Jayski's® Silly Season Site - Car of the Tomorrow News/Rumors

CAR of TOMORROW - COT
news and rumors
(almost the CAR of TODAY)

IMAGEs of the COT on my COT Image Page.

Manufacturers News Pages:
Chevy NASCAR News/Rumors
Dodge NASCAR News/Rumors
Ford NASCAR News/Rumors
Pontiac NASCAR News/Rumors
Toyota NASCAR News/Rumors

Car of Tomorrow Implementation Schedule
(UPDATED 5-22-2007)

2007:(16 races)
Bristol [2 races]
Martinsville [2]
Phoenix [2]
Richmond [2]
Dover [2]
New Hampshire [2]
Darlington
Infineon Raceway
Watkins Glen
Talladega [fall 2007]

2008:(all 38 races)
(adding to those from 2007)
Daytona [2 + Shootout]]
California [2]
Pocono [2]
Michigan [2]
Indy
Talladega [spring]
Las Vegas
Atlanta [2]
Texas [2]
Lowe's [2 + All-Star]
Chicago
Kansas
Homestead

past news...rumors....

IMAGEs of the COT on my COT Image Page

The #6 AAA Ford Fusion of David Ragan undergoes a template inspection during Car of Tomorrow testing at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday. (Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR)(2-28-2007)
NOTE: the COT will NOT run in the NASCAR Busch Series, in 2007 or 2008 but looks like it will in 2009
NASCAR monitoring heat and carbon monoxide inside cars: The thermometer hovered at 102 degrees just prior to Friday's qualifying at Infineon Raceway, which means the temperature inside the Sprint Cup cars was much hotter. Not to worry. NASCAR is monitoring the situation. The governing body began last week at Michigan International Speedway monitoring the heat inside the new cars after several drivers complained that they were hotter than the old cars. They also began doing random tests for carbon monoxide to guarantee nobody was at risk. The findings were just what officials anticipated, that cars with proper ventilation, vents and insulation had no problem. For example, the temperature inside the car of Brian Vickers was 130 degrees, compared to 105 for another. "You start looking at the cars and say how can this be, they're all the same?" series director John Darby said. "Well, the 105 degree car didn't have a lot of vents and stuff in it, but they did take the time to insulate the floorboard and put insulation around the exhaust pipes. There's so many little things that make a difference that if you want to do them you can do them." Darby said none of the eight to 10 drivers tested for carbon monoxide at Michigan showed a dangerous level.(ESPN.com)(6-21-2008) Comment here
More on the Nationwide COT: “We are working very hard on the COT,” [Nationwide Series Director Joe] Balash explains. “We’ll utilize the NASCAR 110-inch wheelbase certified chassis, and it will be interchangeable between the Sprint Cup and Nationwide garages. [But] we’re going to do something unique with the bodies to give the Series its own look as opposed to the past.” The last point is a reminder of the dangers posed by creating a Nationwide car too much like their Sprint Cup cousins; and when you talk to Balash, you sense his focus at ensuring the next generation of Nationwide vehicles create a unique driving style all their own. “We want [the new car] to drive somewhere between a Truck and Cup car,” he says. “And we’ve been working with drag and downforce to be somewhere in between. We want the car to drive a little easier than a Sprint Cup car; [and while] there are some components of the body that are the same, we’ve relocated them. For example, we’ve moved the rear deck lid forward, and the same distance we moved it forward, we’ve moved the front of the body forward, helping the car turn just a little bit better in the corner. It’s been great to see from concept to the car in the wind tunnel.” When that concept becomes reality, the timeframe is still very much TBD. “My hope is to introduce the new car next year,” says the series director. “We’re looking at an August timeframe based on the conversations we’ve had with owners and others in the garage.”(Frontstretch.com)(5-2-2008)
NASCAR again...NO Changes to the COT planned: For drivers hoping for a change to the new Sprint Cup model car, series director John Darby burst their bubble Friday at Phoenix International Raceway. Darby said NASCAR doesn’t plan on making any alterations to the car, though some drivers, notably defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, called for changes after last week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. Darby noted that this is only the second year with the new model and Texas was only the third race on a high-banked, 1.5-mile track. “We still call it the new car, right?” Darby said. “But it’s looked at as an old car, one that’s been around forever, and that’s not the case. There’s nothing broken, there’s nothing that we need to jump in and fix. It’s just a matter of continuing to race them and let the teams do what they do best.” Darby said he was open to adding an additional test to the NASCAR test schedule this year if the garage area wanted one. But he doesn’t think adding a day to existing races would be of any benefit to teams. “I would rather just go test somewhere rather than tack a day on to an event because you can’t test properly when it’s attached to an event,” Darby said. “If you’re the crew chief or the driver, you know you’re testing in the car you’ve got to race the next day. You’re always fearful of trying something new, damaging the car, losing an engine that would affect the event because it’s the next day.”(SceneDaily)(4-12-2008) Comment here
No changes planned in COT: NASCAR's Jim Hunter, one of the sport’s top officials and a 40-year veteran at the tour’s tracks, said that drivers and crews shouldn’t be expecting any rules changes for the winged car any time soon: “At least for a period of time. “I think Robin (Pemberton) and John (Darby), they’d say ‘Let’s go some more races and see where we are.’” Pemberton and Darby are NASCAR’s top two competition officials under president Mike Helton. “Actually I can remember a lot of guys saying they couldn’t run side-by-side in the old car, when they had a hell of a lot of downforce,” Hunter said. “Carl Edwards got out of his car today and said ‘It’s a great feeling when your hands hurt after a race.’ You just have to get up on the wheel. And that was the whole purpose of this thing ... secondary to safety.” The next midsize track debut for the stock car will be at Concord in a few weeks. But the Mother’s Day weekend race at just-repaved Darlington could also present some similar issues, with its sudden 200-mph speeds, even though the car raced there last spring.(Winston Salem Journal)(4-7-2008)
Changes in store for the "COT"? Drivers are still talking about how the new car [COT...now Car of Tomorrow or just NASCAR Racecar] won't turn like the old car and crew chiefs are doing everything they can to make it turn. Since last fall, teams have been spending a lot of man-hours working on fine-tuning the front end geometry of the new car in an effort to produce more mechanical grip and help the cars to turn in the corners. The problem is more apparent at the faster, flatter tracks like California, where feedback from drivers after the recent test there was less than positive. However, according to some of the smarter voices in the garage, the real answer to the problem would be very simple. By extending the length of the front splitter from the current six inches out to eight it would create the necessary downforce on the front end to help turn the car. Of course, the splitter would also have to be raised about an inch so that it could maintain its current travel. Yahoo's Bob Margolis also heard that such a change could be in place by the time the Cup series arrives in Atlanta [March 7-9].(Yahoo Sports)(2-9-2008) Comment here.
Charger back in 2008? no Avenger UPDATE: been told the Dodge NASCAR car will be known as the Charger in 2008 NOT the Avenger. The COT body style will stay the same, just the headlight and taillight decals will changed along with the Charger name on the nose.(11-27-2007)
UPDATE: Dodge today confirmed that it will race the Dodge Charger in the Sprint Cup Series in 2008 and beyond, continuing to add to its rich NASCAR tradition. Dodge, which has a storied heritage in auto racing with the Charger, has elected to continue the winning tradition that legends David Pearson, Bobby Isaac and Richard Petty established in the 1970s by designating the Charger as the nameplate Dodge teams will use in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series next year. "Racing is the core of Dodge's DNA," said Michael Accavitti, Director - Dodge Brand and SRT Global Marketing. "Dodge has a racing heritage that spans many different nameplates and models, and the Charger is the cornerstone of that heritage. When NASCAR originally announced the phase-in plan for the "car of tomorrow", it made sense for Dodge to race the Charger and Avenger. When the decision was made to race only one car next year, we talked with our partners, the more than 2,500 Dodge Dealers across the country, and they expressed overwhelming support for Dodge to continue its motorsports heritage with the Charger nameplate. NASCAR rules permit Dodge to use either nameplate in 2008. "Since 2001 when Dodge returned to NASCAR, the goal has been to win races and ultimately the championship. Those goals have been accomplished with the Charger previously and we are committed to make it happen again." The 2008 Dodge Charger lineup will feature five teams with 12 drivers that are a mixture of seasoned veterans, experienced young talent and champions from other racing series that are newcomers to NASCAR. The Dodge Charger has recorded 136 wins in NASCAR's premier series with 124 coming during an 11-year span, 1966-1977. Three drivers - Pearson, Isaac and Petty (3) -- combined for five championships during that period driving a Charger. After an absence of almost 30 years, Dodge returned to NASCAR competition in 2001 with the Charger returning to the track in 2005.(Dodge Motorsports/Clear!Blue PR)(11-28-2007)
Talladega inspection process goes smoothly: Unlike other Car of Tomorrow races, NASCAR passed out mandated side plates and wickers for Sunday's race at Talladega Superspeedway. Those were the only two major areas on the car in the past where crew chiefs could make adjustments to affect air flow. So instead of being able to choose between a curved or flat side plate, teams were mandated flat ones. Side plates and wickers aside, the inspection process at Talladega went off without a hitch. About half the field, including the top 12 teams competing for the championship, passed with only a few having to make minor adjustments to be legal. The rest of the field will be inspected before Friday morning's first practice. "It's been pretty routine," series director John Darby said. NASCAR's biggest concern before Sunday now is the size of the restrictor plate hole. It is larger than the hole teams used during the spring race, creating 75 to 80% more horsepower. But many believe the governing body will reduce the size after Friday's two practices to lower speeds. Darby said the difference could be as minor as a 64th of an inch, about the thickness of a matchbox cover.(ESPN.com)(10-5-2007)
Talladega COT rules: Sunday’s UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway marks the big track debut of the Car of Tomorrow, the first time it’s run on a superspeedway. The COT is taller and has more drag than the old-style spoiler car, which means NASCAR car run a larger restrictor-plate this weekend. Teams will begin the weekend using a 31/32-inch restrictor plate – the same size they tested with last month. They ran 7/8 (28/32) inch plates the last time they raced at Talladega in May. The bigger plate is expected to add 75-80 horsepower, NASCAR said. Should the cars prove too fast during practice, NASCAR has the option of installing smaller plates for the race. NASCAR also has mandated a minimum rear wing angle of 10 degrees. NASCAR will supply the wings at the track, as it has done in all previous COT races. NASCAR also will issue the teams end plates at the track, which has not been done before. Other changes include a taller wicker on the rear wing (one inch compared with 3/16 inch in the past), which will help add drag to the car. And for the first time, there will be a mandated gear rule.(SPEEDtv.com)(10-4-2007)
Talladega plate size, wicker height could change: Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby says that teams are going to practice at Talladega Superspeedway with the restrictor plate, wing angle and wicker height that they ended a recent test session with. But he also said that two of those could change if speeds are too high. The restrictor plates used to harness engine power will start with holes of 31/32nds of an inch. That should give teams 80 more horsepower than the current plates being used. That could change if speeds are too high in the pair of Nextel Cup practices at the track, though. The wing angle is set at 10 degrees, which should not change, and the wicker height is 1 inch. Any changes will be determined by how the cars perform and whether they surpass that average speed of 200 mph per lap which has long been the unofficial limit in the sport. (SceneDaily.com)(9-29-2007)
Fine-tuning possible for Talledega plate: NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton said Tuesday that its possible a car of tomorrow test next week at Talladega Superspeedway could result in allowing Nextel Cup teams restrictor plates with larger openings for October’s race. The Oct. 7 race at Talladega will be the first using the COT for a restrictor-place race. “We’ll be there next week for a two-day test, fine-tuning the plate size and things of that nature,” Pemberton said. “This car will allow us to open up the restriction a little bit on the engine. They'll make a considerable amount of horsepower more than what they have raced at Talladega and Daytona in the past.” The openings in the plates allow air into the carburetor, so bigger openings would mean more power. With the current openings, drivers keep their accelerators planted all the way down. The hope is that bigger plates would give them some throttle response and with it the ability to get more power when it’s needed to complete a pass.(Charlotte Observer/Thatsracin)(9-7-2007)
Goodyear to test tires for COT at Daytona next month: Goodyear will conduct a tire test with the car of tomorrow Sept. 18-19 at Daytona International Speedway, a Goodyear spokesman said Wednesday. The restrictor-plate test, which will come a week after NASCAR's open Nextel Cup test at Talladega Superspeedway will include five drivers: Joe Gibbs Racing's #11-Denny Hamlin, Richard Childress Racing's #07-Clint Bowyer, Yates/Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing's #38-David Gilliland, Chip Ganassi Racing's #40-David Stremme and Michael Waltrip Racing's #55-Michael Waltrip. It will be the second time this year that a COT has hit the surface at DIS. #12-Ryan Newman and #2-Kurt Busch practiced in a COT during January testing. The first COT race at Daytona will be the 2008 Daytona 500.(SceneDaily.com)(8-31-2007)
COT to test at Atlanta in Oct: Nextel Cup Series teams will test at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Oct. 29-30 (Monday-Tuesday). The two-day test will be with the Car of Tomorrow only and will run the two days following the Pep Boys Auto 500, scheduled for Oct. 28 at the speedway. Teams will test from 9 a.m.-noon and 1-5 p.m. on both days. The test fills in for the previously scheduled May 14-15 test at Dover International Speedway that was cancelled. The cancellation resulted from the Darlington Raceway event scheduled for May 12 being postponed until May 13 due to inclement weather. The next scheduled Nextel Cup Series test is Sept. 10-11 at Talladega Superspeedway.(AMS/NASCAR PR)(8-22-2007)
NASCAR Media COT Video will open a video file and start playing a video [depending on how your PC is set up, this is a MPG file], the video features Brett Bodine, NASCAR Director or Cost Research, talking about the Car of Tomorrow.
NASCAR Could Suspend Additional Crew Members for Future Violations: The garage still is buzzing about the severity of the penalties handed to the Hendrick Motorsports teams of #24-Jeff Gordon and #48-Jimmie Johnson after their cars failed initial inspection last weekend because the front right fenders were bent beyond the wheel well. Gordon particularly was outspoken, saying he was disappointed in NASCAR's decision to suspend crew chiefs Steve Letarte and Chad Knaus for six races and fine each $100,000, as well as dock him and Johnson 100 championship points. "But I will say we're crystal clear going forward," Gordon said. "We're clear now that there is no gray area." It is clear now. If it's not, NASCAR is prepared to expand the suspension to car chiefs and engineers -- whatever it takes to get the message across. "It could grow into multiple suspensions," [Nextel Cup series director John] Darby said as he sat outside the hauler otherwise known as the NASCAR principal's office. Teams have understood for years that messing with the gray area in engines will not be tolerated. Now they're discovering that the body is off limits as well.(ESPN.com)(6-30-2007)
NASCAR determined to police COT: NASCAR is determined to take any guesswork out of its new Car of Tomorrow. With a new system of templates and sensors to measure the parameters of the taller, wider and reputedly safer car, NASCAR chairman Brian France said the sanctioning organization wants to leave no doubt that it will come down hard on infractions. "We have to lay down the law," France said Sunday at Infineon Raceway, where the Nextel Cup cars raced in the Toyota/Save Mart 350. That doesn't bode well for the teams of#24-Jeff Gordon and #48-Jimmie Johnson, who were parked for Friday's practice and qualifying after NASCAR inspectors found front fenders on their COT Chevrolets had been illegally modified. The two Hendrick Motorsports drivers were allowed to practice Saturday and race Sunday, starting from the rear of the field, but it is expected that NASCAR will follow up in the next few days with more severe penalties, possibly including the loss of drivers and owner points, six-figure fines and suspensions for the crew chiefs. Asked if NASCAR is taking all the creativity away from the teams, France said, "There will always be room for imagination and ingenuity in the sport. But we don't want this thing to revolve around technology. It's important to keep it in the hands of the drivers."(AP/ESPN.com)(6-25-2007)
Extra Weight added to COT's at Sonoma: NASCAR teams will be adding extra weight to the cars of tomorrow [COT] this weekend at Infineon Raceway. NASCAR has increased the weight of the car by 50 pounds to allow teams to distribute the weight more easily and to improve the integrity of the car since teams will not be trying to lighten up the car in other places, a NASCAR spokesman said. The new weight of 3,450 pounds is in place for all car of tomorrow races going forward.(SceneDaily.com)(6-23-2007)
COT to be tested at Talladega in Sept.: NASCAR's decision to schedule a car-of-tomorrow test at Talladega Sept. 11, just after the Richmond cutoff for the Chase for the Championship, is probably a wise move, considering the troubles that the Talladega 500 Oct. 7 could present. NASCAR officials had pushed hard for teams to approve a car-of-tomorrow test at either Charlotte or Atlanta, to prepare for next year's even trickier car-of-tomorrow runs at the tour's midsize speedways. Brett Bodine, who, as director of cost research, is heading NASCAR’s car-of-tomorrow program, continues to wax enthusiastic about the car, despite a high center of gravity that makes it a bear in the turns. "The original design of the car of tomorrow has many characteristics of the current road-course car," Bodine said, "particularly in the fact that both are more symmetrical than the current (standard) oval-track cars."(Winston Salem Journal)(6-21-2007)
NASCAR to Run COT Full Time in 2008: NASCAR announced that the Car of Tomorrow will be fully implemented for the 2008 Nextel Cup Series season. The move accelerates the integration of the new car into the series by one full year. In January 2006, NASCAR had announced a three-year roll-out schedule that would conclude with the new car running in every race by 2009. As the new car began its initial phase-in program over the past several months, team owners expressed support of the new car and its full implementation by the 2008 season. Therefore, starting next year the new car will run the entire Nextel Cup Series schedule. The average margin of victory through the first five Car of Tomorrow races has been a mere .505 seconds (compared to 1.286 seconds at these same races a year ago) and there have been six fewer DNFs through this same race sequence from 2006. Additionally, 13 teams have used the same chassis for three of the five races; four teams have run the same chassis in four of the five races; and one team – the #29 Chevy – has run the same chassis in all five Car of Tomorrow races.(NASCAR PR)(5-22-2007)
