Wind Tunnel? UPDATE 5 No Changes….yet: hearing that NASCAR will take at least the highest finishing car of each manufacturer in the MBNA Amercia 500 at Atlanta to the wind tunnel in Marietta GA for areo testing.(3-10-2002) UPDATE: One car from each manufacturer was impounded by NASCAR following Sunday’ race and will be taken to a wind tunnel in Marietta, Ga., on Monday for testing. Tony Stewart’ #20-Pontiac, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’ #8-Chevrolet, Ward Burton’ #22-Dodge and Ricky Craven’ #32-Ford were selected for the test.(ThatsRacin.com)(3-11-2002) UPDATE 2 – some unoffficial downforce numbers: from ESPN2’s RPM 2 Night on Tuesday: #22-Dodge (was 7th) – 1380lbs, 566 front, 814 rear #32-Ford (5th) – 1343lbs, 537, 805 #20-Pontiac (1st) – 1297lbs, 545, 752 #8-Chevy (2nd) – 1246lbs, 498, 748 NOTE: in March 2001, NASCAR took the #’s 88, 24, 40 and 18 to the wind tunnel in Marietta, GA, with the unofficial results (unofficial): Test 1 Tested at inspection height, and with the nose taped off as for qualifying, at 3 degrees of yaw, slightly sideways as in entering a corner: #18-1,344lbs of total downforce #88-1340lbs #24-1331lbs #40-1325lbs Test 2 Tested with the nose lowered, in more of a real-race situation: #88-1521lbs of downforce #40-1481lbs #18-1456lbs #24-1432lbs.(3-12-2002) UPDATE 3: The results from NASCAR’s post-race wind-tunnel testing of the top finishers at Atlanta are in, and General Motors’ Pontiac and Chevrolet teams – although they ran 1-2 in Sunday’s MBNA America 500 – lost to Dodge and Ford in the Lockheed tunnel in Marietta, GA. And that, said GM’s Doug Duchardt, means that NASCAR must make some rules changes, possibly for this weekend’s race at Darlington. As of late yesterday afternoon NASCAR officials had offered no word on the issue or on any possible rules changes. Ford and Dodge officials had no immediate comment. NASCAR tested Tony Stewart’s winning Pontiac, Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s runner-up Chevrolet, Ward Burton’s Dodge and Ricky Craven’s Ford. Duchardt wouldn’t provide exact figures but said “The Pontiac was not as bad as the Chevy, but it wasn’t nearly as good as the Ford or the Dodge. The Dodge was the best.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-13-2002) UPDATE 4: Tommy Baldwin, #22-Ward Burton’s crew chief, calls NASCAR’s wind-tunnel numbers “bogus,” because the test didn’t set the cars at race-ride height into the wind. By dropping the nose down to the pavement, as cars actually do during a race with special shocks, the aerodynamics change considerably. And Baldwin said that the numbers so far leaked were for the cars in qualifying trim (Dodge’s Bill Elliott won the pole at Atlanta), and he said that in race trim, Stewart’s Pontiac had numbers just as good as the Dodge.(Winston Salem Journal)(3-14-2002) (3-13-2002)
