Chevy Buzz
Let’s just mix it up this issue:
Chevy Romping In Cup
Chevy is stinking up the show in NASCAR Cup racing -- Jeff Burton and Richard Childress Racing (RCR) just won again at Texas Motor Speedway (TMS) in the Car of Yesterday (Monte Carlo) this past weekend. Chevy teams are clearly the strongest on the Cup circuit so far this year. The Dodge teams are in freefall compared to last year. Ford can run up front but can’t seem to close the deal. Toyota is finding just how wickedly competitive Cup racing is -- Brian Vickers is their only Cup driver who can seem to qualify for a race on time and stay in the show long enough to post a decent finish.
Speaking of freefall – former Chevy racer Michael Waltrip might be wondering if he is getting what he wished for by jumping to Toyota. He may be in talks with former champ and almost-retired driver Bill Elliott to get him to drive for his race team – although Elliott is said to be cool to the idea. Why go after Elliott? To get his past champion provisional guaranteed starting spot in the Cup field. That’s one way to get your flagging Toyotas in.
New Chevy R07 NASCAR Engine
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The new Chevy R07 race engine made a more formal intro in NASCAR at TMS this past weekend as six teams were using it. Since its design was signed off on by NASCAR in Sept 2006, Chevy has been cranking to get the teams parts. So far they have supplied 200 blocks and 350 cylinder heads – of a completely new design. We’ll go into more detail of this engine later, but here’s an overview of the major changes.
First, the block is really the first major factory redesign for NASCAR of the original 1955 Chevy block – previous NASCAR blocks (SB2 was the latest iteration) were more akin to the original smallblock than some might want to admit. NASCAR teams spent hours modifying them to make a weight (trimming excess metal on them via CNC machines and by hand); adding oil squirters to cool the pistons; and installing outside plumbing on the block to route coolant to hot spots between pistons. Still, Chevy teams were scuffing pistons from excessive heat (making power) in some races. The new block has these features already cast in, and modified and improved coolant routing – so that issue is likely solved.
But a prime disadvantage the SB2 block had, in comparison to the Dodge, Ford, and Toyota competition, is that its camshaft was not as high up in the block – the cam and crank centerlines were closer together in the Chevy block. What is the advantage of a greater distance between these two, like the other teams have had for years (Dodge)? You can make the pushrods shorter, and optimize and stabilize the valvetrain for higher RPM, equaling more power.