Stock Car Evolution Exhibit at Darlington Illustrating Car of Tomorrow’s ‘Back To The Future’ Appeal: NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow” project is unabashedly forward-thinking but it also gives a nod to the past, a dichotomy on display for fans this weekend at Darlington Raceway, site of Saturday night’s Dodge Avenger 500. A special exhibit entitled “NASCAR: Back to the Future” will be open Friday from 2–7 p.m. and Saturday from 1-7 p.m., behind the raceway’s Tyler Tower. The exhibit will illustrate the evolution of NASCAR-style stock cars, culminating with the current Car of Tomorrow models that honor traditional NASCAR principles of safety, competition and cost management while offering a closer-to-stock appearance that is a “throwback” to the past.
Three cars from that past will be featured:
* A 1972 Dodge Charger driven by Richard Petty – he won the series championship that year – on loan from Petty Enterprises.
* A 1977 Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Darrell Waltrip. The car is on loan from the International Motorsports Hall of Fame located in Talladega, Ala.
* A 1987 Chevrolet driven by Terry Labonte and owned by Junior Johnson, on loan from the NMPA Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame and Museum located at Darlington Raceway.
Other cars planned for the exhibit include both the Car of Tomorrow and street versions of the four 2007 models competing in the Nextel Cup Series: Chevrolet Impala SS, Dodge Avenger, Ford Fusion, and Toyota Camry. In addition, an informative video detailing the evolution of a stock car will be shown continuously. Saturday night’s event at Darlington will be the fifth Nextel Cup race this season using the Car of Tomorrow models. The previous “COT” races were at Bristol Motor Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Phoenix International Raceway and Richmond International Raceway.(NASCAR PR)(5-11-2007)
COT Statistics: As the Nextel Cup Series prepares for its fifth Car of Tomorrow event – this week at Darlington Raceway – numbers truly tell the tale of its impact. All four events to date have featured margins of victory less than one second; the first two, at Bristol Motor Speedway and Martinsville Speedway, literally went down to the wire. But other statistics, specifically those pertaining to qualifying for series events, also illustrate the car’s positive effects. In examining the first four events at Bristol, Martinsville, Phoenix International Raceway and Richmond International Raceway, respectively, the average speed difference from the Bud Pole winner to the 40th overall qualifier has decreased by an average of almost two-10ths of a second. Comparative first-to-40th qualifying differences from 2006 to 2007 are listed below:
• Bristol – 2006 (0.566 of a second); 2007 (0.358). Note: the August 2006 qualifying results were used in this comparison, as qualifying for the 2006 spring event was rained out.
• Martinsville – 2006 (0.551); 2007 (0.410)
• Phoenix – 2006 (1.024); 2007 (0.768)
• Richmond – 2006 (0/534); 2007 (0.437)
(NASCAR PR)(5-9-2007)
Darby: No COT changes planned: #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr. says he expects to be frustrated with the car of tomorrow at Darlington this weekend. NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby says that's how it's supposed to be. He has heard drivers talk about the cars being more difficult to turn since the start of testing with the new car. But drivers will learn. "There should be a level of frustration - obviously different levels," Darby said Monday during a break in testing at Lowe's Motor Speedway. "I would imagine anybody yesterday other than [Richmond winner] Jimmie Johnson had a concern or a frustration at some point because that's the way our sport works. Frustration to the point where we're going to change anything going forward, probably not." In addressing car of tomorrow competition issues, Darby said he is not concerned about the dominance of Hendrick Motorsports (four wins) and Chevrolet (which has led all but 63 of the 1,716 laps in COT events).(SceneDaily.com)(5-8-2007)
80% of Owners favor COT fulltime in 2008: NASCAR's Robin Pemberton said about 80% of Nextel Cup team owners are in favor of accelerating the Car of Tomorrow's three-year phase-in to a full debut in 2008. "It's close to 100% from mechanics, crew chiefs and engineers," Pemberton said.(USA Today)(4-30-2007)
Decision on car of tomorrow timetable coming this summer: NASCAR chairman Brian France told The Associated Press on Saturday that the decision on whether or not to run the Car of Tomorrow in the full Cup schedule in 2008 will be made this summer. “In June or July, we’re going to take a hard look at it,” France said. “It’s really up to the teams. They approved this timetable and it will be up to them if we change it.” The current schedule for the COT is 16 races this season, 29 in 2008 and all 36 races in 2009. But several owners have indicated they would like to run the COT in the entire schedule next year, saving both money and the time it takes to build two different cars.(Associated Press / Thats Racin)(4-22-2007)
NASCAR to go over installation of door foam at RIR test UPDATE: NASCAR officials will reinforce to teams the importance of properly installing the safety foam inside the frame of the right door of the Car of Tomorrow during Tuesday's test at Richmond International Raceway #29-Kevin Harvick had a situation during Sunday's race at Martinsville Speedway where the foam in his right door became so hot from heat from the tailpipe that it completely melted. The electrical wires from the in-car television also melted, forcing Harvick to get out of the car while safety crew members sprayed the door with fire extinguishers. "We want to reiterate and review how you put the foam in the car," NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said. "What we need to make sure of is they're allowing for more air to circulate." Tharp said Harvick's car, which was looked at on Monday by NASCAR officials, was the only one that had that problem at Martinsville after several had it at Bristol. "It's a whole new car," Tharp said. "Thankfully, we are able to make adjustments. It's a situation that can be correct." Tharp added that the cars of race winner #48-Jimmie Johnson and #26-Jamie McMurray, which were taken to NASCAR's Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., checked out perfectly. Both cars have been returned to the teams.(ESPN.com)(4-3-2007)
UPDATE: NASCAR will allow teams to eliminate part of the square block of foam that sits inside the right door of the new Nextel Cup car of tomorrow in order to keep it from melting, according to teams at Richmond International Raceway for testing Tuesday. Instead of having a square piece, teams can shape the foam, with a rectangular portion in the bottom left corner cut away from above the exhaust pipes. Teams were given a new graphic of how the foam can be installed. The foam doesn't burn as much as it smolders. NASCAR says the fumes are not toxic.(SceneDaily.com)(4-3-2007)
Foam and smoking a problem: When the Car of Tomorrow debuted a week earlier in Bristol, several drivers – most notably 2003 series champ Matt Kenseth - complained of the foam padding in the right side of the door melting and releasing noxious fumes. NASCAR insisted that the cars that had problems with the foam had incorrectly installed, a charge Kenseth strongly denied. The foam problem reared its ugly head again at Martinsville, with the victim this time being #29-Kevin Harvick, who actually had it catch fire in his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet. “Smoke just started coming out the right-side door so I guess blaming it on something else is probably not the right thing to do,” said Harvick. “I mean this thing just started burning up so it's almost turning it into a joke now.” He was uninjured, and NASCAR has promised an investigation.(SPEEDtv.com)(4-2-2007)
NASCAR takes three cars to R&D center: NASCAR officials took Kevin Harvick's #29 car to its research and development center to study why the energy-absorbing foam started smoking in his car. It's a problem other drivers, including Matt Kenseth, said they had at Bristol last weekend. NASCAR took Jimmie Johnson's #48-car and #26-Jamie McMurray's car to its research and development center in its continuing process of studying how a race affects the Car of Tomorrow. Both teams are expected to have their cars back today.(Roanoke Times)(4-2-2007)
COT to run full time in 2008? still undecided: NASCAR isn't ready to decide after one weekend whether the car of tomorrow will be used for all tracks in 2008. NASCAR's current phase-in plan includes racing with the car of tomorrow in 16 races this year, 26 races in 2008 and then for the full schedule in 2009. "What we do know is that it's terribly hard and it's very frustrating to run two different programs throughout a year," Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said Friday. "So for most of the mechanics and the crew members and even a lot of the crew chiefs in the garage, they would prefer just going, just making the decision now. But for the same reason that the original rollout of the new car was three years - a three-year period, will be the same reason that ultimately decides whether '09 is gone and we're all in for '08 or not. That reason is the team owners, the guys that are writing the checks to build these things.If they're comfortable with scaling up and pushing a little harder and eliminating '09, NASCAR, we'd welcome it with open arms, for sure. But we also don't want to force them into that decision," Darby said. "The team owners will have to come and say, look, this deal is working pretty good. They're very easy to build, they're very easy to manage in inventory, so on and so forth, so let's press on with it.' We'll cross that bridge when it comes."(SceneDaily.com)(3-31-2007)
NASCAR expands rear height tolerances for COT: NASCAR will give teams a half-inch tolerance instead of a quarter-inch on the minimum height requirement of the rear of the car during post-race inspection at car of tomorrow [COT] races, Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby told reporters Thursday. #16-Greg Biffle was outside the quarter-inch tolerance after a fifth-place finish at Bristol, but NASCAR won't penalize him because of the lack of benefit to the car to be that low. Darby also said that although it was procedural measurement with the car of tomorrow, it was never specified in the rulebook. He says NASCAR will continue to explore the minimum height of the rear of the car before making a steadfast rule. Darby also said that the minimum right-side weight was changed from 1,650 pounds to 1,700 pounds. As far as the problems some teams had with broken exhaust pipes, Darby said he expected that to be fixed. "The teams have been very weight conscious through this process," Darby said. "Most of the exhaust pipe failures that we saw were pipes that were constructed out of material that was much thinner than the pipes on yesterday's car were. iI should be an easy fix for the teams."(SceneDaily.com)(3-30-2007)
NASCAR working on COT problems: NASCAR officials are scrambling to solve a couple of potentially serious issues with the "Car of Tomorrow." Denny Hamlin and several other drivers complained about an unusual amount of carbon monoxide in their system after Sunday's inaugural COT race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Some teams had issues with the protective foam in the right side door overheating, melting and producing toxic fumes. Some had springs that failed for no apparent reason, which may have been the reason for the #16 car of Greg Biffle being too low during post-race inspection. NASCAR officials plan to talk with crew chiefs before they arrive in Martinsville on Friday to discuss solutions to these issues. They will look at adjusting the tolerances for minimum height until it is determined what makes the new car settle. They will suggest that teams use a thicker exhaust pipe after determining those that had exhaust systems failures used a thinner pipe to conserve weight. They already have talked to Roush Fenway Racing officials about putting a heat shield over the pipe near the right door and notching the foam higher around the pipe to keep heat from compromising it. NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton and Nextel Cup series director John Darby have scheduled a Friday morning press conference to discuss the issues.(ESPN.com)(3-29-2007)
COT and Haulers Fact: One of the big controversies about the Car of Tomorrow concerned the race haulers, the 53-foot tractor-trailers teams use to haul cars to and from the track. Last year, when team owners were fighting the CoT concept tooth and nail, one of their prime objections was that the taller CoTs would necessitate wholesale replacement of the pricey trailers. NASCAR insisted that wasn’t true. So what’s the real story? Newer trailers—those made in the last two years—have a lowered upper deck floor that accommodates the new, taller cars just fine. But some of the smaller teams that use older trailers have to replace the race tires on their CoTs to get them to fit. For example, BAM Racing, which fields cars for Mike Bliss, has a set of tire innerliners that it puts on Bliss’s CoT to get it to fit in the trailer. The innerliners, of course, aren’t as tall as the regular race tires. At least one other team uses production street tires when it loads its CoT. One other footnote about the trailers: The average life expectancy of a NASCAR Nextel Cup trailer is about 3-4 years. At the end of its life cycle, technology has advanced enough that teams want new features and configurations in their trailers.(Ford Racing)(3-27-2007)
NASCAR giving team 'wiggle room' at Bristol: Nextel Cup teams are going through the car of tomorrow inspection process slowly today [Thursday] at Bristol Motor Speedway. And what is good today might not be good in the future. NASCAR is trying to work with the teams and educate them about the car, said Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby, and that education could mean giving teams some wiggle room if they are off on a template that would have no bearing on the high-banked concrete half-mile track this weekend at Bristol. That's why NASCAR opened the garage a day early. About eight of the 50 [49] cars entered were through the templates and scales after nearly three hours of inspection Thursday as part of the first car of tomorrow weekend. From start to finish, it was taking 80-90 minutes for a car to go through the templates and scales before getting the engine and safety inspections done while teams are working on their cars in the pit stalls. "We don't relax on our safety inspection and we don't relax on the things that are competitively driven, but if a guy has got a template here that is a 16th [of an inch] off that the whole world knows is not going to make a difference at all when it's out on the race track, we'll let them work toward getting it right [in the future]," Darby said Friday about two hours into the inspection process. Teams are going underneath the big claw-looking master template for the first time under real "race" conditions. In the past, templates were placed on the car one at a time. Now many of those templates are in one, big interlocking template. When the cars go through the initial template inspection, they don't have wings on them. NASCAR issues the wings after the cars are through that section. One of the big parts of the learning process is how much a car changes from week to week and if a piece moves or gets bent whether it will be illegal the following week.(SceneDaily.com)(3-23-2007)
Young drivers put COT to the test: They've never competed in a NASCAR Nextel Cup race, and they won't be racing at Bristol, but three drivers could have an impact on what happens in the series' first Car of Tomorrow race Sunday. Landon Cassill, 17, graduated last month from high school in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and is a development driver for Hendrick Motorsports. Billy Wease, 20, finished second in his ARCA debut last summer but hasn't raced a stock car since then for Penske Racing. Kevin Hamlin, 28, has started 15 Busch Series races but none for his current team, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. Each driver played a key role in helping his team develop the Car of Tomorrow, which debuts this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. They tested the cars when their more famous Cup teammates couldn't. They ran mile after mile as crews tried to understand the car. Sometimes the changes worked. Sometimes they didn't. "We sent him to do the dirty work," Kurt Busch said of Wease. "We wanted him to run the tires off the car. It was a lot of monotonous work of just lap after lap, session after session. When we jumped in the car, Ryan (Newman) and myself, we were further down the road." The task for each driver often was the same. The crews had a list of changes -- from shocks and springs to adjusting the front splitter and so on -- to make. The driver then told them how it made the car handle. Sometimes the driver ran two laps. Sometimes it was five laps. Sometimes it was 20 or more laps at tracks such as Greenville-Pickens in Greenville, S.C., Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky., or Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa. When the day ended, they often had driven more than 400 miles. Cassill tested alone at Greenville-Pickens in the offseason and then tested with Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears and Kyle Busch at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Fla. "It was important for Jeff and I to tell Steve what the car was doing and being accurate about it, especially with a car they haven't used before," Cassill said, referring to Gordon's crew chief, Steve Letarte. "It's important to have accurate feedback from the driver.(in part from the Roanoke Times)(3-22-2007)
Car Of Tomorrow Is Here … Today, first race at Bristol: The culmination of seven years of research, planning, testing and development come to fruition this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway as NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow debuts in Sunday’s Food City 500. The Car of Tomorrow is NASCAR’s safer race car that also focuses on improving competition and providing teams with an opportunity to manage their costs more efficiently.
During a Feb. 28-March 1 test at Bristol, 50 teams went through a dress rehearsal that set the stage for this weekend. Most competitors came away sensing that Sunday’s race should be another hard-driving, tight racing and challenging afternoon at one of the sport’s most popular and dynamic venues – the .533-mile concrete oval layout at Bristol Motor Speedway.
The Food City 500 is the first of 16 races scheduled for the Car of Tomorrow in 2007. All tracks a mile or less in length, along with the two road courses and the October race at Talladega Superspeedway, will run the Car of Tomorrow this year.
SAFETY FIRST – From the very beginning, improving driver safety was the No. 1 goal of the Car of Tomorrow. Safety improvements include:
Double-frame rail on driver’s side with steel plating covering the door bars;
Energy absorbing materials installed between the roll cage door bars and door panels;
Enlarged cockpit – the driver is moved closer to the center of the car and the roof is 2½ inches higher.
ADJUSTABILITY – The Car of Tomorrow features two adjustable aerodynamic pieces – a rear wing and front air dam splitter – that provide teams with flexibility in making adjustments at the race track.
The rear wing:
Provides better balance and control in traffic. It replaces the rear spoiler;
Helps reduce turbulent air behind the car;
Adjusts between 0-16 degrees, enabling teams to change rear downforce to suit drivers and tracks;
Provides various combinations and adjustments to sideforce-generating end plates and flat end plates that allow for further at-track adjustments.
The front air dam splitter:
Can be adjusted fore and aft from four to six inches to impact the car’s downforce and aerodynamic balance;
Provides teams with another element to achieve the aerodynamic balance that their setup, driver or the track’s changing conditions might dictate;
Allows teams to tune the front downforce to suit drivers and tracks.
COST EFFICIENCY – By using a more refined body and chassis measurement process, the need for track-specific car configurations is reduced. NASCAR has provided teams with a “blueprint” to build chassis and bodies, giving teams the opportunity to reduce the amount of time necessary to fabricate cars.
BRAND IDENTITY – As a result of NASCAR working with the four manufacturers, the Car of Tomorrow features an enhanced opportunity for the manufacturers to retain many of the characteristics of their production cars such as the front nose, grill, hood, window panels and headlights for the Chevrolet Impala SS, Dodge Avenger, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry.

