“The CoT is intended to improve safety, competition and performance,” says Brett
Bodine, NASCAR’s director for Cost Research. “In addition to minimizing car-to-car and car-to-wall driver impacts, the ‘tuneable’ aerodynamics facilitated by the splitter, spoiler and wingtips enable teams to adjust the CoT’s setup to fit track type, changing racing conditions and even individual driver styles.”Bodine says the major changes include:
1. The driver capsule is 4 inches wider, 2 inches taller and has been moved 4 inches towards the car’s center, all designed to position drivers more safely.
2. Energy-absorbing safety foam had been added between the door panels and roll cage bars to minimize and dissipate impact forces.
3. Left side tire tread has been increased by 1 inch to improve grip and stick.
4. An adjustable front splitter allows downforce to be tuned to suit track conditions and driver styles.
5. An adjustable rear spoiler and wingtips enables down-force and side-force to be set to improve handling in side-by-side or passing
situations.MA: NASCAR officials have said that the CoT’s improved tuneability will improve car-to-car competition during green-flag racing. Can you provide an example of how the CoT allows this? Holden: In addition to adjusting the spacers inside the springs, tire air pressures and track bar settings that a conventional racecar allows, the CoT offers new opportunities to control both down- and side-forces. For example, the CoT’s rear wingtips can be adjusted in pit stops to either increase side-force so a driver [can] gather a car back should it get sideways, or to decrease it if more under-steer or “push” is needed. MA: It’s actual racing – where the dynamics of 40 cars running wheel-to-wheel, weather, mistakes and luck converge – that yields the most relevant lessons. What is racing teaching you about the CoT that testing didn’t? Holden:Several issues have cropped up in the CoT races so far, such as smoking safety foam, melting wiring and noxious fumes. On longer, flatter tracks, brake overheating has made negotiating turns difficult. The challenge of changing a front splitter, if broken or knocked off during a race, has yet to be faced. So far, the CoT has only made left turns. What will happen when we have to turn right?
Sometimes, it’s the little things that present the biggest problems. With a traditional car, when a piece of debris gets pasted to the front grille, drivers could remove it by slightly swerving the car side to side. With the CoT, if even a hot dog wrapper is caught on a front grille racing down the front stretch, the drivers can’t get it off as easily. For example, in the recent Phoenix race, Jamie McMurray picked up a piece of plastic film while racing, which led to his engine overheating. The only remedy: a “green” pit stop to remove the debris, sacrificing time and track position.
MA: How has repairing the CoT vs. conventional racecars differed?
Holden:Having had so much time and development on the current cars, teams had them pretty polished in terms of systems and integration. With the CoT there are new challenges – from items such as fuel pumps to safety foam padding to radio wiring to braking to aerodynamics – that have to be solved to let the drivers go fast again. That’s how racers earn their living. While the basic skill set of team personnel still remains the same, we need to be flexible and able to think outside the box.
MA: Could you describe the stresses faced in keeping two different racecar types on tap?
Holden: In addition to having approximately six “ready to race” cars for each of its three drivers, JGR’s fabrication, engine, machine and paint shops are running nearly flat-out to ensure there are new cars ready when needed.
JGR has been involved with the CoT project for a number of years. Being one of the larger organizations, we have the resources to manage the building, testing and maintaining of two very different sets of racecars, but it’s definitely more expensive. While our people are being pushed more during the transition to a full-time CoT, our organization has always ensured we weren’t running at full capacity, so we had some room to absorb demands like this.
MA: NASCAR is using the CoT in 16 races this season, and has just announced that the CoT will run full time in the Nextel Series beginning next year. Your thoughts?
Holden:Whenever the CoT is implemented full-time, besides the benefits of improved safety and competitive parity, race teams would save the expense and effort of keeping sets of two different racecar types ready to roll. For smaller racing organizations, the expense and taxing of more limited resources can be more daunting. As the driveability issues are resolved, these economic forces could motivate NASCAR to implement the CoT sooner.
The doomsday that many thought would come has not. The development that went on 10 years ago will go on again to optimize this new CoT, and the racing will get back to what it has always been, which is the closest and best in all of
motorsports.
Doesn’t that sound a lot like your
business?
