NASCAR Completes First Day of Next Gen Organizational Testing at Charlotte Motor Speedway (credit to RACER.com):
As NASCAR and its Cup Series teams continue to put the Next Gen car to the test — no pun intended — ahead of the 2022 season, the gremlins appear to be getting ironed out.
One of the issues was a steering rack issue with the car discovered last month during a two-day test on the Charlotte Motor Speedway road course. It prompted NASCAR not only to consult with the teams but use manufacturer resources and those from the sports car world to help find a solution to the vibration. In a return to the Roval last week to make sure it would work, NASCAR added a piece to the return line going back to the reservoir that eliminated the issue.
It’s resulted in a little less stress to start a two-day organizational test on the Charlotte oval this week.
“I don’t know of any reports today of steering issues,” said NASCAR senior vice president for racing innovation John Probst on Wednesday evening. “We’ve had some of ‘it’s too stiff’ or ‘too soft,’ but (the teams) are adjusting that with the torsion bars … but nothing near or even remote to what we had here at the Roval. And then when we did the Roval test, just confirmed that it was fixed on the road course tracks as well.”
Another issue has been a topic of conversation for months. Drivers are not comfortable with the heat inside the car’s cockpit, so NASCAR has been working through different designs to help the airflow better.
Many of the problems centered on the air that came from the hood exhausts being sucked back into the cockpit. Among the changes to get the air moving around the car and the driver is a Lexan piece next to the window net to deflect air from the window. There were also changes with some undertray pieces, and some cars are running shorter exhaust pipes.
A significant change was putting slots in the rear windshield, which gets a lot of air through the cabin. However, there’s also been an unintended consequence of those slots that NASCAR will work on during Thursday’s test.
“(It) adds a lot of drag to the car, so overnight, we’ll be going to a shorter spoiler,” said Probst. “We kind of knew that was going to be a potential issue coming in here, but we wanted to get the first day, evaluate the magnitude of changes. And it’s obviously a cool day, so I don’t think we were going to have anyone getting out complaining about heat. Right now, we’re relying on the data.”
The spoiler will go from 8 inches to 7 inches. It’s expected to add 30 horsepower to the package (teams are running the 550-horsepower intermediate package).
Wednesday did not go entirely smooth. Austin Dillon wrecked his Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet in a slippery Turn 2 less than 30 minutes into the session. Dillon was uninjured, and Probst categorized it as an “above average impact for the course of the weekend,” and the front bumper crushed the way it was designed to do.
“We felt like the car performed very well,” said Probst.
Dillon’s car was taken back to the Childress campus for repairs and returned to the track before the end of Wednesday’s session. Dillon got back on track with an hour left in Wednesday’s session.
There were also spins by Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, and one of the Rick Ware Racing cars. Larson spun in the morning getting up to speed on the apron and later in the day in Turn 4. In a video posted on the Hendrick Motorsports official Twitter page, Larson said it was “a little bit of a handful.”
Alex Bowman said the difficulty of driving the Next Gen car by yourself versus the previous car is “way, way harder.” Bowman said drivers could slide it around a little bit, but the line to cross is much narrower before spinning out. He expects drivers will crash more than usual with the Next Gen car because it’s harder to drive.
According to Probst, NASCAR doesn’t want the cars to be easy to drive.
“We’ve always said we want the best drivers running up front,” said Probst. “I think when you look at a lot of the changes what we’ve made with the car, a lot of the side force that used to be in the car is gone, so it’s not as forgiving as it’s been before. You saw some of that this morning; we had a lot of spins. I’m not saying that was all car, but definitely, the cars are a bit edgier.
“I would expect over time as they dial the setups in, that’ll get better. But certainly, with the lack of side force, that will be something they’ll have to get used to with respect to how the car drives and how it recovers, and how when it’s loose, how far you can let it get loose and let it slide and things like that. Which they’ll do.”
Following the Charlotte test, teams will travel to Phoenix for one December 14 and 15 and then one at Daytona on January 11 and 12. Other organizational tests are expected at Las Vegas, Martinsville, and Homestead.
SOURCE: https://racer.com/2021/11/17/nascar...-is-working-through-next-gen-teething-issues/
More NASCAR Next Gen News & Notes (credit to Jayski, Twitter, and MRN):
Teams Practicing Live Pit Stops with New Single-Lug Goodyear Eagles Thursday
NASCAR Cup Series teams will be allowed to practice live one lug nut pit stops at a racetrack for the first time in the final hour of Thursday’s (Nov. 18) Next Gen test session at Charlotte Motor Speedway. 2022 will mark the first year the Cup Series has used the one lug nut, 18-inch aluminum wheel.
