The 'camp' put back into stock car racing Ford

Paul A. Eisenstein, the Detroit Bureau - 1 day

What is one of the most popular sporting events in America today has some modest roots, to overtake the "Revenuers" NASCAR trace back to the days when moonshiners would tune their cars and then give everyone a challenge to see who was the fastest.

But the days when the familiar sporting event could, right field "Stock Cars" is long gone. Order began as NASCAR organizers switching to the so-called "car of the future", a few years back, design have been safer and better on the right track, but the only thing that had it in common with today's cars designed stickers to it look, art, how to find the Fords, Chevrolets and Toyotas you would in the showroom.

Triggered a backlash from fans, something that the measurable in both races present and TV viewers, and it was a little soul-searching - forced NASCAR and its teams to do, like Ford shows latest stock car record with his actual at least some body parts with an actual fusion sedan shares.

'' This is a day so many of us have been waiting for Ford and Ford fans, said Jamie Allison, Director, Ford Racing."When we first the NASCAR fusion 2013 unveiled in Charlotte in January, we said we wanted to help return "Stock car back to NASCAR.", Without question, with this car we have."

The high-dollar Motorsports League is not completely to its roots back. Smuggler does not appear on the track out, and under the skin the new cars are what does NASCAR yet on the "gene 6" cars. But manufacturers bring now 13 individual exterior appearance and the shape of their entries a little closer to their production models - headlight lame can adapt without resorting to tricks like glued.

Allison, adding that the manufacturer showed that "We were on the right track," Ford said experimented with the idea goes back on stock car design in the secondary nationwide racing series, some years ago and "saw the exciting reaction of from fans and also from people, NASCAR, not follow" quite literally.

Ford spent about two years the new NASCAR fusion, which revealed it NASCAR and his team members in June 2011 and then the new design a public preview in January at the Detroit Auto show. It continued tinkering with cars, focusing in particular on aerodynamic how, that can move the success or failure of the chances of a race car at 200 km/h.

The merger will make a high-profile racing debut at the opening of NASCAR race at Daytona International Speedway next weekend. It will be a great challenge by Chevrolet, in particular from the GoDaddy.com team headed by Danica Patrick, the first woman who ever land the pole position in the historic race has become, face.

Ford is confident, but it will not be ashamed that new NASCAR Fusion is used, by such prestigious Motorsports, Germain racing and front row Tames as Roush Fenway Racing, Penske Racing, Wood Brothers Racing, Richard Petty Motorsports.

Cars Ford taken the chequered flag on three of the last four races in Daytona.

The decision, with the new design go is not disinterested. While NASCAR officials estimate Ford heritage they can, want to maintain the popularity of the sport - and hope that this spills over to their brand. In recent years it has become less clear that the old adage: "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday" is still true.

Nevertheless, "we know almost 40 percent of the new car in tenders are race fans, and of these, almost 84 per cent follow NASCAR," said Allison. "Racing helps drive our business. We know Ford Motorsport fans in mind, shop and buy more Fords than the population at large. NASCAR return this kind of relevance to the X factor is."

By the way, while cars such as the Gen 6 fusion more like street models can look like, then have it in a few years, don't expect to find one in the showroom. Under the skin, they use a completely different kind of construction - how to expect from vehicles to engage that often at the well in triple-digit speeds. The engines are unique. NASCAR started last year with a version of fuel injection, such as a technology that the last vehicle of the US road in the early 1990s gave up. But the Sprint Cup cars still life rear axles, and four-speed transmission, technologies that are generally out of date as a way.

Copyright © 2009-2012, the Detroit Bureau

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Big racing fun comes in small-car packages

Mazda

Reporter Dan Carney takes this Mazda2 for a ride. He says that the car's performance on the racetrack was "genuinely exciting."

By Dan Carney, msnbc.com contributor
Remember Herbie, the Love Bug? It (he?) was an old Volkswagen Beetle, which everyone knew back its day was as slow as a rebate check. But he could miraculously outrace Jaguars, Porsches and Ferraris.

To get a feel for economy car fender-banging, I was dispatched to participate first-hand in the new Total Showcase series and report back. It might sound preposterous to contemplate racing a Ford Fiesta, Fiat 500, Honda Fit, Kia Rio, Mazda2 or Mini Cooper around a big racetrack like Homestead Speedway near Miami, but that’s just what we did. Do you know what? It was just like real racing!

