Whincup: V6 turbo ‘a huge challenge’ for Triple Eight

Six-time Supercars champion Jamie Whincup has backed his Red Bull Holden Racing Team’s decision to delay the introduction of the twin-turbo V6 engine until 2019.

Holden announced earlier this month it will campaign a new Commodore for 2018 but will stick to its current V8 engine as it explores the possibility of phasing in the V6 through wildcard entries.

Whincup, whose current contract ties him to the factory Holden squad until the end of 2018, explained the magnitude of the challenge facing the team to introduce the new engine.

The V6 turbo is based on the GM Racing engine raced in the Cadillac GT3 program and is being developed for Supercars competition by the American factory in league with Triple Eight.

“You think just throw another engine in the front, how hard can it be?” he said on the FOX Motorsport Supercars Podcast.

“Everything revolves around the engine. All the packaging, the radiator, the oil pumps. Everything gets packaged. 

“So it’s a huge change to put another engine in, the front of the car has to be redeveloped. 

“In Australia with a limited budget – we’re not a huge country – and we’ve got 50 or so personnel, but it’s not 100. If you had 100 personnel you’d be able to get the car going, no problems.

“I’ve been asked not to talk about it, but there’s no real secret. I don’t think we will get it underway next year, but we’ll have another year of development and get it cracking the year after.

“I’m not the youngest out there, I’ve been doing it a little bit and we need changes. We’re still running the same car, same tyres, same engine year in-year out.

“It doesn’t matter how cool your job is, and I’ve got one of the best jobs in the world, it does get repetitive. 

“I’m all for keep it moving up, keep it changed. New engine; if we could get it next year, I’d certainly love the challenge.”

The four-time Bathurst 1000 winner added he believes the gradual introduction of engines outside of the V8 configuration will be a positive for the sport.

“I think if you’re over 35 years old, you just love your V8 and never want to see it change,” Whincup continued.

“Anyone younger than that is keen to keep innovating and keep moving forward. 

“Unfortunately the young kids these days, they don’t have the passion of the V8 that anyone over 35 plus does. 

“The cars are going to sound great, and they’re going to have every bit of performance of the V8. 

“Slightly over time, I reckon the V8 will slowly disappear and it’ll all be six cylinder and four cylinder turbocharged cars. 

“I think it’s a good thing. And the main purpose of it all is to get more manufacturers into the sport.”

The 34-year-old added a key change he would like to see to the cars over the coming season would be a reduction in the minimum weight; a change he feels would improve the spectacle for drivers and spectators.

“I’m a big believer that we need to make the cars lighter. I really think the cars are too heavy,” he added.

“It will be more expensive and there’ll be more carbon involved and potentially make the car a little bit simpler. 

“But if we can get 100 kilos out the car, it’ll go quicker down the straight, it’ll stop better and go into corners better.

“I did the 12 hour this year, (with) ABS, traction control and paddle shift. I’m not a huge fan of all that. 

“And we certainly can’t go back to Group A where there were different types of cars, weights and all that. 

“The balance of performance is fairly painful in GT racing as well, so it’s fantastic we don’t have any of that going on where the car that wins gets a little bit more weight. Everyone’s got equal opportunity on every day.

“How do we move forward? For me, it’s make the cars lighter. I just think lighter will be faster. It’ll be better racing.”