Control Chassis Rear View
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promising the chassis in any way or altering its
structural, torsional or dynamic performance."
In many ways the new Mustang is basically a Ford
FG X Falcon in different clothes and with a different
aero package. Of the six Mustangs at the Phillip
Island test in February, five were ‘re-purposed’
Falcons from last year (2018) - there was only one
new Mustang at the first test.
The control chassis design came from a group
called the Technical Advisory Panel which
consisted of five of the top teams with representatives
also from the Supercars organisation.
They specified the engineering aspects the teams
required and Supercars in conjunction with the
manufacturers (Pace Innovations) came up with the
design. Over time this was iterated down to what
constitutes the control chassis today.
The great thing about having a control chassis is
that teams don't have to invest money continually
developing and refining their chassis. The
teams use what they are mandated to use, any
competitive advantage comes from the bits they
bolt onto it, rather than modifications to the chassis
itself. Any incremental gains in torsional rigidity are
swallowed up by the fact that everybody is running
relatively soft tyres.
"This is not to say that the chassis will stay the
same going forward,” says Burgess. “We are still
very keen to bring as many manufacturers into
Supercars as we can, if that means changing the
chassis in 2021/22 we will look at it."
It's possible that the Chevrolet Camaro will be
tried next with the existing chassis, if the Mustang
proves successful. The Supercars ethos is to be
relevant and offer the best racing spectacle that is
appropriate to the time.
According to Cole Hitchcock, general manager –
Corporate Affairs at Supercars, "There is a body
of work going on as we speak, regarding what
the composition of the grid will look like in 2021,
between Adrian's Supercars Engineering Team, our
executive and with consultation with manufacturers
and teams. These deliberations include possible
revisions to the chassis and whether a new design
would be more appealing, to bring more manufacturers
into the series."
If you examine the chassis with its body on, the
body is made up of pressings from the donor
vehicle -- it's not simply a fibreglass silhouette,
attached to a spaceframe chassis. It is a lightweight
version of the original; you can see pressed steel A
pillars, doorframes and B pillars that come from the
original vehicle.
Supercars has been incredibly successful at
producing a level playing field, if you look at some
of the classic races from the 2018 season, the first
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