Car Of Tomorrow, Etc.
In order for all drivers to benefit from the safety measures that the Car of Tomorrow offers, it was necessary for the chassis to be consistent. NASCAR provided all teams with a “blueprint” to follow when building their Car of Tomorrow chassis. With the standardization of the chassis, NASCAR also implemented a new chassis certification process at its Research & Development Center in Concord, N.C., that inspects more than 220 measuring points. Once the chassis is certified, NASCAR affixes nine Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) chips to the chassis to document that it has met all specifications and is ready for the race track. There also are some new inspection procedures at the track. The Car of Tomorrow template inspection is consolidated into one unit – the main inspection grid. Supported by an aluminum frame, the grid features a motorized, maneuverable device that is lowered on to a race car. It can measure multiple templates at the same time and then can be re-configured to measure other templates. The rear wing is a NASCAR-issued part that teams will receive when they arrive at the race track each week. The teams are not charged for the wings. If a wing becomes damaged beyond repair during competition, NASCAR will furnish the team with another wing. The teams are responsible for their own front air dam splitters.(NASCAR PR)(3-21-2007)
COT Test at Richmond open to public: Fans will have an opportunity to catch virtually all of the Busch and Nextel Cup Series drivers at Richmond International Raceway March 27-28 and April 3-4 during official test sessions-which are free and open to the public-in preparation for the Circuit City 250 Presented by FUNAI (Friday, May 4) and The Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 (Saturday, May 5) at America's Premier Short Track. For Busch Series fans, their favorite drivers from America's number two motorsports series will test on Tuesday, March 27 and Wednesday, March 28 from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The following week, Nextel Cup Series drivers will test the Car of Tomorrow [by then it will be the Car of Today] on Tuesday, April 3 and Wednesday, April 4 from 1:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The Nextel Cup Series test will be the drivers' first official opportunity to drive the Car of Tomorrow (COT) at Richmond International Raceway. Both 2007 Nextel Cup Series races at America's Premier Short Track-the Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 and Chevy Rock & Roll 400-will feature the Car of Tomorrow. The Grandstands will be open all four days from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and there is no charge for admission. While these test sessions are open and free to the public, tickets are still available for both NASCAR races at Richmond International Raceway May 4-5. A limited amount of tickets remain for the Crown Royal Presents The Jim Stewart 400 Nextel Cup Series race (Saturday, May 5) and the Circuit City 250 Presented by FUNAI NASCAR Busch Series race (Friday, May 4)-both "under the lights." For tickets and information, please call 1-866-455-7223 or visit www.rir.com(RIR PR)(3-15-2007)
Inpection at Bristol for COT may change: NASCAR officials apparently have been telling crew chiefs in the Nextel Cup garage no one should fail inspection prior to the first practice session at Bristol Motor Speedway in two weeks. If there was a car that passed every template during the recent Bristol test for the COT, no one can point it out. The Ford nose missed the template by 3/16's of an inch on both sides and there was a minor issue with the hood that must be worked out in a hurry. Chevry teams also had issues in the nose and tail sections. Dodge and Toyota were also not without issues but individuals in those camps were not talking. The word now is NASCAR is going to relax the process, requiring teams to meet just four of the eight required points in the overall template.(CircleTrackPlus.com)(3-11-2007)
Goodyear tire testing at Darlington: Goodyear will conduct a tire test at Darlington Raceway on March 13 and 14. The test is closed to the public. The drivers participating in the test are #24-Jeff Gordon, #22-Dave Blaney and #41-Reed Sorenson. All three teams will be bringing the Car of Tomorrow [COT].(Darlington Raceway PR)(3-6-2007)
Kurt Busch testing COT at local NC track: #2Kurt Busch, crew chief Roy McCauley and the Miller Lite/Penske Racing Dodge team are testing today (Tuesday, 3/6) at Southern National Raceway Park, a four-tenths-mile asphalt oval located near Kenley, N.C. "We're going the extra mile in preparing for the upcoming races, particularly for the Car of Tomorrow debut in the March 25 race at Bristol," Busch explained. "We tested at Bristol last week (Feb. 28-March 1) and felt like we needed more track time with our new Dodge Avenger (the COT). We're hoping to be at the top of our game with the new Dodge Avenger and getting the additional track time is very important. Just from the short-term impact, we're talking about three of four races where we're racing the car between Bristol and Phoenix. You could say that the next few weeks could play out to be the most important and pivotal of the 2007 season."(Tom Roberts PR)(3-6-2007)
COT Inspection: A Learning Process For Car Of Tomorrow: Aside from on-track work, this week’s Car of Tomorrow test at Bristol Motor Speedway also has another component – inspection. A new car means a new process of inspecting it, and Nextel Cup officials were ready early Wednesday when the garage opened. Inspection wasn’t mandatory, but available to teams wanting to refine and reassure. “We’re taking the time to walk all the way from A through Z through the entire template process,” said Nextel Cup Series director John Darby. “Actually it’s educational for our own officials as much as the teams, but we’re letting the two groups work together to trouble-shoot the system.” Like the current inspection process, Car of Tomorrow inspection will concentrate on exterior body measurements and templates, but with a twist: Rather than the current template bay with multiple templates that must be applied by hand, a new scaffolding-like structure allows multiple templates to be applied to a car at the same time. It was a popular station during Wednesday morning’s inspection, with its gleaming, retractable aluminum templates that inspectors lower from above. “The value of being here and working with the teams on the process is to help everyone understand the issues,” Darby said, “and to expedite the process when we come back.” Prior to competing, teams must present their Car of Tomorrow chassis and roll cages for certification at NASCAR’s R&D Center in Concord, N.C. At the track, they must verify that their car has been certified. Darby – who said the NASCAR Nextel Cup garage will open a day early during March race week – was pleased with both the tenor and pace of Wednesday’s inspections. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything that’s been a surprise,” he said. “I don’t think we’ve seen anything that’s been out in left field if you will. It’s been more a refining process with the teams than anything.”(NASCAR PR)(3-1-2007)
COT testing at Bristol Today: While there is a break in the Nextel Cup Series schedule this weekend, a project that has been seven years in the making will have the opportunity for a full scale “walk-through” this week at Bristol Motor Speedway. Fifty Nextel Cup teams are scheduled to test their Car of Tomorrow models this Wednesday-Thursday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The test session is the third of seven scheduled Nextel Cup sessions this season. Previous tests this year have been conducted at Daytona and Las Vegas, while Richmond (April 3-4), Lowe’s (May 7-8), Dover (May 14-15), and Talladega (Sept. 10-11) will host tests later in the year. The much anticipated Car of Tomorrow will make its race debut March 25 in the Food City 500 at the infamous .533-mile Bristol short track. That race marks the first of 16 events the Car of Tomorrow will be on track in 2007, as NASCAR’s new safety-oriented car will race at oval tracks less than 1.5 miles, along with the two road course events and the October race at 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway. “The Bristol test should be a good dress rehearsal for the race teams, drivers and NASCAR as we prepare for the first Car of Tomorrow race later next month,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Vice President of Competition. “It should provide the teams with a good opportunity to fine tune their set ups and become more familiar with how their cars are going to handle and give NASCAR the chance to have a trial run in getting its inspection process for the new car all buttoned up.”(NASCAR PR), SPEED will air special reports on Wed and Thurs at 7:00pm/et.
See testing speeds, images and news on my Bristol Testing page.(2-28-2007)
COT Full time in 2008? NASCAR officials won't rule out the possibility that the "car of tomorrow" might run full time in 2008 instead of another partial Nextel Cup season. With more than 50 Nextel Cup teams testing at Bristol Motor Speedway today in preparation for the new model's debut in the 2007 race, talk about the difficulty of teams and drivers competing with two models is growing. NASCAR officials have been hearing that for some time, and speculation has been rampant that the series would move up the schedule for running the model in all series races. The car of tomorrow will be used in 16 races this season and is currently slated for 26 of the 36 points races in 2008. "We're hearing a lot of talk already about it and understandably so," Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said of changing to a full schedule with the model in 2008. "It's difficult to run the two programs. It's difficult for our side to run two programs knowing what rules apply to what car." Would the sanctioning body consider making that change? "If the garage says, 'Look we're all in,' we're all in," he said.(SceneDaily.com)(2-28-2007)
SPEED to air COT Specials this week: SPEED will air a pair of 30-minute specials from the NASCAR "Car of Tomorrow" test sessions from Bristol on February 28 and March 1 at 7:00pm/et. "NASCAR is expecting somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 cars to participate ... with some teams bringing more than one car," said Frank Wilson, SPEED VP of Production. "This is a huge test that will set the table for the rest of the NASCAR race season ... how teams handle this car will go a long way toward determining the 2007 Nextel Cup championship." John Roberts will host the SPEED coverage with analysis from Larry McReynolds and reporting from Bob Dillner.(SPEED PR)(2-26-2007)
Raines tests first COT for HOF Racing: Tony Raines and the Hall of Fame Racing team tested the #96 DLP HDTV Chevy "Car of Tomorrow" (COT) on Feb. 20 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, NC. Itmarked the first test with the COT for Hall of Fame Racing and the first time Raines has driven the car.(True Speed Communication/HOF Racing PR)(2-21-2007)
Blaney testing COT UPDATE more at Lakeland: #22-Dave Blaney is scheduled to test the Car of Tomorrow [COT} on Monday & Tuesday [2/12, 2/13] at USA Speedway in Lakeland, FL.(Sirius Satelitte Radio NASCAR Channel)(2-10-2007)
UPDATE: on Tuesday, four team tested the COT at USA Speedway, #22-Blaney, #1-Truex Jr., #19-Evernham and Michael Waltrip Racing.(SPEED Report)(2-14-2007)
COT Splitter won't need to be replaced if damaged: Teams will not need to replace the front splitter if it is broken off during a "car of tomorrow" race, NASCAR Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said Thursday. Darby said he expect teams will want to have a front splitter - a shelf that sits underneath the front valence to adjust front downforce - on the car, but it won't be a requirement. So just as in the past, a car with a sawed off front end following a crash could be on the track. "[The front splitter] won't be mandatory," Darby said. "But remember, it is a huge tuning tool. They're going to do everything they can do to make sure that they have a front splitter." Teams will have to replace the rear wing in the event it is damaged, just as they have to replace the rear spoiler on a current car.(SceneDaily.com)(2-9-2007)
COT Update: Project on Schedule for Bristol Debut: NASCAR provided the latest round of updates Monday on its heralded Car of Tomorrow project, which is slated for a March debut at Bristol Motor Speedway. The culmination of a seven-year project undertaken at NASCAR’s Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., the Car of Tomorrow was built primarily with safety in mind. During the development process, NASCAR also discovered ways in which the Car of Tomorrow could improve competition and enable teams to be more cost-efficient. Safety features on the new car include:
* Double-frame rail on driver’s side with steel plating covering the door bars.
* Energy-absorbing [foam] materials installed between the roll cage door bars and door panels.
* Enlarged cockpit – the driver is moved closer to the center of the car and the roof is 2½ inches higher.
The Car of Tomorrow also features a pair of unique aerodynamic pieces that teams may adjust at the race 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.
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 their setup, driver or track conditions might dictate.
The adjustable front splitter enables teams to tune the front downforce to suit individual drivers and tracks.
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 race cars. These factors help make it more cost-effective for the teams.
The Car of Tomorrow design has also enabled manufacturers to have an increased product and branding opportunity. The manufacturers’ 2007 Car of Tomorrow models – the Chevrolet Impala SS, Dodge Avenger, Ford Fusion and Toyota Camry – more closely resemble production cars than the current race cars do. 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.(NASCAR PR)(1-23-2007)
Penske to test COT at Daytona UPDATE: Speed's Bob Dillner reported on Speed's Preseason Thunder report Monday night that Penske Racing is bringing two COT's [Car of Tomorrow] to Daytona and will test them on the track Tuesday or Wednesday with #2-Kurt Busch and #12-Ryan Newman.
AND Kurt Busch says his #2-Miller Lite Dodge team will “surprise everyone” on Wednesday at Daytona when they shake down their superspeedway version of the Car of Tomorrow [COT]. Busch says “It’s just matter of us wanting to get ahead of the game and set the curve and raise the bar for people that are thinking they have their Car of Tomorrow scienced out while we’ve got ours here ready to go for a speedway test." Meanwhile, while the acronym “COT” for the Car of Tomorrow has been widely used, some have felt the need to create initials for the current racecars. In the spirit of fun, Busch revealed his Miller Lite Dodge team has come up with several including “CORN” meaning the “Car of Right Now” and “COY” is the “Car of Yesterday.” Busch said, “We’ve got a bunch of engineers in the back with way too much time on their hands I guess. Or they’re just working so hard they’ve got to curse the car somehow.”(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)(1-16-2007)
UPDATE: Penske Racing South drivers worked on a variety of gear and restrictor-plate combinations as they tested a "car of tomorrow" Wednesday during Nextel Cup practice at Daytona International Speedway. Both #12-Ryan Newman and #2-Kurt Busch took turns in the car, which won't be used on a restrictor-plate track until the October race at Talladega Superspeedway. Busch turned a top lap of 191.188 mph in a single-car run with a 1 1/8th-inch restrictor plate. The team went as low as a 15/16ths-inch restrictor plate. The current version car uses a 7/8ths-inch restrictor plate. Newman said the test proved that NASCAR couldn't run these cars without restrictor plates.(SceneDaily.com)(1-18-2007)
Jeff Burton tests COT at Phoenix: #31-Jeff Burton wrapped up a day of testing the COT [Car of Tomorrow] Goodyear Tire test at Phoenix International Raceway on Wednesday.(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)(1-11-2007)
Biffle to test the COT at the Rock: #16-Greg Biffle will test the COT [Car of Tomorrow] at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham, NC on Thursday, Jan 18th.(NASCAR Transcript)(1-11-2007)
COT Chassis Approved: The first NASCAR-approved Car of Tomorrow chassis didn't clear inspection until the final week of the 2006 season, leaving teams with considerable concern that they'd be ill-prepared for the March 25, 2007 debut [at Bristol]. That particular concern has subsided a bit. The COT still has several question marks, but it seems the chassis issue is all but resolved. Nextel Cup director John Darby said Tuesday that the sanctioning body is closing in on 100 approved COT chassis, and that virtually every team in the series has submitted a viable product. Even Cal Wells, whose team has currently suspended operations, has submitted an approved COT chassis, Darby said. NASCAR inspected five COT chassis Monday and all were approved, Darby said, marking the first day they've had a 100-percent approval rate.(ESPN.com)(1-10-2007)
COT - Did You Know? from a David Newton article at ESPN.com:
Did you know NASCAR will pay for the rear wings used on the new Car of Tomorrow, then distribute them at the track and collect them after each race?
Did you know the COT, which is two inches taller and four inches wider than the current car, will fit inside the current haulers?
Did you know the inspection process at the track should be faster with the COT because of nine radio frequency IDs that will be installed on each chassis, allowing inspectors to verify its legitimacy electronically instead of manually?
Did you know the restrictor plate as we know it at Daytona and Talladega likely will become obsolete with the design of the COT engine package?
Did you know the COT looks more like the car on the street than the one currently on the track because the angles of the windows and headlights aren't nearly as severe?.......see more and the full article at ESPN.com: Car of Tomorrow shaping up as pretty nice ride.(1-3-2007)
Testing at Lakeland: hearing that #43-Bobby Labonte, #55-Michael Waltrip and #10-Scott Riggs tested cars of tomorrow yesterday [12/4] at Lakeland tested COT's [Car of Tomorrow] at USA International Speedway in Lakeland FL, not sure if they will cvontinue to test anymore today or this week.(12-5-2006)
Sadler to test COT at the Rock: #19-Ellliott Sadler plans to test the Car of Tomorrow (COT) at North Carloina Speedway in Rockingham, NC on Wednesday, Nov. 15th.(11-11-2006)
Dodge and Chevy to change models in 2007? UPDATE Impala for Chevy in 2007 COT races: Beginning in 2007, Dodge and Chevrolet will campaign new models in Nextel Cup competition, Yahoo! Sports has learned. Dodge will run the Avenger, while Chevrolet will run the Impala SS, according to sources with some of NASCAR's manufacturers. The change also was indicated in a technical bulletin distributed to all teams last week. Both Dodge and Chevy soon will announce that they have been given approval by NASCAR to change to the new models, with Chevy's announcement possibly coming as soon as this week. According to the sources, the stock car version has been approved for use by Dodge teams for both the current Nextel Cup car as well as the Car of Tomorrow version, starting next season. The switch from Monte Carlo to Impala could signal the end of the Monte Carlo name from the Chevrolet lineup, as its rear-drive design [NOTE: the Monte Carlo is front wheel driven - verified at the chevrolet.com site] is used on its model alone and at the present time, no replacement is on the drawing boards at GM. However, unlike its Dodge counterpart, the Impala SS will only be used by Chevrolet teams for their Car of Tomorrow, according to sources. Manufacturers and NASCAR also are continuing to move forward with plans to change all of the models used in the Busch Series, perhaps as soon as the 2010 season. That change would put smaller, sportier models into competition, like the retro-designed Ford Mustang, Chevrolet Camaro and Dodge Challenger – as well as the Toyota Solara.(Yahoo Sports)(10-24-2006)
UPDATE: After a decades-long hiatus from stock car racing, Chevy's legendary Impala nameplate - enhanced with the SS performance designation - will once again compete in NASCAR's Nextel Cup Series (NNCS) in select races of the 2007 NASCAR season. Chevy's Car of Tomorrow entry, slated to make its first run at Bristol in March of 2007, will be an Impala SS and will share the NNCS schedule next season with the current Monte Carlo SS. The Car of Tomorrow will share both the 2007 and 2008 racing seasons with the current race car design until its first full season in 2009. The new car is scheduled to race at sixteen events in 2007, consisting of those at tracks less than a mile and a half in length, the road courses and the second Talladega race. In 2008, all races at tracks two miles or more in length are expected to feature the new design. Chevrolet introduced the Impala in 1957 as a 1958 model (50 years ago next year) and drivers immediately took to the big car, racing it first on the beach at Daytona, then at Daytona International Speedway in 1959. Redesigned that year, Bob Welborn scored a victory with the new model for the qualifying race of the 1959 Daytona 500 - the first 500 at the Speedway. Success continued for Impala with consecutive NASCAR championship titles in 1960 (Rex White) and again in 1961 (Ned Jarrett). In 1963, stock-car legend Junior Johnson ran 32 races of the 55-race schedule in the famous white No. 3 Impala owned by Ray Fox and collected seven wins, 12 top-fives, 13 top-tens and nine poles.(GM Racing PR), images of the 2007 #48 Lowe's Chevy Impala on the 2007 #48 Team Schemes page.(10-27-2006)
COT Testing at Iowa UPDATE: Three NASCAR Nextel Cup Teams - among the top teams in auto racing - will conduct the first Cup Series tests in Iowa racing history this week at Iowa Speedway. Tests begin Tuesday and run through Friday with the public viewing area open each day from 9:00-5:00. Teams from Joe Gibbs Racing, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates, and Penske Racing will test the Car of Tomorrow beginning at 9:00am Tuesday and continue through 5:00pm Wednesday, weather permitting. The Penske Racing Busch Series Team is scheduled to test Thursday and Friday, 9:00-5:00. Penske Racing drivers #2-Kurt Busch and #12-Ryan Newman are among the drivers scheduled to test drive the "Car of Tomorrow" at Iowa Speedway.(Iowa Speedway PR/Site)(10-24-2006)
UPDATE: Two Nextel Cup Teams - Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates - and Penske Racing – successfully tested the “Car of Tomorrow” this week at Iowa Speedway. Penske Team drivers, Ryan Newman and Kurt Busch, along with Ganassi Team driver, Kevin Hamlin, tested different models of the “Car of Tomorrow” Tuesday and Wednesday in Iowa. The tests were the first Cup Series tests ever conducted on the new 7/8 mile asphalt oval track designed by former Nextel Cup Champion, Rusty Wallace.(Iowa Speedway site and images of the cars on their Gallery)(10-26-2006)
COT to debut at Bud Shootout? UPDATE: NASCAR has quietly asked teams if they'd be interested in running the Car of Tomorrow in an exhibition race at Daytona next February - possibly the Budweiser Shootout - as a warmup for its October [restrictor plate] debut at Talladega Superspeedway. The COT will be phased in next season, starting with the March race in Bristol. The car was tested at Talladega earlier this week, and NASCAR wouldn't mind another on-track session with restrictor plates before running it in a race that counts. Many crew chiefs support the idea. Although the idea makes sense, many car owners are against it because of the additional costs it would require to prepare two regular plate cars for use in the Daytona 500, and another two COT models for an exhibition race. And, NASCAR isn't convinced it will be ready to run the entire inspection process on the COT by February. Series officials have also ruled out running the COT in Talladega's spring race. That means its first plate race will be during the Chase for the championship - a questionable time for a debut considering at least 10 drivers will be running for a title then. But NASCAR official Brett Bodine shrugged off concerns about the timing of the debut. "Talladega is a no-brainer," he said. "All you do is show up there and run wide-open. Handling isn't even an issue."(FoxSports/AP)(10-15-2006)
UPDATE: NASCAR says it won't run the car of tomorrow at Talladega next spring. Some teams had wanted it becuase they will have to build a special car for the track with its new surface. Teams figured might as well make it the car of tomorrow since that car will be used at Talladega in the fall. NASCAR said no. Series officials say they told teams they would run 16 COT races, not 17 and they're keeping to that.(Virginian Pilot)(10-21-2006)
Talladega COT test UPDATE 2, IMAGES: October 9th at Talladega Superspeedway, so far scheduled drivers are #10-Riggs, #66-Green, Ricky Rudd for Wyler Racing, #16-Biffle, #99-Edwards, #01-Nemechek, #42-Juan Montoya, #07-Bowyer, #48-Johnson, Mike Skinner for Red Bull Racing, Kerry Earnhardt for DEI and NASCAR's Brett Bodine. Supposedly 12/14 teams/drivers will test the COT.(10-4/6-2006)

