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 [Car of Tomorrow].(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)
