Reducing the weight of a Gen3 Mustang Supercar would be a challenge. Picture: Ross Gibb Photography
Reducing the weight of the Gen3 Supercars would be a challenging task on the Ford Mustang, according to teams.
Weight became a focus before the most recent event of the season at Wanneroo Raceway because of a shift of a small amount of ballast within the Chevrolet Camaro in order to achieve centre of gravity parity between the two vehicles.
While both sides of the brand divide seemed satisfied with the change, including Triple Eight Race Engineering Team Principal Jamie Whincup, he expressed a desire to further lighten both the Camaro and Mustang, consistent with one of the stated aims of Gen3.
That might be a simple task with respect to the Camaro, which carries considerable ballast, but not with the Mustang, according to Team Principals from two Blue Oval outfits.
Tickford Racing’s Tim Edwards told Speedcafe, “Anything’s possible; it’s just what lengths and what costs you have to go to.
“The reality is, the bodywork on the Camaro is lighter, but it’s also way more expensive than the bodywork we’ve got.
“[Whincup is] right; we’d all like to see the cars lighter. You don’t want to be carrying around ballast, and they are carrying a lot of ballast [but] we’re not, we’ve got nothing to take off.
“So, we would have to reengineer our car and make parts lighter than they are, and potentially that would make them more expensive or more fragile.
“He’s right, the philosophy should be to make the cars as light as we can, and through some of the rework that is on that long list for the [Gen3 Technical] Working Group, some of that may include things that we can make lighter.”
The Mustang carries very little ballast due to heavier panels and a heavier engine. Picture: Ross Gibb Photography
Grove Racing’s David Cauchi has a similar view on how achievable it is to reduce the weight of the Mustang.
“At the moment, not very,” he told Speedcafe.
“We would have to look at changing the make-up of some of the panels, trying to get weight out of there, to be able to take bulk weight out of the car.
“We’re on the limit of how much ballast we have in our cars. It’s possible, it’s just not going to happen in the next week.”
For both the Camaro and Mustang, Supercars enforces a minimum car and driver weight of 1335kg, minimum front axle weight of 725kg, and minimum driver weight (which includes equipment such as race suit and helmet, for the purpose of the exercise) of 95kg.
Those figures are reductions of 65kg, 30kg, and 8.5kg, respectively, relative to 2022 regulations.
The Camaro not only has lighter panels than does the Mustang, but also features a much lighter engine, and hence the extent of ballast under its bonnet in order to paritise for centre of gravity.
The 2023 Supercars season continues this weekend with the Ned Whisky Tasmania SuperSprint at Symmons Plains.
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