Formula NASCAR? With the COT, technology trumps driver suggestions

[VilleneuveTracy]

With the Car of Tomorrow being the only racecar available for use in NASCAR's top series next year, technology will take on an even bigger role in determining race setups. Driver feedback about the handling of the cars remains important, but Roush says the days of taking a driver's suggestions on how to fix a problem are gone.

"Some people may not know it, but these COT cars are all about engineering and computers and gadgets to make them go," Biffle said in mid-October. "You still have to have a good driver, but I can't pick a spring, a sway bar or nothing. We got rained out in Loudon [N.H.], and we called a guy in Michigan who's got a 'sim' program to find out what front sway bar we're going to race.

"I feel like we're F1 [Formula One] racing. Whatever the computer says, whatever the seven-post shaker rig says is the best set of shocks, by God, it's the best set of shocks -- period. I've only found a couple of times where I've found a shock a LITTLE bit better than what the seven-post said, but I can't beat it."

"The more data points you have, the better you're going to run," Montoya said. "We don't have one [a seven-post rig] yet, but I believe we're getting one."

Full article at http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/head...fle/index.html

If accurate, this should exacerbate the gap between the big budget teams and the rest--exactly the opposite of what the COT was supposed to do!

[ThePenguin]

This isn't new to the COT, it has been like this for some time, and this is why NASCAR is losing quite a bit of its orriginal fan base.

[FIRE]

Originally Posted by Jack Roush

Driver feedback about the handling of the cars remains important, but Roush says the days of taking a driver's suggestions on how to fix a problem are gone.

Isn't this because drivers need more time to get used to the CoT?

[ss_collins]

NASCAR seems to have suddenly got big into rigs - but they aint new...?

[kelvin88]

They have come this far, why not move to a control shock absorber? and while we're at it, control springs and and sway bar?

[ss_collins]

Why is everyone trying to encourage spec racers - bring back engineering thats what I say! I love NASCAR but the CoY's and the dodgy games played with them were far better

[Fish_Flake]

Originally Posted by ss_collins

Why is everyone trying to encourage spec racers - bring back engineering thats what I say! I love NASCAR but the CoY's and the dodgy games played with them were far better

Because most of the world's sanctioning bodies believe that standardising regulations for each competitor is the way to improve competition and cut costs. In actuality, I believe that spec racing only causes large teams to spend obscene amounts of money only to squeeze out that extra tenth, and in the process price out the little people of the sport, but that's just one man's opinion.