VF Commodore

The Holden VF Commodore was Holden's Car of the Future race car, raced from 2013 to 2017. It replaced the Project Blueprint VE II Commodore and was succeeded by the Gen II ZB Commodore for 2018.

Car of the Future — the first control chassis

For 2013 the category replaced the individually-built Project Blueprint cars with the Car of the Future (COTF / Gen I) — the first genuine control chassis in the championship. Where Blueprint had only standardised the front geometry, key dimensions, control ECU and tyre while teams still built their own chassis, COTF supplied a common safety cell with tendered control components: a rear-mounted transaxle (Albins, later XTrac sequential) in place of the front-mounted Holinger, a control rear differential (V8SA spec), plus a common pedal box, collapsible steering column, electronics, air-jacks and fire system. The VF bodyshell was fitted over that structure. Moving the gearbox to the rear altered weight distribution and was the defining mechanical change of the era.

Body & aero

The race car took the silhouette of the four-door road VF Commodore, which Holden had refreshed for 2013. The Gen I bodies were aero-matched to a common downforce and drag target so that no marque held an advantage; the front splitter, undertray and rear wing are a controlled package set by the technical rules rather than published here as per-car figures.

Within that controlled envelope the VF's aero was reworked by Triple Eight's Ludo Lacroix — visually a light update of the VE silhouette, but with the rear wing now carried on large end-plates where the homologated VE's had been cut down. That change directly cured the rear-downforce shortfall the VE had run against the Falcon.

Engine & driveline

Beneath the panels the VF ran Holden's established 5.0-litre racing V8 — a naturally aspirated, 90-degree pushrod eight carried over from the Blueprint Commodores, not a production-derived unit like those of the new Gen I marques. It ran on the category's E85 control fuel (an ethanol blend) and drove through the rear transaxle and control differential. Era power was in the region of 635 hp, an estimate rather than a homologated figure. The single-make Dunlop control tyre was mandatory.

Teams & evolution

Triple Eight Race Engineering and the Walkinshaw-run Holden Racing Team led the VF's development across its five seasons. Holden replaced it with the Gen II ZB Commodore for 2018, when the category revised its aero platform for the incoming generation of cars.

Sources: verified spec catalog (COTF / Gen I control formula — Grade C; Holden race-V8 base — Grade B/D) + the VF model article. Engine output is an era estimate, not a homologated figure — Grade D.