|
The Car of Tomorrow is the common name used for the chassis that accompanies NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series (since 2007) and Xfinity (since 2010) race cars. The car was part of a five-year project to create a safer vehicle following several deaths in competition, particularly the 2001 crash that took the life of Dale Earnhardt. Best known for being used as the fifth generation car style for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, the original Car of Tomorrow body design was larger and boxier than the design it replaced, and criticized for its generic appearance and poor handling characteristics. The CoT, however, implemented dramatic safety improvements, cost less to maintain, and was intended to make for closer competition. The car was introduced in the 2007 Cup season at the Food City 500 on March 25 and ran a partial schedule of 16 races. The plan was to require all teams to use the new car in 2009, but NASCAR officials moved the date up to the 2008 season as a cost-saving measure. The fifth-generation car's body style was retired by NASCAR car after the 2012 Ford EcoBoost 400. The sixth-generation car, which featured the additional chassis safety improvements but utilized improved body designs, debuted in 2013;〔 many teams simply removed the fifth-generation car bodies, added the new chassis safety improvements, and installed a sixth-generation car body. In 2010, the Xfinity Series (then the Nationwide Series) debuted its own version of the CoT in a partial schedule, using the same chassis but different bodies and a wider wheelbase; teams could take old Sprint Cup cars, change the bodies, and run them in the Nationwide Series, provided they passed recertification. The car was required for full-time competition in 2011. ==Design== On January 11, 2006, NASCAR revealed the Car of Tomorrow, also referred to as the "Car of the Future" during its development, after a five-year design program sparked mainly by the death of Dale Earnhardt Sr. in a final-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500.〔 During the prior season, three drivers (Adam Petty, Kenny Irwin, Jr. and Tony Roper) had perished in on-track accidents. The then-current cars were based on a design by Holman Moody first used for the 1966 Ford Fairlane.〔(Biography ) of Holman Moody at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America. Retrieved March 8, 2007.〕 The primary design considerations for the new car were "safety innovations, performance and competition, and cost efficiency for teams." The CoT incorporated several safety improvements in comparison to the older car.〔 The driver's seat was moved four inches toward the center, and the roll cage shifted three inches to the rear, while the car was designed two inches taller and four inches wider.〔〔 Larger crumple zones, designed to absorb impact energy, and impact absorbing foam were built into the car on both sides.〔 Replacing the front valance is an adjustable splitter, a piece of fiber-reinforced plastic (FRP, "fiberglass") used on the bottom front of the car to produce downforce.〔 The car's exhaust exits on the right (passenger) side, which diverts heat from the driver.〔〔 The fuel cell is stronger, and has a smaller capacity , down from , which as of 2007 has become standard in all cars. NASCAR officials initially claimed the car was less dependent on aerodynamics, comparing its performance to the trucks of the Camping World Truck Series. It features a detached wing, which has not been used since the Dodge Charger Daytona and Plymouth Superbird in 1970, in place of a rear spoiler.〔〔(http://www.truckseries.com/cgi-script/NCTS_06/articles/000061/006135.htm )〕 The windshield is more upright, which increases drag.〔 The radiator air intake was placed below the front bumper of the car, to reduce overheating caused by debris-clogged grilles.〔 The front bumper itself was more box-like and the front airdam was gapped, as opposed to being a flush piece on the older cars, to reduce aerodynamics and slow down the cars.〔 All cars are required to fit the same set of templates, using a device that has been named "the claw" that is designed to fit over the new cars. Yet there are still minor differences between the makes. In the first two races at Bristol and Martinsville Speedway, the garages were opened one day early and the inspections took up to 10 hours so that everyone (teams, officials, etc.) could get a better grip on the new unified template. NASCAR's old rules had a different set of templates for each manufacturer (Ford, Chevy, Dodge, and Toyota). NASCAR has frequently adjusted the rules to ensure that different car manufacturers have relatively equal cars. On Friday, January 15, 2010, Sprint Cup Series director John Darby informed teams that NASCAR would transition back to the spoiler, to increase downforce and prevent airborne accidents the rear wing was believed to cause. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Car of Tomorrow」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|