Historic wind tunnel test concludes in North Carolina
Supercars
15 Dec
Supercars wind tunnel testing complete in North Carolina
The week produced over 4000 kilometres of running
Transient dyno testing also key in pathway to parity
The pathway to parity is set after an historic week of Supercars wind tunnel testing, which has concluded in the United States.
In a Supercars first, two Gen3 race cars completed three days of running at Windshear Full Scale Rolling Road Automotive Wind Tunnel in Concord, North Carolina.
Such was the scrutiny of the testing, that Chris Popiela, NASCAR's senior director of aerodynamics, also visited Windshear during testing.
The week produced over 4000 kilometres of running, and by the third day, Supercars and the homologation teams agreeing both cars were level.
Supercars CEO Shane Howard praised all involved, with data capture now set to deliver aerodynamic parity ahead of the 2024 Repco Supercars Championship.
"We had three days here, we prepped the cars, scanned the cars, got the cars in here, there’s a lot of tweaking and sometimes, you’re chasing your tail,” Howard told Supercars.com.
"But it was refreshing to come here this morning and around 11 o’clock, we got the nod that both cars were in the box.
"It’s been a really good exercise, good people, everyone worked really well together, the HTs [homologation teams] worked well together.
"We obviously had Chris from NASCAR here and had his experience and heard some of his advice.
"Dynamique, very good, and obviously the people from Windshear that run this facility, are well-polished and professional at what they do. Lot of information, lot of data, good result."
Supercars General Manager of Motorsport Tim Edwards added: "We got ourselves to a point where we settled on the Camaro yesterday, so then it was up to the Mustang and DJR.
"You can only run one car at a time, so somebody had to go first. And because the Mustang has had quite a few changes this year, they had more toys to play with, more parts in their cabinet.
"We got a bit off an inkling of where we were at last night, so gave the guys the opportunity to go home, have a sleep, and come back refreshed this morning with a plan.
"It was probably about 11 o’clock we got close to the box, and then they spent the rest of the day trying to refine that and optimise things."
Amid the aero work, Supercars will also embark on transient dyno testing of the two engines ahead of the new season. Torque sensors have also arrived in Australia.
"Going from here, we’ll still be looking at the engines, we’re looking at a program on an AVL dyno,” Howard said.
"We’re using better tools to get better information to make better decisions, to ensure we get equitable racing situations.
"The focus will go on that, and we’re not far from the start of the season.
"You take the Christmas break out of that, and we’re back into it. So we’re looking forward to that.”
Pre-season testing will commence in the first week of February ahead of the season-opening Thrifty Bathurst 500 on February 23-25. Tickets are on sale now.
