TRIPLE Eight has added to its engine program with Kaz Penwarden and Brent Blakey to come across from Motorsport Powertrains.
Having been denied access to its long-time supplier KRE Race Engines, which General Motors signed to an exclusive deal, Triple Eight responded by establishing an in-house engine shop at its Banyo headquarters.
V8 Sleuth revealed in May that ex-KRE staffer Cam Clancy had been signed as its engine shop manager; Penwarden and Blakey now will bolster the expertise on hand.
Dick Johnson Racing-aligned Motorsport Powertrains ran point on the 5.4-litre Coyote across the 2024 and 2025 seasons, succeeding Herrod Performance Engines in the hot seat.
Triple Eight managing director Jamie Whincup had last month at Sandown said its engine shop was due to be completed at the end of November – a timeframe he described as “four weeks later than I’d like, but probably four weeks earlier than we absolutely really need it”.
Pic: Mark Walker
“All the engines are there, the dyno is in – it’s not running yet but it’s all very, very close – and we’re already starting to build engines in a car bay actually just outside the engine shop,” he said at the time.
“It’s 80 percent down and by the time we get back it should be 90 percent, and then in the next month we’ll just get that last 10 percent and make sure it’s all nice.”
The Coyote will be pitted against GM’s 5.7-litre pushrod and Toyota’s new 5.2-litre V8 unit in the 2026 Repco Supercars Championship.
Initial parity work between the three motors will be conducted locally before a planned mid-year trip to AVL’s Austrian facility in Graz.