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After pioneering an effort to introduce a new engine to the Supercars championship, Holden have decided to shelve their V6 twin turbo project, with no timeframe of when it’ll be explored again.
Debuting their new ZB Commodore chassis in 2018 under the Gen2 regulations, Holden was set to introduce the V6 engine in 2019 as an evolution of the current V8 product and in line with the new category regulations.
Though, having planned wildcard entries for this season for V6-twin turbo to push development for a 2019 debut, Holden’s decision to park the project has raised questions about the future of what’ll be powering the competitive Australian touring car series.
Prior to stepping down from his role of Executive Director of Marketing at Holden earlier in the week, Mark Harland said, “We really want to focus on what we’ve got now, we’re happy with the performance of the new car, the ZB, on the track, and it’s getting good reactions in showrooms as well.
“It’s won five out of the six races, so we’re really happy and want to focus on what we’ve got today. That’s the most important thing.
“The other was just looking at the landscape and trying to guess what’s going on. Is everyone going to go to V8s? Will there be twin-turbo V6s? Is everyone going to go electric?
“So, I think for now, we know we’ve got a good package with the twin-turbo V6, so we’re just going to set it aside, focus on the V8 until we get a little bit of clarity on where everyone is.
“As that starts to evolve in the next couple of years, we can either bring that back off the shelf or do something else.
“But the safe thing for now is focusing on what we have.”
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Of the three manufacturers present in the Supercars category, Holden is by far the most committed with its presence and seems the likely vessel to innovate whatever will be the next engine that’ll power the series.
Though, while it’s all good that Holden is taking the initiative to advance Supercars through concepts such as the V6-twin turbo, the category must look at how to keep an even playing field – especially with little developments going on with the other manufacturers.
Nissan’s future as discussed in a previous column, is unknown with their latest two-year agreement with Kelly Racing set to expire at the end of 2018. While Tickford and DJR Team Penske continue to run Ford machinery, despite having had no manufacturer support for several years now.
It all seems as if Supercars is in a period of stasis, despite the category having implemented the Gen2 regulations as an opening of the door to invite more manufacturers to race, with the varying car body-types and engine configurations.
As stated by Harland, in sticking to the current V8 engine, Holden is stalling to allow for others to capitalise upon Gen2 and invest in a Supercars racing programme.
McLaren’s Formula One boss and co-owner of the Walkinshaw Andretti United team in Zak Brown believes that if Supercars maintains V8 power, that new manufacturers can be lured.
“It’s a sport and entertainment, and somewhere where Formula One has gone wrong and needs to fix itself,” Brown said during the Australian Grand Prix, where he linked up with his Supercars team for the first time.
“I have this debate in Formula One all the time: it’s less about what’s under the bonnet – as in the car on the street.
“It’s about training the engineers, it’s about racing, it’s about being competitive, it’s about understanding technology and how to apply them to a road car, as opposed to it being ‘we’re going to take that engine out of that car and we’re going to drop it into another.’”
Brown also indicates that rather than exploring the V6-twin turbo, which holds little road relevance anyway – Supercars should investigate hybrid power in the future.
While hybrid power may not be popular with most, in a category such as Supercars which uses common production vehicles, perhaps innovating hybrid powerplants which could easily be translated over to a car such as the Commodore – sounds a lot more relevant and a more desirable technology.
All it depends on then, is if Supercars can map out a definitive blueprint for what their future looks like and not have a vague vision like the current Gen2 regulations. Luring new marques would be the next step in keeping the category from becoming a one-make series.
So even though Holden were right to shelve their V6-twin turbo project, it should only be a matter of time before another avenue is explored and, in the meantime, the great V8 can thunder on.
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