While NASCAR has become a bit of a joke for some racing enthusiasts because its cars have no relevance to the real cars portrayed, to many households in America it’s a religion none the less. And Ford plans to keep their faithful watching and buying with their new 2013 Fusion Sprint Cup Car.
Unveiled today, the Fusion Sprint Cup Car is an effort to bring brand identity back to the sport. Featuring a completely redesigned sleek new silhouette and fresh face, the 2013 Fusion Sprint Cup car is admittedly much closer in profile and silhouette than the past Fusion or even the Mustang version.
”We wanted Fusion to be the car that helped return ‘stock car’ to NASCAR.” stated Jamie Allison, director, Ford Racing. “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.”
Ford took a different approach with the development of the 2013 Fusion racer. 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 competition.
Ford designers, led by Nicoghosian, addressed three main issues to mirror the 2013 Sprint Cup Fusion to the 2013 production Fusion found on showroom floors. This includes the overall proportion of the race car to reflect proportions found in the production Fusion, brand and design cues in the side of the vehicle and an identifiable front end grill with the distinctive look of a Ford.
While the body is much closer to the real thing, don’t expect this standard issue NASCAR chassis to have front wheel drive and a hopped up turbocharged four-cylinder EboBoost engine like the stocker. This car will have a V8 and rear wheel drive. The new NASCAR Fusion will be tested throughout the 2012 campaign in preparation for their racing debut at the 2013 Daytona 500 in February of that year.
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