Borchert97
New Member
- Joined
- Aug 9, 2018
- Threads
- 0
- Messages
- 4
- Reaction score
- 9
- Location
- Kirkland, WA
- First Name
- Emil
- Vehicle(s)
- 2017 Toyota 86
Sure, so from 2007-2012 they ran the 5th Generation NASCAR stock car, in response to numerous deaths and injuries in the 4th Gen car, which produced great racing but was terribly unsafe, concepts and early testing of the 5th Gen car began following the death of Dale Sr. This 5th Gen car, also called the "Car of Tomorrow" (CoT for short), was exactly what you described when you think of NASCAR, a 100% identical body with different stickers to make it look like a certain make and model. These cars were a lot safer, but the quality of the racing suffered, and NASCAR essentially lost all brand identity, because besides the engine builders, the cars were essentially the exact same.
2012 NASCAR Dodge Charger
2012 NASCAR Ford
2012 NASCAR Toyota
2012 NASCAR Chevy
As you can see, despite the sticker placements, including brand logos, brand grille decals, and the name of the car it is supposed to represent, they all share the exact same front bumper design, the same side panels, same exact windshield, everything is exactly the same. These cars had next to no brand identity, in blank primer paint form, you couldn't tell what it was even supposed to become. That is definitely not the case anymore, this video I'll include below is of one of the 2017 season NASCAR Chevy SS cars getting painted, the point of this is to show you that, even when the car is completely blank, with no decals and no paint, you can already clearly see it's a Chevy SS based on the nose.
Since 2013 they put the design largely back in the hands of the OEMs, like I said, Ford Performance, TRD, and Chevy Performance are directly behind the designs, they don't outsource the engineering, it's all in-house to the OEM's performance divisions. Sure, they aren't back to racing production cars yet, but at least give them credit for trying to make steps in the right direction. I do like how certain parts of the car like the engines and rear end are based on production parts though.
Sponsored