@BobPockrass (Twitter)
Teams will be allowed to do pit stop practice from 4p-5p ET tomorrow.
NASCAR Taking 1 Inch Off from Spoiler Height for Second Day of NASCAR Test at Charlotte
NASCAR will make a spoiler change for Thursday’s Next Gen organizational test, seeking to increase the speed of the cars.
NASCAR will cut the spoiler from 8 inches to 7 inches for Thursday’s session on the Charlotte Motor Speedway oval. The resulting speed change is expected to be the equivalent of adding 30 horsepower.
John Probst, NASCAR senior vice president of racing innovation, said the adjustment will be made to offset a previous change to the car. To counter the increased heat drivers had experienced in the cars, rear window vents were added to increase air circulation through the cockpit. While reducing the extreme heat in the car, the rear window adjustments add drag and slow the car.
NASCAR Next Gen Testing Day One Results (credit to Bob Pockrass on Twitter):
More Testing Insights from Day One of Next Gen Test at Charlotte Motor Speedway (credit to MRN):
CONCORD, N.C. — NASCAR held the first portion of its two-day Next Gen organizational test Wednesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
There were 18 Cup Series organizations on site with 30 drivers. One- and two-car teams were allowed to field one entry, while three- and four-car teams were limited to two. That did require some drivers to take turns behind the wheel.
For example: Trackhouse Racing is a two-car team, so Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain split time in the No. 1 Chevrolet. Stewart-Haas Racing is a four-car team, so Kevin Harvick and Chase Briscoe shared the No. 4 Ford, while Aric Almirola and Cole Custer took turns in the No. 10.
“You saw a lot of the smaller teams actually up the leaderboard a good bit there,” said John Probst, NASCAR‘s senior vice president of racing innovation. “I know not everybody‘s coming here to put a lap time up. But you see the teams from front to back are a lot more prepared and they’re on the track right away. So, I feel like they’re learning very quickly and their level of preparation has gone way up, especially now that we’re done racing. They’re completely focused on the car at this point.
“I would expect Phoenix to be the next evolution of the preparation, and the competition from front to back should be continuing to get better and better.”
The test session lasted from 9 a.m. ET to 8 p.m. ET with a one-hour break. Thursday will be a bit shorter, going from 8 a.m. ET to 5 p.m. ET. It will also stream live on NASCAR.com‘s YouTube starting at 9 a.m. ET.
This two-day test marks the 16th overall since its first on Oct. 8-9, 2019 — production was delayed a season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It‘s the second organizational test; the first was earlier this year on Oct. 11-12 on Charlotte‘s 2.32-mile road course rather than the 1.5-mile oval.
“I feel like there’s been good, steady progress with some of the gremlins in the steering, some of the gremlins in the transaxle and then just standard suspension settings,” said Kurt Busch, who has driven the Next Gen car before, but Wednesday marked his first on-track time with 23XI Racing. “Those are all getting a bit more scienced out. It was like we were on the moon before and now we’ve landed on planet Earth. And now it’s up to each team to individually tailor the cars to make themselves better.
“Then we have to see how the cars will do in traffic still, I still think that’s going to be an interesting game.”
There was no pack racing Wednesday, though the idea was tossed around for Thursday. The last hour of Thursday will be dedicated to pit practice, a Next Gen first. NASCAR will also make a spoiler change for Thursday’s session — cutting the spoiler from eight inches to seven inches and that is expected to add 30 horsepower and increase the speed of the cars.
NASCAR has two more organizational tests scheduled for the offseason. Up next is Phoenix Raceway, a 1-mile circuit, Dec. 14-15. Then, Daytona International Speedway‘s 2.5-mile high banks will see teams Jan. 11-12. Additional venues and dates have not been confirmed but are in the works.
The Next Gen cars will make their competitive debut Feb. 6 in the 2022 Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
“This entire car from top to bottom — for everybody that‘s working on it, for all the drivers, for everybody that‘s building the parts and pieces — it‘s a new challenge,” Alex Bowman said. “There are so many things on it different than what we had. It‘s very challenging.
“The old car was really fun because how aggressively hard you could drive it. This car, you can‘t drive it as hard I don‘t feel like, or at least I‘m not comfortable with it yet. But learning where those limits are — how hard you can or can‘t drive it — is going to be a challenge. I‘m enjoying trying to figure it out.”
SOURCE: https://www.mrn.com/2021/11/17/nascar-completes-day-1-of-next-gen-organizational-test-on-charlottes-oval/
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