2018 Commodore Supercar Work Speeds Up

... And It's A Turbo


Article heading image for 2018 Commodore Supercar Work Speeds Up

Pic: Scott Yorston/SS-Media

With the days of the locally-made VF Commodore numbered, attention is quickly turning to what the Holden teams will be racing in the Supercars next year.

Triple Eight Racing is leading the development work on the new Gen2 model and says it's making plenty of progress between races.

Without giving too much away, a new chassis has been partially built.

But the new 3.6 litre, twin turbo-charged engine is still in the workshop at GM Racing's headquarters in the U.S.

It'll have to be tuned to Supercar specifications before being 'race ready.'

Team boss Mark Dutton says there's some heavy lifting happening at the Triple Eight digs in Queensland.

“We don’t have extra personnel to just focus on ’17 or just ’18 development. Everyone is wearing two hats and working hard." he told Supercars.com

“We have guys that don’t travel, but they still can’t focus purely on ’18, because when we say we need this or that for the next round, it’s all-hands-on-deck."

The aim is to have two new Gen2 Commodores ready for Red Bull ragers van Gisbergen and Whincup in '18.

A third for Caltex runner Craig Lowndes is also on the drawing board.

Because the car's not even on sale yet, a lot relies on computer generated designs.

“Unfortunately not everything is in our control. The car is not for sale in the country yet so you can’t just go and get one, even just to look at it."

"But the CAD (Computer Aided Design files) we have means there’s no shortage of work, even without some of the physical parts."

As the first turbocharged car in Supercars, there's a lot riding on track tests, which Dutton is keen to start as soon as possible.

“Intercoolers, turbos, alloy blocks, there are all these factors that make it a challenge for us.

“Those are the type of things why we need to get the car on track as soon as we can. We’re pretty focussed on making it happen.”

The priority for now though is the 2017 campaign.

With a resurgent Shell V-Power Racing squad putting them on notice, Triple Eight are adamant there's still plenty of work to do.

“We’re not running out of ideas, we’ve got a lot to do to maximise the car that we’ve got."

“There’s so much effort going in from everyone, which made winning at Winton pretty cool."

Triple M's coverage of Supercars is presented with Mobil 1. Purchase any Mobil 1TM SuperTM product for the chance to win a share of three HSC vehicles and $15000 worth of VISA gift cards. Visit askformobil.com.au

29 May 2017




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