New Commodore racers
NEW- SHAPE COMMODORES ARE EXPECTED FOR 2018 SUPERCARS SEASON
Avery select number of next- generation Holden Commodores will be rear- wheel- drive and are expected to offer twin turbo V6 performance.
They will be the Commodores built to spearhead Holden’s renewed commitment to the 2018 Supercar Championship.
The first new shape Commodore racers are expected to be on the grid for the opening round of the Supercars season in 2018, within weeks of the production car going on sale.
Development of the car is in the hands of the Triple Eight Race Engineering squad that will assume the Holden Racing Team moniker as the sole factoryblessed team from next season.
Holden recently confirmed a three- year deal with Triple Eight that will see the team build and race the new Commodore from 2018 as well as sell cars to other Holden teams.
Holden hasn’t confirmed an engine for the new racer but it seems likely it will use a twin turbo V6 unit. That engine could come from the wider GMfamily.
There is a V6 turbo engine in the GT3- specification Cadillac ATSV. R campaigned in the Pirelli World Challenge Series in North America since 2015.
And a new Dallara chassis Cadillac with V6 turbo power is expected to be announced soon for the Daytona Prototype International category of the IMSA Weathertech Sports Car Championship debuting in 2017.
From shortly after its debut in late- 1978, the Commodore has enjoyed an unbroken tenure at the top level of Australian motor racing with the first of 24 Bathurst 1000 victories and 14 Australian Touring Car Championship/ V8 Supercar Series drivers’ titles being delivered in 1980.
But the Commodore’s first headline motorsport success came as a six- cylinder rally car when Peter Brock headed a 1- 2- 3 finish for the VB model Commodore in the Repco Round Australia Trial in August 1979. The VK model achieved the Commodore’s fourth Bathurst 1000 win when Peter Brock and Larry Perkins drove to victory in 1984. 2016 Supercar front- runner Triple Eight Race Engineering will build the next Commodore generation ready for debut in 2018.