Austin Cindric in the Tickford Racing Ford Mustang at Adelaide. Image: InSyde Media
Cindric made a wildcard start at last year’s Adelaide Grand Final in Tickford Racing’s third Ford Mustang.
It marked a return Down Under for the American, who previously raced in the Bathurst 12 Hour and tested Supercars equipment early in his career.
Asked on Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour if the two cars had any similarities, Cindric offered an interesting assessment.
“Man, you’d think if you looked at it on paper: horsepower, the weight of the car, how they’re designed, aerodynamics – no, not at all,” said Cindric.
“It couldn’t be any more different for how similar they are.
“It’d be like if you have twins, and one is a complete maniac and the other one is calm as can be.”
When NASCAR introduced its Next Gen package, there were immediate comparisons drawn between it and Supercars.
NASCAR visited Australia during the Next Gen development to witness the Gen2 cars in action.
Some of the similarities are in the sequential transaxle, centre-look wheels and some aerodynamic philosophies.
Cindric said the handling characteristics of the cars are wildly different from one to the other.
“To me, it was the most driver input sensitive car I’ve ever driven,” said Cindric.
“The current Cup Series car, I would describe as the complete opposite of that.
“It’s very difficult to communicate with that car because it doesn’t respond to a whole lot of inputs, and when you are able to get into that space, you’re hoping that it’s doing the right things when it’s communicating to you.
“Whereas, this [Supercar], it’s very pitch sensitive. Very much on the kerbs, the way you can jump the car.
“On the street courses especially, I definitely broadened my notebook for how to drive a car over kerbs and bumps now.
“I would say the Cup car does none of those things, at least not to the same level.
“I actually was taking pieces of my notebook from how I used to jump rally cars and how to approach going over kerbs.
“Forget a traditional apex, you have to approach this corner correctly to where you shape how you land so you don’t hit the left rear over the second kerb.
“You’re thinking three steps ahead with how the car flies. I haven’t talked about how the car flies in about eight years. It was a ton of fun to learn all that stuff and to drive a really cool track.”
Austin Cindric in the #5 Tickford Racing Ford Mustang wildcard.
Cindric spoke positively about the event, noting the AC/DC concert and the “huge expo” feel.
He flagged a desire to return and improve on his performance.
“Getting to learn and jump in the deep end was a lot of fun,” said Cindric.
“I definitely wasn’t expecting to go in there and light the world on fire.
“There are some things where I feel like I did represent myself well but there are other parts of me like, man, I want to go back because I know so much more now about how I’d approach that weekend and what the priorities might need to be, especially coming in as a one-off entry.
“I’d love to do it all again.”