[nascaraddict]

The boxier cars were made worse by the fact that Goodyear has had trouble matching tires that can keep up with the new design. And that added to the poor racing. And it's a slippery slope.

[OregonSHRFan]

With the COT came some new rules about shocks and springs too, leaving the teams with less adjustability. There is only so much teams can do. This new car is more like IROC cars then anything.

[Bette]

Thank you all. A lot of good info and only some of it a bit techie.
For those of you who dont know, I know absolutely nothing about racing or race cars or drivers.
Back to CoT.
I am confused on another issue. Is this required? Are all cars like this?

[jay1594]

Bette, In Nascar there are 3 National Series. The Sprint Cup ( Currently Runs CoT Full Time), The Nationwide Series ( Which currently does not run CoT, but will in 4 races next season) and the Camping World Truck Series(does not currently run the CoT, and does not appear to be planned for next season). All cars at the Sprint cup level are the CoT, and the Nationwide and cup cars are significantly different

[MikeRaceDayTek]

Originally Posted by jay1594

...and the Camping World Truck Series(does not currently run the CoT, and does not appear to be planned for next season).

One thing to keep in mind. A lot of the "improvements" to the CoT, have been standard on the Trucks for years. The splitter has been there since day one I believe, if not, it followed shortly thereafter. The driver in the Trucks sits closer to center (this is kind of non-negotiable in the trucks, since the sides of the Truck slope inward at the top).

Also, some of it would not work well on the trucks. The biggest one that comes to mind is the wing. The wing wouldn't work as well in the turbulent air that is caused by the straight drop at the back of the cab.

[Bette]

Originally Posted by jay1594

Bette, In Nascar there are 3 National Series. The Sprint Cup ( Currently Runs CoT Full Time), The Nationwide Series ( Which currently does not run CoT, but will in 4 races next season) and the Camping World Truck Series(does not currently run the CoT, and does not appear to be planned for next season). All cars at the Sprint cup level are the CoT, and the Nationwide and cup cars are significantly different

So in those races you mentioned, all cars are required to be CoT?
(I am slow to learn but I catch on sooner or later )

[jay1594]

The Sprint Cup runs the CoT full time (every race)
The Nationwide series does not, but Nascar has scheduled 4 races with the new car in 2010
The Camping World truck series is a bit different! They are trucks so many of the things you see on the CoT cars were actually already on the car.
Right now only the Sprint Cup runs the CoT

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by MikeRaceDayTek

One thing to keep in mind. A lot of the "improvements" to the CoT, have been standard on the Trucks for years. The splitter has been there since day one I believe, if not, it followed shortly thereafter. The driver in the Trucks sits closer to center (this is kind of non-negotiable in the trucks, since the sides of the Truck slope inward at the top).

Also, some of it would not work well on the trucks. The biggest one that comes to mind is the wing. The wing wouldn't work as well in the turbulent air that is caused by the straight drop at the back of the cab.

I think the splitter change came about just in the last 2-3 years.

[kerribear17]

Basically the COT is the entire car itself. It was redesigned much like they redesign cars on the road all the time. Better safety features and such. If you take a look at the old car it looks much different in front and in the back. All of the Sprint Cup cars changed to this a bit ago (maybe 2-3 years?). They all have a "template" that their cars much fit into. If your car is off you can be heavily fined. And you hear about post-race inspections and such, they do pre-race ones as well making sure all cars are in compliance. So yes everything was permanently changed with the COT. Many claim the racing itself has been changed - good/bad - as you can see by the many comments about that here

[moon]

My opinion:

NASCAR (Daytona Beach) let the Cup teams get out of hand building cars that looked more like ASA or Saturday night late model specials with the deck lids twisted up and the roofs twisted down. To fix this problem that turned into being constant bickering back a forth between car owners, the manufactures, and the sanctioning body the higher powers in Daytona ordered a new car.

I think while out drinking one night Mikey Waltrip talked Brian France into starting from scratch with the cars while he was having to start from scratch with his new race team that Brian had handed him the Toyota deal for. Why else raise the green house so high since Mikey was the only one using the trap door in the roof of the old cars.

Where Brian and Jim and Mike and whoever else had input screwed up was they put the design and build on guys at the Tech Center in Concord that were clueless about how race cars should be built and I'm not so sure they weren't told to copy the trucks from the Craftsman series as close as possible. There were so many changes in design and template configuration in the beginning that any team not factory backed couldn't afford to keep up and that may be why you see such dominance by one team today, car owners were afraid to speak against the project for they knew the consequences, drivers that did found out how strong the hold was and is on any bad ink about this fumble.

NASCAR made it look as though anyone not willing to accept the COT was against building a safer car when in fact everything other than the taller green house could have been implemented in the older car and on a side note not once had that roll cage caused injuries to warrant change.

Why Brian and Jim will not appoint a panel of retired or veteran Cup racers to help make important decisions pertainng to our sport is beyond this old racer.

[nascaraddict]

And if NA_CAR rolls out a CoT version to the Nationwide's, the manure will just keep rolling down the hill.

[Quality88]

Originally Posted by nascaraddict

And if NA_CAR rolls out a CoT version to the Nationwide's, the manure will just keep rolling down the hill.

they already are... next year

[Robertdjr]

Originally Posted by Quality88

they already are... next year

You mean they're not really gonna be racing the new Mustang?

[mike honcho]

Originally Posted by Robertdjr

You mean they're not really gonna be racing the new Mustang?

The new mustang is a NASCAR Nationwide version of the COT.

[Robertdjr]

Originally Posted by mike honcho

The new mustang is a NASCAR Nationwide version of the COT.

I know. It was meant to be humorous.