UPDATE: NASCAR plans to bring eight sets of restrictor plates, and some could have holes as big as 1-inch in diameter (the current holes are 57/64-inch in diameter), when teams test the "car of tomorrow" Monday [Oct 9th] at Talladega Superspeedway. By instituting a gear rule for restrictor-plate engines (there is no current gear rule) and utilizing the car of tomorrow's increased drag, NASCAR could allow more air to flow through the engines. The first restrictor-plate car of tomorrow race is scheduled for October 2007 at Talladega. "Because it is different than our downforce tests which we've done, we're going to go [and ask teams] to put this plate on with this gear," NASCAR Director of Cost Research Brett Bodine said. "We're going to be able to zero in pretty quick on the package." Ten teams plan on attending the test at Talladega: Richard Childress Racing (Clint Bowyer), Roush Racing (Carl Edwards, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray), Hendrick Motorsports (Jimmie Johnson), Evernham Motorsports (Scott Riggs), MB2 Motorsports (Joe Nemechek), Haas CNC Racing (Jeff Green), Dale Earnhardt Inc. (Kerry Earnhardt), Team Red Bull (Mike Skinner), Wyler Racing (Ricky Rudd) and Chip Ganassi Racing (Juan Pablo Montoya). Joe Gibbs Racing, Penske Racing South, Robert Yates Racing and Petty Enterprises are among the teams planning on skipping the test.(SceneDaily.com)(10-7-2006)

