Petty Enterprises continues engineering development
Petty engineers travel to high-tech wind tunnel in Germany LEVEL CROSS, N.C.- As the ever-expanding engineering and technical side of NASCAR Nextel Cup racing continues to grow, Petty Enterprises took a huge step to the forefront of wind tunnel ...
Petty engineers travel to high-tech wind tunnel in Germany
LEVEL CROSS, N.C.- As the ever-expanding engineering and technical side of NASCAR Nextel Cup racing continues to grow, Petty Enterprises took a huge step to the forefront of wind tunnel testing this week. Accepting an invitation from Dodge Motorsports, Petty Enterprises spent this week in Stuttgart, Germany, at one of the world's state-of-the-art wind tunnels.
The wind tunnel in Stuttgart, Germany is equipped with a rare and unique "Rolling Road" wind tunnel system. Cars travel on a belt and can simulate different pitches and angles. Used by Mercedes, Petty Enterprises hopes the facility will provide them with unmatched information.
"The 'Rolling Road' wind tunnel can actually give us better, more realistic data comparable to on-track conditions," stated Petty Enterprises General Manager Jerry Freeze. "We're hoping to use this data and compare it to the 'static' wind tunnels we use here in the States."
Petty Enterprises has two main objectives while in Germany, but is keeping in mind the ultimate goal.
"First, we are hoping to learn the tunnel and see how we can take advantage of it," continued Freeze. "Secondly, we want to try different adjustments to the car and gather the data. We are here to win too. The Dodge Charger is a completely new car this season. We want to continue to learn as much about this car as quickly as possible to get us in victory lane. This is a great opportunity for us."
Petty Enterprises, which fields the #43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge driven by Jeff Green and the #45 Georgia-Pacific/Brawny Dodge driven by Kyle Petty, shipped their cars overseas a month ago. The cars were shipped in large containers.
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