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Post by afx on Apr 17, 2018 3:26:16 GMT -8
Ford Australia will revive its factory involvement in Supercars next season through a remarkable new programme that includes bringing the Mustang bodyshape to the series. The brand completed its withdrawal as an official Supercars manufacturer at the end of the 2015 season, its involvement since then based on licensing agreements with Tickford Racing and DJR Team Penske rather than genuine funding. But that's set to change next season, with Ford Australia tying the introduction of the Ford Performance brand to its local arm with a renewed investment in Supercars. Making Ford's return to the series even more sensational is confirmation that the two-door Mustang will debut next season. The current Ford teams have been evaluating the Mustang as a replacement to the FG-X since 2016, this new Ford deal clearing the funding and IP permissions hurdles to allow the muscle car plan to go ahead. It will be the first two-door model to make use of the Gen2 regulations and be powered by the five-litre V8 engine. “We’re proud to announce that Ford Australia, with our Ford Performance global team, is working with DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing to homologate Mustang for 2019,” said Ford Australia President and CEO, Graeme Whickman. “There’s been a lot of speculation and calls for Mustang to be on the track, and as a Ford Performance model that’s raced around the world, it’s fitting that Australia’s most popular sports car should be on our race tracks.” The car will be developed as a four-way venture between both of the current Ford outfits, Ford Performance in Australia, and Ford Performance in the US, which opens the door for DJRTP's aerodynamics guru and superstar race engineer Ludo Lacroix to have an influence on the development. DJRTP will also take over from Tickford as the primary Ford homologation outfit, although that will have little bearing on the workload each team will put into the project. It's already been a rollercoaster ride for the Mustang in Supercars. Back in 2016, the Ford teams began heavily investigation it as a possible replacement to the FG-X, with the understanding that 2018 was the target for a change. By early 2017 there was pressure being put on Ford to help fund a new model, with hopes that Roger Penske could use his contacts in the US to get Ford Performance backing. However, at that stage Ford was unmoved on the idea at a Global level. Penske has since flirted with the idea of bringing a new manufacturer into Supercars, including recent threats of a move to Holden should Ford not come to the party. This new deal locks the front-running squad into the Blue Oval for the foreseeable future. “This is an exciting announcement for DJR Team Penske and for the Virgin Australia Supercars Championship,” said Roger Penske. “We have been working closely with the Ford Motor Company over the past few years and this really builds a lot of momentum for Supercars. "Ford’s dedication to the technical aspects of this process will continue to raise the bar for DJR Team Penske and the other Ford teams. The Mustang brand has such an iconic history in motorsports and it will be great to be racing them in multiple series.” Ford hasn't put a timeframe on its new commitment to Supercars.
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Post by Oldtimer on Apr 17, 2018 4:53:21 GMT -8
Now, will Holden announce a Camaro?
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Post by afx on Apr 18, 2018 5:16:06 GMT -8
Ford Performance has revealed a render of its Mustang in Supercars trim, ahead of the muscle car's entry into the Aussie series next year. Ford yesterday confirmed that it will revive its factory Supercars programme, with a financial and technical alliance with front-running teams DJR Team Penske and Tickford Racing. The brand will also bring its famous Mustang bodyshape to Supercars for the first time, with a five-litre V8 powered racing version of the two-door coupe. The car will be designed and homologated this year as part of a three-way programme between the two teams and Ford Performance before debuting at the Adelaide 500 next March. An official teaser of the Mustang in Supercars trim has now been revealed, with Ford Performance releasing concept artwork cerated by Ford Exterior Vehicle Designer Nima Nourian.
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Post by slim on Apr 18, 2018 22:16:16 GMT -8
cool!
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Post by Chris K. Hale on Apr 19, 2018 4:59:55 GMT -8
I saw Ford also announced the Mustang will be in NASCAR Cup next year..pretty much the Fusion body with a Mustang roof? YUK!
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Post by Oldtimer on Apr 19, 2018 5:30:34 GMT -8
I saw Ford also announced the Mustang will be in NASCAR Cup next year..pretty much the Fusion body with a Mustang roof? YUK! Just as the Nascar Cup Camaro is just another nose on last year's SS.
I have searched and searched, but have never found side-by-side pictures of contemporary Nascar stock cars and their actual street versions.
My bet is that they are about as close as "twins" who have different fathers and mothers.
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Post by dustymojave on Apr 19, 2018 17:58:23 GMT -8
I gave up on NASCAR long ago. Races between various production cars made good sense in many ways. What they're up to these days makes NO sense to me at all. And I hear very little from other people about NASCAR racing anymore. Sure as hell doesn't sell many cars, now does it? So perhaps I'm not the only one who has issues with their deal.
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Post by Oldtimer on Apr 20, 2018 5:55:02 GMT -8
I gave up on NASCAR long ago. Races between various production cars made good sense in many ways. What they're up to these days makes NO sense to me at all. And I hear very little from other people about NASCAR racing anymore. Sure as hell doesn't sell many cars, now does it? So perhaps I'm not the only one who has issues with their deal. I can't disagree with you. There is no more product or manufacturer distinction. They use a common chassis and chassis components, the bodywork is aero-matched, the engines have no "stock" parts. and then some of their other practices are arcane (they still run on 15" wheels, with four speed transmissions).
I used to be a loyal Nascar fan, back when there was still some distinction between and among the various manufacturers, but these days, when there's a race on, it is the back-up to commercial breaks for other sports, as opposed to the opposite for me for decades.
