[lilsexy08]

Originally Posted by 3fanforever

Did you know that in 1948, revenuers raided the Johnson house and it ended up being the largest inland seizure of illegal whiskey in U.S. history at the time?
Junior would later spend nearly a year in jail for it.

Yep, Junior Johnson has one the most incredible life stories in NASCAR.
If you ever get a chance to read it, read the book "Brave In Life". It's the life story of Johnson all the way through his NASCAR days.
This is where that little story above came from.

Thanks for the info. I didn't know he did jail time, I am going to have to read the book! He seems so cool! I like your avatar too!

[3fanforever]

You're welcome, and thank you too.

[hank static]

G'day, this may have been answered already but this is about the COT, i believe with the current cars they have a different car for road courses, super speedway.. etc hence a driver has access to 10-15 cars, is this the same with the COT or is it basically the one car tuned and set up for the specific conditions like we have here in Oz.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by hank static

G'day, this may have been answered already but this is about the COT, i believe with the current cars they have a different car for road courses, super speedway.. etc hence a driver has access to 10-15 cars, is this the same with the COT or is it basically the one car tuned and set up for the specific conditions like we have here in Oz.

good question hank. I don't remember anyone asking this question before, so it's new ground for all of us.

the current NASCAR rules as they apply to the COT (as I understand them, not being the owner of a rulebook) try to ensure there's no difference between a super speedway car, a road course car and a short track car. there is no tolerance on the body as evidenced by the fines and penalties levied thus far this year.

whether the same applies to the chassis or not, I'm not quite sure. while the current cars have multiple configurations in the front suspension depending on the track type, I suspect this is extremely limited in the COT. additionally, the "splitter" on the front bumper is mandated to ride between a minimum and maximum height off the racing surface which further limits the benefits of the multiple front suspension configurations. so from a chassis only point of view I suspect they are the same amongst the various applications.

that said, and assuming there is some leeway (in the COT, but not nearly as much as in the current car) in mounting points for the suspension as well as the use of different length components on the right and left sides to allow tuning the front and rear roll centers, it would be advantageous to the teams to have multiple cars, each setup for different track types. for instance a road course car is "square" while a short track car has a distinct left side bias and a speedway car will have stronger shocks and springs to handle the extra vertical g's brought on by high banking.

can you change a car from one to another? certainly. this year, with the spacing between COT races, I'm sure the teams focused on understanding the flexibility (or lack of) built into the car and established procedures to convert the car from one setup to another. however, in 2008, they won't have the luxury of time so I expect the average team to have 6 to 8 cars, possibly tuned in pairs, so the massive "swap over" doesn't have to happen between races, as well as having different chassis' designated for different track types.

of course, this is only speculation on my part. some would call it an educated guess, but I'm not that confident in my speculation of the actual rules governing the COT since I used a lot of common sense - which at times seems to be lacking in NASCAR. I'm sure as time progresses, we will be given insight into the actual rules, but 'till then it's only speculation.

I know I haven't really answered your question because I'm not sure what the answer really is, but I've given my best guess. We'll probably have to see how it plays out next year to see if I was right or wrong or somewhere in between.

[wingkey1]

Originally Posted by hank static

G'day, this may have been answered already but this is about the COT, i believe with the current cars they have a different car for road courses, super speedway.. etc hence a driver has access to 10-15 cars, is this the same with the COT or is it basically the one car tuned and set up for the specific conditions like we have here in Oz.

Hey Hank!.. Racer Duck pretty much did the best hit on how the COT is seen amongst those who have had the priviledge to participate at various levels and positions (owner, wrench turner, member of the governing body) in the motorsports. For all intent and purposes the "same" vehicle can be used across all race venues. "Same" is "hung on panels" and "chassis dimensional".

"Hung on panels" is apparently REAL tight. This includes the splitter, while allowing "range of movement/setting" on the wing.

"Chassis dimensional" is "real tight" from the wheel base, total weight, and fixed element (I.e. - the base chassis itself) standpoints.

"Chassis dimensional" is limitationaly defined (less tight?) in the area of attach points (i.e. - the range of attach point at ends of the panard as an example), sectional spring rates (i.e. - total of front springs range definition), static weight placement, shock rates, and more.

I've likely missed something real obvious in the above, but hey, who da flip am I really?

All of the above essentially allows the same basic vehicle to be applied in all venues. It DOES NOT however disallow the filthy rich from dedicating a "winner" setup vehicle to specific tracks.

Good Lord, I've lost myself!!

OK, OK, whats close to a generically correct statement? Ya build a COT, it is (intended/targeted to be, likely is) useable across all venues. Helps the lesser than filthy rich. The filty rich can still "set aside" a winner for "next time". Then there's - Racer Duck was as right as intelligent minds (?????) can deduce.

