NASCAR puts some focus on the suspension changes in Next Gen cars. They are coming into the spotlight at this weekend’s racing. It all goes down on the road course at the Circuit of the Americas. The Next Gen car will make its road-course debut and there will be a lot of eyes on it. People will want to see how it stands up and takes advantage of some of its new features.
NASCAR Suspension In Next Gen Cars Comes Into Spotlight
Among those new features in the NASCAR Next Gen car includes the independent rear suspensions and increased braking capacity. This will make it more compatible with courses where they will turn both left and right.
All these cars will have drastically different suspension setups, however. It will change from what has been observed in the last few weeks. Now, the base cars will not be based on unique chassis as we’ve seen in the past. Instead, they will have different pieces bolted onto the same suspension uprights that teams have used on ovals this year.
But take note. The most notable, visible difference will be in the camber of the wheels. Camber is defined as the angle of the wheel in relation to the car when viewed from the front. What’s negative camber? It is when a wheel is leaning inward while positive camber is when a wheel is leaning outward. Oval tracks have positive camber on the left side and negative camber on the right. Road-course configurations have negative camber on both sides.
Car’s Right Side Is Set For Negative Camber Across Ovals, Road Courses
So, the car’s right side is set up for negative camber on both ovals and road courses. Most parts can be used for both tracks. The left side, though, has multiple options. Many changes that are done in advance of road-course racing happen on the left front corner of the car. We get more about this Next-Gen car situation from NASCAR.
Let’s take a look at the suspension upright assembly. This is the centerpiece of each corner of the suspension and it’s what other suspension components and brakes bolt up to. So, the upright is a sealed component that the wheel mounts to and is a part that is the same for all courses. It gets adapted for ovals and road courses.
All of this is based on a unique Ackermann bracket. It does get bolted up to the top of it. Also, there is a unique control arm shear plate bolted up to the bottom of it. These components on the upright allow for unique toe link and control arm combinations for ovals and road courses.
