another year?
“In our opinion it would have absolutely killed the sport. So we had to make it happen. We went around the clock and did it.
“As the GM homologation team, we designed our body shell and presented it massively early, before the S650 Mustang came about. We put it on show, and said, ‘that’s what we’ve got’.
“There’s been no behind-the-scenes dodginess at all. We’ve just done a solid job and gone racing.
“The parity debate is bloody disappointing. And I’m not blaming anybody for it. But it’s fantastic that Supercars is going to raise the game and go to world’s best practice [to test parity].”
Whincup then clarified that the existing VCAT system, which involves real-life running on an airstrip to assess aero, shouldn’t be rubbished, even if wind tunnel testing has been deemed necessary.
“I think it’s worth noting that what we’re currently doing is second-best practice,” he said.
“This whole, ‘oh, running down an airstrip is rubbish’… that statement is complete rubbish. That’s second-best practice.
“But good on Supercars for going, ‘righto, we’re going to do the wind tunnel and the AVL dyno’. That’s world’s best practice. There’s no level above that.
“The results we get out of the wind tunnel testing is what it will be. And I can’t wait for the day we all go racing and we all talk about going fast.”
