NASCAR's "Car of Tomorrow"

  • Thread starter Thread starter JohnBM01
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Forget the wing. forget the splitter. these things are DURABLE!

man, I can't tell you how well these cars stay together compared to the "Bullet" cars. and they actually look a little better, too. Who was worried about cleanup?

Oh, man, now I want to see them on a fast track...

These look like the old '80s - no, the big '70s - cars, they really do, and they drive kinda the same way. Drivers, I think, are gonna have to get used to them.
 
The majority of comments made here is that these cars are very durable. I do think that Bristol and Martinsville will be the best durability tests. They'll need to hit some superspeedways and road courses to test their high speed and handling abilities. We all know that stock cars don't handle like F1 cars. Some of the teams were talking about that it was a bit tough trying to pilot these machines around Bristol. Martinsville will be worse in terms of handling since you'll have to work the brakes and try to handle the road as best as possible. Martinsville isn't flat, but it might as well be. The Bristol drivers were fortunate enough to try to handle thanks to the banking. Martinsville is going to be much tougher on these cars.

Carry on, please...
 
JohnBM01
The majority of comments made here is that these cars are very durable. I do think that Bristol and Martinsville will be the best durability tests. They'll need to hit some superspeedways and road courses to test their high speed and handling abilities. We all know that stock cars don't handle like F1 cars. Some of the teams were talking about that it was a bit tough trying to pilot these machines around Bristol. Martinsville will be worse in terms of handling since you'll have to work the brakes and try to handle the road as best as possible. Martinsville isn't flat, but it might as well be. The Bristol drivers were fortunate enough to try to handle thanks to the banking. Martinsville is going to be much tougher on these cars.

Carry on, please...
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Martinsville's a flat track, basically, the world's smallest road course. two turns, two straights. I guess the best thing I could compare it to would be taking the curve at the end of Grand Valley's frontstretch twice every 1/4 mile. oh, and left.

I wonder if the teams could tune the splitter for more downforce at Martinsville because of this. You need a little room for the splitter to work, and because the springs don't compress as much, you might be able to maintain it.

D.W. kept saying something interesting: that the drivers needed to drive the cars differently. They wanted to mash the gas: These cars take finesse.

hm.
 
Yep and it gets its first REAL test next month at Phoenix I beleive.

I am getting used to the higher look of the car but I must agree it actually looks like a real car now dimensions wise. The two best are the Camry and the Charger. Cant wait to see how they run Martinsville.
 
JohnBM01
Congratulations to Kyle Busch on this win. I wanted Jeff Gordon to win (as usual). Even though he didn't win, he put on one heck of a show. He would have had a better finish if they didn't really bog on the green-white-checkered deal.

In terms of the cars themselves, I think the Fusion looks best with this Car of Tomorrow package. The Impala SS also looked like a great machine. I didn't really like the Avenger much. The Camry is... alright, I guess. I love blue. That Texas Instruments car looked great.

Anyone else want to comment on the Car of Tomorrow and the Bristol performance?
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I thought that Gordon spun the wheels on the green/white checker...

Anyway, I have to say that ultimately there seemed to be little difference in the racing between the car of today and the car of tomorrow. I think that's probably "mission accomplished" for NASCAR. Like others, I'll be interested to see them on the superspeedways.
 
If people say that they are tough to drive, I'd have to imagine how this car would do on longer ovals and road courses. Call me crazy, but I think NASCAR should try some road courses within oval courses. Not necessarily to race, but to test out the cars at high speed and in twisty bits. I think race teams should experiment a proper road racing setup so the cars get the best grip of the road along with the best handling available. Stock cars were not made for road courses, but it doesn't mean they can't take them on. NASCAR has to take this thing road racing to better understand the prowess of this Car of Tomorrow (I may use "COT" or "CoT" for future discussions).

I'll have to think about some superspeedway comments. That is, unless you have your own ideas to share.
 
