Nascar: Car of Tomorrow Debut! What do you think?

**K9brando** · 03-25-07, 10:58 AM

Today, at the Bristol race track, the car of tomorrow debuts. Here is a little description from the Nextell Nascar Website from those of you that do know whats up with this new car. What do you think about it? I for one do not care for it. In fact, I wish it was still the Winston Cup. Nextell is trying to make this a national sport when it belongs to the south and that is where is should stay.

CONCORD, N.C. -- NASCAR provided the latest round of updates Monday on its Car of Tomorrow project, which is slated for a March debut at Bristol Motor Speedway.

"The Car of Tomorrow will alter the competitive landscape of NASCAR in a very positive way," NASCAR president Mike Helton said. "We believe the drivers will be safer than ever; we believe the racing will be better than ever; and we believe the Car of Tomorrow will help control costs over the long haul."

The culmination of a seven-year project undertaken at NASCAR's Research and Development Center had three primary objectives: driver safety; improved performance and competition; and more efficient cost-management for the teams.

SAFETY FEATURES

The Car of Tomorrow was built primarily with safety in mind.

• Double frame rail on the driver's side with steel plating on the outside of the roll cage door bars to help prevent intrusion during impacts.

• Energy-absorbing materials installed between the roll-cage door bars and door panels.

• Enlarged cockpit -- roof is 2 1/2 inches higher and the cockpit is 4 inches wider. The driver also is up to 4 inches to the right of where he currently sits.

• Increased strength in the floorboard.

• An enclosed 360-degree steel containment tunnel for the drive shaft.

IMPROVED PERFORMANCE

During the development process, NASCAR also discovered ways in which the Car of Tomorrow could improve competition with a pair of unique aerodynamic pieces that teams may adjust at the track.

Rear Wing

• The rear wing is an adjustable aerodynamic feature that provides better balance and control in traffic. It replaces the rear spoiler.

• The rear wing reduces turbulent air behind the car.Rear wing enables trail car to race in "cleaner" air and promotes more passing.

• The rear wing angle adjusts between 0-16 degrees, enabling teams to change rear downforce to suit individual drivers and tracks.

• Various combinations and adjustments to sideforce-generating end plates and flat end plates allow for further at-track adjustments.

Front Splitter

• Teams can adjust the exposed portion of the front splitter fore and aft from 4-6 inches to impact downforce and aerodynamic balance.

• The front splitter is another element to achieve the aerodynamic balance that setup, driver or the track's changing conditions might dictate.

• The adjustable front splitter enables teams to tune the front downforce to suit individual drivers and tracks.

• The front and rear bumper heights have been equalized so they will be aligned if impact occurs.

COST EFFICIENCY

With the adjustable rear wing and front splitter along with a more defined body and chassis inspection process, teams will not need to build track-specific racecars and will therefore enable teams to be more cost-efficient.

• By using a more refined body and chassis measurement process, the need for track-specific car configurations is reduced.

• By providing the race teams a "blueprint" to build chassis and bodies, teams should be able to reduce the amount of time necessary to fabricate cars.

MANUFACTURER IDENTITY

The Car of Tomorrow design has enabled manufacturers to have an increased product and branding opportunity with the Chevrolet Impala SS, Dodge Avenger, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry.

• NASCAR has improved the ability for manufacturers to retain their car identity by maintaining many of the characteristics of their production cars, such as front nose, grill, hood, window panels and headlights.

• The Car of Tomorrow will more resemble a manufacturer's production car than does the current racecar.

Through input from team owners, NASCAR has implemented a multiple-year rollout schedule for the Car of Tomorrow to race in its Nextel Cup Series.

In 2007, the Car of Tomorrow will race 16 times -- 13 times at ovals less than 1.5 miles, plus the two road-course events at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International and the fall race at the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway

**Emily** · 03-25-07, 11:30 AM

Can't see the picture.

And, oh my goodness, where is Virginian when you need him? He's going to eat this post up, he loves NASCAR.

**Doc_Holliday** · 03-25-07, 12:28 PM

And WE love YOU EMILY!!!!...

**Star Man** · 03-25-07, 08:21 PM

They suck.

It looks like the stupid ricer race cars the high school kids are driving.....

And as far as the models go, who the hell ever thought a Camry was a "Tough racecar" and went out to buy one to race at the local track or from red light to red light on the street? Impala's not any better nowadays.. The old days of Impalas having balls is long gone!

**CelticCop** · 03-25-07, 08:27 PM

Ok... Doesn't NASCAR have something in the name about "Stock Car"? What the fuck happened to Stock Cars??? I give up... Somebody come to VA and end it for me please...

**Pudge** · 03-25-07, 09:36 PM

I think they need to go back to the original term of stock car. Take the actual body of a street car and make it a racecar under the hood, in the suspension, etc.

While brand identity is a little more evident with the CoT, they're all basically still the same damn thing. Without the decals you couldn't tell one of them from another. Let's go back to the real "win on Sunday, sell cars on Monday" mentality. With today's technology they could still make them damn safe.

**Pudge** · 03-25-07, 09:38 PM

While I'm thinking of it, any of the people around VA gonna be at the Martinsville race next week? Bunch of us coppers from here going to be there.

**bmf95b** · 03-27-07, 12:14 AM

Toyota is slowly gonna take over the BIG 3...

**K9brando** · 03-27-07, 10:57 AM

Originally Posted by bmf95b

Toyota is slowly gonna take over the BIG 3...

THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN!!!!!!

**jmur5074** · 03-27-07, 04:46 PM

Originally Posted by bmf95b

Toyota is slowly gonna take over the BIG 3...

Over my dead body.

**BEB** · 03-27-07, 08:29 PM

CoT - don't like it. Keep the body of the car with its boxier greenhouse and the safety improvements, but ditch that front diffuser and put the current nose back on. The noses were the last thing that differentiated the current cars.

The wing I'm not in love with, but find me a car with a spoiler anymore. May not be what we're used to, but a wing is a lot more stock than a blade these days.

Edit : Quick and dirty image edit. Hmm, that's fugly too. The old swoopy nose on the boxy car looks like a beak.

**10-42Adam** · 04-15-07, 08:37 PM

Originally Posted by bmf95b

Toyota is slowly gonna take over the BIG 3...

I heard something on the news about how at the rate they're selling cars, they will indeed move into the top 3 within the next 10 years or something...

**mavriktu** · 04-16-07, 11:47 AM

Ask Mikey Waltrip about Toyotas,hell I think he has only qualified once this season.

**BEB** · 04-30-07, 06:47 AM

No point starting a new NASCAR thread. Besides, the poll on this one is still active. I watched today's race and have some new questions.

Now that you've seen the CoT race a few times, has your opinion changed? More positive or negative than before?

Did Gordon's tribute to Earnhardt rub you the wrong way?

What should be done about so called fans throwing things on the track?

To answer my own questions - the CoT is growing on me. I don't especially like it, but I'm already getting used to it. * Jeff Gordon's tribute was a tribute, I'm sure that's what he was doing, and I still didn't like it. But then I'm not into this whole burnout after winning idea to start with. If he would have driven a Polish salute with the flag held high I would have taken it differently. * And finally, as to so called fans who throw things - they should be banned from every ISC track for life. Criminal charges on top of that.