NASCAR's "Car of Tomorrow"

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JohnBM01

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Let's face it. NASCAR "stock" cars look like crap compared to the real models they are based on. Heavy, V8, 200+mph, rinse...lather... repeat. But on Speed News Sunday, the "Car of Tomorrow" was unveiled in a video segment.

This prototype looks more like an actual car now. The biggest difference is with the GT or Touring style wing. It's told that the model was based on Grand-Am cars. For one thing, the Dodge Charger (what the prototype racer looked like) actually looks like a Dodge Charger up front than a Viper. The car is styled very well, but the biggest notice is the touring-style wing on the cars. Now, big hunks of American metal with 750+ horsepower and 3400lbs of curb weight at 200mph... and with Touring Car-style wings? Well, at least they look more presentable... a little.

Here is some web material I've found so you can look at the prptotype model for yourself.
http://www.nascar.com/2006/news/headlines/cup/01/12/car_of_tomorrow_test/
http://www.daytonainternationalspeedway.com/news/PhotoGalleries.jsp#

So, what do you make of these machines? As of this date, the cars will have some public unveiling by certain race teams on Thursday. I think there may or may have not been some draft testing as this point. I'm sure that with this model, you'll have to imagine other manufacturers taking their cars and making their templates. Since I think late model-type stock cars are my favorites for their wide and low look, I'd have to imagine this being carried into all the different NASCAR Touring Series.

Carry on if you want to contribute to this topic.
 
Ooooh, if a NASCAR TCC would come true, I´d be fan from day one!
The car looked awesome for a NASCAR, and seemed to be alot more aerodynamicly advanced than the cars of today. A live rear wing seemed to be fitted among other things.
 
I understand that NASCAR can keep a tighter lid on aerodynamic equality with the touring wing than they can with the current blade spoiler, but it doesn't mean I like it.

My favorite "stock cars" are the ones out of the Main Event Late Model Series, as well as the Sunoco Super Series and a few other midwest sanctioning bodies for what they now call Outlaw or Super Late Models. Screw the templates and fiberglass bodies. THESE are what a late model should look like.

nonlm026.jpg

CU_04f.jpg
 
Nice try, still ugly and still looks like Fecal matter.


Layla's Keeper: Right On! I've been to a few "hometown" latemodel races, and I must say that they're a lot more fun to go to than the nascrap races.
 
It looked like total crap in the firs tlink, but the photos of it in action on the track make the thing look pretty hot.
 
This post is a website update. The second post features information from Daytona's testing of the Car of Tomorrow prototypes.

http://www.truckseries.com/cgi-script/NCTS_06/articles/000060/006009.htm
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5261296

I don't know about you, but I'd like to see these things when NASCAR goes to their road races. They do sort of look like Americanized, NASCAR-ized Australian V8 Supercars (I mean no disrespect). It talks about cost reduction and all. I'm sure that means everything from purchasing and building cars and all that. I think these machines cost about $150K - $200K. So, they are obviously more expensive than Champ Cars, Indy cars, bigtime GT race machines, and MAYBE even Daytona Prototypes as well. Well, how do you feel now about this deal?
 
JohnBM01
It talks about cost reduction and all. I'm sure that means everything from purchasing and building cars and all that. I think these machines cost about $150K - $200K. So, they are obviously more expensive than Champ Cars, Indy cars, bigtime GT race machines, and MAYBE even Daytona Prototypes as well. Well, how do you feel now about this deal?
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Actually, i bet NASCAR is cheap compared to the other forms of motorsport you mentioned - the chassis are basic tube-frame affairs and a lot of the parts are off-the-shelf items shared across the board. I can't find a cost for the chassis - since most are built in-house, but i know engines sell for between $45-60k, i guess a complete car will be in the region of $100k.

Compare this to $310k for an engine-less Dallara or Panoz IRL chassis or $400k for an engine-less Daytona Prototype chassis.

GT cars i guess cost $400k upwards - a road going Maserati MC-12 probably costs $800k - how much would a race modified version cost you? A Porsche 911 GT3 RSR, which is probably the most commonly available car on the grid will still set you back $338k + taxes!
 
Sorry I do NOT like that Car of Tomorrow, its ugly as sin!

