Next steps: What day two looks like in Supercars wind tunnel program
Experts to devise critical next phase of testing in North Carolina
Gen3 Camaro and Mustang spent hours on the Windshear rolling road
Head NASCAR aerodynamicists also visited testing
A group of experts, including aerodynamicists representing both homologation teams and Supercars, will come together overnight to devise the critical next phase of testing in North Carolina.
On day one, both the Gen3 Chevrolet Camaro and Ford Mustang spent hours on the Windshear Full Scale Rolling Road Automotive Wind Tunnel in Concord, North Carolina.
The Windshear tunnel is a closed air circuit, temperature-controlled system built around a rolling road.
The rolling road is akin to a giant treadmill and the two Supercars hit speeds in excess of 280km/h during their initial runs that lasted over five hours for each Supercar.
Supercars CEO Shane Howard told Supercars.com after the first full day of testing: “We've had a great day today. It's very pleasing to be here and see the level of professionalism that's coming from everyone that's involved from Windshear, Dynamique and both Homologation Teams.
“We've had two head aerodynamicists from NASCAR here as well, so it's been a great day.
“Even the guys from Windshear said, you know, we have a lot of people through this tunnel, but it's your first time and we're very impressed on how you've gone about business, how your teams have gone about business, and the results are very good.
“The one thing that both Perry [Kapper, DJR/Ford Mustang Gen3 Chief Designer] and JJ [Jeromy Moore, Technical Director at Camaro Homologation Team, Triple Eight Race Engineering] have said that the information that they're getting is absolutely first class.
“Today was really to look at the cars, see what the differences are, and then look how to best balance those cars.
“They'll have a big day on that tomorrow with both cars, looking at the fine tuning to get them to a point.
“When we leave here on Sunday, the aim is that both HTs [Homologation Teams], Supercars, Dynamique [aerodynamic motorsport specialists], all agree that we've achieved the best parity and the best outcome for the category.”
“I think we can achieve that."
On day one's running, Howard added: “Today was really just to identify and really understand what both cars are doing.
“We obviously have conducted the VCAT tests and they're very good and they give you good information, but they don't give you information like this.
“The amount of information that you get from here in the session is enormous.
“That allows for good decisions to be made. And I'm confident that they'll be made tomorrow.”
