CoT worse than old Sprint Cup car
After competing at Pocono Raceway last weekend, Hamlin discussed how hot he was in his car. He says that he didn’t get any temperature readings inside the car but that NASCAR is going to begin doing some testing to try to get a handle on the issue.
“It’s an issue that NASCAR is going to address, and they’ve already started doing it here, testing six or seven of us on our [carbon monoxide] levels before and after practice," Hamlin said. “They’re going to do it after final practice and then again after the race to see what’s going on with it. They’ve already taken steps in the right direction. Us as a race team has got to get better with our ventilation as well."
Hamlin says that he believes NASCAR’s new car is hotter than the old model used to be and relates that to the way the exhaust is run in the cars.
“It’s closer to the floor board than what the previous car had, so I think that’s a little bit of the heat," he said Friday at Michigan International Speedway, site of this weekend’s Lifelock 400. “I don’t know where the other heat is coming from really. I know I’m not the only one that suffers from these heat issues at times. I didn’t have issues but up until last week and at Texas about a month ago. I know we haven’t really hit the brunt of the heat wave yet for the summer, but we know it’s coming, so we’re just trying to work on our cars to make them better for that issue when we go to places like Indianapolis where it’s going to be really hot." Scenedaily.com
06/09/08 Several drivers required a serious cooling off period following Sunday's race as the temperatures and long afternoon took their toll. Denny Hamlin, Brian Vickers and A.J. Allmendinger were among those who complained they were not feeling well immediately after the race. Hamlin even made a brief visit to the infield care center.
"It's brutal. These cars, I don't know what we have to do as a sport, but they are …" Vickers started to say before Hamlin interrupted him.
"They are hot," Hamlin said. "They are hotter than the old car by far."
Continued Vickers: "We're going to the infield care center after races and that's ridiculous. NASCAR needs to step in and … do something to cool these cars down and help us."
Hamlin believes the problem may be with the exhaust system.
"It's closer to the floor panel and that's going to make the car hotter itself," he said. "Here, the pace (of the race) is so slow, once the car is loose, (the race) just takes forever. It's tough on us drivers." ThatsRacin.com