MOTORSPORT: Gen3 Camaro, Mustang supercars revealed

The new look of Supercars racing for 2023 and beyond has become reality as Ford and Chevrolet unveiled their Gen3 racers at Bathurst this morning.

The all-new Camaro ZL1 and Mustang GT coupes have been developed to change the face and pace of the heartland race series, with the Camaro taking up the leading role for the red team after generations of Holden Commodores.

Design work on the cars has been focussed on making them closer to their road-going family members, while the engineering is intended to cut costs while ensuring the blue-versus-red battle that has captivated Australian motorsport fans since the 1970s continues into the next generation.

“Both the Mustang and Camaro give a nod to the Supercar of the past, with as much attention given to the design and appearance of the cars as the new technologies,” said Supercars CEO, Sean Seamer.

“The Ford Mustang and GM Camaro are the first chapter of our new era that will be cost-effective for our major stakeholders and teams but retain the very core of our success."

The only disappointment is that the cars, which were originally set to race from the start of the 2022 season on the streets of Newcastle, will not compete until 2023.

And the fact you can no longer buy a new Camaro via official GM channels in Australia.

But there is a back-to-the-future twist to the cars, as the Camaro first raced the Mustang in Australia in the 1970s with touring car legends Bob Jane and Allan Moffat at the wheel.

The unveiling also signals the creation of Chevrolet Racing as the umbrella organisation for Camaro teams – led by the Red Bull Ampol Racing team – in Supercars.

“Our company has a proud history of racing in the Australian Touring Car Championship and in Supercars for over five decades. Today we’re excited to announce a new chapter in the history of Australian motorsports with the introduction of Chevrolet Racing and the all-new Gen3 Camaro ZL1 for Supercars,” said Jim Campbell of Chevrolet Performance and Racing.

“We want to make the sport better for the fans, with more relevant cars, and more entertaining racing. As Supercars enters a new era – with new ownership and the incoming Gen3 technical regulations, Ford is demonstrating its continuing commitment to Australia,” said Ford Australia president, Andrew Birkic.

Apart from the bodywork, the Gen3 racers also have all-new V8 engines – a 5.7-litre for the Chevy and a 5.0-litre for the Ford – based on their showroom powerplants.

Design and development of the racers was handled by the Supercars series’ homologation teams, Dick Johnson Racing for Ford and Triple Eight Race Engineering for Chevrolet, who will also run the cars through a series of demonstrations this weekend during the Repco Bathurst 1000 meeting.

But both cars are the results of close tie-ups with Ford and Chevrolet’s parent companies in Detroit.

“There is no question when you look at the Mustang GT Gen3 Supercar that this is a Mustang. It absolutely looks the part, which was focus one for us in the design and development phase for this vehicle. The fact that it’s powered by a production-based Ford engine is the icing on the cake,” said the global director of Ford Performance Motorsports, Mark Rushbrook.