By Al Stilley
Southsider Voice correspondent

A new multimillion dollar 33,000-square-foot Ford Technical Support Center is fully operational to assist Ford teams in NASCAR competition and to develop future products for motorists.
A private open house and dinner was held for more than 200 motor ssports media and guests at the facility last month in Concord, N.C., next door to NASCAR’s Research and Development Center and to nearby Roush Fenway Racing. Other Ford teams, such as Penske, the Wood Brothers and the Leavine Family, also have access to all testing and diagnostic equipment at the center.

Ford Motor Co. representatives and engineers said the facility represents the company’s commitment to racing and the development of products and performance cars. 

“There aren’t many products that are made around a sport,” Ford group Vice President Ray Nair said to the media members from the annual Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour. 
Engineering and development at the center will be utilized for the return of the Ford GT for street use in late 2016, the 50th anniversary of the car’s historic one, two, three finish at the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

The tech center supports Ford teams in three NASCAR divisions plus the K&N and ARCA series with eventual support for teams in the Tudor United SportsCar Championship, IMSA, Rally and Global Rallycross and NHRA.
The shining star of the facility is a $3 million simulator that measures input from a driver as he sits in a realistic cockpit with a wrap-around screen in front of him that shows a specific NASCAR track. A half-Ford Sprint Cup car is mounted on a sled that has only 6 degrees variance to track conditions. Engineers and crew members in a command center behind the simulator room examine data from the driver on the simulated ride.

The center also features ...
• A kinematics rig measures suspension geometry and wheel loads with various springs, tires and anti-roll bars.
• A center-of-gravity-machine, measures the vehicle’s pivot axis above the platform. Changes in weight and platform angle change the center of gravity.
• The stiffness rig is a surface plate that supports three corners of the car with loads applied at the fourth corner to evaluate torsion stiffness.

The technical center also features a race operations command center that shows the live telecast of a race with analytics data on a huge screen. The room seats more than 20 engineers who can communicate trackside with Ford teams during a NASCAR race.
Ford teams will benefit from the facility’s testing and research capabilities, as well as its “drive-through” parts service for NASCAR racing.
The center, which also serves as a racing parts warehouse, is not open to the public.

By Al Stilley
Southsider Voice correspondent

Ryan Newman almost accomplished the impossible in 2014. The Indiana-born NASCAR driver came
close to stealing last year’s Sprint Cup championship without a win. He qualified for the revamped 16-driver Chase without a win and reached the final four at Homestead winless.
No one ever has won the season championship without a win.

Last year NASCAR upped the intensity for The Chase: win a race and you’re in, with only three drivers working their way into the Sweet 16 on season points. The South Bend native was the last driver in on points for the 10-event Chase. He only had two top five finishes in the first 26 races. Newman made the final four with a daring last-lap, fourth-turn bump at Phoenix against Kyle Larson that eliminated Jeff Gordon from the competition. Kevin Harvick won the finale by passing Newman with three laps to go in his first
year with Stewart-Haas Racing. Newman wound up second in points in his first year
with Harvick’s former team owner, Richard Childress.

“Everybody stepped up, the crew, the engine guys,” Newman said at the Charlotte Motor Speedway media tour in late January. “Last May we got caught going in the wrong direction. They did an awesome job of continually bringing more competitive pieces to the track. To be a part of the end result was
an awesome thing.” 
Somewhat unheralded, Newman enters his 15th Cup season with 17 wins and $79.4
million in winnings. His last win was in the 2013 Brickyard 400 in his final season with Stewart-Haas.
Newman also reflected upon all the feudin’ and fightin’ that ensued due to the intense emotions fostered by the new format of The Chase. Off-track skirmishes involved Brad Keselowski and Jeff Gordon at Texas and Matt Kenseth and Keselowski at Charlotte. 

“My wife bought me a pair of brass knuckles for Christmas,” Newman joked. “I think we all saw gunpowder on the floor, but we didn’t know who was going to light it or how much of it was going to go off. Every bit of it went off and then some.” Newman expects that emotions will run high all season. “As NASCAR makes the cars more competitive, the more weight is put upon the drivers to get every inch from the car,” Newman said.

Childress agreed, “You’re going to see some of the hardest and best racing we’ve ever seen in NASCAR
because everyone knows how important it is to be in the top 16.” Newman, a Purdue graduate with a degree in engineering, looked at the rules package, which hopefully lead to more passing on the
track.

“The new package takes us to where we were two years ago on down force,” Newman said.  “The difference is that we didn’t have a static ride rule then. The cars will be more competitive in dirty air than they were then.
The racing will be better.” Newman contends the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet crew has momentum after nearly
stealing The Chase last year. Childress and Newman plan on doing it a bit differently this year.
“You win and you’re in,” Newman said.