NASCAR working on COT problems:

[BobbyFord]

NASCAR officials are scrambling to solve a couple of potentially serious issues with the "Car of Tomorrow." Denny Hamlin and several other drivers complained about an unusual amount of carbon monoxide in their system after Sunday's inaugural COT race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Some teams had issues with the protective foam in the right side door overheating, melting and producing toxic fumes. Some had springs that failed for no apparent reason, which may have been the reason for the #16 car of Greg Biffle being too low during post-race inspection. NASCAR officials plan to talk with crew chiefs before they arrive in Martinsville on Friday to discuss solutions to these issues. They will look at adjusting the tolerances for minimum height until it is determined what makes the new car settle. They will suggest that teams use a thicker exhaust pipe after determining those that had exhaust systems failures used a thinner pipe to conserve weight. They already have talked to Roush Fenway Racing officials about putting a heat shield over the pipe near the right door and notching the foam higher around the pipe to keep heat from compromising it. NASCAR vice president of competition Robin Pemberton and Nextel Cup series director John Darby have scheduled a Friday morning press conference to discuss the issues.(ESPN.com)(3-29-2007)

 

[Patrick9999]

I've never been at Bristol and understand what they're saying but wouldn't most people leaving the track have an unusual amount of carbon monoxide in their systems?

 

[BobbyFord]

NASCAR expands rear height tolerances for COT: NASCAR will give teams a half-inch tolerance instead of a quarter-inch on the minimum height requirement of the rear of the car during post-race inspection at car of tomorrow [COT] races, Nextel Cup Series Director John Darby told reporters Thursday. #16-Greg Biffle was outside the quarter-inch tolerance after a fifth-place finish at Bristol, but NASCAR won't penalize him because of the lack of benefit to the car to be that low. Darby also said that although it was procedural measurement with the car of tomorrow, it was never specified in the rulebook. He says NASCAR will continue to explore the minimum height of the rear of the car before making a steadfast rule. Darby also said that the minimum right-side weight was changed from 1,650 pounds to 1,700 pounds. As far as the problems some teams had with broken exhaust pipes, Darby said he expected that to be fixed. "The teams have been very weight conscious through this process," Darby said. "Most of the exhaust pipe failures that we saw were pipes that were constructed out of material that was much thinner than the pipes on yesterday's car were. iI should be an easy fix for the teams."(SceneDaily.com)(3-30-2007)