The question is: Will consumers be impressed? “We cannot draw a direct line from motorsports to sales,” conceded Mike Ofiara, supervisor for motorsports communication for Kia Motor America. “But we like to think that the old phrase, ‘Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday’ still persists.”

Whether that is or ever has been true has long been a topic of debate, and the answer seems to be, “It depends.” The answer is particularly pertinent with regard to the emerging class of subcompact cars in the U.S. and the youthful buyers they are targeting. That’s because people tend to associate affordability and fuel economy with little hatchbacks, while racing is normally the domain of the powerful and prestigious.

And what about the buyers? Do gadget-addled 20-somethings pay attention to racing, beyond their latest round of Mario Kart? If they do, will it influence their purchase decisions?

The idea is that by joining together to tout their minicars as fun, and even as potential racers, carmakers can shift consumers’ perceptions of the subcompact category as a whole, explained Mickey Matus, marketing communications manager for Ford Racing.

“It is important that the cars do take on a driving dynamic message,” he said. “It does everybody good if the [subcompact segment] does that.” And that message is better carried en masse, Matus continued. “If you’ve got four-five cars promoting the attributes, it is better than one guy out there trying to wave the flag.”

Can carmakers make a category cool just through marketing? After all, that’s what SUV haters have charged happened with those vehicles. Probably not as much as critics charge, or carmakers would like, but marketing must sell some cars or they wouldn’t do it.

It's a tall order, because we are talking about little hatchbacks here, mostly the five-door variety, though the Mini and Fiat are only available as three-door models. These are the cars that get no respect. But they can be a lot of fun to drive, with responsive handling and surprisingly zippy engines.

But zippy enough to not feel like absurd jokes on a real race-track? Yes, they really are zippy enough to race for real. Each car has a package of racing-grade springs and shocks absorbers, plus a few other features depending on the car, and they have real, racing-grade roll cages and other safety equipment. Along with the Continental racing slicks, these parts transform these flimsy flivvers into flyweight contenders as surely as six months of training and a pair of Everlast boxing gloves can transform the school runt into a winning fighter.

The key in both cases is to only fight within your weight class, so the hatchbacks only race amongst themselves. I only raced the Mazda2, but I can say that the car’s performance in the race was genuinely exciting. That impression was intensified by the heavy rain that fell during the season-opening event at Homestead, during which time the Mazda2 was impressively sure-footed on its Continental rain tires.

Though I didn’t drive the other cars in racing trim, I can confirm that efforts to equalize the cars’ performance for truly equal racing seem to have worked, as no car appeared to hold an advantage either in cornering or in acceleration.

That means for a total bill of about twice the typical $13,000 purchase price of a new example of one of these cars, you, I, or anybody else could have our own fully prepped race-car and compete with it in legitimate professional events hosted by NASCAR’s road-racing division, called Grand-Am, or by the Sports Car Club of America’s World Challenge pro series.

I slogged through the rain in the middle of the pack to finish fourth of the eight cars in the inauguaral Grand-Am race, but couldn’t wipe the smile off my face for hours afterward despite the relentless tropical south Florida spring deluge.

Maybe enough fun that some potential minicar buyers will want to come out and wave the flag for their own car. “Not everybody can afford a Mustang GT,” noted Matus. “It is nice to have something the young person can buy and take pride in for a win at the track.”

Mazda motorsports director John Doonan spearheaded the development of the racing series and recruited the other companies to compete. “My division’s mission is, ‘Lets identify the next generation of customer,’” he explained. “Not only the Mazda customers at the dealership, but also the next generation racing customer.”

But does Generation Playstation really care about racing? They have been playing a lot of racing simulations on their game consoles, Doonan pointed out. “There are kids who could get off the couch, who’ve been playing a video game and for pretty reasonable be able to buy this kit and go racing for about $25,000.”

Sure, that’s more expensive than Herbie the Love Bug cost back in the 1968, but today we have a lot more mandatory safety equipment. Here’s some unfortunate irony for you: Volkswagen, a brand that was once synonymous with small cars in the U.S. can’t participate in this series because it doesn’t sell any cars here that are small enough.

But maybe if the expected 40-car fields materialize later this season and that helps take some of the stigma off subcompact hatchbacks among mainstream American car buyers, then maybe VW will import one of its smaller models and join in the fun.

Meanwhile, Millennials, drop your game controllers and come out with your wallets open! Carmakers have something to show you.

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