AS the Supercars field prepares to usher in the latest additions to its grid, legendary team boss Roland Dane has called for major action to reduce the cost of building fresh Gen3 cars.
Both Tickford Racing and Erebus Motorsport are debuting chassis at the upcoming Tyrepower Tasmania Super440, to be raced by Cam Waters and Cooper Murray, respectively.
It follows a raft of off-season builds which produced three new machines for Triple Eight (Broc Feeney, Will Brown and Jackson Walls), two for Walkinshaw TWG Racing (Chaz Mostert and Ryan Wood), two for Brad Jones Racing (André Heimgartner and Cameron Hill) and one for Dick Johnson Racing (Brodie Kostecki).
PremiAir Racing, where Dane is team principal in 2026, has rotated through the three Gen3 chassis in its armoury – the newest of which debuted more than two years ago.
Dane recently indicated there are no plans for his squad to deploy a new rig any time soon, and instead suggested there is work to be done as a category.
“We haven’t got any new chassis on the go at the moment, frankly. We’ve got the three we’ve got,” he told V8 Sleuth.
“The fundamental issue that the category has got, especially if we want to migrate into Super2 with these cars… There has got to be a fundamental reset on the cost of building these cars.
“Unfortunately, we’re all just paying fortunes – far, far, far too much compared with what they could be for the cost of the cars.
“So until that’s addressed, you’ll struggle to get the turnover of new cars – and by that I mean complete new cars, more than just the chassis – which will then allow us to have a substantive and credible Super2 Series based on these Gen3 vehicles.”
So, how exactly can Supercars make new-car building more affordable?
“I’m not going to share it at the moment… but I just see unfortunately the costs have blown out,” said Dane.
“There’s huge scope but it needs a total reset of how to do it and how to reduce the costs, et cetera, which I haven’t even asked people if they’re prepared to do that because maybe it won’t suit everyone, I don’t know.
“But certainly there needs to be a complete reset if we’re going to be able to see real viability of these cars feeding down into Super2, let alone preserving the stability of the main series.”
Gen3 cars are due to enter the Super2 arena from 2028.
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