I much prefer the cars they run now, and I hope that they keep them.
 
Also Nascars don't have computers in them to help the driver. So its cheaper their and compters are stupid to have in a racecar to start with.
 
JohnBM01
This post is a website update. The second post features information from Daytona's testing of the Car of Tomorrow prototypes.

http://www.truckseries.com/cgi-script/NCTS_06/articles/000060/006009.htm
http://msn.foxsports.com/nascar/story/5261296

I don't know about you, but I'd like to see these things when NASCAR goes to their road races. They do sort of look like Americanized, NASCAR-ized Australian V8 Supercars (I mean no disrespect). It talks about cost reduction and all. I'm sure that means everything from purchasing and building cars and all that. I think these machines cost about $150K - $200K. So, they are obviously more expensive than Champ Cars, Indy cars, bigtime GT race machines, and MAYBE even Daytona Prototypes as well. Well, how do you feel now about this deal?
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YES! Wings will make them more like V8 Supercars!!!!!!! Now we just need Head and taillights, and I think the wing looks really nice.

And as for my favourite type of NASCAR style car, the old ASA style cars.
donsmith10c.jpg
 
Wow, FireEmblem... that ride you posted kind of looks like a Corvette C5 or even a Camaro. The reason why NASCAR doesn't use lights is because (as I was in an AOL Chat once), too much to clean up after a crash. I can recall the nASAcar using tail lights. They are sort of hard to notice, but they are there. This was back in 1999 or 2000, when Spike TV used to be TNN (The Nashville Network). In a night race, there were noticable taillights from when I seen an on-board view. Like, take the Car of Tomorrow NASCAR's proposed. Sometimes, I kind of don't know why NASCAR can't use body styles like Trans-Am. Even Trans-Am had a car that was also a NASCAR contender- the Pontiac Grand Prix. Even for ovals and some road races, I'd want to see some little lights. At least make them LOOK more like functional cars than hunks of metal that somehow were given the gift of racing. Some small, visible lights could be in place. I think NASCAR wanted to fix on brake lights in the rear windshield or something for road races. At the front (by the way, I'm glad they chose the Charger as the prototype car, because the Viper-looking Chargers in NASCAR are completely UNLIKE the road-going Chargers), the car can likely be fixed up with aerodynamic lights. Just something functional.

In terms of teams using this Car of Tomorrow, I can imagine some paintschemes already being applied to this thing. I can even imagine my favorite NASCAR driver, Jeff Gordon, putting on his DuPont colors on this bad boy. I don't think the "Car of Tomorrow's" wing looks out of place. If they wanted to get real technical with Touring Car or GT- style wings, they'd fix up a functional wing like on the Dodge Viper GTS-R of the 1990s, the Porsche 911 GT1 of 1998, or something like that. Only problem would be that there's so much wrecking in NASCAR that adding a wing to NASCAR race cars would just mean more to clean up. If you Canadians watch CASCAR, I kind of like the style of the CASCAR bodies. They are kind of like Late Models, but quite functional in getting in air to the engine and such.

Honestly, I'm thinking about this too much from a style standpoint. I don't know the pure technicals of this deal. I just hope that these safer cars can be quite functional. Then, I wonder how some of NASCAR's fallen racers (Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, and especially Dale Earnhardt Sr. among others) would feel about these safer cars. maybe if this design was around then, many of them would likely be safer in crashes and wrecks.

One last thing, when I stated "NASCAR's Touring Series," I mean series as high up as Nextel Cup to as far down as Street Stock or those ugly ass Modifieds.
 
JohnBM01
Sometimes, I kind of don't know why NASCAR can't use body styles like Trans-Am.
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Because most of those cars are Hatchbacks ( camaros, trans-ams etc. ) and Nascar has a rule where they can only be regular coupes even though that rule has been very bent to let Ford stay in.
 
JohnBM01
or those ugly ass Modifieds.
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Oh you did NOT just say this, John.

The Featherlite (now Whelen Tour) Modifieds are the only series NASCAR has managed to not screw up. They've stayed the same renegade machines they've always been.

And thanks to their huge slick tires, sophisticated four link coilover suspensions, light weight, and quick change locker style rear end, Featherlites get around short tracks FASTER than the Nextel Cup cars.

