Car of Tomorrow
The Car of Tomorrow (COT) is a vehicle design for the NASCAR Sprint Cup that debuted at the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on March 25, 2007. In the first races with this car, the Hendrick Motorsports team had particular success, winning five of the first six races with it. According to current planning, the COT came throughout the 2008 season for use after 2007 was only used in 16 of 36 races.
development
On January 12, 2006, NASCAR announced a universal car called the "Car of Tomorrow". This was preceded by a five-year development program, largely due to the death of Dale Earnhardt , one of NASCAR's superstars, at the Daytona 500 in 2001. They replace the previous cars, which were based on Holman Moody's Ford Fairlane from 1966. The primary development goals were innovations in safety, performance and competition as well as cost efficiency for the individual teams.
The shape of each car must correspond to a template specified by NASCAR, which is checked with a specially developed device. In the first two races with the new car in Bristol and Martinsville , the garages were therefore opened a day earlier than usual in order to have enough time for the inspection, which took up to ten hours. According to the old rules of NASCAR, there was a separate template for each manufacturer, so a total of four for the manufacturers Ford , Chevrolet , Dodge and Toyota . Until the introduction of the COT, they were regularly adapted so that the vehicles from the different manufacturers were relatively equivalent. The associated problems are to be solved with the new uniform format.
Other innovations in the COT include improved handling of the car and less dependence on aerodynamics. One of the most striking innovations is a removable rear wing, which has not been used since the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird in the 1970s. Its configuration is largely fixed and can only be adjusted to a minimal extent. It is also distributed by lottery to the individual teams by NASCAR before each race in order to create the same conditions for all teams. The windshield is also steeper than on the old car and thus ensures greater air resistance. The inlet for the cooling air of the engine is located below the bumper on the COT and is intended to prevent the engine from overheating due to damaged radiators. Overall, the front section has been changed significantly, increasing the air resistance and reducing the top speed of the car.
There have also been improvements over the old car in terms of safety. For example, the driver's seat was moved 4 inches (about 10 cm) to the right in the center of the car and the roll cage was moved 3 inches (about 7.5 cm) back. Overall, the COT is around 5 cm higher and 10 cm wider. A special foam on the sides between the body and roll cage should provide additional protection in the event of an accident. The course of the exhaust has also been changed in order to reduce the heat load for the driver. In addition, the tank has been strengthened and the capacity has been reduced from 22 to 17.75 gallons (about 67 liters).
Testing
The Car of Tomorrow was first tested at Daytona International Speedway , Bristol Motor Speedway , Martinsville Speedway , Lowe's Motor Speedway , Talladega Superspeedway and Michigan International Speedway . The tests were carried out by former NASCAR drivers, drivers of the pace car and the director of the department for cost research, Brett Bodine, on prototypes against the previous cars, which were prepared by NASCAR teams.
Drivers were able to test drive and test the COT versus the previous car on some tests held by NASCAR as well as special tests authorized by NASCAR. Some teams held the test drives at Greenville-Pickens Speedway, Caraway Speedway, and North Carolina Speedway , none of which are run in the Sprint Cup and are therefore not subject to NASCAR's testing restrictions.
planning
The Car of Tomorrow was first used in the Spring 2007 race in Bristol , the fifth race of the season. In the course of the 2007 season, a total of 16 races were planned with the new car, all of which will take place on tracks with a length of one mile or less. In addition, the two street courses and the autumn race on the Talladega Superspeedway were driven with the COT.
For 2008, the original plan was to use the Car of Tomorrow in a total of 26 races, including both races in Daytona with the opening race, the Daytona 500 , and related events such as the Budweiser Shootout and the Gatorade Duels . Furthermore, the spring races in Talladega and Michigan, both races on the California Speedway , the Pocono Raceway and the race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway should be driven with him. Due to the successful test on February 28, 2007 in Bristol, NASCAR decided to use the Car of Tomorrow for all races of the 2008 season and thus responded to the request of 80% of the teams to move forward completely. Thus, in 2008, the three events at Lowe's Motor Speedway , both races at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway as well as the individual races at Chicagoland Speedway , Kansas Speedway , Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway were a year earlier drove the new car as planned. This decision was announced by NASCAR on May 22, 2007.
debut
The Car of Tomorrow's debut in a race took place on March 25, 2007 and was won by Kyle Busch . This is the first time since 1963 that a Chevrolet Impala has won a NASCAR race.
