Veteran motorsports columnist Gordon Kirby’s latest column is “NASCAR’s increasingly collaborative ways” and looks at how the series is working to come up with aero packages that are specific to each of the 23 tracks the series races at. Kirby’s article begins:
You have to give NASCAR credit. Without doubt, the organization is way ahead of Formula 1 and IndyCar in how it works with its teams and manufacturers in adjusting and refining its aerodynamic and technical packages to suit different tracks. It’s a truly collaborative effort between the sanctioning body and its teams.
This year NASCAR is experimenting with some changes in the middle of the season trying new aero packages at Kentucky the weekend before last and at Indianapolis next weekend and Michigan next month. Sixty employees, including series directors, engineers and post-race inspection people, work at NASCAR’s R&D center in Charlotte. Many of them are focused on the business of aero packages.
“It’s a big task,” remarks NASCAR’s vice president of competition Robin Pemberton. “We have a lot of people at the R&D center who are studying it and working hard on it trying to capitalize on the right opportunities to do the right things for everybody.
You can read the rest of it here.