COT Harvick Fire

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NASCAR really needs to look into the fire that was in the 29 car at Martainsvill. Several drivers told MASCARA of the smell in the door after Bristol but NASCAR ignored the drivers saying that the foam was not flammable. Apparently that is wrong.
Tonight I looked at the Scene Daily, Insider Raceing, The Charlotte Observer and NASCAR.com and none of them had any mention of the problem.
The COT is supposed to be safer, that was one of the biggest parts of the design. I am sure that if a driver goes sideways and gets T-boned the foam will help keep him from bodily injure but not if he wrecks because they are dieing of the vapors. I don't know what that stuff burns like but its in the right side door and if there were a fire there that is the only exit from the car.
DW commented that he had seen black smoke from the right side and thought it was exhaust but with what happened with the 29 he had a different thought.
Safety of the driver has to be the first thing in NASCAR but in this case they need to aknowledge that there is a fire issue , swallow there pride and address it. Im sure that someone in the R and D department at the COT home offices could come up with a salution.

[NASCAR14FAN]

Montoya and a couple other drivers also had black smoke from thier cars :irked:

[VibrantRedGT]

I listened to The Driver's Seat on Sirius Nascar Radio 128 last week. Biffle said he and Kenseth had melted foam in their cars. Since NASCAR had Biffle's car for the height issue they (Roush Fenway Racing) expressed concerns about the foam. Nothing came of it. Fast forward to Sunday's race and that foam specifically caused a driver to drop 5 spots in the standings. That's just wrong.

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http://www.scenedaily.com/stories/2007/04/02/scene_daily380.html



NASCAR officials are examining parts of Kevin Harvick's No. 29 Cheverolet this week after insulating foam melted during Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500 at Martinsville Speedway.

Harvick's car was the second in as many weeks to have trouble with the foam, which is one of the safety features in the car of tomorrow. The foam is located inside both doors to help absorb impact in a crash. Matt Kenseth's car had melted foam during the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Heat from exhaust pipes is apparently melting the foam.

"Certainly we're going to look at it ... analyze it and see what happened," said Brett Bodine, who heads the COT project for NASCAR. "We had one isolated incident [at Martinsville] - 42 cars that didn't have a problem and one did."

NASCAR mandates the type of foam and its location in the cars. Tod Berrier, crew chief for Harvick, said the solution to the problem is simple: Move the foam farther away from the exhaust pipe.

"I'm not real smart, but at the end of the day, you put Styrofoam over a Fire, and it isn't going to be great, no matter where you put it," Berrier said. "Heat rises, so how far have we got to raise it? I'm not very smart when it comes to that, but I'm smart enough to know that Styrofoam melts."

Harvick had to bail out of his car twice, once on lap 425 and again on the final lap. He needed oxygen after the race.

"Smoke just started coming out the right side door, so I guess blaming it on something else is probably not the right thing to do," Harvick said after the first incident. "I mean, this thing just started burning up, so it's almost turning into a joke now."