CHARLOTTE NC. - Ford Motor Company unveiled their 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup entry Tuesday during the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Media Tour.
The Ford Fusion made its debut only days after the production model made its debut. The car is an attempt by Ford and the other manufacturers to bring back a brand identity that was once common in NASCAR.
”We wanted Fusion to be the car that helped return ‘stock car’ to NASCAR.” Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing said. “I think fans, when they see the car, are just going to smile and cheer. It is going to reengage them with the sport and make the sport better because there is just something natural about seeing race cars that look like cars in their driveways.”
Most of those attending the debut Tuesday at Charlotte Motor Speedway agreed that Ford had accomplished that goal with a car that looks closer to the production model than any racecar has in several years. Unlike NASCAR race cars from the recent past Ford Racing worked with their designers to come up with a car that can appeal to fans and racers alike.
“Back in the day, designers influenced race cars because they were essentially stock cars,” said Allison. “The more we went away from ‘stock car’ racing, the more the role of design diminished. However, the role of the aerodynamicist and the motorsports engineer increased because we were designing purpose-built race cars.”
In NASCAR’s recent past, Penske Racing, along with Roush Racing, did the majority of the development on the NASCAR Taurus prior to its debut for the 1998 season while also having to maintain their current fleet and concentrate on winning races. The 2013 Fusion however is very different than the Taurus and that started with the way it was designed.
“We started going back to our design community and nosed around with guys that have been with the company the longest and we can’t remember the last time designers have been involved with helping NASCAR,” said Ford Racing NASCAR Operations Manager Andy Slankard. “This time, we have had the luxury of support from the Ford Design Center to give us these sleek shapes and new look. Only designers could do that, not a bunch of engineers or race car guys.”
Ford Design Center staff, led by Garen Nicoghosian, and Ford aerodynamicist Bernie Marcus, spent the past year doing the early design development, freeing up the Ford race teams to concentrate on weekly NASCAR racing.
“It was a passionate project for everybody that worked on it,” said Nicoghosian. “Those who contributed their time did so because they wanted to and, as a result, everybody went above and beyond the call of duty.”
The design team not only faced challenges from trying to shape an entirely new car, but had to do so while remaining within the strict rules put down by NASCAR and the common areas of the cars that all the manufacturers agreed to including the greenhouse where the driver sits back to the rear deck and spoiler and the areas around each tire.
“There is a size difference between the production and the race car, and the proportions are so different. The street Fusion is a front-wheel drive, front engine car, and race car is a front engine, rear-wheel drive car with a really long hood, and a much lower and wider stance,” said Nicoghosian. “The fundamentally different profiles and proportions of the two vehicles, as well as other constraints, presented a bigger challenge than simply taking a Fusion and putting NASCAR stickers on it.
“The challenge was to design a race car with the look and feel of the production car,” Nicoghosian said. “To do this, you have to rely on design identity. We paid close attention to the way we shaped the details on the racer, such as the headlight, grille, and foglight openings, as well as the bodyside sections, character lines, and overall surface language. When parked side by side, the racer and the street car ‘feel’ the same, even though the two share no common surfaces."
NASCAR was pleased with the final product as well after a long involved process.
“It is a process that has been underway for well over two years when you include the early planning stage,” said Robin Pemberton NASCAR vice president of competition. “We had meetings with individual manufacturers first, and then once we sat back in our NASCAR office we all realized that everybody had the same goal, not just NASCAR but the manufacturers themselves, based on all of the improvements we were able to make on the Nationwide car over the past two years as it relates to having more of a mainstream look. “
“That being said, we started on a series of meetings to layout the ground rules and develop the parameters and then sent the manufacturers off in their own directions to come up with what was best for them,” Pemberton added. “From time to time we did our meetings and brought everybody back to make sure that nobody was getting too far out or that there wouldn’t be too much of a deficit. We also encouraged them quite a bit to get all their identity that they could in the race car and we would do what we do best, which was regulate and make sure everybody has a fair shot and an even playing field. As much as we all worked together, we worked independently because we didn’t want to stifle any of the manufacturer’s ideas that they had about putting the brand identity into the cars. I think it worked out quite well for everybody as you can see from the end result.”
The end result for Ford was a car that will be closer to its street version and will help bring back some of the brand identity it seems to have lost.
“I don’t think we could do any better. With help from guys like Garen and the whole design community, every time we went in there they shaped that car a little better,” said Slankard. “You can’t imagine the talent these guys have and how they’re able to make that car look so good. I think this is a nice sporty version of the Fusion, and a lot of people will be excited about it.”
The new Ford Fusion will be tested started in the second quarter of 2012 in preparation for its 2013 Daytona 500 debut.
“I absolutely think Ford has hit a home run,” Pemberton said. “I think there will be a wow factor when we start to uncover these new cars and it starts with Fusion. The detail that has gone into them and the hard work from all of the engineers, including mainstream designers, that are involved in these programs, coupled with the level of commitment and level of effort that is put into them through all levels of management to make this happen is great. In my career I don’t think I have seen anything of this magnitude and it is hats off to everyone at Ford and the other manufacturers who have brought these cars to life on the race track.”
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