The reactions to the achievements of the Car of Tomorrow were different. Dale Earnhardt junior said after his seventh place: “It wasn't a disaster like everybody anticipated. It worked out, I reckon. Racing was about the same. ” The drivers were also pleasantly surprised by the possibilities of bumping into other cars without ending up in a spin, so NASCAR was satisfied with the development in the area of safety. This resulted from an alignment of the heights of the bumpers, which the COT returned to the pre-1988 level in this area.
Some drivers and critics expressed their displeasure with the new car as they found the races driven with it less exciting. In spite of his victory, Kyle Busch said during the interview that it "sucks" (in German: it sucks ). Former driver and television expert Rusty Wallace said on ESPN that the Car of Tomorrow is boring and that the vehicles only run in one line and that there are few overtaking maneuvers or actions on the track or accidents, which is why NASCAR is so popular. Still, he said of NASCAR's decision to use the COT in all races from the 2008 season onwards, that it was one of NASCAR's best decisions. Drivers who had done particularly well in Bristol - including Jeff Gordon and Jeff Burton - were positive about the new car as it allows a second lane to overtake in Bristol, which was previously not possible. For most of the race, however, the cars drove one behind the other in a row with careful overtaking attempts by some drivers.
A big problem with this first race was the lower part of the new fiberglass front wing, known as the “front splitter”. If the splinter comes into contact with the tire of another vehicle, it can in some cases damage the tire. The second time the Car of Tomorrow was used, this problem no longer existed.
Another big problem was the foam in the sides of the car, which could catch fire. This resulted in smoke in the cockpit. Kevin Harvick discovered this problem while racing in Martinsville, whereupon NASCAR decided to make changes to the Subway Fresh Fit 500 at Phoenix International Raceway before the next race on April 21, 2007 .
Model variants
The Chevrolet teams decided to use the name Monte Carlo SS for the old car as before and to use the Impala SS for the Car of Tomorrow . Since Chevrolet will not continue the Monte Carlo model, it was decided after the 2007 season to switch to the Impala. The Dodge teams use the name Charger for the old cars and Avenger for the Car of Tomorrow. Ford and Toyota only use one model for both the old and new cars. At Ford this is the Fusion and at Toyota the Camry . As of 2008, the Dodge car is again called Charger. All manufacturers have thus chosen the name of sedans, even though the CoT has a coupé shape.
Later changes
On January 15, 2010, the Sprint Cup teams were informed by Series Director John Darby that NASCAR had decided to replace the rear wing with a spoiler, as it had been in use until 2007.
For the 2011 season, the entire front section was revised and redesigned. Reasons for this were found in the splitter, which often caused problems, mainly because the splitter could be severely damaged in the event of small contacts or even during a bump draft and the car immediately lost its competitiveness, as well as in other, aerodynamic aspects. The nose of the vehicle has now been brought closer to the appearance of the predecessor car by abolishing the front diffuser in its previous form and the body going straight down again. This prevented the teams from making setup-specific changes to the splitter. This gave the entire front a smoother, rounder appearance and the manufacturers were given permission to design the lower radiator area according to their model. Previously, the differences between the various vehicle manufacturers and models were barely recognizable. The changes to the exterior were very well received by the fans and the press. This change and the re-emphasizing of the Daytona International Speedway presented NASCAR with a new problem, since tandem racing, which was not very popular with fans, could now be carried out without great risk and the super speedway races took their flair that had been caused by pack racing originated. For 2012, NASCAR decided to approve a larger restrictor plate (29/32 inch, the holes are 1/64 larger than before) and thus an estimated 15 hp more and to massively reduce the cooler and overflow tank in order to improve the efficiency of the cooling system to reduce. In addition, the cooler inlet should now be placed centrally. The organization also decided to prescribe a smaller rear spoiler and softer springs.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b NASCAR may move COT to full schedule in 2008 ( Memento from March 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ a b Biography ( Memento of the original from March 12, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Holman Moody in the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
- ↑ http://www.truckseries.com/cgi-script/NCTS_06/articles/000061/006135.htm
- ^ Car of Tomorrow Full Time In 2008
- ^ A b ESPN article: One race in, Car of Tomorrow does its job well
- ↑ Car of Tomorrow 'debut causes wrecks at Food City 500 in Florida ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Gas' n Go: Dale Jr.'s deal; foam fire fear ( Memento of the original dated February 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Motorsport-Total: The pair formation is on the collar.
