Supercars: Gen3 chassis set for change as concerns raised over repairs

Changes are afoot for the Supercars Gen3 chassis as teams put into place hard won knowledge from crashes in the opening races of the season.

Supercars has green lit changes to the Gen3 chassis after teams raised concerns over the reparability of the new-generation Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang – though the extent of the changes are not yet clear.

“The Technical Working Group approved some modifications to the front and rear clips, and chassis, to improve the impacts of damage learnt from the Albert Park findings,” a Supercars spokesperson said in a statement.

“This is a process of continuous improvement similar to what the series went through the last time it introduced a new platform.”

The introduction of front and rear clips was intended to enable speedier repairs following accidents, however early indications from the opening two rounds showed otherwise.

James Courtney's damaged Tickford Racing Ford Mustang at the Supercars season opener at Newcastle. Picture: Mark Horsburgh

The issue was first put on the agenda following James Courtney’s Shootout shunt at the Newcastle 500, when his Snowy River Mustang met the wall at turn seven.

Tickford was unable to repair the car in time for the Sunday feature race, with team boss Tim Edwards suggesting the clip system had weakened the chassis.

Damage to the chassis also meant the team was unable to fit a new clip in place, which ultimately led to Courtney missing the race.

The front clip from Courtney’s Mustang was later shipped to Queensland for the Supercars Technical Working Group to analyse.

Tickford mechanics quick to repair Mustang ahead of Perth #RepcoSC#Supercarshttps://t.co/y1oCHvcMsb

— Supercars (@supercars) April 5, 2023

The category learned more about its new clip system after Shane van Gisbergen crashed heavily in the opening practice session at Albert Park late last month.

Van Gisbergen was forced to miss the second practice session, however Triple Eight was able to get the No. 97 Red Bull Camaro out for qualifying after successfully changing the rear clip.

“Unfortunately someone needs to be the crash test dummy and we got that mantle,” Edwards told News Corp last month after Courtney’s crash.

“It’s no different to when we started racing Car of the Future back in 2013 – until you start racing and bouncing off each other and walls … the cars have to have a certain level of robustness to deal with it.

“You can’t simulate crashing into each other and hitting walls. You have to do that at the race events and we learned a lot with how these cars crash, and so did Supercars.”

Originally published as Supercars: Gen3 chassis set for change as concerns raised over repairs