Ok, forget $100 oil, this truely is the world coming to an end. :Freak_ani

Let me get this straight, we are going to take a FWD, japanese couch and shove a carburated V8 pushrod with a RWD drivetrain? :spank:

if this isn't a insult to the to American land barges everywhere, I don't know what is.

Mazda should run the 6. Ford alrady runs the Fusion:)

Reaction to Toyota's NASCAR Entry by Ford, Team Owners, and Drivers

http://www.paddocktalk.com/news/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=26427

Mazda should run the 6. Ford alrady runs the Fusion:)

i believe ford is running the fusion next year

-Steakboy

oh and i forgot, NASCAR is good for naps and thats about it

-Steakboy

Uh, it's not like the cars the american companies are running are rwd v8 powered on the street anyhow. Are they? Monte Carlo - FWD V6. That's the only one I know of. Dodge stratus maybe which is also FWD V6 and whatever ford has.

The Camry is assembled in America and the Fusion is assembled in Mexico, what is an American car these days anyway?

Does this really make a difference. NASCAR "trys" to make all the different cars equal. A top driver could move from a top Chevy to a top Ford to a top Dodge and not really know the difference, if he didn't see the body. If a Toyota gets too fast, it will get slowed with rules changes real fast.

It's close for sure but there are different tracks that suit the different makes better. Chevrolet has been dominant on the superspeedways for the past ten or so years because their body naturally creates less downforce than the other makes. Ford and Dodge are better on the 1.5 mile tracks because they have more downforce than the Chevy's.

The new cars are always faster than the one that it replaces but NASCAR doesn't like to make the rest of the makes change their cars in order to perform with the newly engineered model. If they just urned the guys loose for one season it would be much more interesting.

I never thought I'd see NASCAR bring in a foreign manufacturer, but then Bill France died and in they went. It will be good for the sport to bring in another manufacturer. Just hope they can make it through the growing pains and get a few good owners to run Yota's.

Toyota trucks have already been in the Craftsman Truck Series for a while now, I don't get what the big deal is.

Toyota trucks have already been in the Craftsman Truck Series for a while now, I don't get what the big deal is.

I had an '02 Superchrged Tundra for a couple of years and when they announced they were going to be in the Craftsman Truck Series I was pretty impressed. So, I agree, what's the big deal :uhh: . I mean not to hate or anything--and I'm not really a big NASCAR fan either.

toyota is changing its image with the new 2007 268hp v6 camry and all. this is pretty natural.

Toyota has been dominating in the Craftsman truck series. They came in, dominated, and everyone complained. Now there are more Toyotas in that series than any other brand. The same thing will happen with NASCAR as well. Toyota takes a different approach to engine building. They obviously have to conform to the same set of rules but they do things differently internally with their engines and then they win with it. If they do good this season, the others are going to cry foul.

I'll watch NASCAR just to see people cry foul.

For this fans sake I hope Toyota has a car with a single digit number.

http://www.sendersnj.com/rx8/mike/rx8club/back.jpg

^^^ That's pretty sick.

For this fans sake I hope Toyota has a car with a single digit number.

http://208.224.136.14/mike/rx8club/back.jpg



Now that's just too much...

Toyota has been dominating in the Craftsman truck series. They came in, dominated, and everyone complained. Now there are more Toyotas in that series than any other brand. The same thing will happen with NASCAR as well. Toyota takes a different approach to engine building. They obviously have to conform to the same set of rules but they do things differently internally with their engines and then they win with it. If they do good this season, the others are going to cry foul.

You mean like how Toyota got caught in WRC and was banned from it for 10 years? :p: :naughty:

They may have messed up there but they have stayed in the rules pretty nicely in the Craftsman truck series. NASCAR guys are actually respected if they find ways to "cheat" with unique interpretation of rules.

I forgot what they got in trouble for in WRC. Wasn't it something to do with their interpretation of the restrictor plate rule?

EDIT: Went and looked it up. They were banned for 1 year, not 10. They had variable sized restrictor plates on the turbos that opened up larger at higher speeds. They were the proper size at inspection but not the whole time of the race. It seems like every time they've gotten in trouble, it has been due to being a little too creative with their rules interpretations and trying to take it a little too far.

For this fans sake I hope Toyota has a car with a single digit number.

http://208.224.136.14/mike/rx8club/back.jpg


That's going to itch when it grows back!

Uh, it's not like the cars the american companies are running are rwd v8 powered on the street anyhow. Are they? Monte Carlo - FWD V6. That's the only one I know of. Dodge stratus maybe which is also FWD V6 and whatever ford has.

Dodge runs a charger RWD V8.

I could care less if Toyota entered NASCAR.

NASCAR=BORING

http://www.bustedtees.com/images/boringnascar.artwork.2.product_artwork.jpg

I could care less if Toyota entered NASCAR.


So then how much do you care? ;)
http://www.incompetech.com/Images/caring.png

Seems no one has posted these pics yet. [On a side note, the link that zoom44 provided says that Michael Andretti is getting back in the race car for the Indy 500...cool!]

http://response.jp/issue/2006/0126/article78691_1.images/106543.jpg
http://response.jp/issue/2006/0126/article78691_1.images/106544.jpg

It's not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, just never thought it would happen. The truck series is small beans and toyota hasn't dominated that series contrary to other posts. They didn't have the most wins nor did they win the championship. I think that will come this year though.