[Racer Duck]

Wing, I wish you'd furnish a cigar and appropriate after dinner drink with your longer posts as I need sufficient time to "digest" what you've said. I don't disagree, and thanks for the kudos, but I'm not sure I understand everything you put on the table (or under it.)

[simple simon]

Jimmy Spencer is a rather rotund man ...... yet he finds a way to shoe-horn his girth into a Cup car ....... got me to thinking, just how big can a driver be ?

is there any way a team could make entry into the car any bigger to accommodate a man of larger girth ?

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by simple simon

Jimmy Spencer is a rather rotund man ...... yet he finds a way to shoe-horn his girth into a Cup car ....... got me to thinking, just how big can a driver be ?

is there any way a team could make entry into the car any bigger to accommodate a man of larger girth ?

if they can get thru the window, they can drive. believe it or not, at the Cup level the seats are custom-made to fit the driver (top to "bottom" and side to side) so once they're in it's not a problem. but NASCAR doesn't allow alterations to the window for any reason, large body clearance included.

on the other hand, I seem to remember several years ago, none other than Mikey had a trap door installed in the roof of his car so that he could get his 6'5" frame in and out. since both he and Boris (another tall drink of water) negotiate the window regularly, I suspect the "roof door" is a thing of the past due to some rule which makes it ineffective or downright illegal.

[simple simon]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

on the other hand, I seem to remember several years ago, none other than Mikey had a trap door installed in the roof of his car so that he could get his 6'5" frame in and out. since both he and Boris (another tall drink of water) negotiate the window regularly, I suspect the "roof door" is a thing of the past due to some rule which makes it ineffective or downright illegal.

that actually relates to my next question .... just how tall can you be to drive ?

how far can they move that seat back ?

[I Flip For Carl]

Originally Posted by Racer Duck

on the other hand, I seem to remember several years ago, none other than Mikey had a trap door installed in the roof of his car so that he could get his 6'5" frame in and out. since both he and Boris (another tall drink of water) negotiate the window regularly, I suspect the "roof door" is a thing of the past due to some rule which makes it ineffective or downright illegal.

There was talk of making an escape hatch on Nascar's like they have in NHRA .Although Mikey had one on his car at Talladega ,after that the idea kind of went out the door .

NASCAR's escape hatch, which allows drivers to exit through the car's roof, is a good idea, but few teams wanted to be guinea pigs for the project at Talladega. Although the early test results with Michael Waltrip last month at Daytona were promising, teams weren't willing to take a chance at such an aerodynamically dependent track and with so little preparation time. But Waltrip, whose car did have an escape hatch, held off teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr. and won at Talladega....

[I Flip For Carl]

Originally Posted by simple simon

that actually relates to my next question .... just how tall can you be to drive ?

how far can they move that seat back ?

The tallest Nascar driver ever would be Buddy Baker at 6'6" . The current is Mikey Waltrip at 6'5"

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by simple simon

that actually relates to my next question .... just how tall can you be to drive ?

how far can they move that seat back ?

the obvious answer is "tall enough to see out the windshield."



but if you are talking about maximum height, the answer is "it varies". not wanting to get all technical, but there is a specified distance from the ground to the top of the roof that every car must meet (cannot be lower than this height.) subtract from that measurement the height from the ground to the bottom of the driver's seat, plus the thickness of his helmet at the top of his head plus a bit of room (an inch, maybe) between the helmet and roof. that's the measurement that the driver must not exceed from the top of his head to the bottom of his bottom. as you are probably already aware, people of the same total height do not usually have an equal "top to bottom" measurement. so now the fore-aft movement capability of the seat comes into play .. all but the shortest drivers want the seat "way back" .. except, that is, the drivers who prefer to drive with their knees bent or very bent. from the seat back to the petals is the next critical measurement and that depends on amount of knee bend as well as lengh of legs. finally we arrive at the answer: "it varies"

"ah" you say, "why don't we just raise the roof a little?" to which I respond "because the roof has to pass the template inspection and it won't if you move the roof up or down". also, as the height of the car increases, so does the aerodynamic drag (who wants to have a big driver in a slow car?).

that's the best I can do .. but I'd guess a 7 footer might be able to squeeze in (Shaq, maybe not), but anything over 6'5" or so is gonna be very cramped.

[tkj24]

The COT will help the tall guys. As the greenhouse area is taller.

[Racer Duck]

Originally Posted by tkj24

The COT will help the tall guys. As the greenhouse area is taller.

I think the door window area is also bigger so the fat guys should be happier also.

[3fanforever]

Originally Posted by I Flip For Carl

The tallest Nascar driver ever would be Buddy Baker at 6'6" . The current is Mikey Waltrip at 6'5"

Right you are I Flip For Carl.
Following those two are Richard Petty, Kyle Petty, Dale Jarrett, and Elliott Sadler at 6'3".