Wind Tunnel Info. One car from each manufacturer was impounded by NASCAR
following Sunday's race and was taken to the wind tunnel in Marietta, Ga., for
testing. Tony Stewart's #20-Pontiac, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s #8-Chevrolet, Ward
Burton's #22-Dodge and Ricky Craven's #32-Ford were selected for the test.
Some unoffficial downforce numbers: from ESPN2's RPM 2 Night on Tuesday:
#22-Dodge (was 7th) - 1380lbs, 566 front, 814 rear
#32-Ford (5th) - 1343lbs, 537, 805
#20-Pontiac (1st) - 1297lbs, 545, 752
#8-Chevy (2nd) - 1246lbs, 498, 748
NOTE: in March 2001, NASCAR took the #'s 88, 24, 40 and 18 to the wind tunnel
in Marietta, GA, with the unofficial results (unofficial):
Test 1 Tested at inspection height, and with the nose taped off as for
qualifying, at 3 degrees of yaw, slightly sideways as in entering a corner:
#18-1,344lbs of total downforce
#88-1340lbs
#24-1331lbs
#40-1325lbs
Test 2 Tested with the nose lowered, in more of a real-race situation:
#88-1521lbs of downforce
#40-1481lbs
#18-1456lbs
#24-1432lbs.(3-12-2002)
UPDATE 3: The results from NASCAR's post-race wind-tunnel testing of the top
finishers at Atlanta are in, and General Motors' Pontiac and Chevrolet teams -
although they ran 1-2 in Sunday's MBNA America 500 - lost to Dodge and Ford in
the Lockheed tunnel in Marietta, GA. NASCAR tested Tony Stewart's winning
Pontiac, Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s runner-up Chevrolet, Ward Burton's Dodge and
Ricky Craven's Ford. GM's Doug Duchardt wouldn't provide exact figures but
said "The Pontiac was not as bad as the Chevy, but it wasn't nearly as good as
the Ford or the Dodge. The Dodge was the best.(Winston Salem
Journal)(3-13-2002)
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