UPDATE: Impressions of the COT:
Greg Biffle: "I thought it would drive different or feel different. It looks different. It looks like you could still get in and out of the car with the window net up. It has a big opening that kind of messes with you a little bit. There are not frills about it. It's really the same as yesterday, or really feels like it. It started out really slow. They've obviously put a bigger and bigger restrictor plate on it. They've done a few things to make a little bit of speed. But that's about it, especially by ourselves. We might learn a little bit more when we get out there with a group, what they drive like around each other. I have driven the trucks and I am sure it is just going to be a lot like that."
Jamie McMurray: "The racetrack with the repaving job has so much grip, I don't know that we had to put tires on. Today these cars would drive better even if the racetrack was slick because they have such bigger fenders and with the splitter on the front, they are going to have more downforce. I am like Greg, they are pretty slow. My first lap out on the track today was five seconds a lap slower than what we ran yesterday. They have had to give us bigger plates and it is getting better but they are still pretty slow. So hopefully they'll give us some more speed where it is a little more fun to drive."(TSS PR)
AND Thirteen teams worked on "cars of tomorrow" Monday morning as they began a test session at Talladega Superspeedway. Using restrictor plates with holes of 15/16ths of an inch in diameter (1/16th bigger than what was used in the Nextel Cup race Sunday at Talladega), drivers took to the track for their first restrictor-plate test of the new cars since Daytona in January. Those testing were Jimme Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports), Ricky Rudd (#46-Wyler Racing), Dave Blaney/Michael Waltrip (Michael Waltrip Racing), Jeff Green (Haas CNC Racing), Mike Skinner (Team Red Bull), Joe Nemechek (MB2 Motorsports), Juan Pablo Montoya (Chip Ganassi Racing), Scott Riggs (Evernham Motorsports), Kerry Earnhardt (Dale Earnhardt Inc.), Clint Bowyer (Richard Childress Racing), Carl Edwards (Roush Racing), Greg Biffle (Roush) and Jamie McMurray (Roush).(SceneDaily.com)(10-9-2006)