And their TV and in person gate numbers are proving their loss of popularity.
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Post by dustymojave on Apr 24, 2018 19:06:37 GMT -8
I'd rather watch a good dice between a Kia and a Hyundai on a big circle track, built around the stock unibodies with factory engines with totally unknown drivers than what NASCAR has been putting up the last several years. It might have a tiny bit of relation to reality. It's kinda like Speedway racing in Japan in the 70s. (see "On Any Sunday "2 or "Next Chapter" - I forget which of them has Japanese Speedway racing) NASCAR has long since become meaningless. I make NO effort to watch any NASCAR even if there's nothing else on TV other than Mexican Soap Operas. At least the novelas have hot women.
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Post by Chris K. Hale on Apr 25, 2018 8:28:48 GMT -8
"Si Mon"......
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Post by afx on May 3, 2018 9:14:34 GMT -8
Triple Eight team manager Mark Dutton says he's open to his squad developing a Supercars version of the Camaro to go up against the Ford Mustang in the future. Two-door bodyshapes are a hot topic in the Supercars paddock, thanks to Ford's confirmation that a Mustang will be developed and homologated for the 2019 season. The news has already sparked chat of other two-door models, such as the Chevy Camaro and the Nissan GT-R, being introduced alongside the Mustang in the not-too-distant future. Should GM decide to go down the path of a Camaro, a whole new development and homologation programme would be required due to the Supercars regulations. As it stands, Triple Eight is GM's Supercars homologator through its status as Holden's factory team, and spent last season developing the new-for-2018 ZB Commodore alongside its racing programme. While not quite ready to jump back into a parallel development/racing programme just yet, T8 team manager Dutton says once his crew has caught its collective breath he'd be more than open to developing a Camaro Supercar. "I reckon it’d be great," he said when asked by Motorsport.com. "Not the workload right now – we need a bit of a sleep, we haven’t had that yet. "But I’ve always liked Camaros and Corvettes and things like that, I reckon they look fantastic. "We like having fun. As I said, we want a little bit of sleep first, but I reckon the Mustang on track next year will be pretty exciting, it’ll look cool. I’ve always liked two-door cars myself. "I reckon bring it on." One major sticking point in terms of a short-term arrival of the Camaro is that the ZB is just four race weekends into its life-span. In Supercars a four-to-five year life cycle is common, the VF having first been introduced in 2013 before being replaced by the ZB for this season. The Nissan Altima also debuted in 2013 and is still in service, while the Ford Falcon FG-X will have completed four seasons by the time it is retired at the end of this year. That would mean any short-term arrival of a Camaro would mean either cutting the lifespan of the ZB short, or running two GM products simultaneously. "I think what would be cool is if you could run different models of the same manufacturer," said Dutton. "Why not? "There’s 14 ZBs on the track – imagine if there was seven ZBs and seven Camaros. That’d be cool." More globally-recognised models joining the Mustang in Supercars could be a significant benefit to Supercars as it looks to expand beyond Australian shores. According to series CEO Sean Seamer, even just the Mustang coming in has helped with discussions regarding overseas races. "It’s garnered a lot of traction and attention here locally,” Seamer said. “Because it is a cultural icon, not just in Australia but globally, it’s raised eyebrows in a positive way and has already had an impact on the discussions we’re having internationally.” Seamer has already said he'd love to see Nissan's GT-R in the category, however the likelihood of that is complicated by the ongoing question marks over the brand's post-2018 future in Supercars.
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Post by Chris K. Hale on May 3, 2018 15:58:38 GMT -8
EXCELLENT!!!
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Post by Oldtimer on May 15, 2018 9:46:31 GMT -8
Nissan announced today (yesterday?) that they are pulling out of the Supercar series effective next year. The Kelly's have reported that they will run at least one more season with their current cars.
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Post by afx on Jul 26, 2018 3:22:02 GMT -8
Tickford completes first dedicated Mustang Supercars shellTickford Racing has its first dedicated Mustang Supercar shell complete and another one in the works, as it prepares to switch from running four Falcons to four Mustangs for the 2019 season. Tickford is responsible for half of the Fords on the Supercars grid, which means the team has a sizeable job on its hands if its to switch all of its entries from the current FG-X package to the new-for-2019 Mustang before the Adelaide 500 next March. While the Mustang bodywork is still in development, the Melbourne-based team is well underway in terms of preparing new shells to take the Mustang panels. There is currently one shell already off the jig, and another currently being prepared. The team won't prepare four new shells between now and the new season though, with two of the current cars – one of which is Cam Waters' car – set to be re-skinned from Falcons to Mustangs. "The plan at the moment is that we're building some new cars, so we sort of build the roll cage to a point where we can take it off the jig while we still wait for some of that external surfacing to be done," said team boss Tim Edwards. "There's probably five to six hundred hours in building the shell up to that point, so we've already built one and pulled it off the jig, and we're in the process of building a second one at the moment. "But we're also going to convert a couple of the current cars. Cam's car was brand new for the start of the season, so that will get re-skinned most likely as a Mustang. That will get stripped back to a bare shell, and then recreated with some Mustang panels on the outside." According to a recent report on the official Supercars website, the very first complete Mustang Supercar will come from new primary Ford homologator DJR Team Penske. The team is reportedly preparing what is currently its second spare chassis as a Mustang, to be used during the homologation testing set to be undertaken in December.
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Post by afx on Feb 5, 2019 6:03:50 GMT -8
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