The splitter
This little bend below the bumper to be the key to NASCAR's Car of the Future. At least that's the take of this story.
I'm not sure why it's being called a splitter. Think of it as a recessed nose, or rather a recess underneath the bumper. The Charlotte paper had the best picture. Since it's not online, this picture essay will have to do.
Here's the current version - specifically, the No. 8 Budweiser machine. You remember this car - high hopes, poor season, didn't make the chase? Notice the nose of the car:
See how it goes more or less in a straight line from the edge of the hood to the track?
Now take a look at this Truck Series bumper:
Sorry for the poor quality pic, but AP didn't give me much to work with. Anyway ... see how the truck nose kicks back in toward the nose?
NASCAR's COF has the same feature. NASCAR.com has a picture of Jeff Burton's ride, the one that took a spin through the front stretch Monday.
The Scotsman has side views.
Diecast Dude, meanwhile, likes the idea of a COF.
Update #1 (Tuesday night): The super secret site for those media type has a good picture of a splitter. Here's Kyle Petty's car:
See how the nose juts forward, then is pulled back?
See how there's actually a bumper on the car?
Comments (5)
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It's not a bumper..it's a cow catcher..like on old trains...
Posted on November 1, 2005 8:08 PM
Cow catcher, huh?
More than a few Cup drivers would have a use for something like that. ;)
Posted on November 2, 2005 9:32 AM
Hey tech guys, is the COT shorter in length than the one being run now? Some of the pictures I have seen make it look that way.
Posted on November 4, 2005 12:19 AM
Oops, forgot my reason for asking that question was to ask this question. If it does have a shorter length, what is the point? Less car = more speed?
Posted on November 4, 2005 12:20 AM
Don't know if anybody is paying attention to this thread anymore but a few answers for you if you are.
Years ago racers found out that cleaning up the airflow under the front bumper by putting a valance under there would lower the drag numbers and even provide some downforce.
Over the years NASCAR allowed the valance to be expanded out to each of the fenders and moved forward even with the leading edge of the front bumper so that the front of the car became smooth from the front of the bumper down to the bottom edge of the valance. They even allowed some of the vehicles (like the #8, pictured above) to sort-of swing the lowest edge of the valance forward a bit for even more downforce and less drag.
What NASCAR is doing is moving the valance back under the bumper to "dirty" the airflow around the nose and over the car which raises the drag numbers and slows the cars in a straight line.
The "splitter" is a device not clearly shown in these photos which is a flat piece of material which extends horizontally from the lowest edge of the valance, forward to a point which will be established by the rules. (Probably one thing they were testing as it's length forward makes a great deal of difference in the vehicle's front downforce.)
It is called a splitter because it "splits" the air coming at the front of the vehicle like a knife edge. It tends to remove some of the front "aero-dependancy" everybody is complaining about.
If you look carefully at the Petty car, you can see the vertical supports extending down from the bottom of the bumper which hold the horizontal splitter from bending down to the track surface.
Posted on November 16, 2005 3:32 PM