UPDATE 2: NASCAR searched for the right combination of restrictor plates and gear ratios during the one-day "car of tomorrow" (COT) test Monday at Talladega Superspeedway as they went from a plate with holes of 15/16ths of an inch in diameter to 1-inch versions. Teams raced with a seventh-eighths inch plate Sunday at Talladega. Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby said the engines are much more like an engine used at Lowe's Motor Speedway rather than a highly specialized restrictor-plate engine currently used at a restrictor-plate track such as Talladega. There had been no gear rule for restrictor-plate engines, but there will be one with the car of tomorrow. Darby confirmed the rear wings will be made by Crawford Composites and distributed by NASCAR. The front splitter, an adjustable shelf that sits underneath the front of the car, had been made of wood during earlier tests, but NASCAR has settled on a durable composite fiber that won't splinter as much as wood or carbon fiber if it drags the ground. Thirteen cars took to the track for the test, which included single-car runs in the morning and early afternoons before heading into a drafting session. Teams also worked with bump stops, a rubber bumper on the shocks, which was outlawed years ago. McMurray said it will be cheaper and easier for teams to use different bump stops than the various expensive coil-binding spring packages used to manage handling.(SceneDaily.com)
IMAGES: see some images of the COT on my COT Image Page and mire images at RacingOne.(10-10-2006)
More COT testing at Milwaukee UPDATE: Ganassi Racing wrapped up a day and a half of COT testing at The Milwaukee Mile with Kevin Hamlin driving. Penske Racing is scheduled to be testing their COT with Kurt Busch today [Wednesday Sept. 27 at The The Milwaukee Mile.(9-27-2006)
UPDATE: #2-Kurt Busch tested his Penske Engineering "Car of Tomorrow" at The Milwaukee Mile Wednesday. NASCAR is introducing a new-design race car that will be phased in beginning in March of 2007 in the Nextel Cup Series, and Busch's team is one of several NASCAR teams in recent weeks to test their race cars at The Mile. Nextel Cup teams are allowed to test as often as they wish at non-Nextel Cup tracks. According to Busch, The Milwaukee Mile is an ideal place to test, and offers some key benefits to his team with their development of the car that will be raced in 16 races at 10 different speedways next season. In recent weeks, Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sebates, Hendrick Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing have also logged laps with their Car of Tomorrow race cars at The Milwaukee Mile.(Milwaukee Mile PR)(9-26-2006)
Bye-Bye Restrictor Plates? A NASCAR test session next month at Talladega Superspeedway for its new car [Car of Tomorrow/COT] will help series officials determine if they can use larger holes in a restrictor plate there and at Daytona. Gary Nelson, a former Cup series director who consults NASCAR, says he hopes NASCAR's car of tomorrow will allow series officials to someday get rid of the carburetor restrictor plates that limit horsepower and keep speeds around 190 mph at Daytona and Talladega. Teams have been asked to bring engines they'd normally use at a track like Michigan or Charlotte to the test, which will be held Oct. 9, the day after the Talladega race. Former driver Brett Bodine, who leads NASCAR's efforts on the new car, says the plan is to see what size of a restrictor plate can be used [Ricky Rudd is also scheduled to test the COT there for Wyler Racing]. The new car, which debuts at Bristol next spring, is larger than and not as sleek aerodynamically as the current car. That should allow NASCAR to increase the size of the holes in the restrictor plate and give drivers more throttle response. The new car is scheduled to run at Talladega next fall during the championship chase. Nelson said the biggest purpose of the test is to figure out the engine package for the races at Daytona and Talladega and "maybe there is an alternative or elimination of the restrictor plate down the road.'' Nelson made it one of his goals when he became the Cup series director in 1991 to get rid of restrictor plates. He never did before moving to another position at NASCAR in 2002 and later starting his own research and development company. NASCAR has used restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega since 1988. Before the change, Bill Elliott ran a qualifying lap of 212.809 mph at Talladega. Elliott Sadler won the pole there last spring in the most recent Cup race with a lap of 188.511 mph.(Roanoke Times)(9-23-2006)
Ganassi teams testing at Nashville: Although Chip Ganassi Racing does not have a Nextel Cup Series car vying for the "Chase for the Championship" in 2006, that doesn't deter them from looking for a few wins before the season wraps up. #42-Casey Mears and his team is at the 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway concrete oval today looking to improve their chances to snag a future win at the Kansas Speedway. "We decided to come to the Nashville Superspeedway to basically "shakedown" the Havoline Dodge before we take her to Kansas. #41-Reed Sorenson was coming here anyway with Steve Boyer, our head guy over the "Car of Tomorrow" program at Ganassi Racing, so we decided since Reed would be here testing the COT that it would be a great place to work on the #42 too", explained Mears' crew chief Donnie Wingo. Testing is closed to the public.(Nashville Superspeedway PR)(9-19-2006)
COT Testing at Milwaukee: hearing that "Car of Tomorrow" [COT] was tested Monday [and also on Tuesday] at the Milwaukee Mile with Aric Almirola testing for Joe Gibbs Racing and David Green testing a Hendrick Motorsports COT Chevy. Ganassi Racing will test the COT at Milwaukee later this month.(9-19-2006)
Kurt Busch tests COT at Greenville Pickens: the Greenville News has pictures and video of #2-Kurt Busch testing a "Car of Tomorrow" [COT] on Monday. The car ran with Goodyear and Hoosier tires [due to Goodyear leasing rules, teams need tires, Hoosier is NOT coming back to Cup]. See more at the Greenville News.(9-19-2006)
Wyler Racing to test COT at Talladega with Rudd driving: Wyler Racing, who curently field a Truck Team for driver Jack Sprgaue, announced that it will take part in NASCAR’s “Car Of Tomorrow” test session at Talladega Superspeedway on October 9th. Behind the wheel of their Toyota Camry will be veteran NASCAR driver Ricky Rudd. “We are very excited about this opportunity,” said team owner Jeff Wyler. “We feel this is the perfect time to expand our organization. We bring tremendous value to the table for potential sponsors especially with Toyota entering into the NEXTEL Cup Series and with the personnel we have assembled.”
“I’m really excited about getting the opportunity to test the Toyota Camry COT for Wyler Racing and Toyota,” said Rudd. “This will be my first time testing the COT so I’m really looking forward to the test and giving as much feedback to the team as possible.” For Wyler Racing, the test is a chance for the young team to assist Toyota and glimpse at what the future could hold. Although testing a NEXTEL Cup car, Wyler Racing is firmly committed to its NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series effort. “While we are excited about the Cup opportunity, the focus remains on the #60 Con-way Freight Toyota and helping Jack Sprague to win his fourth Series championship," stated team president David Wyler.(Wyler Racing PR)(9-14-2006)
COT testing at Michigan UPDATE 2: the Car of Tomorrow [COT] will be tested at Michigan International Speedway on Monday, August 21st, including #17-Matt Kenseth [Ford], #2-Kurt Busch [Dodge], #24-Jeff Gordon [Chevy] and #55-Michael Waltrip, with Waltrip testing a Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing [the three full time Toyota teams in 2007], see past news on the COT and images on my COT News page and COT Images page.(8-16-2006)
UPDATE: Two Toyota teams and eight other organizations tentatively plan on attending NASCAR's test of the "car of tomorrow" on Monday at Michigan International Speedway. Bill Elliott will test a Camry for Team Red Bull, and Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney will share test duties on a car built by Michael Waltrip Racing and Bill Davis Racing. In addition to the two Toyota cars, eight other organizations tentatively planned to attend: Hendrick Motorsports (Jeff Gordon), Chip Ganassi Racing (David Stremme), Joe Gibbs Racing (J.J. Yeley), MB2 Motorsports (Joe Nemechek), Haas CNC Racing (Jeff Green), Penske Racing South (Kurt Busch/Billy Wease), Roush Racing (Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray) and Evernham Motorsports (Scott Riggs).(SceneDaily.com)(8-17/21-2006)
UPDATE 2: Tomorrow came today at Michigan International Speedway. In preparation for its 16-race 2007 debut and the gradual, three-year inception of its Car of Tomorrow, NASCAR stayed at MIS for a day after the GFS Marketplace 400 weekend to test the cutting-edge vehicle on the two-mile oval. The Car of Tomorrow is being designed by NASCAR in order to increase safety and reduce costs while maintaining the circuit's high level of competition. 14 current Nextel Cup drivers, including GFS Marketplace 400 winner Matt Kenseth of Roush Racing and teammates Carl Edwards and Jamie McMurray, and four-time Nextel Cup champion Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports, were on hand at MIS to test the vehicles for their respective teams and manufacturers. The first scheduled race for the Car of Tomorrow is at Bristol next spring.
The testing event also marked the on-track testing debut for Toyota's Nextel Cup program, set to roll off at the beginning of the 2007 season. Present for Toyota were Michael Waltrip of Michael Waltrip Racing, Dave Blaney of Bill Davis Racing, and Bill Elliott, testing for Team Red Bull. As the clock struck noon and cars were allowed to take the track, Elliott drove the Camry painted with the letters TRB (for Team Red Bull) around the oval to mark the foreign manufacturer's first stock car foray onto a NASCAR track. "I'm just proud to be a part of it," said Waltrip of Toyota's inauguration. "I know what we've done to get here, and that feels good."
"They're a new team, and they've got a lot of work ahead of them," said Dodge driver Kurt Busch. "They're going to change the game of our sport. They're going to bring in extra money from the manufacturer, and they might step up the level of competition from the auto manufacturers' side." In addition to the new Toyotas, all of the COT prototypes feature many safety enhancements. Among them is a larger driver compartment, which allows competitors easier entry into and exit from their vehicles. The enlarged cockpit will also be more centralized within the car, which will better protect drivers from driver-side impact. Waltrip, at 6'5" one of the tallest drivers in NASCAR history, couldn't be happier. "I was driving down the back straightaway, lookin' around, and saying, 'Damn, look at all this room I got!' That's just a wonderful feeling, knowing that you're not all crunched down in there," Waltrip said. "I'm real sensitive to the space that we have because of my size and it's just really neat to have that feeling."
Not everyone is convinced about the increased safety, however. "Well, I don't see that there's that much more room other than headroom," said Gordon after a test run for Hendrick. "I still have my reservations and concerns. My seat's moved further inside the car to the right, but I'm closer to the door bars than I was before. To me, there's not really any big gain there. For me, headroom's not an issue in the current car we have so that was never an issue that we focused on, but I'm happy that it's going to work out for those (larger) guys." The newly-designed vehicles will feature a more upright windshield and a boxier, thicker front bumper. Both changes will increase drag and reduce speed, thus placing more of an emphasis on driver performance. No longer will on-track debris create overheating problems. The front air intake of the new vehicles will be obscured by the front bumper. Adjustable aerodynamic components, like a rear wing and a front splitter, will be available for teams to modify setups in attempts to create advantages.
"It makes it real stable in the back," said Busch, who tested a car for Penske Racing South as teammate Ryan Newman looked on from the garage in casual clothing before entering the car during the late session. "It makes it tighter to get the car to turn. You've got to get that front-end splitter on the ground and free it up somewhere else." Unfortunately, just making changes to the vehicles doesn't necessarily make them competition-ready. Each team and manufacturer still needs to assess the cars' performances in heavy traffic. Though the Car of Tomorrow program has tested at Daytona, Charlotte, and Bristol, among a wide array of other tracks, even the drivers themselves know that the Car of Tomorrow is not totally ready to take the green flag. "By itself, the car drives pretty good," said Gordon. "My whole thoughts and concerns have always been what it's going to do in a pack of cars and that's, you know, what we're going to find out here, a little bit later on."
Data from the test will be primarily used in the submission of nose designs for the Car of Tomorrow, which are due to NASCAR on August 28, just a week away. Though MIS is not on the Car of Tomorrow's initial schedule of use in 2007, the speedway's two Nextel Cup races in 2008 will feature the progressive machine. After being entered in 26 events in 2008, the Car of Tomorrow will be used in each of the 36 races on the 2009 Nextel Cup schedule. Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (David Stremme), Evernham Motorsports (Scott Riggs), Joe Gibbs Racing (J.J. Yeley and Denny Hamlin), MB2 Motorsports (Joe Nemechek), and Haas CNC Racing (Jeff Green) were all represented at MIS as well.(MIS PR)(8-21-2006)
NASCAR to hand out the COT 'wings'? All the attention on NASCAR's new Car of Tommorrow, set to see action in 2007, centers around the new rear wing which replaces the current spoiler. CircleTrackPlus.com has learned today the new wing used in competition will be distributed by NASCAR as part of the inspection process, in the same manner NASCAR distributes restrictor plates at Daytona and Talladega and that teams have been the final common templates for the new COT. Manufacturer specific templates will be issued at a later date once NASCAR has approved those shapes. The process for the new wing will be simple. Teams will practice with a wing that they own. NASCAR will issue wings under their control as part of the qualifying and pre-race inspection process. The new Car of Tomorrow will also change the inspection procedure as it applies to the templates. "You won't see a reduction in the number of templates, but you will see template sets used to measure shapes of the body," said one NASCAR official. "The new car will have a zero offset tolerance from the centerline." The Michigan test was also the first public test for Toyota's new Car of Tomorrow.(CircleTrackPlus.com - see some images there)(8-21-2006)
COT testing at Michigan on Monday UPDATE: the Car of Tomorrow [COT] will be tested at Michigan International Speedway on Monday, August 21st, including #17-Matt Kenseth [Ford], #2-Kurt Busch [Dodge], #24-Jeff Gordon [Chevy] and #55-Michael Waltrip, with Waltrip testing a Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing, Bill Davis Racing and Red Bull Racing [the three full time Toyota teams in 2007], see images on myCOT Images page.(8-16-2006)
