Is the COT actually more dangerous?
March 30, 2007
NASCAR officials are scrambling to solve a couple of potentially serious issues with the “Car of Tomorrow.” Denny Hamlin and several other drivers complained about an unusual amount of carbon monoxide in their system after Sunday’s race. Some teams had issues with the protective foam in the right side door overheating, melting and producing toxic fumes. Some had springs that failed for no apparent reason, which may have been the reason for the No. 16 car of Greg Biffle being too low during post-race inspection. — jayski.com
technorati tags:racing, car-of-tomorrow
NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow is here today
March 21, 2007
NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow is here today – Yahoo! News
Tomorrow is finally here in NASCAR, which begins the most radical on-track experiment in the sport’s history this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Car of Tomorrow, a NASCAR-developed vehicle that spent seven years in development, will make its long-awaited debut at one of the most rough-and-tumble tracks in NASCAR.
Some like it, others loathe it. Either way, it’s not going away any time soon.
What are your thoughts on the Car of Tomorrow?
Don’t know what it is? Here is some background from Wikipedia.com’s page on the subject:
The Car of Tomorrow is a new car body style for NASCAR’s NEXTEL Cup that will be first implemented at the 2007 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 25 of that year.
Contents
Design
On January 12, 2006, NASCAR announced a universal car named “Car of Tomorrow” after a five-year design program sparked mostly due to the death of Dale Earnhardt, one of the sport’s premier superstars in a tragic final lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500. The then-current cars were based on Holman Moody’s 1966 Ford Fairlane. The primary design considerations were “safety innovations, performance and competition, and cost efficiency for teams.”
All cars may be required to fit the same set of templates. NASCAR’s old rules had a different set of templates for each manufacturer (Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and Toyota). NASCAR has frequently adjusted the rules to ensure that different car manufacturers have relatively equal cars. The universal body of the Car of Tomorrow will eliminate these problems.
The car has improved handling and reduced dependence on aerodynamics. The car will feature a detachable wing, which has not been used since the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird in the 1970s. The windshield is more upright, which increases drag. The air intake is below the front bumper of the car, which eliminates overheating caused by clogged grills. The front bumper is more box-like, which catches more air and creates more downforce, while also slowing the car.
The Car of Tomorrow has improved safety features over the current car. The driver’s seat has been moved four inches to the right, the roll cage has been shifted three inches to the rear, and the car is two inches taller and four inches wider. More “crush-ability” is built into the car on both sides, ensuring even more protection. The car’s exhaust runs through the body, and exits on the right side, which diverts heat away from the driver. The fuel cell is stronger, and has a smaller capacity (17 3/4 gallons, down from 22 gallons, which as of 2007 has become standard in all cars).
Testing
The Car of Tomorrow was first tested at the 2.5 mile Daytona International Speedway, then on NASCAR’s two shortest tracks, Bristol Motor Speedway (0.533 mi) and Martinsville Speedway (0.526 mi.), the 1.5 mile Lowe’s Motor Speedway, the 2.66 mile Talladega Superspeedway, and 2.0 mile Michigan International Speedway. Former NASCAR driver, current Nextel Cup pace car driver and Director of Cost Research Brett Bodine has tested the prototype car against cars prepared by current NASCAR teams.
Drivers have tested the CoT concurrently with the present car at some NASCAR tests and at special NASCAR-authorized tests. Some teams have tested the cars at the half-mile Greenville-Pickens Speedway and the one mile North Carolina Speedway, both of which are not NEXTEL Cup tracks, and therefore are tests which do not fall under NASCAR’s restrictions.
Schedule
The Car of Tomorrow will be first raced at the 2007 spring race at Bristol, the season’s fifth race. The car will be used at sixteen events in 2007, consisting of all tracks less than a mile and a half in length, the road courses, and the second Talladega race. This group also includes Phoenix International Raceway, Martinsville, Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway, New Hampshire International Speedway, Darlington Raceway, and the road course races at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International.
In 2008, implementation plans call for the CoT to be used at 26 events, starting with both races at Daytona, including the season-opening Daytona 500, California Speedway, Pocono Raceway, Michigan, the spring Talladega race, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Based on the success of the February 28th test at Bristol (which was extended to a third session that night due to an impending rainstorm), NASCAR is considering running the full schedule in 2008 in order to avoid applying two sets of rules, adding events at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway one year earlier than scheduled. If those plans do not come to fruition, those seven tracks mentioned will be added in 2009.
Car models
Chevrolet teams will call their current cars Monte Carlo SS in the races using the current body styles, and they will call the common Car Of Tomorrow body the Impala SS. Dodge will use the Avenger name for the Car of Tomorrow races while still calling their current car the Charger. Ford will call both cars the Fusion, while Toyota has also enter the NEXTEL Cup series calling both cars Camry model. It is important to note that the current cars have no parts in common with the production cars after which they are named – that is, the current Ford car is a Fusion in name only.
