More on Daytona Testing this week UPDATE 2 another roof flap?: NASCAR officials are bringing in a dozen Winston Cup drivers for a Daytona test on Tuesday to try to sort out the other half of the aerodynamics problem, the tight packs that keep drivers on the edges of their seats at Daytona and Talladega. The test probably will [could] result in some new rules for the Talladega 500 in October. There probably will be narrower and shorter rear spoilers (maybe six to eight inches narrower and maybe only three inches tall) and wider noses. That will make for an unbalanced car, one that is probably loose in the corners.(Winston Salem Journal) AND NASCAR let leak its intentions for next week’ speedway tests. The test, for which NASCAR hopes to attract 10 – 15 cars, is intended to give the sanctioning body an opportunity to try some new configurations to the speedway package. Some in the garage say they expect the starting point will be where a 1998 test left off, cars carrying raised valances and radically reduced rear blades on the order of 3 inches, or perhaps even 2.5-inches. Apparently at least one of the Dale Earnhardt Inc. cars and one of the Richard Childress Racing cars will be on-site for the tests.(Ford Racing)(8-11-2002) UPDATE: NASCAR’s latest round of Winston Cup aerodynamic tweaking will take place Tuesday at Daytona, where as many as 15 teams may test. NASCAR and Daytona officials confirmed that teams had been offered a second day of open testing on Wednesday not counting toward NASCAR’s limit of seven tests per season. NASCAR vice president for corporate communications Jim Hunter said among the configurations that NASCAR president Mike Helton, Winston Cup director John Darby and managing director of competition Gary Nelson planned to monitor were different spoiler heights. They also plan to monitor front valance ground clearances, different body locations and a continuation of the “bigger greenhouse” program designed to enlarge the car’s driver compartment. Test runs will be made with the smaller capacity fuel cells to be used at Talladega. Teams expected to attend: #55-Bobby Hamilton, #29-Kevin Harvick, #15-Michael Waltrip, #9-Bill Elliott, #22-Ward Burton, #23-Hut Stricklin, #36-Ken Schrader(the only Pontiac), #77-Dave Blaney and #09-Geoffrey Bodine. The Oldfield Grandstand outside Turn 4 will be open, as it usually is for test sessions, from 9:00am to 5:00pm.(NASCAR.com)(8-13-2002) UPDATE2: NASCAR has been testing a new roof-deflector system that could allow NASCAR to increase speeds at Daytona and Talladega significantly for the coming races. Drivers have said that speeds are too slow at those two tracks. NASCAR’s advances have been made in the system that deploys roof flaps to slow the race car and keep it on the ground when it gets turned around in a crash. NASCAR has been wind-tunnel testing cars with a third roof flap that springs up as an air foil to increase the take-off speed by 15 mph. Speeds at Daytona and Talladega are around 185 mph now. So the addition of the new flap, expected for next spring’s Daytona 500, could allow NASCAR to open restrictor plates and let drivers run as fast as 200 mph. NASCAR might also order teams to add a fourth air flap, on the rear deck.(Winston Salem Journal) AND more: NASCAR tested various aerodynamic configurations of Winston Cup cars Tuesday at Daytona International Speedway with the hope of making a significant rules change for the 2003 Daytona 500. Ten teams, representing the four makes of cars that compete in Winston Cup, participated in the test session, which was cut short by a persistent line of thunderstorms that rumbled over the Speedway. Gary Nelson, NASCAR’s managing director of competition, directed the test that involved larger restrictor plates and lower rear spoiler heights. Nelson said Tuesday’s test was aimed at creating a rules package for Speed Weeks 2003 and would not be used at Talladega Superspeedway’s race in October. “Talladega has bigger turns; the turns have a bigger radius,” he said. “We’re looking at Daytona as a separate set of issues. We approached this test as a Daytona test. The knowledge we got today is for down the road.” Nelson said the proposed large greenhouse, which creates more room in the cockpit, was simulated by several teams. Tuesday’s showers scrubbed NASCAR’s plan to run the cars with the new aerodynamic configuration in a draft situation, that part of the test would be rescheduled. Testing were #22-Ward Burton, #23-Hut Stricklin, #45-Kyle Petty, #30-Jeff Green, #15-Michael Waltrip, #55-Bobby Hamilton, #77-Dave Blaney, #09-Geoffrey Bodine, #21-Elliott Sadler, and #14-Mike Wallace.(Daytona Beach News Journal)(8-14-2002)
