Holden’s domination of the top step of the rostrum will not prompt V8 Supercars to clip the Commodore’s wings or boost the engine performance of any of its rivals.
However, that doesn’t mean some form of parity adjustment won’t be made somewhere down the track if it’s required, confirmed V8 Supercars Commission Chairman Mark Skaife.
“We have to look at it (parity), we have to make sure we are assessing it, but it is so new and so early we have also got to be sensible about the way the sport determines that,” said Skaife, who is also the architect of the introduction of Car of the Future in 2013.
“Homologation updates will absolutely be part of how we view it, how we determine the next steps,” he added.
CotF has brought with it the introduction of the Nissan Altima and Mercedes-Benz E63 AMG to join the Holden Commodore and Ford Falcon.
And with them has come the return of the parity debate that was an ongoing controversy within the category until the introduction of the Project Blueprint Falcon and Commodore racers in the early 2000s.
Pre-season Nissan pushed for engine freedoms which were refused, while the Erebus Benzes were granted concessions including a flat plane crankshaft for the M159 V8 engine, E-Gas drive-by-wire throttle actuation and the E-Cell racing seat.
But it’s the victory by Holden in all bar one championship race so far in 2013 that has kept the parity chat going along pitlane.
Australian touring car legend John Bowe weighed into the debate earlier this year, claiming in a news story in motorsport newspaper Auto Action that the new VF Commodore has a downforce advantage over its rivals.
That would have brought a smile – or grimace – to the face of anyone who was around the category in the 1990s when Bowe, then driving for Dick Johnson Racing, was an ardent lobbyist for performance improvements to his Falcon racers.
And Skaife made the point that level of self-interest from the teams would always be part of the parity debate.
“We clearly know what the view of pitlane will be with this: if you talk to the Holden teams they will say they are doing a really good job, if you talk to the Mercedes bloke he will say he needs better engine performance, if you talk to Todd (Kelly) and the Nissan guys they will say they need better engine performance.
“So it’s there and clearly we can’t put our head in the sand, but we have to give it time for those teams to progress and those engine performance levels to progress.”
Skaife said the Holden domination wasn’t due to a technical advantage intrinsic to the Commodore, but improved team efforts triggered by the more level technical playing field delivered by the new CotF regulations. That Holdens make up more than 50 per cent of the grid has also helped.
“Garry Rogers Motorsport and Brad Jones Racing are teams that have jumped up. Also, Triple Eight has supplied a level of customer car that is a level higher as it has rolled out.
“Tekno Autosports, for instance, has a Triple Eight car so they pop to the top. All of a sudden you have seen teams that in the recent past haven’t been at that level jumping into the top bracket.”