Why do you think they never went further south than North Wilkesboro?

These are pure racing machines that owe nothing to a street car, and they frequent great historical race tracks like Flamboro, Oswego, Stafford, Thompson, Lancaster, and Jennerstown. They're raucous and rowdy, and a breed apart from the taxicabs of Cup and Busch. Fans love 'em, and NASCAR keeps them at arm's length so that the Cup boys aren't embarassed when they go to Bristol or Martinsville.

The only time these awesome racing machines run with their own kind is when they come to Oswego or Stafford and join up with ISMA winged supermodifieds and Oswego's wingless supers, or any sanction for asphalt outlaw sprints (like the Auto Value Super Sprints or Hoosier Outlaw Sprint Series).

Like my dad has always said about short tracks - "Real race cars don't have fenders".

nhis030913nhcm01.jpg

marquis14.jpg

Featherlites
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Oswego Wingless Supermodifieds
800-ISMA-Sandusky-Sat_0094.jpg

800-ISMA_Toledo_174.jpg

ISMA Supermodfieds
61blonde500.jpg

AVSS Outlaw Sprint

Real race cars, all.
 
I beg to differ. In my opinion wings of any form do not belong on a race car. They cause too much aero problems which have yet to be figured out to allow competitive racing on the track. Short tracks still rule in my book.
 
I disagree. Especially in the case of an ISMA Supermodified, wings have been fully sorted on short tracks and allow for very tight racing.

Beyond the tale of the tape (qualifying times at Oswego Speedway, the only place where supermodifieds run with and without their top wing) one needs only see how well utilized the wing on a supermodified or sprint car is.

On a supermodified, the active top wing adds downforce when the car most needs it - midcorner under braking - and flattens out gradually on the straightaways, adding grip during acceleration and lessening drag as top speed nears. This is accomplished by hinging the wing at the front of the roll cage, and then attaching the rear of the wing to pneumatic struts that locate to the rear axle. As the car accelerates, wind pressure against the wing compresses the struts and allows the wing to rotate flat out of the wind, lessening drag. How quickly it rotates out of the wind (and therefore, how much downforce goes to the rear suspension) depends on the amount of air pressure the team puts in their pneumatic struts.

This allows the supermodified driver to move around a great deal on the track to find a line that best suits his car and will allow him to pass. It's not uncommon to see packs of supermodifieds, 3 wide and a dozen deep, all shuffling for position. Here's a picture of ISMA Supermodifieds at Thompson in the corner.

800-ISMA-Thompson_2443.jpg


You can see in the picture that all three cars have their wings up fully, meaning they're in the center of the corner. You can also see that all three supers are running on different lines at the big Thompson 5/8th's mile oval. At the far outside is Randy Ritskes (#88), the middle line is Mike Lichty (#84), and the inside groove is Mark Sammut (#78). At this point on the track all three cars are travelling between 110 - 120mph.

800-ISMA-Thompson_2477.jpg


And here are Mike Lichty and Mark Sammut with the wings flattened out on the front straight. Right as they're crossing the start-finish line, these two are cracking 160mph+.

Wings work on a short track, and they work phenomeonally well. It's why for years the Sandusky Speedway motto was "See 'em Fly!".
 
Which are what you find on a short track. No less a man than Dan Gurney said that a short track is "a road course with four corners".

Unlike a superspeedway, a short track demands grip, throttle control, braking, agility, and quick reflexes. When you're lapping a 1/2mile in under 15seconds, surrounded by 20+ of your opponents, you VERY quickly learn car control and how to find multiple lines through a corner.

In fact, let's remove the colloquilism's and say what's really going on.

Diamonding - Late Apexing
High Groove - Wide Turn-in
Low Groove - Clipping the Apex

Hell, on a paperclip track (long straights, tight corners) you add shifting into the mix with latemodels. Cars like sprints and supermodifieds are direct drive. No transmissions.
 
I'm sorry. I was just never really into Modifieds.

I think on Speed News Sunday, it was recently announced this was part of a three-year deal. Next year, the "Car of Tomorrow" will be used at road course races. A year after, it's supposed to be at tracks about 2 or so miles in length. Then, it's going to be used on "short" tracks. According to this news, this is more of a work in progress in the span of at least three years. It may not be until 2010 until they'll probably be used at all race courses. Toyota will have to build Toyota Camry "Cars of Tomorrow" next year if the Camry enters the NASCAR fray next year. So, more to think about with this deal.

