NASCAR has booked Daytona International Speedway on August 15th(looks like the 14th) for a special aerodynamic test session. The sanctioning body is tinkering with different aero combinations to slow the Winston Cup cars down without restricting the engines any further. Race cars at Daytona and Talladega are slowed by a carburetor restrictor plate, which zaps engine horsepower. Richard Childress Racing(#’s 3 and 31), which runs Chevrolets, and Roush Racing(#’s 6,16,17,97,99) which campaigns Fords, along with at least one Pontiac team will participate in the so-called “dirty air test.”(Speed Magazine)(7-30-2000) UPDATE: NASCAR officials will conduct a test session with about 12 teams Monday(Aug 14th) at Daytona in hopes of finding a way to make the racing better. NASCAR officials hope to find ways to make the cars less sleek aerodynamically, so they can give them more horsepower without increasing speeds. NASCAR officials are looking only at race setups at this test. Gary Nelson, NASCAR Winston Cup director, says the goal is to give teams 75 more horsepower, which would put restrictor-plate engines at about 500 horsepower. An unrestricted engine creates more than 750 horsepower. NASCAR has used restrictor plates since 1987 as a way to slow the cars at Daytona and Talladega after they ran laps of more than 210 mph at both tracks. Restrictor plates reduce the amount of air in the engine, limiting its power. (See the history of the restrictor plates at my Restrictor Plate History page). Teams expected to test at Daytona will be those of #28-Ricky Rudd, #88-Dale Jarrett, #18-Bobby Labonte, #20-Tony Stewart, #24-Jeff Gordon, #3-Dale Earnhardt, #31-Mike Skinner and Roush Racing(a few of the five teams). Dodge was invited but doesn’t have a car ready yet to participate. See full story at the Roanoke Times(8-9-2000) UPDATE 2: NASCAR is hosting a very large test session at the Daytona Intl. Speedway next week that may be attended by more than a dozen teams, with, Speedway Illustrated is being are told, some “urging” from the powers that be and their own interest in the outcome. This test is aimed at finding a way to control car speeds without the restrictor plates. NASCAR found a way to slow the trucks while allowing full engine power and may be going to apply some of the same techniques to the Winston Cup cars. Sources in the Winston Cup shops tell Speedway Illustrated one of the primary alterations may be the spoiler strips running vertically on the front fenders that both create huge amounts of drag themselves, and induce even more drag along the rest of the car by upsetting the air flow over the car. The same sources say we could also see an increase to windshield angles and a “standardization” of the greenhouse (the portion of the car from the bottom of the windows up) between makes as this one dimension makes a very large difference in overall aerodynamic numbers(Speedway Illustrated)(8-11-2000) UPDATE 3: NASCAR currently uses a (restrictor) plate with four holes that are 7/8 of an inch in diameter. They likely will test Tuesday with one-inch holes as they try to increase horsepower to around 600-625. NASCAR will experiment with a 65-degree rear spoiler, angled 20 degrees more than the spoilers used for the 2000 Daytona 500. There are also possibilities of changing the front air dams and adding an inch-high bar across the roof. NASCAR will supply the roof strips and possibly some strips to go in front of the air dams. The Richard Childress Racing teams will bring an adjustable spoiler that can be changed from 30 degrees to 70 degrees. One thing that likely won’t be adjusted is the fender(Speed Magazine)(8-13-2000)
