Generation 6 (NASCAR)

The Generation 6 car, shortened to Gen-6, is the common name for the car that has been used in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series since 2013. The car was part of a project to make the cars that NASCAR used look more like their street-legal counterparts. The cars have used many different aero and downforce packages to improve their racing characteristics as well as using the safety measures added in the Car of Tomorrow. The Generation 6 car has received both praise and criticism from fans and drivers alike.

The body style was introduced in the 2013 Daytona 500 and is still used as of 2016.

History

In 2013 NASCAR allowed the car manufacturers to design a brand new body style for the COT chassis so that they would better resemble the street legal versions of what the sport's fans could purchase and drive. Another hope of the Generation 6 car was that it would give more grip and speed to the drivers and more great racing action to the fans.

Design

The 2013 Ford Fusion

A 2013 Toyota Camry driven by Kyle Busch at Martinsville Speedway

Danica Patrick in a 2013 Chevrolet SS at Texas Motor Speedway

During the 2012 season, it was announced that Ford would use the Mk.V Ford Mondeo, known as the Fusion in North America,^[1] Toyota would continue to use the 2013 Camry,^[2] while the Holden VF Commodore produced in Australia, would be re-badged in North America as the Chevrolet Super Sport (SS), replacing the Chevrolet Impala.^[3] Dodge announced they would use the Charger. However, soon after, Dodge announced its withdrawal from the sport, after being unable to convince other teams into switching to Dodge to replace Penske Racing (which returned to Ford in 2013).^[4][5]

Aero and downforce packages

Throughout the 2014, 2015 and 2016 seasons NASCAR implemented different down force and aero packages to promote passing and give their fans a more interesting race.

The car had a low down force package in the 2015 Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway^[6] and another in the 2015 Bojangles' Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.^[7] This package took 1,000 pounds of down force away from the car. The cars had a high down force package in July for the 2015 Brickyard 400 and in Michigan. These races saw almost no action and the down force package was criticized by the many fans. Martin Truex Jr. said "We could run anybody down and get to them," Martin Truex Jr. told USA Today. "But it took a long time to pass cars. It was just so damn hard to pass. I could run a guy down from way back and get to him and about spin out. It’s no fun to race like that. We had a car that could have contended with the 20 [Kenseth] today and just couldn’t ever get there."

The major differences between the 2015 and 2016 cars are the shortened spoiler to and splitter to give the car less grip in the turns. Next year's base package includes a 3.5-inch spoiler (currently 6 inches), a 0.25-inch front leading splitter edge (currently 2 inches) and a 33-inch wide radiator pan (currently 38 inches; it was 28 inches at the Darlington and Kentucky races).^[8]

Safety improvements

The Generation 6 car added additions of forward roof bar and center roof support bar to the roll cage to reinforce integrity and increase the crush structure of the roof. Larger roof flaps help to guide the car back onto the ground to prevent the car from flipping whilst going backward at high speeds.^[9]

Technological improvements

New body panels

To begin with, the car’s new hood and deck lid is composed carbon fiber. To alleviate the carbon fibers’ tendency to splinter and shatter with extreme impacts, Kevlar was incorporated.^[10] With exception of carbon fiber rear deck lid, all body panels were produced by the manufacturer and individually stamped for verification.^[9]

Digital dashboard

In a move to make race cars closer in style and appearance to modern street vehicles,^[11] all NASCAR Sprint Cup Series cars began utilizing a digital dash sold by McLaren in 2016.^[11] This dash includes sixteen customizable preset screens,^[10] allowing the driver to monitor all the previous info with several additional elements such as lap time and engine diagnostics, for a total of twenty-four data elements. Information can be displayed as a gauge, numeral, bar graph or LED.^[12]

Future plans for the display capabilities include information such as flag status, restart order and penalties, allowing all such information to be available instantly to the driver.^[12] Ultimately, NASCAR could use the digital dash to transmit driver biometrics and provide information to the fans. It is NASCAR’s position however not to move toward real time telemetry.^[13]

Performance

Of the 23 tracks NASCAR used the Generation 6 car on the car set new track records at 16 of them. One of the tracks that the Generation 6 car did not set a record at was Daytona International Speedway even though the car did not set a new track record Danica Patrick's was the one of closest since the restrictor plate era began. Because the Las Vegas qualifying session was rained out it can be said the car set records at 16 of the 20 tracks possible.

The Generation 6 car also provided a margin of victory between driver of 1.267 seconds, the lowest since 2005.^[14]

Reception

Drivers

Although the car was liked by names such as Jeff Gordon, other drivers, NASCAR fined Denny Hamlin $25,000 for being too critical about the new car.^[15] During the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup racing series, Denny Hamlin rallied from the rear to third place where he finished. He commented on how the newer Generation 6 cars were too difficult to pass with. Hamlin stated," I don't want to be the pessimist, but it did not race as good as our generation 5 or regular CoT cars did." Comments from drivers, like Hamlin, were also similar to those said when the generation 5 cars came out. Many drivers stated that it was hard for the teams to figure out how to get the aerodynamics balanced right.

Hamlin was fined $25,000 for his comments on the new generation 6 car. NASCAR spokesperson Kenny Tharp stated, "While NASCAR gives its competitors ample leeway in voicing their opinions when it comes to a wide range of aspects about the sport, the sanctioning body will not tolerate publicly made comments by its drivers that denigrate the racing product."^[16]

Fans

Fan response to the new body design was positive, as the perception that the race cars in the Cup Series "are cars that I would be interested in buying" increased from 49 percent to 76 percent.^[14]

Price point factors for the Generation 6 car

Sheet metal

The Generation 5 car had roughly $10,000 in sheet metal per car, which is $5,000 less in comparison to the Generation 6 car, which has $15,000 worth of sheet metal. On average, a well-funded team produces about 50 bodies per car which could lead to a possible issue of being over the estimated budget for this particular category.^[17]

New Rear Camber Rule

With the introduction of the Generation 6 car, there were multiple new requirements. One was a new rear camber which meant new suspension components. NASCAR’s new weight rules required a new lighter-weight chassis. Those changes came with a hefty price, as the average new chassis cost per car increased by $500,000. For a multi-car Cup team, the cost increased exponentially.^[17]

Comments from drivers on the price increases

That led Sprint Cup owner/driver Tony Stewart to tell Marty Smith the Gen-6 car is financially "great for NASCAR, not for the owner. There's a lot of added cost, a lot of parts that are a lot more expensive than in the past. But racers are very resourceful. These teams will find a way to make it work."^[17]

References