NASCAR bumps exclusive use of Car of Tomorrow up a year
When NASCAR initially announced the implementation of the Car of Tomorrow early in 2006, it said it would be phased in over a three-year period beginning in 2007. Apparently, the first few races with the CoT have gone so well, that they decided to accelerate the schedule by a year and make it the exclusive car for all tracks in 2008.
The CoT, or more accurately Car of Yesterday (after all, who still uses carburetors?), completes the transition from stock cars to template cars for NASCAR. If you strip off the paint and stickers, these things are completely indistinguishable aside from the engines. With the CoT, it really just comes down to preparation and drivers, having little if anything to do with the brand of each car.
Click the gallery below to view high-res images of the Car of Tomorrow racing in the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.
[Source: NASCAR]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alan44 1:16PM (5/23/2007)
Many years ago when they ran real stock cars I had a much greater interest in NASCAR. Nowadays the races are so boring that I will occasionally check on the progress of a race and try to just watch the last few laps. Dirt tracking is where the real racing runs, sprints and late models.
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saimin 1:18PM (5/23/2007)
This oughta make the boys at Hendrick Motorsports happy. Did I say "oughta"? Damn NASCAR effect...
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Viv 1:25PM (5/23/2007)
The ones who should be happy are the Gibbs guys. They dominated the races Hendricks were there to pickup the mistakes and get the wins. At every COT race a JGR car was the best. It's not like i mind seeing the HMS guys rack up the wins. What an awesome season it has been so far.
BLS 1:34PM (5/23/2007)
I was having a conversation yesterday about what is wrong with NASCAR. I am not talking about 95% of the races being more or less oval shaped.
1. NASCAR pundits claim that developments from racing translate to better road cars. As Sam points out they still use carburators, until recently they used leaded fuel. They don't use unibody frames, they use tube frames, so anything they learn about safety is most likely useless when applied to street cars. What I ask is translated to road cars; reliability of parts, torture tests. So Chevy's 50 year old engine design has been run through the ringer. Oh, but I heard they are replacing that engine soon. So, I guess there will be another 50 year torture test.
2. Crashes - this is realated to the oval. The winner is generally going to be the fastest car that doesn't wreck. That is mostly true in other forms of racing. But in other series the chances of getting creamed by your competition are probably about 10% of what they are in NASCAR. In NASCAR they hit the wall and then slide through traffic into the infield. I watched the ALMS race this past weekend, there were some collisions and spins but zero pile-ups because it was a road course with no walls adjacent to the raceline.
3. NASCAR's version of homologation is having the same exact car. Rather than a homologation that required x # of cars to be offered with spec in common with the race cars. Fair - arguably. However it is the consumer that is getting screwed. This allowed manufacturers to start offering FWD V6 sedans for sale with the same name as the RWD monster V8 coupes on the race track.
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Don 2:37PM (5/23/2007)
I know what's wrong with NASCAR...the cars keep going in circles!
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spencer 3:03PM (5/23/2007)
Domestic automakers should stop wasting money in Nascar. The pace car from 1989 has more technology than these dinosaurs.
http://www.wheelhack.com (I promise this is the only time I will ever plug my website on Autoblog.)
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cowboy bob 3:12PM (5/23/2007)
I agree with post 1. Alan, I used to race circles myself forty years ago. We all had factory cars with the same cars/engine you could get in any dealership in America. This is what made the "Muscle Car Era" of the 60's happen.
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Kamil 3:30PM (5/23/2007)
I'm no fan of NASCAR, but had the author do some reasearch into the differences b/w CoT and the current cars he would notice substential differences in aerodynamics and safety... obviosuly substential enough to give the car a significant edge over its current counterparts.
Hint: last issue of "Automotive Engineering".
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Puffy C 3:50PM (5/23/2007)
Do people still watch redneck spec racers going in circles for hours on end? What's the point? Sure, when stock cars were 'stock cars' it was cool but this is nothing more than an elaborate IROC race. You might as well be watching 'pro' wrestling. Bleech...
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Viv 3:54PM (5/23/2007)
If NASCAR is not your cup of tea, you don't have to watch it. If you think NASCAR drivers are rednecks wake up from the 1950's. If you don't know about subject please don't post. There are more drivers today in NASCAR from Southern California than there are from South Carolina.
spencer 4:29PM (5/23/2007)
It's not the drivers that bother me, it's the fact that they are driving cars that have less engine/suspension/electrical technology than an 86 Camaro.
Dodge 4:57PM (5/23/2007)
Wow, could this article have been written in a more biased fashion? I didn't think autoblog stood for this kind of ranting based form of story posting.
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Fabulo 4:26PM (5/23/2007)
I thought the engines were too heavily regulated. After all fuel injection is a no no, so there has to be rules about displacement, gear ratio, airflow, etc... That's bound to make cars even more alike.
Also, car of tomorrow, that is funny.
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Viv 4:42PM (5/23/2007)
These days every sport is just entertainment and these guys put on the best show when it comes to autoracing. I don't think most people even care about the tech part.
foo 4:41PM (5/23/2007)
why are they still running carburated motors?!?!?! this series should compete w the likes of the German DTM that's "stock car" racing :)
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Phil 8:50PM (5/23/2007)
Viv pretty much has it right. If you think any motorsport really has the connection to road car development that it used to, you need to wake up. Once it was figured out that people will pay lots of money to be entertained by motorsport, entertainment became the top priority. NASCAR merely understands this more than most racing series, and that's why they're the most popular. Like it or not, you can't deny that what makes it different is what gets it the most fans.
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goat 11:11PM (5/23/2007)
The CoT is awful, and causes more wrecks, because of the awful aerodynamics. The slightest bump causes a total loss of control, because the cars have no grip, and won't turn.
And how about most of the field overheating by the end of Darlington? Exciting finish, but not really a shining example of auto racing.
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