MOTORSPORT
THERE I S A ‘ N O T S O Q U I E T ’ E V O L U T I O N T A KING
PLACE IN AUSTRALIA - FOR THE FIRST TIME
I N I T S H I S T ORY, SUPERCARS, THE ICON I C
TOURING CAR CHAMPIONSHIP IN AUSTRA L I A
AND NEW ZEALAND IS ALLOWING A 2 DOOR,
2+2 SEAT ENTRY, IN THE SHAPE OF THE
NEW FORD MUSTANG, TO REPLACE THE FORD
FALCON FG X, THAT TOOK CHAMPIONSHIP
HONOURS LAST YEAR.
T here are some in
motorsport that contend
that modern F1 would
not have happened, had
it not been for the race
engineers and mechanics
from the southern hemisphere travelling
north during the Southern winter. That
migration worked both ways. If you look at
the history of Touring Cars in Australia, you
will see the links to the old country. Names
like Triple Eight, Tickford and Walkinshaw
keep popping up.
There is palpable tribal rivalry at circuits
between Ford and Holden (GM) supporters
that would put the Sharks and the Jets to
shame, or Liverpool vs Everton or Union vs
League.
Supercars is old school big V8 saloon car
racing, the only nod to the Green lobby
is the use of E85 Race Blend fuel (85%
bioethanol, 15% unleaded petrol blend).
There is something spine chilling about the
crackle of a highly tuned 5 litre V8. The
Supercars calendar has 15 races in 2019,
including the iconic Bathurst 1000 in early
October followed by the Surfers Paradise
street race.
The sixth generation Ford Mustang has
been homologated for the 2019 championship.
The Mustang will replace the Ford
Falcon FG X, which was used between
2015 and 2018. Tickford Racing and DJR
Team Penske will oversee the development
of the car, with Ford Performance providing
additional technical support. Ford Australia
will provide financial support in developing
the car, but no team will officially be
recognised as a factory team. The homologation
process will require modifications
to the bodywork to fit the series' control
chassis, but the car will continue to use the
V8 engine used by the FG X Falcon. The
decision to return the Mustang to the series
was taken because Australia's domestic
production of the Ford Falcon ceased in
2016. The Mustang's return marks the
first time since 1990 that a Mustang has
contested the premier class of Australian
motorsport. The car completed the homologation
process in December 2018 and was
subsequently approved for competition by
the Supercars Commission.
The Supercars competition is seeking to
offer manufacturers a marketing platform
for vehicles that their fan base can aspire
to own. The availability of right-hand drive
versions of the Mustang in Australia and
New Zealand presumably acted as catalyst
for the new entry in 2019. There is a version
of the Chevrolet Camaro in right-hand drive,
available in Australia and New Zealand, but
this comes from Holden Special Vehicles
(HSV) and is basically a right-hand drive
conversion of a left-hand drive product. It is
a factory conversion in Australia, so quality
is not compromised, but it costs significantly
more than the Mustang because of the
extent of the local manufacture and custom
parts involved.
All the teams in Supercars operate with the
same control chassis. It was introduced
2013 as the basis for a typical four-door
saloon racecar, with the major players
at the time being Holden with the ZB
Commodore, Ford with the FG X Falcon
and Nissan with the L33 Altima. There
were cameo appearances from Volvo and
Mercedes for short periods, but these 3
manufacturers have been the mainstay of
the series for a number of years.
The concept of the control chassis is to
allow as many individual manufacturers to
take part as possible and make sure that
the fundamental structural architecture
was a same across the whole field. The
idea being that, although the vehicles were
from different manufacturers, they were as
identical as possible.
"It's been challenging for the teams to
accommodate the control chassis in a
two-door configuration,” says Adrian
Burgess, head of motorsport at Supercars,
the organisation charged with the
governance and compliance in the series.
“But they've managed it without com-
The driver's office
Side impact protection
Interface between space frame and engine
compartment fabrication (note body pressings)
Front build assembly with suspension subframe
Left 3/4 of front build assembly
44 May 2019