UPDATE: Two Toyota teams and eight other organizations tentatively plan on attending NASCAR's test of the "car of tomorrow" on Monday at Michigan International Speedway. Bill Elliott will test a Camry for Team Red Bull, and Michael Waltrip and Dave Blaney will share test duties on a car built by Michael Waltrip Racing and Bill Davis Racing. In addition to the two Toyota cars, eight other organizations tentatively planned to attend: Hendrick Motorsports (Jeff Gordon), Chip Ganassi Racing (David Stremme), Joe Gibbs Racing (J.J. Yeley), MB2 Motorsports (Joe Nemechek), Haas CNC Racing (Jeff Green), Penske Racing South (Kurt Busch/Billy Wease), Roush Racing (Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Jamie McMurray) and Evernham Motorsports (Scott Riggs).(SceneDaily.com)(8-17-2006)
COT design about finalized: Owner [#07,#29,#31] Richard Childress said recent test sessions and developments have brought a final design configuration for the so-called NASCAR “Car of Tomorrow” much closer to reality. The new design is to be used in 16 of the 36 Cup races next year. Based on his discussions with NASCAR officials, Childress said, “I think they’re just about ready to push the button” on the design. He said the length of the car and chassis configuration have been finalized and that, based on that information, he and other owners could now begin the production process.(Gaston Gazette)(6-24-2006)
COT 95% Done UPDATE toyota hopes to test at MIS: NASCAR's "car of tomorrow," which is scheduled for a limited debut next season, is about 95% ready to go, NASCAR vice president Robin Pemberton said. Although the car won't be used at Michigan until 2008, teams will test it at the track after the Aug. 20 race. As for development, the chassis is "locked in," Pemberton said, and the sanctioning body is working with Chevrolet, Dodge, Ford and Toyota on bodies that will allow some semblance of manufacturer identity.(Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)(6-17-2006)
UPDATE: Toyota plans to submit its most recent Cup chassis design to NASCAR early next week. According to Toyota Racing Development vice president Lee White, the company hopes to have at least one Camry ready to participate in NASCAR's next Car of Tomorrow test, scheduled for Aug. 21 at Michigan.(Atlanta Journal-Constitution)(6-18-2006)
Changes coming to the COT: NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow” is still not finished, according to multiple sources in the NASCAR Nextel Cup garage. Within the next two weeks, General Motors will be wind-tunnel testing a new version of the COT, with different sides and new tail section. Some manufacturers had complained that the radical design does not look enough like existing production cars, which may be responsible for the change. Sources said the COT’S chassis specs will not be changed, just the body. But that likely will mean substantial additional testing is needed prior to the design being finalized. The ongoing development work on the car means that NASCAR will push back its submission date for the car, sources told SPEEDTV.com. Typically, the final design date for any new car is July 1, so teams ordinarily would have to submit their 2007 Nextel Cup cars by July 1, 2006. But since the COT is not completed, the sign-off date will be at some point beyond July 1, sources said. And that is a double-edged sword: It gives teams more time to work on the car, but it also pushes back when they can begin the cars, since the specs are not final.(Speed Channel)(6-9-2006)
COT testing Wednesday: On Wednesday the second and final day of “Car of Tomorrow” testing at Lowes Motor Speedway showers delayed seven drivers from taking to the track. When they were able to test around lunchtime Dale Earnhardt Jr. pan caked his Chevy against the wall between turns three and four.” It got tight turning the wheel and it didn’t turn”; said Junior. “We were out there goofing around and the thing doesn’t handle that great so we hit the fence...it’ll be alright. I like the car. I don’t mind it too much. That’ll be normal to us one of these days.” The Car of Tomorrow does get mostly good reviews from Earnhardt Jr. “One of the things I like about it is in the cockpit, how they made the greenhouse bigger you can actually see out of the car better. I think they’re going in a good direction with the down force. I think the wing is a good thing as long as we don’t flip upside down when we spin out.” As far as the look of the car, it doesn’t bother Dale. “I don’t care what it looks like as long as it drives good.” Meanwhile, Dale Jr. was spotted taking laps in the #31 Richard Childress Racing Car of Tomorrow getting in some extra seat time. Jeff Burton tested for RCR. Other drivers turning laps included Joe Nemechek, Scott Riggs, Denny Hamlin, Casey Mears, and Brian Vickers.(PRN's Garage Pass Radio Show)(5-31-2006)
COT tests at LMS: For the first time in its developmental stages, NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow ran in groups of 6-8 cars with the aerodynamic wing attached to the rear, as the first of a two-day test session got underway Tuesday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. The feedback NASCAR received from the drivers was positive and all indications are that the aero push in the group runs should make for some compelling racing. Teams from Hendrick Motorsports (Brian Vickers), Richard Childress Racing (Jeff Burton), DEI (Martin Truex, Jr.), Penske Racing South (Ryan Newman), Evernham Motorsports (Scott Riggs), Joe Gibbs Racing (Denny Hamlin), Chip Ganassi (Casey Mears), and MB2 Motorsports (Joe Nemechek) participated in Tuesday’s test.
“We received some excellent feedback from the teams and drivers today,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR Vice President for Competition. “They were able to run in a pack today for the first time with the wing and for the most part, everyone liked what they saw out there. We’ll take this information, discuss it as a group, and come back Wednesday and test again. We’re optimistic about running this car with the wing and the type of aero push it is able to give us.”
Following a series of single car runs in the morning, the teams met following a lunch break and then went through a pair of 20-lap group runs. The purpose of the morning session was to allow each driver to get comfortable driving the car, while the afternoon segment was designed to determine how the cars would run side-by-side and in groups. Ryan Newman, driver of the #12 Alltel Dodge, said that while this was his first time driving the Penske Racing South’s Car of Tomorrow model, he was encouraged with the performance. “This was our first Car of Tomorrow test and we have something to work from now, that’s for sure,” said Newman. “Our car was a little tight, but it really felt like it was easier to pass than in the regular (NASCAR NEXTEL) Cup cars. The aero push was pretty good. I think we took some pretty big steps out there today.”
Jeff Burton, driver of the #31 Cingular Chevrolet, has participated in three of the four Car of Tomorrow tests this year, and continues to be impressed by the way the car handles on the track. “I really like how our car drove out there today,” said Burton. “Simply put, it drives like a race car. I think you will continue to see some subtle changes in the body of the car, but for the most part, we’re locked in with the center part of the chasis. I think this is the fourth Car of Tomorrow we’ve built and we’ve been able to accumulate a great deal of track time and gather a lot of information. To NASCAR’s credit, they’ve really moved this project along.” The teams are scheduled to test again Wednesday at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, beginning at 9:00pm/et [hearing it is open to the public](NASCAR PR)(5-31-2006)
Roush COT's not testing at LMS: Car owner Jack Roush said that his teams won’t take part in NASCAR’s test of the car of tomorrow this week [Tues May 30th and Wed May 31st] at Lowe’s Motor Speedway because the car has changed. Roush said he wasn’t at a meeting last week that discussed the car, which will be used in select races next season, but said his understanding is that NASCAR will shorten the car as much as six inches because of an aerodynamic imbalance between the car’s front and rear. “My point was that the car that we’ve got doesn’t have the front end exactly right and it doesn’t have the back end exactly right … and for us to go out and try to do front splitter development and rear wing development would be a waste of time,’’ Roush said. “So, it’s morphing into something that I hope will do what we need for it to do, but it’s definitely a work in progress.’’ NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp said series officials are considering shortening the car but have not decided to make the change. “We’re taking a look at the body of the car,’’ Tharp said. “The [rear] wing gives us some aerodynamic things we didn’t know. There is a possibility that we could shorten the car on the [rear] bumper. The chassis of it is set. With the wings we found some things in the wind tunnel. We’re going to take a look at it out here.’’ Tharp said that the next test for the car is scheduled for August at Michigan International Speedway. The car is scheduled to return to the wind tunnel June 22. Five Chevrolet and three Dodge teams are expected to test this week at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. Ford and Toyota are not expected to have a car at the test. The Chevrolet teams will be Dale Earnhardt Inc., Richard Childress Racing, Hendrick Motorsports, MB2 Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing. The Dodge teams scheduled to test are Evernham Motorsports, Chip Ganassi Racing and Penske Racing South. Among the drivers expected to participate in at least part of the test are Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ryan Newman, Jeff Burton and Brian Vickers.(Roanoke Times)
NOTE: have not heard if this test is open to the public.(5-29-2006)
COT to test at LMS on Tues/Wed UPDATE: Eight teams fielding Chevrolets and Dodges tentatively plan to attend the "car-of-tomorrow" (COT) test Tuesday and Wednesday at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The two-day test will be the first for many of the teams with cars built under revised specifications after NASCAR recently took cars to the wind tunnel to examine the proposed noses and tails developed by each manufacturer. Neither Ford nor Toyota will be represented by cars on the track. Those teams planning to test are Richard Childress Racing (#31-Jeff Burton), Hendrick Motorsports (#25-Brian Vickers), Evernham Motorsports (#10-Scott Riggs), Chip Ganassi Racing (#42-Casey Mears), Joe Gibbs Racing (#11-Denny Hamlin with #18-J.J. Yeley and #20-Tony Stewart also possibly getting in the car), MB2 Motorsports (#01-Joe Nemechek), Dale Earnhardt Inc. (one car with #1-Martin Truex Jr. and #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr.) and Penske Racing South (#12-Ryan Newman). NASCAR plans to phase in the car of tomorrow over three years, beginning in 2007 at mostly short tracks and road courses. The 1.5-mile tracks, such as the one near Charlotte, are not scheduled to have the cars race there until 2009. NASCAR has left the door open for 2008 if teams adjust quicker to the new cars than anticipated.(SceneDaily.com)(5-26-2006)
UPDATE: NASCAR is considering a substantial aerodynamic overhaul to the rear end of its “Car of Tomorrow,” two months after it gave teams what were supposed to be final specifications for the car, which will be phased in over three seasons, starting in 2007. The end result, according to several team officials who spoke under condition of anonymity, is that months of work and millions of dollars of expenditures could essentially be wasted because the data gathered so far will be worthless if the aerodynamic configuration of the car changes significantly. NASCAR spokesman Kerry Tharp told SPEEDTV.com Saturday that NASCAR is looking at cutting up to six inches of the rear end of the COT design, which Vice President of Competition Robin Pemberton confirmed. “We’re talking about it,” said Pemberton. “The manufacturers are looking at some different things and we are, too. With running the wing, it’s given us a lot more options of what we can do with the body from some of the things that we’d worked on early on when it was just a spoiler. We’re looking at all that.”(Speed Channel)(5-28-2006)
No COT for RYR yet: The next Car of Tomorrow [COT] test is scheduled for May 30 and 31 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. NASCAR said it hopes to have at least eight cars on the track and as many as 12. One team that won't be there is Robert Yates Racing [#38 and #88 Fords]. Yates has yet to start working on the Car of Tomorrow and doesn't plan to until NASCAR sets its rules. Car owner Jack Roush said he's built and rebuilt the Car of Tomorrow a couple of times. Every time he gets one done, NASCAR makes changes. He said he spent more than $300,000 on the car before it ever hit the track.(Augusta Chronicle)(5-4-2006)
COT to the Wind Tunnel UPDATE: NASCAR plans to take its car of tomorrow [COT] to a wind tunnel this week and test different nose pieces.(Roanoke Times)(5-1-2006)
UPDATE: Representatives of Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge and Toyota joined NASCAR officials for a wind-tunnel session Tuesday in Marietta, Ga., in which each manufacturer's proposed nose for the "car of tomorrow" was tested. One person present for the test said the results left the manufacturers encouraged they could get more room to give each nose more features that distinguish between models without creating competitive disparity.(ThatsRacin)(5-4-2006)
COT to test at Lowe's Motor Speedway: Lowe’s Motor Speedway will play host to a test of NASCAR’s “Car of Tomorrow” [COT] May 30 and 31, the Tuesday and Wednesday after the Coca-Cola 600 is run at the track. NASCAR officials said eight to 12 cars are expected at the next test.(Speed Channel)(4-22-2006)
COT to test at Martinsville UPDATE 2: NASCAR, which tested its “Car of Tomorrow” on Monday at Bristol, will test it again next Monday at Martinsville. The car will debut next spring at Bristol and be phased in over three years.(Speed Channel), no word who will be testing a COT, but last week Rusty Wallace said he would test there for NASCAR.(4-1-2006)
UPDATE: NASCAR's testing of its car of the future continues today at Martinsville Speedway. The car, which will debut next year at the Bristol spring race, also will run at Martinsville as the car is phased in over a three-year period. Richard Childress Racing and NASCAR are each scheduled to test the car today. Kevin Harvick is expected to drive for Childress with Brett Bodine driving the NASCAR vehicle. The test will be open to the public.(Roanoke Times)(4-3-2006)
UPDATE 2: For the second straight week, NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow tested on a short track as preparations continue for next season’s debut of a safer, more competitive and cost-efficient stock car. On Monday at Martinsville Speedway, #29-Kevin Harvick of the Richard Childress Racing team, along with NASCAR’s Brett Bodine, tested the new car. While early morning rain delayed the start of the test, the results were extremely positive. “We went through our normal aero changes here today, just to back up what the wind tunnel has been telling us, and were able to get some quality laps on the track,” said Robin Pemberton, NASCAR vice president for competition. “The wing continues to give us positive results. It is going to provide the teams with a lot of advantages when it comes to competition. We’ll even get more evidence of that when we test the Car of Tomorrow next month at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.”
