The future of the Australian Repco Supercars Championship has been officially revealed with the debut of the new Ford Mustang and Chevrolet Camaro Gen3 Supercars ahead of the iconic Bathurst 1000 race on Mount Panorama in New South Wales.
Significantly, the new prototype race cars bear a much closer visual resemblance to their road-going counterparts than was previously possible under the current Gen2 ruleset. Thankfully, both brands will retain the Supercar championship’s signature V8 sound. And as you can witness in the videos below, what a sound it is. Dick Johnson Racing was tasked with the development of the Mustang, while Triple Eight Race Engineering handled the Camaro.
Gen3 Ford Mustang And Chevrolet Camaro Supercars: The Details
If their proportions look like the road car to you, you’re not wrong. Unlike the current Ford Mustang Supercar, the new Gen3 car will feature the same key dimensions–including roofline, hood, doors, and windows– as the current iteration of the S550 Mustang available to consumers.
“There is no question when you look at the Mustang GT Gen3 Supercar that this is a Mustang,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director Ford Performance Motorsports. “It absolutely looks the part, which was focus one for us in the design and development phase for this vehicle. The fact that it’s powered by a production-based Ford engine is the icing on the cake.”
Image via Supercars.
The Chevrolet Camaro Gen3 car is the first of its kind and will be replacing the massively successful, championship-leading, Holden Commodore ZB race car. Holden has been an ever-present dominant force since the inception of the Australian Touring Car Championship. Holden has won 588 races and 21 drivers’ titles, and has claimed a record 34 Bathurst victories. But in 2023 Chevrolet will take over as the championship moves forward. Because GM axed the historic brand in its native market.
The Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro race car is rumored to race until 2026, a full three years after the production car its based on is put out to pasture.
“It took close collaboration between key partners to make this a reality, including the Triple Eight Race Engineering team; KRE Engines, working with our Propulsion, Performance & Racing Centre; the Supercars Gen3 Steering Committee as well as the designers who were responsible for the production Camaro and other Camaro global race programs,” said Jim Campbell Chevrolet vice president of Motorsports and Performance Vehicles.
With the Gen3 ruleset, the Repco Supercars championship will transition away from the series’ traditional 5.0-liter V8 engine configuration to one that more closely mirrors the DNA of each respective vehicle.
Ford’s Gen3 engine will be a 5.4L Coyote-based DOHC V8 with four valves per cylinder, similar to the current Coyote engine in the Mustang GT. The Chevrolet Gen3 engine is a 5.7-liter pushrod V8 with two valves per cylinder, similar to the LT1 on offer in the current Camaro SS, but half a liter smaller in terms of displacement.
So not only will the cars look more like their road-going counterparts, but they now feature more road car content under the hood as well. This should not only make things more appealing from a fan’s perspective but will also serve to reduce costs for the teams–which is always good for the long-term health of any motorsports series.