Toyota coming into the nextel cup series is like an american winning their seventh straight tour de france. Nobody ever expected it, and when it happened nobody knew what to do.

I like the way they have to write "CAMRY" all over the car so you know it's a Camry.

I think NASCAR would be much more interesting if they were driving actual, you know, stock cars with safety cages; as opposed to hand-built tube-framed thoroughbred racing machines.

I see Red Bull is the sponsor of the car.

does it really matter what the car name is? because, that is all that the nascar has in common with a normal street cars: the name. seems to me that they are completly different monster race cars with just the same name.

wouldn't matter if there was a car name the shitballs and then someone turned it into a nascar. it would still be 99.98% different from the street version.

Sounds like the RX-8 race car in grand am everyone has wood for.

For this fans sake I hope Toyota has a car with a single digit number.

http://208.224.136.14/mike/rx8club/back.jpg



Heh, that's Bristol. I sat in almost that same section. :ylsuper:

Let me get this straight, we are going to take a FWD, japanese couch and shove a carburated V8 pushrod with a RWD drivetrain? :spank:

As opposed to the FWD couch Taurus, FWD couch Monte Carlo, and previously FWD couch Intrepid?

And as NZ mentioned,there is NOTHING stock about these cars... As far as I've read, they all use pretty much the same mechanicals, just a manufaturer-labled shell.

And should we get into the real reasons why a "Japanese" car (built right here in the U.S. of A., as also mentioned previously) is going to upset so many die-hard fans? Just ask any Good 'ol boy in your nearest small town, and be sure keep a pen and paper handy to write down their colorful response(s). :rofl: Poor bastards aren't gonna who what hit 'em.

Sounds like the RX-8 race car in grand am everyone has wood for.
Your analogy is weak. In NASCAR all the cars have to use the same 'template' and therefore have basically the same sillhouette. That's one of the things that remove any attraction for me. They all look so much alike and I don't think I'm alone in saying it's not the prettiest look in motorsport; no offense intended to anyone. It's the same thing with the Daytona prototypes, they all have the same hideous appearance (Just my opinion). The GT RX8s on the other hand have bodywork actually based on the 8. They're not actually RX8s but they are much more based upon the original than anything currently in NASCAR. The comparison is night and day.

If they're following the script, honda will come in shortly after. Together they will drive costs up astronomically and NASCAR will crumble to the ground just like CART and the IRL. :beer:

Or one can hope...

Your analogy is weak. In NASCAR all the cars have to use the same 'template' and therefore have basically the same sillhouette. That's one of the things that remove any attraction for me. They all look so much alike and I don't think I'm alone in saying it's not the prettiest look in motorsport; no offense intended to anyone. It's the same thing with the Daytona prototypes, they all have the same hideous appearance (Just my opinion). The GT RX8s on the other hand have bodywork actually based on the 8. They're not actually RX8s but they are much more based upon the original than anything currently in NASCAR. The comparison is night and day.
It's hardly night and day. A night and day difference is the Porsche 911's vs the "Rx-8".

If you say so Blue. It seemed to me that I could recognize both of those cars from a mile away for what they represent without difficulty but maybe it's just my crazy imagination.

Recognize them as what? A 911 and an Rx8? Sure, and the 911 is based on, funnily enough, a 911. The Rx8 however, is based on nothing and veiled in Rx8 like body panels.

I personally enjoy nascar...its something you have to see in person...on the super speedways watching cars hit 200+ is awesome =). Besides in 07 all the cars are being built from the same tube frame chassis or something like that with their own unique engines...

to reduce the importance of aerodynamics ((getting back to the boxcar days no joke)) and because the new design will be better suited for in car cameras and what not ..

also with the change the drivers seats will move about 4 inches towards the center of the car making it seem as if they were sitting in the middle of the vehicle =)

Recognize them as what? A 911 and an Rx8? Sure, and the 911 is based on, funnily enough, a 911. The Rx8 however, is based on nothing and veiled in Rx8 like body panels.
I had the privilege of seeing some of the bodywork take place for the RX8s, would you like to take a guess what type of car was used for every panel?
I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree.

Fine, lets say the body panels are exactly those off an Rx8. Who cares. It doesn't change the fact that it's a ground up race car built from steel tubes. It's not an rx8, not based on an rx8, and shares very little in common with an rx8. It's the nascar of the grand am world.

Fine, lets say the body panels are exactly those off an Rx8. Who cares. It doesn't change the fact that it's a ground up race car built from steel tubes. It's not an rx8, not based on an rx8, and shares very little in common with an rx8. It's the nascar of the grand am world.
Alright, I'll try this one more time. It's obvious that I'm biased as a Mazda loyalist and you have a problem with the Mazda utilizing a tube chassis car and Porsche opting not to. This is hardly like NASCAR and much more like what GT racing always was. I remember when everything used tube chassis in GTU, GTO etc. It was called the good old IMSA days. Do you remember those days blue? Every manufacturer who was anybody was present with their tube chassis cars.
The appropriate comparison to NASCAR would be the DP class cars as I said before, that all look like each other.