|
Dearborn, Mich.
Mr. Wolfe:
Happy New Year to you and yours and all of the best from us loyal Ford owners and fans. What is the latest on the new engine? When put into competition could you share some of the specs and a picture? Also compare it to the Ole Windsor?
Can you share us on the status of Boris Said for 2009 and where he fits in with Ford support? We need him on our team!
Any new developments on the Wood Brothers No. 21 for 2009?
Thank you very much.
Harold B.
Harold, thank you for your note.
Today, we officially unveiled the new NASCAR engine at Ford NASCAR Media Day in Charlotte. Code-named FR9, it's an all-new design that will be the first purpose-built NASCAR racing Ford Motor Company has ever done. One of our engineers, Dave Simon, has been working in Charlotte for the past year-and-a-half with Roush Yates Engines on the design and build of the engine, and we expect to have it make its competiton debut in the second half of this year.
As for Boris, he plans on trying to qualify for the Daytona 500, and is looking for money to do addtional races. His Fusion is being prepped out of the Yates Racing shop, and we hope that he'll be able to do more races this year.
As for the Wood Brothers, we are fully supportive of their plan to do 12 races in 2009, mainly with Motorcraft sponsorship. Toward the end of last year, we asked them to put together a program in this tight sponsorship market that would allow them to work closely with us ... primarly on immediate tracks ... and take advantage of our engineering resources to make them as successful as possible in hopes of attracting full sponsorship for 2010. Please understand we are committed to making the Woods successful, and will be working with them closely this year in many areas of engineering.
Brian
Hello Brian,
I have two questions concerning NASCAR and Ford.
The first concerns engines. Decades ago when the engines were downsized to 355cid max there was much talk about the Ford engine being longer (bigger) and heavier than Chevy’s. There was ‘talk’ that Junior Johnson tried to develop an engine based upon the 289 platform to reduce the size and weight. I haven’t heard much discussion recently about these parameters. Can you discuss the relative comparison of the current Ford engine versus the competition (Chevy, Dodge, Toyota) with respect to exterior dimensions and weight and the subsequent impact upon center-of-gravity and therefore “handling” in the chassis? Further, can you discuss whether the “new” Ford NASCAR engine (2009?) will be targeting smaller size and weight as design goals and how you feel the new engine will compare to the competition in these parameters?
The second question concerns the 2010 NASCAR Fusion. It was announced that the 2010 Fusion will be used in NASCAR starting in the 2009 campaign. Since the “Car of Tomorrow” has been given much press about leaving a much smaller area that teams can work within to “develop” their race cars, can you discuss what is different about the 2010 version from that campaigned during 2008?
Thanks for your time and efforts,
Mike H.
Mike: thanks for the questions:
Actually, NASCAR has mandated a common bore center (4.50) and deck height (9.00) for the new motor, this is common for all competitors. The current production based engine has a slightly smaller bore center (4.38). That being said our engineers used the latest CAE modeling techniques to minimize weight while optimizing strength for our new Compacted graphite block. This should improve center of gravity and thus offer advantages for weight distribution.
As for the 2010 COT Fusion … Again, to keep competition tight NASCAR tests and certifies our front and rear clips. The 2010 Fusion has changes that will provide a look that matches our new production car, but we will not have an aerodynamic advantage vs. the 2008 car.
Brian
|
