SPEED trap data analysis from Thursday Supercars practice at the Repco Bathurst 1000 indicates Ford’s last-minute engine tweaks have done little to reel in Chevrolet’s straight-line superiority.
Supercars announced yesterday that barometric pressure testing findings had led to the Blue Oval’s 5.4-litre Coyote getting a one-off helping hand for Mount Panorama to offset its shortcomings at the altitude.
That involved an increase in restrictor size from 50mm to 52mm, plus variable cam timing adjustments.
Such was the late nature of the official decision that all Mustangs ran the standard specifications for Practice 1, before all installing the Bathurst-specific bits for Practice 2.
If nothing else, that made for a prime opportunity to compare data before and after the changes were applied – and the results were… surprising.
V8 Sleuth has combed through data to collate the below figures, which importantly are all solely based off no-tow times (treated for this purpose as being more than 100m behind the car in front).
Fastest ChevroletFastest FordFastest ToyotaPractice 1Car #48 – 288.4 km/h (1st)Car #38 – 286.5 km/h (16th)Car #8 – 285.1 km/h (55th)Practice 2Car #4 – 290.6 km/h (1st)Car #38 – 288.0 km/h (40th)Car #14 – 287.2 km/h (61st)
The basic summary of that Camaros were responsible for each of the top 15 no-tow speed trap recordings in Practice 1, and each of the top 39 in Practice 2.
Looking at a broader sample size in the aim of weeding out outliers, the next table shows the average of each car’s fourth-best no-tow recording broken down by make:
Average ChevroletAverage FordAverage ToyotaPractice 1285.3 km/h283.1 km/h282.8 km/hPractice 2287.7 km/h285.4 km/h284.5 km/h
Again, keep in mind when the Mustangs did and did not run their Bathurst-spec engine…
Another two practice sessions are to come today before qualifying gets underway at 4:10pm AEDT.