Supercars: Ford and GM set for Bathurst battle with Camaro on track to race here from 2020
AN all American war between General Motors and Ford could erupt on Mount Panorama with Ryan Walkinshaw revealing his plan to race a Camaro Supercar at Bathurst in 2020.
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AN all American war between General Motors and Ford could erupt on Mount Panorama with Ryan Walkinshaw revealing his plan to race a Camaro Supercar at Bathurst in 2020.
In a move that would see the Camaro go head-to-head with Mustang in a 1000km Mount Panorama fight, the owner of Walkinshaw Andretti United declared his intent to put the General Motors icon on the Bathurst grid.
“It is definitely the car we want to race in 2020,’’ Walkinshaw said.
“It is what the fans want and it is what we want too.’’
Speaking for the first time about making a history-making switch from a Holden Commodore to a Camaro, Walkinshaw revealed his team had spent the past six months designing a Camaro Supercar in secret.
“We are doing a case study at the moment,’’ Walkinshaw said.
“We have been doing a lot of work on CAD (computer-aided design) and we are moving into CFD (computational fluid dynamics) now. We are in the second stage after starting our test study earlier this year.’’
Walkinshaw, also the owner of HSV, admitted he had been considering a Camaro switch since his car engineering business obtained the rights to build right hand drive Camaro for the Australian market.
HSV will start releasing the re-engineered Camaro to Australian car dealers this with 550 scheduled for release in the first run.
“We want to race what we sell,’’ Walkinshaw said.
“There are obviously synergies there between the race team and HSV. Some (of the HSV Camaros) are starting to be released to dealers now. They are being manufactured now and will be on the road very soon.
“We are only bringing in 550 this year. They are very close to all being sold. We are extremely happy with the response, especially considering we only officially launched last month.’’
Walkinshaw said high profile Walkinshaw Andretti United co-owners Michael Andretti and Zac Brown were fully behind his bid to put a Camaro in the V8 grid.
The addition of the Camaro would return the category to a three make series with only the Commodore and Mustang confirmed to race next year after Nissan quit the sport.
“Both Zac and Michael are big fans of the Camaro and we have their full support,’’ Walkinshaw said.
“They are definitely keen to explore it. Michael will actually be driving a road going version of the Camaro around Bathurst when he arrives from America this weekend.’’
Walkinshaw said his six month test design program had revealed “several challenges’’ that may require Supercars to change category regulations.
“We just need to ensure it has the performance we need on racetrack,’’ Walkinshaw said.
“And be able to develop the car to the current regulations or get Supercars to amend the current regulations
“There are a few challenges there. What is most important to us is driver safety and on the current platform it would be very difficult to get the visibility to see over the bonnet. We have been working in CAD and there are a few technical challenges there, especially in the cage.
“We may have to look at those regulations to make sure that it is something to bring into the series.’’
Walkinshaw said his team would not compromise the look of the car to fit with-in current car platform regulations.
“It also has to capture the aesthetic of the original car,’’ Walkinshaw said.
“We can’t have something racing around that doesn’t have the integrity of the original race car. But everything has a solution and none of this is insurmountable.’’
With the famous Bathurst fight between the Falcon and the Commodore to end this weekend with Ford to race the Mustang next year, Walkinshaw said the Camaro could create the sport’s next famous rivalry.
“There is no better selling point in the category’s future than allowing these types of products in,’’ Walkinshaw said.
“The sport is built upon the foundation of Holden v Ford. With the end of the Falcon and the change of the Commodore, we have lost that Holden v Ford dynamic. Ford has taken the next step of bringing the Mustang in next year and now we need to bring the Camaro in to reignite the battle between GM and Ford.
“It will ensure the rivalry and passion lives on.’’
DJR/Team Penske are set to run two Mustangs next year after convincing Ford to return to the sport.