For Harvick, it was his first time driving the Car of Tomorrow and he was encouraged with his initial test run. “When you get in the driver’s seat, it feels like just another race car,” said Harvick. “We got a lot out of today’s test, because it helps us determine what kind of package we will need when we run the car next season. From everything I’ve heard about the wing, it should be a big help in helping the car behind you get some air on its nose. That seems to be what we’re fighting all the time; the aero push on the bigger race tracks.” Monday marked the second straight week for RCR to test its Car of Tomorrow, as #31-Jeff Burton participated in the session a week ago at Bristol. Harvick says that the RCR team has made a commitment to develop its Car of Tomorrow program. “We didn’t go to the Car of Tomorrow test at Daytona (held in January), so we came out of there saying that since we had a clean sheet of paper, we needed to work to get ahead of the game and come out of the gate strong with this car next season,” said Harvick. “Richard (Childress) has made a commitment to do that and we’ve assembled a team to take this car around and we should have a couple of more cars done by Charlotte.” The next NASCAR Car of Tomorrow test is scheduled for May 30-31 at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord.(NASCAR PR), no mention of Rusty Wallace testing.(4-3-2006)
COT and the Wing: One item that is expected to be missing in the final version of the car of tomorrow [COT] will be the customary rear spoiler, which NASCAR has used for decades as part of its aerodynamic package. In its place will be a single-element rear deck wing, which was first track-tested at Daytona earlier this year. Monday's session at Bristol will be used to test different wing designs. The wing will represent a dramatic change in the look of NASCAR's stock cars, but according to Brett Bodine, a former driver who now serves as NASCAR's test driver and is heavily involved in the development of the new car, the wing is more in tune with today's modern race cars as well as new showroom models. He added that using a wing will allow teams to build a more symmetrically shaped car rather than the current models, which are cut and bent to shape to permit them to run better on ovals. According to Bodine, the wing will be a bolt-on piece that will be given to teams each race weekend by NASCAR, thus preventing any cheating. The wing will most likely include a small wickerbill/Gurney flap – a right-angle piece of metal rigidly bolted or riveted to a wing's trailing edge – which will offer an additional level of downforce or drag to be produced by the wing. Monday's session also will test the design of the new air splitter located below the bumper on the front of the new car. The splitter is designed to keep the front of the car on the ground. Both the wing and the splitter are items that have been used successfully for decades in sports car racing worldwide.(Yahoo Sports)(3-27-2006)
Rusty to help with COT test at Bristol UPDATE 2 no Rusty: Rusty Wallace has been asked by NASCAR officials to help with the development of the new car [COT - Car of Tomorrow]. Wallace is scheduled to drive one at an upcoming Bristol test session scheduled for March 27, the day after the Nextel Cup race. Wallace knows the high-banked track extremely well, having won there nine times.(Yahoo Sports)(3-19-2006)
UPDATE: Only four teams - Richard Childress Racing (Jeff Burton), Penske Racing South (development driver Billy Wease), Chip Ganassi Racing (Reed Sorenson) and Roush Racing (Carl Edwards) - are expected to bring cars to an open test for the "car of tomorrow" Monday at Bristol Motor Speedway. The test comes a year before the car is expected to make its debut at the track. Manufacturers must submit their specifications for approval by July 1. "This is strictly about tuning the cars, understanding what it will take for springs and shocks and handling of the car," NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton said March 18. "We will get some more feedback from the wing and the [front] splitter." Pemberton said having four teams would be good, and NASCAR can't expect every team to come to every test. NASCAR is bring its own.(SceneDaily.com)(3-22-2006)
UPDATE 2 - No Rusty; Rules Book close: The first rulebook for the Car of Tomorrow is expected to be in teams' hands next week, said NASCAR's director of cost research Brett Bodine, who's been NASCAR's lead test driver for the project. NASCAR president Mike Helton asked Rusty Wallace, the 1989 Cup Series champion who retired at the end of last season, to test the prototype at Bristol following this weekend's events, the fifth test and the first on a short track this season. "I was asked to do the test, but I'll be at a big production meeting up in Bristol, Conn., with Marty [Reid] and Scott [Goodyear] and the rest of the ESPN guys, so I passed on it," said Wallace, who will not be at Bristol for the first time in 23 years due to his new position as an analyst on the ABC/ESPN broadcasts of the Indy Racing League, which opens this weekend in Homestead, Fla. "But what I am going to do is probably drive the Car of Tomorrow at Martinsville. I do want to drive the car just to feel it. I want to understand what it's all about, and if I can make some comments about how they can make their car better or different, I'd be happy to tell them." Bristol's 2007 spring race is scheduled as the first official event for the Car of Tomorrow. Earlier this season, the Car of Tomorrow was tested twice at the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway and twice on Atlanta Motor Speedway, a 1.54-mile track. A test had been scheduled at Darlington after the Dodge Charger 500 in May, but Bodine said that had been dropped in favor of another 1.5-mile test, at Lowe's Motor Speedway on the Tuesday after the May 28 Coca-Cola 600.(NASCAR.com)(3-25-2006)
Some News on the COT: NASCAR announced in January that the car of tomorrow would be used in Nextel Cup competition beginning in the spring of 2007 at Bristol Motor Speedway, and that it would be phased in over three years. It will be in 16 of 36 races next year. Brian France, the chairman and chief executive of NASCAR, led the pitch for the concept, which became a priority after the racetrack deaths of Dale Earnhardt and others. The new car will be two inches taller and four inches wider. It is hoped that the design, which gives more space to the driver, will improve the quality of races by removing some of the dependence on aerodynamics that has taken some of the competition out of the drivers' hands and turned stock-car racing into more of a sport of engineers. The new racecar will eliminate the designs of individual manufacturers from Ford, Chevrolet, Dodge and, next year's addition, Toyota. All cars will be virtually identical except for the fake grill that differentiates the models. NASCAR officials say the car will control costs because there will be no need to build as many racecars to fit different tracks on the circuit. Some teams have as many as 17 racecars for use at various tracks; they will need perhaps only 10 in the future because there will be so few adjustments allowed from car to car, according to Gary Nelson, who recently resigned as NASCAR's vice president for research and development but will remain involved with the development of the car. NASCAR figures that by phasing in the changes over three years, the current equipment will not become immediately obsolete. Teams can use up their inventory along the way. NASCAR officials say they are still experimenting and that researchers are years away from finding the right specifications for the midsize 1½-mile ovals, which is why the car of tomorrow will not be used at those tracks until 2009.(in part from the New York Times)(3-4-2006)
COT blueprints delivered to teams; Testing upcoming: Nextel Cup Series teams are in the process of being visited by a NASCAR representative bearing blueprints for the "car of tomorrow," which is set to debut on a limited basis in 2007. "We've been giving them out. We've been making shop trips with [NASCAR official] Randy Hedger over the past few weeks, trying to finalize all that with the teams," NASCAR Vice President Robin Pemberton said Friday afternoon at California Speedway. Pemberton added that Gary Nelson, who'd been heading up the car's development for NASCAR, will now begin accompanying Hedger to visit the teams. Earlier this week, Nelson left NASCAR to begin his own company; which signed NASCAR as its first client. The only areas of the car not finalized involved the wing and front splitter configuration. "We're trying to make our adjustments based off the team information when we do our track tests," Pemberton said. Track tests are tentatively set for March 27 at Bristol and April 3 at Martinsville.(SceneDaily.com)(2-25-2006)
COT opposition: One garage source says the current opposition by NEXTEL Cup Series car owners to building cars that meet NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow specifications is the current state of the specifications - in flux. If NASCAR could clearly define the specifications construction would begin almost immediately. Teams that have built cars have complained no sooner than they get a car finished, they have to cut part of it up because the specs changed.(CircleTrackPlus)(2-16-2006)
Car of Tomorrow [COT] announcement: NASCAR announced the Car of Tomorrow will begin competition in 2007. Teams will use the newly-designed race car for 16 events next season, beginning with the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway – currently the fifth event on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule. A five-year project overseen by NASCAR Vice President for Research and Development Gary Nelson, the Car of Tomorrow offers important safety and performance upgrades. It also addresses cost reduction, providing teams with a more efficient car to produce and tune. “The Car of Tomorrow represents one of the sport’s most significant innovations, and we feel everyone involved in NASCAR will experience the benefits,” said NASCAR President Mike Helton. “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.”
Aside from Bristol events, teams will use the Car of Tomorrow in 2007 events at Phoenix, Martinsville, Richmond, Dover, New Hampshire, Darlington, Talladega [the fall race and last restrictor plate race of the season] and road-course events at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen.
The 2008 Car of Tomorrow implementation schedule includes 26 events – adding both races at Daytona, California, Pocono, Michigan, the spring event at Talladega and Indianapolis. Teams will run the entire 2009 schedule with the Car of Tomorrow, adding both events at Atlanta, Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Texas, plus events at Chicagoland, Kansas, Las Vegas and Homestead. The rollout schedule could be sooner.
“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.”
The next round of Car of Tomorrow on-track testing will be scheduled following Speedweeks in Daytona, with officials from the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., refining car components and performance baselines. The Car of Tomorrow is a collaborative effort, with Nelson’s team leading the way. Manufacturers, teams and industry suppliers all contributed during the design phase, with NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series teams and drivers offering important feedback during the latest round of on-track testing. NASCAR’s prototype car, built by the Research and Development staff, is driven by Director of Cost Research Brett Bodine, a former NASCAR NEXTEL Cup competitor and team owner. The Car of Tomorrow began as a design five years ago, progressing through simulation, laboratory and wind tunnel tests. Of primary significance are the safety innovations: the Car of Tomorrow is four inches wider and two inches taller than current NASCAR race cars. The driver compartment, or “roll cage,” has been shifted three inches to the rear. The driver’s seat has been shifted four inches to the right, allowing more protection from a driver’s side impact. More “crush-ability” is built into the car on both sides, ensuring even more protection.
The Car of Tomorrow exhaust system is another safety innovation. It runs through the body, diverting heat away from the driver and exiting on the right side. Another important Car of Tomorrow feature is performance – how the car handles in traffic and reacts to downforce. The project represents the latest move by NASCAR to reduce current cars’ aerodynamic dependence, and several innovations have addressed it:
• The windshield is more upright, designed to increase the amount of drag, thereby slowing the cars.
• The more box-like front bumper, which is three inches higher and thicker, catches air rather than deflecting it, another way to slow the car.
• The air intake is below the front bumper, which eliminates the problem of overheating. Wind-blown trash can cover current car grilles, blocking air flow.
Several components – both those built into the Car of Tomorrow and those being tested – will make the car easier to drive in traffic. Some of those components also are bolt-on, bolt-off pieces that teams can use to tune their cars, making them cost-efficient as well. Those include:
• The “splitter,” a flat shelf below the front bumper that can be adjusted.
• A wing, like those commonly used in sports car series, also is a possibility. It fits on the car’s rear deck lid, in the same spot where the spoiler is bolted.
• The spoiler, a NASCAR staple, is a straight line on the Car of Tomorrow, rather than curved, as on current cars. A straight spoiler yields more stability in traffic.
“We designed this car to run for a long time, at road courses, short tracks, intermediate-sized tracks all the way to Daytona,” Nelson said. “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.”(NASCAR PR)(1-23-2006)
Car of Tomorrow [COT] announcement: NASCAR announced the Car of Tomorrow will begin competition in 2007. Teams will use the newly-designed race car for 16 events next season, beginning with the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway – currently the fifth event on the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series schedule. A five-year project overseen by NASCAR Vice President for Research and Development Gary Nelson, the Car of Tomorrow offers important safety and performance upgrades. It also addresses cost reduction, providing teams with a more efficient car to produce and tune. “The Car of Tomorrow represents one of the sport’s most significant innovations, and we feel everyone involved in NASCAR will experience the benefits,” said NASCAR President Mike Helton. “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.”
Aside from Bristol events, teams will use the Car of Tomorrow in 2007 events at Phoenix, Martinsville, Richmond, Dover, New Hampshire, Darlington, Talladega [the fall race and last restrictor plate race of the season] and road-course events at Infineon Raceway and Watkins Glen.
The 2008 Car of Tomorrow implementation schedule includes 26 events – adding both races at Daytona, California, Pocono, Michigan, the spring event at Talladega and Indianapolis. Teams will run the entire 2009 schedule with the Car of Tomorrow, adding both events at Atlanta, Lowe’s Motor Speedway and Texas, plus events at Chicagoland, Kansas, Las Vegas and Homestead. The rollout schedule could be sooner.
“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.”
The next round of Car of Tomorrow on-track testing will be scheduled following Speedweeks in Daytona, with officials from the NASCAR Research and Development Center in Concord, N.C., refining car components and performance baselines.

CAR of TOMORROW - COTnews and rumors(almost the CAR of TODAY)

Car of Tomorrow Implementation Schedule(UPDATED 5-22-2007)

past news...rumors....

CAR of TOMORROW - COT
news and rumors
(almost the CAR of TODAY)

Car of Tomorrow Implementation Schedule
(UPDATED 5-22-2007)