We should get our first ideas of these CoT's around Martinsville. I want to be able to offer this thread as a season-round look at the Car of Tomorrow as it races around on the NASCAR circuit. So please feel free to come here all year and next year to talk about this machine with all the races it will run.

Bristol's down. How do you see CoT action at Martinsville?
 
I still see some off-corner traction problems (Learn to drive, pedal-mashers!) but, It may not be as bad as bristol. remember, no banking means you might be able to set up the splitter to be more effective.

and D.W. seems to like 'em.
 
Here's an interesting tidbit brought across WindTunnel with Dave Despain. Someone asked how come the teams don't paint the rear carbon fiber wing. The reason why is because painting the rear wing adds some weight to the back of the car. Which, in turn, makes the cars a bit tougher to handle. Adding some extra paint on such cars makes them slightly heavier. It's why you see such real racing cars go unpainted in test sessions and such. They'll want the finest performance with not a lot of weight to the cars. Personally, though, I'd want to maybe see some advertisement on the rear wing. These machines already look more like race cars than fancy bumper cars. It adds some extra advertisement and looks professional. I actually like this Car of Tomorrow deal (some are calling it the "Wing Thing"). It will likely be much better with time.

Someone on the same show was mentioning that perhaps NASCAR could look into Lexan rear wings like on dirt late model cars. Any chance of this happening with the courses Nextel Cup races? And could it work on every track ranging from Martinsville to Sears Point to Daytona?

Now for some dumb shizzle some WindTunnel E-mailers were typing up. * One person noted that these rear wings were a joke on these cars. He (this was a male E-mailer) also noted that since there was no real difference in the car design, makes like Ferrari, Porsche, Kia, and even (and he typed this) Rolls-Royce could simply slap on some decals and go racing in Cup. * Another guy said that the rear wings look more like "hokey drift cars?" Player? Excuse me? Unlike most NASCAR courses, drifters take on more challenging corners. This is not to mention that some drift cars don't even use rear wings. I tell you... slap on some real race car element like carbon fiber or something... and people automatically assume some sort of "rice." Something like this is like Star Trek reruns- never take a dirt nap.

What do you all make of what was discussed on WindTunnel about these cars?
 
The actual reason they aren't painted is because, NASCAR issues the wings at every event, and takes them back after the race. They may not issue the same wing next time, as they hand them out on a first come-first serve basis.

Also, I don't like that quote that "Drifters take on more challenging courses." Here's a fun idea, go drift for a D1 event, and make it to the finals, then, go race 500 laps at Martinsville or Bristol. Or, how about 188 laps at Talladega, then come and tell me which is more challenging.
 
FireEmblem62
Also, I don't like that quote that "Drifters take on more challenging courses." Here's a fun idea, go drift for a D1 event, and make it to the finals, then, go race 500 laps at Martinsville or Bristol. Or, how about 188 laps at Talladega, then come and tell me which is more challenging.
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I think you misunderstood. ;)

He said, "more challenging corners." Not necessarily the whole course, nor a whole race, but just a particular corner.
 
Would you like to see the rear wings painted, even if they have to re-engineer the cars to make them handle better with the newer rear wings?
 
JohnBM01
Would you like to see the rear wings painted, even if they have to re-engineer the cars to make them handle better with the newer rear wings?
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They aren't allowed to paint them, as the wings are owned by NASCAR. ;)
 
FireEmblem62
They aren't allowed to paint them, as the wings are owned by NASCAR. ;)
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I think that settles it.

By the way, were we more sorted at Martinsville? By brother hogged the T.V. by watching the entire "Back to the Future" trilogy...
 
Back to the Future trilogy? Own3d! Anyhow, what if the teams were allowed to engineer these cars themselves with these touring car-like (well, they can't be GT) wings? I think the Car of Tomorrow allowed both these carbon fiber wings as well as the traditional lip spoiler. I'm just asking if the manufacturers and race teams constructed their own GT wings to the specifications that these things are being run now.

Maybe I'm just imagining things a bit too much. That's me because I have childish imagination. So carry on talking about this Car of Tomorrow deal.
 

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