Motorsport: Ford and Holden split on mounts

Triple Eight Racing's Jamie Whincup. Photo / Getty Images

LAUNCESTON - A bitter feud which has split V8 Supercar racing in half will come to a head today.

The simmering dispute between Ford and Holden involving front aerodynamic parts will go before Australian motorsport officials ahead of this weekend's Symmons Plains meeting.

Falcons have been using flexible front splitter mounts, produced by Triple Eight Race Engineering for the past four years and have been on-sold to four other major Ford teams.

But the issue blew up after a Jim Beam Racing employee moved to Tasman Motorsport and informed them of the unique splitter mounts used on the Fords.

Holden claims the mounts give Fords an unfair aerodynamic advantage while Ford says they simply make the front splitters stronger.

Officials at the last Supercar round at Winton examined the mounts and deemed them to be within the rules but Holden teams have accused V8 Supercars of mishandling the dispute.

A meeting of CAMS stewards today will decide whether or not to re-open the case. The time limit for a protest has passed but a meeting can be convened if extraordinary circumstances are involved.

The Triple Eight Falcons removed the mounts from their cars on the final day at Winton but Jim Beam Racing has declared it will run with them this weekend.

Triple Eight boss Roland Dane will not say whether the Team Vodafone cars will use the system at Symmons Plains.

Whatever the outcome, racing is expected to be cleaner here with fewer incidents which marred Winton after the introduction of the new soft Dunlop Sprint tyre.

Supercar driver standards official Tomas Mezera said drivers would be more cautious about aggressive tactics due to the fast nature of the Tasmanian track.

"(Winton) is the kind of place that invites people to have a bit of a rub and a bit of a punch because it is very slow," Mezera said.

"It's very different to give someone a rub in a second gear corner doing 60 km/h than in fourth gear doing 160.

"I think they all kind of respect that and you will see in the next races a little bit less rubbing than what we've had."

Meanwhile, in-form Team Vodafone racer Craig Lowndes is confident of extending his winning streak when he debuts a new FG Falcon in Tasmania.

Lowndes snapped the grip fellow Ford pilot Jamie Whincup had on the series when he claimed both races at Winton earlier this month. He has ditched the Falcon which was first used at the Clipsal 500 in Adelaide and has only competed in four Supercar events.

His new Falcon was given a brief 20-lap shakedown at Queensland Raceway in the lead-up to this weekend's round and Lowndes has already declared it an improvement on the old car.

"Twenty laps (the limit under V8 Supercar rules) is all we got but nothing went wrong," Lowndes said.

"We didn't do any lap times but we checked the wiring looms and fuel systems.

"We believe that the latest one, which is the one which will be my regular car from Tasmania, is better than what I had," he said.

"Mechanically it's all the same ... but being in a brand new car just off the production line is exciting."

- AAP