Ford crew linked to Camaro Supercars swap

Speak of a sensational defection from one of many 5 Ford groups has been gaining traction because the current Sydney SuperNight.

It comes because the Blue Oval squads proceed to battle in opposition to the Camaro-shod outfits as a result of a scarcity of rear tyre life.

Modifications have been made to the Ford rear aero bundle for Townsville after a parity overview was triggered after Darwin.

Though the Townsville occasion yielded the primary Mustang victory of the season, this had extra to do with tyre technique than outright tempo. 

The Camaros have been again on prime in Sydney with little in the best way of optimism that the Ford woes have been solved.

Frustration over the state of affairs has fuelled the discuss {that a} crew could leap ship subsequent season and re-skin its vehicles as Camaros.

The chief suspect to a possible swap is Grove Racing, with proprietor Stephen Grove taking part in down the notion when quizzed by Autosport, however not ruling it out fully.

“That is not on our agenda at this stage,” he mentioned. “You by no means say by no means, however it’s not on our agenda.

“We consider in Ford, Ford has been unbelievable by way of this entire course of with us as a crew. And if you happen to have a look at the work that is been executed, it is taken some time for everyone to grasp the seriousness that the Ford isn’t the place the GM is.

“I do know there have been some feedback made by different crew homeowners that perhaps us Ford guys aren’t doing an excellent job – that is reality, within the sense if you happen to have a look at the place we’re with race wins, and even the groups’ championship, throughout the board with Ford.

“But it surely’s a reasonably large remark to make. We have not forgotten what we’re doing.

“So [a switch is] definitely not on the agenda in the meanwhile, however we’d like to verify we tick all the bins, in all areas, to be aggressive.”

A lot of avenues have been explored all through the season as far as Supercars has appeared to seek out parity between vehicles that at the moment are equivalent other than the engine and bodywork.

There was an aero tweak to the Camaro earlier than the opening spherical in Newcastle earlier than a flurry of various engine maps on all sides of the producer divide because the quad-cam Ford V8 struggled to match the pushrod Chevrolet V8.

The engines are nonetheless working totally different shift reduce deltas.

The rear aero change then got here for Townsville as the main focus shifted away from motors and again to aero.

In response to Grove, the problem is undoubtedly aero, one thing he is not certain will likely be fastened at any level this season.

He’s, nonetheless, assured the problem will likely be sorted forward of spherical one subsequent 12 months.

“The issue initially was that everyone had a unique view on what the precise downside was,” he mentioned. “Was it motor? Mechanical? Aero? And whether it is aero, what half? Is it tyre life? Is all of it of it?

“I feel we’re beginning to slender it down, now. Our view is that it is aero. There’s rather a lot you are able to do with the motor to paritise them again to one another, with shift cuts and people types of issues. Mainly, we simply use our tyres an excessive amount of. And we now have a difficulty with aero.

“It is a lengthy bow to attract to have two totally different surfaces throughout two totally different vehicles and count on to get parity on aero. It is rather sophisticated to realize.

“I feel they’re near working that out. You have to watch out. In Sydney, we added extra downforce on the [rear] wing, 30 or 40 kilos of no matter that quantity was. However that created drag which affected our prime pace. One repair for one merchandise would possibly offset one thing else.

“I am assured we’ll get to [parity]. Will we get to it this 12 months? Will we now have full parity by the top of the 12 months? I do not know. Am I assured we’ll have parity by the beginning of subsequent 12 months? The reply is sure.”