Let your opinions on this issue continue.
 
NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow to Begin Implementation in '07
Written by: Cassio Cortes
Daytona Beach, Fla. – 1/23/2006

93376_cot.jpg

The Car of Tomorrow's wider, boxier stance should make it safer for the driver and provide for more competitive racing. (LAT Photo)

NASCAR revealed details for its Car of Tomorrow in a press conference at Concord, N.C. this Monday, announcing that the new, boxier design will begin to be phased in next season with 16 events until it is raced in the entire schedule in the 2009 campaign.

Gary Nelson, NASCAR's vice president for research and development Gary Nelson, outlined three guiding principles in the decision-making behind the CoT: safety, cost reduction and increased competition. Teams will use the Car of Tomorrow in '07 events at Bristol Motor Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway, Martinsville Speedway, Richmond International Raceway, Dover International Speedway and New Hampshire International Speedway (all short tracks), plus Darlington Raceway, the fall event at Talladega Superspeedway and road-course events at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen International.

“All of our engineering staff and each of the teams and manufacturers that contributed will now be able see the product of their hard work in competition,” Nelson said. “Many of the obvious safety and competition benefits have been a topic since the beginning of this project. We think one of the major benefits is yet to be realized as the car owners begin to build a more cost-efficient race car.” One of the CoT's defining traits is its stricter possibilities for aero tuning which, NASCAR hopes, will end the current "specialty" cars owned by the richer multi-car operations (i.e., different chassis for short ovals, superspeedways, road courses and so on).

“We designed this car to run for a long time, at road courses, short tracks, intermediate-sized tracks all the way to Daytona,” Nelson continued. “You would be able to run the same foundation car, the frame, the cage, the body, all of the components that today are being swapped around as the cars are purpose-built for certain types of tracks. We're eliminating that with this car.”

Added NASCAR president Mike Helton: “The Car of Tomorrow represents one of the sport’s most significant innovations, and we feel everyone involved in NASCAR will experience the benefits. No subject is more important than safety, and while the Car of Tomorrow was built around safety considerations, the competition and cost improvements will prove vital as well.”

The next round of Car of Tomorrow on-track testing will be scheduled following Speedweeks in Daytona.

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/nascar/21683/
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NASCAR's COT will run the entire season starting in 2009.
 
Very well. Thank you, y2kgamer. Thanks for that bit of information. Anyone else want to comment on this master plan by NASCAR?
 
I would like to see NASCAR go back to a true "Stock Car" rule similar to what they had up untill the '80s. The cars may be a little less "safe" but it would push the automakers to impliment better designs for their street cars and theoretically boost sales due to better engineered cars and trucks on the road.

...And I completely understand that it is a far-fetched statement right there...

BTW: How cool would it be if Chevy, Ford, Dodge, and Toyota all took their stock cars out there and did a few laps. Obviously the Fusion and Camry dont stand a chance, but the competition between the Charger and Impala SS would be interesting.
 
YSSMAN
How cool would it be if Chevy, Ford, Dodge, and Toyota all took their stock cars out there and did a few laps. Obviously the Fusion and Camry dont stand a chance, but the competition between the Charger and Impala SS would be interesting.
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:lol: That would be hilarious if a Camry won because most of the time it's not speed that wins it's who actually keeps it off the walls and the other cars. :dopey:
 
YSSMAN
BTW: How cool would it be if Chevy, Ford, Dodge, and Toyota all took their stock cars out there and did a few laps. Obviously the Fusion and Camry dont stand a chance, but the competition between the Charger and Impala SS would be interesting.
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Don't you mean Monte Carlo SS?
 
Okay, take the same [real] stock cars, strap them with NASCAR's V8s (if it's possible), racing slicks, tape up the headlights, tape up the rear lights, shave the door handles off, bust out the driver side window, and climb into the cars a la NASCAR. Who'd win now? ^_^
 
...Oops, I meant Monte SS, youre right...

Well, if they went youre way John, only the Charger would be able to do it unless they converted all the FWD cars to RWD... Aint gonna happen anytime soon...
 

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