Larger "greenhouse" pushed back

H

HardScrabble

Guest
Fom Mike Mulhern's column. Would like to know why the date is being postponed. There was talk that this change would not only result in a safer car, but could reduce the aero dependency of the cars as well.

Some top stock-car racing aerodynamicists say that NASCAR is apparently abandoning plans for a larger "greenhouse" roll cage.

Drivers and crews have, for several years, been calling for larger greenhouses as a safety measure to keep the driver's head away from the roll bars. Detroit car makers have built "common template" versions of the big greenhouse stock car for NASCAR to study and wind tunnel.

At one point, the big greenhouse car appeared to be in the cards for this fall's Talladega 500, as a preview for next year's Daytona 500. Then the debut date was pushed back to next April at Talladega. And within the past few weeks the date was pushed back even further, to the October race at Talladega in 2003.
 
that's too bad, i think it would really be a good safety feature.
all i can think of is the difficulty mikey had trying to get out of his upside down car.
 
i think the bigger car would be great (more room, less aero dynamic) but i don't see it anytime in NASCAR's near future, think about it, when is the last time NASCAR made any change that made sense quickly??...:)
 
Depending on how you define quickly.

They approved and then mandated head and neck restraints in less than a year, also helmets for crew members, and udated and stricter rules for safety harness mounting and routing. Probably some others that don't occur to me.

This is a much more extensive and costly change. Logic would dictate the process will take longer. What I would like to know are the reasons for the delay.
 
I think it was mentioned some where that entirely new cars would have to be built to accommodate the larger greenhouse.

That may have something to do with it.
 
NASCAR is in such a bad state at the moment with the all powerfull aero-push it's not even funny. I'm tired of sitting through these boring races where the driver with a better car can't pass the guy in front of him because his car is too aero sensitive when he tries to pass. The aerodynamics and extremely hard tires have taken the driver right out of the equation when it comes to winning a Cup race at most tracks these days. What happen to the days when the driver had to save his tires till the end of the run so he still be competitive? They are gone because of these hard tires that do not wear away. If NASCAR does not change things within the next year or so then they will start losing fans and in a hurry. The racing sucks and the drivers have little to do with the outcome. I want less downforce and softer tires. And I'd be willing to bet that all the drivers do too. Can you guess what would happen if this were to be true? Rookie drivers would not win like they do because they would have learn to drive the car, not let the car drive them. I like Jimmy Johnson but in no way would he have won in the Cup series some five years ago. It just wouldn't happen because he'd have to learn to drive the car first, not learn to ride in it.

Boo to NASCAR for getting itself in the state that it is in.:mad:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom