Ford Supercars legend Dick Johnson has let rip at category management for not sending both models of the Gen3 car overseas for pre-season wind tunnel testing.
The 2023 Supercars season has been dominated by the new Chevrolet Camaro, which only once from 23 races this season has failed to cross the line first.
Cameron Waters officially won the first race of the season for Ford at Newcastle in March, but he only inherited the win after the Red Bull Triple Eight pair of Shane van Gisbergen and Broc Feeney, who finished first and second, were disqualified.
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Johnson's eponymous team has the Mustang's only on-the-road win of the season, which came via Anton de Pasquale in the Sunday race in Townsville in June.
But even that win should have an asterisk – de Pasquale had a significant tyre advantage having retired from the Saturday race. Camaros filled the next six positions.
Ahead of the season, Supercars conducted a series of straight line runway tests to assess the downforce levels in an effort to ensure neither model has any advantage over the other.
But season trends suggest the Mustang is harder on its tyres than the Camaro, leading to an earlier loss of grip than the Camaro.
Ford's global motorsport boss Mark Rushbrook warned earlier this year the brand – which is the only one of the two brands to directly support the category – would "evaluate" its participation should the issue persist.
Next weekend's Bathurst 1000 is Supercars' longest race of the year, and its marquee event.
The race will be held for the first time on Dunlop's softer tyre, which Ford teams are concerned will exacerbate the issue.
Johnson said the straight line testing, which the category calls the VCAT (Vehicle Control Aerodynamic Testing), is unreliable and has too many variables.
The category has reportedly agreed to take the cars overseas for wind-tunnel testing, a step Johnson, a three-time Bathurst 1000 champion said should have been taken before the season had even started.
"Obviously there is an imbalance between the two, there's an application in to get something … for Bathurst, because we can't have it being a one sided bloody story," he told Wide World of Sports.
"We're not asking for anything special. We just want a level playing field like they promised us.
"You'll never get everything right until such time as the cars go into a wind tunnel, which they are going to do.
"But, this should have been happening before the bloody season even started."
Without a full-sized wind tunnel in Australia, the category has previously said the VCAT testing is the best and most reliable method to determine aerodynamic parity – a claim Johnson vehemently disputes.
"They think they know everything and they know jack shit," he said.
"You can't run up and down the bloody runway with so many variables with bloody wind and varying drivers and varying all sorts of things. You can't.
"You can't do that and hope you're gonna get a plausible bloody result."
Ahead of next weekend's Bathurst 1000, the category announced the 13 Mustangs would be allowed to run new door and rear quarter panels on the car, which the category says will shave 5.84kg of weight and lower the centre-of-gravity by 1.31mm.
Further tweaks may yet still be made.
Supercars was contacted for comment.
Practice for the Bathurst 1000 begins on Thursday October 5, before the 60th anniversary of the Great Race on Sunday October 1.
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