MOTORSPORT: Gravity parity for Ford Mustang

Supercars has introduced Centre of Gravity parity as it attempts to lasso the runaway Ford Mustang.

Both the new Ford coupe, which has won all six championship races conducted so far, and the Holden Commodore ZB will have to move ballast higher to equalise their CoGs against the Nissan Altima.

The changes have to be made before the next round of the Supercars championship in Tasmania on April 5-7.

While Supercars hasn’t revealed exactly how much ballast is to be shifted higher, it is understood to involve more weight in the Ford than Holden.

All Supercars must hit a minimum weight of 1395kg, but both the ZB – introduced in 2018 – and the new Mustang have been built substantially under that number.

Ballast brings them up to the minimum weight, but the lower it is placed in the chassis the better the car’s handling performance.

As first reported by carsales.com.au last week, the category’s technical team conducted CoG testing of 10 cars after the Albert Park championship round, including Mustangs from both Ford teams DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing, several Commodores and a Kelly Racing Altima.

The results of those tests were then analysed and recommendations passed on to the Supercars Commission, which oversees the sporting and technical rules for the category.

“The success of Supercars is built on the closeness and spirit of competition. Like the ZB before it, the Mustang has advanced build techniques and technology,” said Supercars CEO Sean Seamer in a statement.

“All three homologated vehicles have been built within the rules.

“The Supercars Championship is underpinned by technical parity. That is, the sport seeks to minimise any technical differences between models of vehicle in the spirit of equitable competition.”

Below is a statement from Supercars explaining the changes:

“The Supercars Championship is underpinned by technical parity. That is, the sport seeks to minimise any technical differences between models of vehicle in the spirit of equitable competition.

Supercars does not pursue sporting parity, which seeks the equalisation of the abilities of participating drivers and or teams.

It is important to note the constitution of Supercars includes the premise that incoming models must meet the incumbents.

The purpose of this is to ensure those new models do not unduly increase the costs for current teams in pursuit of technical parity.

It is this principle which has been the cornerstone of Supercars’ success, producing the world’s best door to door racing with cars competing within tenths of a second.

Because of this, Supercars as a series, and the teams that compete within it, must use best endeavours to manage and uphold technical parity as much as is reasonably possible.

Each year construction methods and materials used in the development of Supercars moves on.

Every new car, logically, brings a series of developments and changes. With those changes, which are within the rules, technical variances between models can occur.

The most recent example is the introduction of the Ford Mustang, the first two door car to enter the series.

Similarly, the introduction of the ZB Commodore in 2018 brought with it new methods and materials.

On presentation of the Mustang at Adelaide, the Supercars technical department recorded a significant increase in ballast as compared to the previous model, the Ford Falcon.

To ensure competing teams did not have a technical advantage, the technical department, on instruction of the Commission, conducted centre of gravity testing on the 18th and 19th of March in Melbourne.

The results of the tests show that the Commodore and the Mustang had a Centre of Gravity advantage over the Altima.

These results have been reviewed by the Commission and the homologation teams along with plans to address with the appropriate ballasting of the Commodore and the Mustang to maintain technical parity.

The same and equal change is being made to all models. That is to say, there is no change in relative performance between teams using the same model of vehicle, only a redressing of the technical differences between the models in accordance with Supercars’ constitution.

The proposal has been approved by the Supercars Commission and the changes will be implemented for Tasmania.”